Your first "buildings"?

[NDN]

What do you build first, in which order?

[teaster]

I've been playing tring the settler/worker/warrior order to get a quick second city then repeat of the same build order in the new city to get a 3rd up and running.

I like to have 2 of the cities (which two depends on the terrain) build themselves up to be the best that they can be and use the 3rd to roll out the military units for defense (and hopefully a little conquest) or settlers for further expansion depending on the proximity of my neighbours and the quality of the land.

I've done this twice now and it has worked out well so far, but I've been fortunate enough both times to have a couple of very good city locations close to my starting location and the nearest civs were not very aggressive. Put me in the desert next to the Mongols and I would probaly have more trouble.

[UnOrthOdOx]

Yes.

I think I've used all those variations in differing situations. As well as a few more.

[triumph]

I do W-S-W, warrior set, and than another warrior or worker depending on situation. Most of the time i need a second warrior for expanding because the first one is killed rushing, mean village, barbs, or just pure drunk stupidity lol. I mostly play sides that are industrius so for me it will be 2 citys, mainly def into a couple early wonders spamed but as any other side i would try for a 3rd city to just spam spam spam whatever i can or have a settler ready to run to a iron or copper spawn because not doing that has cost me a few games on odd and unfair terrain.

[nullspace]

I like warrior first if I'm feeling aggressive. Just one or two warriors is enough to steal a worker and keep an AI cowering in his capital. That will free up some space to expand into.

Worker then warriors if I'm planning on being nice to everyone.

[James M]

In my current game I think I did worker-settler-settler... with chops, obviously.

[Simplicity]

My current build is usually:
Worker-Settler(with chops)-Building.

[khumak]

If I start with hunting I substitute scouts for warriors initially but otherwise my build order always starts out with warrior, worker. The third item on the list varies widely from settler to work boat to library depending on what my strategy is.

[Dubhghlas]

I believe that the change to how settlers are handled mandates that you wait to produce the first settler. Whereas in the old games, the settler unit would simply reduce the size of the city, but you got the advantage of growth in production and commerce in the meantime, it made sense to go settler right away in many cases. But now, your city will not grow while making a settler, so it can often take a god-awful amount of time to complete one, and in the interim there is no increased commerce from the city.

Defend the city, get a worker, perhaps even build your first building, then create multiple settlers from the same city.

[Blake]

Oh gee, I think it can only be said "It depends!"

My most favorite start is probably building workboat(s) for fish, also good is starting with food resources and the tech to harnass them, then worker first makes great sense.

[teaster]

Blake probably has the best answer "It depends"

In the start I described above I had excellent secondary and tertiary city spots so I didn't really need to explore and was able to keep my warrior close to home.

I also didn't start with hunting, if I did I think khumak's recommendation is a good one. Take advantage of it and build a scout first to explore. That way you could take your time build up the starting city while you plan and prioritise your city sites based on the local terrain and bonuses. Who knows you may even get some nice presents from the goody huts.

A workboat for fish is a good call if you start on a coast, it doesn't slow the city growth while it's under construction and really speeds it up once it starts raking in fish.

Actually pretty much all the recommendations can be considered the "best" depending on your start location so the trick is to recognise which strategy suits your start.

[Cort Haus]

I build something else

You spelt banana wrong, NDN.

Welcome to Apolyton.

The right answer to most Civ 4 strat questions is invariably 'It depends', and growing both outwards and upwards are viable Civ 4 openings. Check out the Vel thread for discussion of settler first vs locust (worker,chop,settler) for outward growth, and the Beeline thread for an example of upward growth.

And folks - it's helpful to specify which level you play on when indicating your preferences, as the difficulty can make quite a difference to strategy.

[ZargonX]

Yup, going to have to say that it's all situational!

[Bobby Chicken]

I build buildings/warriors/wonders first. How come nobody else does this? It works fine for me.

[Stuie]

I wait on building workers until more worker options are unlocked by techs. I save chopping for later.

Currently I've been trying this out:

Settler - Warrior - Warrior with the new city starting with a Settler then a worker. Worked well in my current Prince game.