What are the First Moves?

[Eli]

I used to try and grab at least a couple of the first three religions because I thought it's cool, but it doesnt seem to be the most efficient starting strategy.

So how do you all start a game? In what order should I build my stuff and what techs should be prioritized?

[fed1943]

There is, in the forum, a thread from Velociryx about that subject.

Best regards,

[Eli]

But is it relevant to the latest patch?

[Vynd]

I think the best early moves are dependant on the difficulty level, your strategy for the game (if any), your civilization, and the resources available around your initial city.

I think building a settler first is the best default build choice. As others on this forum have argued, starting a second city quickly has the best overall impact on your science, production, etc. The exception to this being when you have resources that you have the technology to make use of right away, in which case a worker or work boat may be best. (Again I'm quoting the collective wisdom of strategy articles I've read here. Thanks guys!)

If you're planning on trying for a culture victory and/or start with Mysticism then I think getting 1 or 2 religions is a good idea. Otherwise, especially on higher difficulty levels, it's probably not worth researching the religion techs.

When not going for religions I think The Wheel is usually the best tech to go for first. After that , I like Bronze Working. I think it is still the most all-around useful ancient tech, even with reduced-value chopping. If it reveals Copper nearby then you can hopefully get that hooked up, build some Axemen, and be ready for barbarians or start an early war of conquest. All without having to waste time on Archery. Whereas if it doesn't reveal Copper you can reach then Archery becomes an excellent choice for the next research objective...

[MikeH]

Also with BW slavery is such a good civic, handy to get started on that early so you can pop rush stuff.

[PaganPaulwhisky]

I usually either shoot for BW or pottery depending on the situation. If I am surrounded by alot of neighbors then almost always bronze working so I can secure early axeman and take some cities.

If spiritual w/ mysticism I will get one early religion and then try to crank out stonehenge and Oracle for GP pts. I often build the prophet wonders in my capital and then the GL in another city so that I have a scientist pump and a prophet pump. I will use my first prophet to take COL and take whatever is most useful with the Oracle (usually metal casting or monarchy since I build it very early for the GP pts). I usually burn my first scientist to discover philo and found Taoism. Then I can switch to Pacifism early and get alot of GP early.

My default build is now warrior first and then worker when I grow to size two, followed by a few more warriors and a settler. If I have terrain that I can improve immediatly then I will go worker first. I rarely ever build settler first for safety reasons.

On higher difficulties monarchy and pottery become very important so try to get those ASAP.

[JohnUghrin]

It all depends

Like they've said, it depends on your goals and your settings. Lately, I've been playing on a large map on Marathon, Noble.

My biggest problem is too much early expansion. If I can keep myself from building a settler until my capitol is size 6, I have a much easier time of winning. Until I have Code of Laws, I try never to build more than 5 cities. (well, in the games I win, anyway.)

IMO, this version of the game is much more about early vertical development rather than early expansion. Later on, you can expand to your heart's content, but in the early game, that upkeep kills you.

I've also noted that it seems necessary to win at least one early war in the game. I'm not sure exactly why, but I find it awfully difficult to win if I haven't "picked on somebody" early on. This isn't really that bad, since it often has a cool side-effect like denying a neighbor some resources, or getting some for yourself. However, it grates on my "builder" nerves.

[Yosho]

Founding a religion isn't a bad place to start. However, I never try to found multiple religions anymore. Instead, if I'm using that stratagy, I found one religion fast and then focus on spreading it fast and early. So instead of getting hinduism, then going for masonry and orginized religion, I get hinduism, then build roads and get sailing to open up trade routes to other civs in order to spread the religion as quickly as possible, and I also build an early shrine to spread it even faster.

Once you convert one or two of your neighbor's cities to your religion, he'll convert to right away unless he's founded one of his own, but that might be only temporary; if another religion floods in to his empire from the other direction, he might switch. But if you can get open borders and convert his capital with a missionary, odds are enough of his people will be hundu that he'll probably stay with your religion, at least until he founds one of his own. Do this to a spiritual AI, like Isabella, and they're likely to start agressivly producing missionaries and spreading your religion further on their own.

Basically, my point is that if you're going to found a religion, I've found your best bet is to then put a ton of resources into making it work for you. If you don't want to do that, then going down a different tech path like bronzeworking or animal husbandry might be better.

[Velociryx]

Simply for illustrative purposes, we could say that it really comes down to guns or butter. Well, okay, obviously not guns, and least not in the ancient era, but you get the idea.

Axes or Butter then.

The two really pivotal techs that get things jumpstarted are pottery and bronzeworking. You need all the seminal techs, and you need them sooner, rather than later, but these two really define the shape and direction of your game.

Going Bronze first is the most natural for my playing style, but a lot of it also depends on what techs you start with. For example, if you don't start with mining, then Bronze takes that much longer to get to. Likewise, if you don't start with a Pottery pre-req, then that tech represents the "long road," and whatever else, you want to accomplish something quickly, so that it begins paying dividends for you in as few turns as possible.

That's the real goal. To get some tech-research benefit in the shortest number of turns.

If you can do that by building on the mining headstart to bronze and getting that tech faster, go for it.

If you can do that by getting pottery faster and starting to lay down (and work) some early cottages...by all means.

