Which tech do you go for first?

[Metaliturtle]

With raging it's definitely Hunting->Archery->Bronze for me, although I've seen people spam 4 warriors and pull off the link up if Copper was in radius.

[Yosho]

I'm also interested that a few people voted for "other". What other stratagies are there? I guess you could go right for masonry and start the pyramids...

[Azuarc]

Alphabet. In a non-militaristic game with a bunch of opponents, the advantage of being able to trade early and often - even when your only initial asset to speak of is writing - is a huge benefit.

Of course, usually I make an initial pitstop for some one thing I feel I need first, be it BW or a religion or a cultivation technique. (All but BW can be had along the way, though!)

[Bobby Chicken]

I make sure that I can improve all my resources, do bronzeworking, go for oracle, then to alphabet. Works on emperor. I might modify slightly for immortal, but i doubt it. Interestingly enough, I do this 90% of the time. The rest of the time (when I don't need worker techs for my capital), I do mystism or bw.

[Blaupanzer]

Originally posted by Yosho
I'm also interested that a few people voted for "other". What other stratagies are there? I guess you could go right for masonry and start the pyramids...

Didn't Vynd say he went for the Wheel? That fits a "none of the above" or other type of category, as well as Azuarc's thought.

[Rancidlunchmeat]

Originally posted by Blake
.

I also sometimes go religion, if I have mysticism I'll definitely try for one of the religions.

Hmm.. Can you explain that one to me? I thought you if started with mysticism you are guaranteed either mediation or polytheism, because if the human player and AI player "tie" the tie goes to player, so you'd get the religion?

[Azuarc]

Originally posted by Rancidlunchmeat Hmm.. Can you explain that one to me? I thought you if started with mysticism you are guaranteed either mediation or polytheism, because if the human player and AI player "tie" the tie goes to player, so you'd get the religion?

Definitely not guaranteed, mostly because there's no such thing as a tie. The Civs go in a pre-disposed order, and if you're later in the list, too bad. It's like going last in a board game.

Plus, someone in a favorable location for trade, like having Fishing and being next to fish, can grant an initial advantage in science-earning.

[Dominae]

Originally posted by Rancidlunchmeat


Hmm.. Can you explain that one to me? I thought you if started with mysticism you are guaranteed either mediation or polytheism, because if the human player and AI player "tie" the tie goes to player, so you'd get the religion?

It has less to do with ties and more to do who your opponents are and what their starting locations are like.

Any opposing civ that starts with Mysticism is a contender for an early Religion. Some leaders are predisposed to get one no matter the cost (Asoka, Isabella), others do not make it such a high priority.

If some such leader starts next to Flood Plains or an Oasis and you are stuck with a Commerce-poor start, it's entirely possible that you lose the race to Meditation or Polytheism despite starting with Mysticism.

Furthermore, if you guess wrong, some leader may beat you to, say, Polytheism (because of higher Commerce), and when you switch you still will lose the race for Meditation versus some slower civ that beelined for it.

In short, if you want an early Religion go for it straight away; starting with Mysticism helps, but there are no guarantees.

[Badtz Maru]

I don't have one I always go for...it's highly dependent on my start and my leader (I usually play random). Based on what I've read on the forums, I seem to put a lot lower emphasis on Bronze Working than a lot of people do...there have been more than a few games I played where I got Civil Service before Bronze Working, though usually I get it some time before then, and if I have a high-food start or lots of forests I'll go for it pretty quick sometimes. Off the list, I'd probably say a religious tech is the most common, though there are many situations where I won't touch the religion branch until much later, often not having any religion techs until I get Alphabet. Resource improvements are another big one for me, if I have some nearby I'd like to use.

[DrSpike]

I never decide until I see the opening screen.

[Generaldoktor]

Originally posted by Dominae


It has less to do with ties and more to do who your opponents are and what their starting locations are like.

Any opposing civ that starts with Mysticism is a contender for an early Religion. Some leaders are predisposed to get one no matter the cost (Asoka, Isabella), others do not make it such a high priority.

If some such leader starts next to Flood Plains or an Oasis and you are stuck with a Commerce-poor start, it's entirely possible that you lose the race to Meditation or Polytheism despite starting with Mysticism.

Furthermore, if you guess wrong, some leader may beat you to, say, Polytheism (because of higher Commerce), and when you switch you still will lose the race for Meditation versus some slower civ that beelined for it.

In short, if you want an early Religion go for it straight away; starting with Mysticism helps, but there are no guarantees.

I go for early religions more than I should. You're really playing with fire with "Raging Barbarians" on, because, by the time, you've gone through "mysticism" and either meditation or polytheism, plus your food techs, plus maybe hunting/archery to CYA a little bit; axemen are popping out. (I disagree strongly with the view, on other threads, that promoted archers can "always" stand them off; anyway, the pillage can be horrendous, early on.) In multi-player, you probably also would have been victim by then of a rush by a live player, also. Most of the time, even though at this point I'm a SP kind of guy, I do have "Raging" on; and sometimes AI aggression too, which has the potential for early war.

But to answer the mini-debate above; true, you're not guaranteed a religion, even with mysticism in your initial pack, but going for polytheism early almost always works, even if you had to get mysticism first, because it is a bit of a hefty price tag for early game; and most AI will go for meditation or even warrior techs before. I'd say nine times out of ten, if I want the early religion; going straight to polytheism from mysticism, possessed initially or not, gets me Hinduism. The danger is in the neglect of the warrior and really also, the food techs, for early game.

But I don't know what the big deal is. In my current game, I delayed and went for warrior techs first, which helped me with the barbs and sure helped get Genghiz straight on what he was not going to get away with, when I met him early on. I ended up doing a Oracle-based slingshot to Code of Laws and had Confucianism before mid-game; then, having my defense base largely in place, I did some frenzied religious building and ended up with income and reconaissance the same as if I had started early. Most of the "players" on my continent ended up converting to my religion! No biggie. (This was on Noble, btw; not the highest difficulty, but not the lowest either.)

[Yosho]

Yeah; starting an early religion is a large economic boon, mostly from the early happiness and also from the early shrine, but it's not needed. There have been several games I never founded a religion at all. The biggest downside of that is that it usually takes a while for another religion to start to spread into your empire, and it's more challanging to make an early ecomony work well without the early happiness. It can be done, it can be managed, but it's tricky.

[johnmcd]

Totally situation depandent. No rules.

[gdgrimm]

I voted for Resource Improvement, since that's the only one I will consider in all starting situations.

If I start with Mysticism, I'll go for religion first.

If expansive or financial, I may go for Pottery first.

etc., etc., etc.

But in all circumstances, I'll consider going for a Resource Improvement tech first --- it just might not win the consideration war with whatever other thing is on my priority list.

[Generaldoktor]

Originally posted by Yosho
Yeah; starting an early religion is a large economic boon, mostly from the early happiness and also from the early shrine, but it's not needed. There have been several games I never founded a religion at all. The biggest downside of that is that it usually takes a while for another religion to start to spread into your empire, and it's more challanging to make an early ecomony work well without the early happiness. It can be done, it can be managed, but it's tricky.

As further proof for me that early religions aren't needed, (besides my example above,) in my second to last game