But that's an over simplification of the choices available. IMO, those are the two most popular and widely-used choices, but by no means the only ones.

For example, gunning for an early religion could be something to shoot for, especially if you plan for a highly vertical game (in which case the happiness would be crucial), or you may have an early research path, say, to the Parthenon, to really bulk up your PHIL trait, and the acquisition of a religion is merely a nice side bonus.

On the tactical side of the house, your choices essentially boil down to settler, worker, warrior/scout, or work boat.

Of these, if you start with fishing and are coastal, the work boat is pretty much a no brainer, otherwise, its iffy. If I start with scouting, I like scout first, simply because it makes your explorations 4x faster than non-scouting nations, and that's compelling. Settler first is fantastic as a surprise, or if you're in only average terrain on the opener, worker first is good if you've got a lot of specials to improve and at least one starting seminal tech to give said working something productive to do (the time that the city's growth is stalled will be made up for by the improvements made to worked tiles), but if you don't start with any seminal techs, and don't plan to research one off the cuff, then obviously, worker first isn't in your best interest (no sense in building a unit that will have little or nothing to do).

All that to say, there IS no one "always right" answer to be found. The rightness of the answer you choose lies in how closely your choices reflect your tactical and strategic aims.

Example: In this (hypothetical) game, I wanna find someone to kill early. This creates an enormous amount of continental leverage (to say nothing of turn advantage). My favored civ for this would be Cathy's Russia. Why? Several reasons.

1) I start with Scouting (and a free scout). Mobility. Speed. Helps me meet one of my stated objectives (find someone fast). My probable first build here, without even seeing the map, is scout first (this may change once I have seen the map)

2) I start with mining, pre-req for bronze. My first research will be bronze. Why? Slavery and to know where the copper is (axemen). Why? Early mainline attack unit for when I find someone.

3) Free border bumps - can either be used offensively or defensively. Essentially, this game's version of ZOC....not tied to units, but to cities. Use it to your advantage.

I've not even started the game yet, but already my strategy is tight and cohesive. The parts that are in place in my mind work together.

Synergy.

That's what you're looking for.

-=Vel=-

[Arrian]

Eli,

I rarely go for realy religion, preferring to pick up Confucism (Code of Laws) down the road a bit. Last night I played Asoka, though, and picked up Buddism (as well as Confu & Tao later).

All of the early techs are key, with the exception of fishing if you're not in a position to use it, which is often. How to prioritize is usually as simple as looking at your start. If you have ansimals, get thee some AH soon. If you have wheat/corn/rice, learn to farm. If all your early goodies are on a river, you can delay the wheel a bit.

You want to pick up Bronzeworking and AH quickly, though, IMO. That way you know where the copper & horsies are.

Stuff like that. You get a feel for it.

-Arrian

[Arrian]

Two reasons early religion is not always the way to go:

1) You could always get beat by an AI that also starts with Mysticism; and

2) You will found the religion in your capital. Me, I want the National Epic and Oxford in my capital. That means Wall Street elsewhere. I want my shrine city, therefore, to NOT be my capital.

-Arrian

[djpsychonaut]

Originally posted by Velociryx
Settler first is fantastic as a surprise...

I find that if I ever play as a non-Spiritual civ, I can sometimes beeline for Hinduism and beat the AI to it. It seems the Spritual civs get caught up trying to get Buddhism since it takes fewer turns to research than Hinduism.

The biggest killer to this is the old Settler first strategy, which will result in ZERO population growth for the entire time that I'm beelining to Hinduism.

While I feel there are many potential benefits to Settler-first, I feel like you have to acknowledge the huge sacrifices you are making. Reduced population growth means slower early research. Also, tying up the production your only city means no new army units for many, many turns. It's a big gamble!

Maybe the solution is to wait on a religion, but what can I say? I love hoarding the faith!

Religion = cash cow -- especially as you build more and more shrines.

[MasterDave]

I usually found hinduism and confuscionism later. I think that having at least one holy city is critical in maintaining happiness and getting a strong economy early in the game. Having at least two religions is nice because this strategy denies this religion to one of the AI's. That makes the rest all the more likely to adopt your chosen religion, meaning a high likelihood of early peace with your brothers of the faith.

If you would like to get a cultural victory, then try to find as many religions as possible.

I also do not like trying to build workers or settlers with size 1 cities, they just take too damn long with the six production points you are going to have with a pop 1 city. I believe that getting a warrior or two until your city is size 2 or 3 does not cost you much extra time and it gives you a chance to snarf up some goody huts and defend your settlers from animals. Plus your research will go faster if you allow your city to reach size 2 or 3 before halting its growth with a worker or settler.

[Ijuin]

My preference is to grab the essential terraforming techs and then beeline for a CS-slingshot, which incidentally gets me Confucianism almost always.

[uberfish]

I usually get whatever techs improve the local food resources first if I didn't start with them, and build a worker. Having a Food surplus is amazingly flexible as it can be converted directly into worker or settler builds, used to run mines, specialists once the appropriate techs are available or even used for production via Slavery.

I think Settler first is a very weak opening in general. Not only are you stuck at size 1 for 25 turns and working unimproved terrain for even longer, you can't do much exploration because if you lose your starting warrior/scout the settler might get eaten by a lion.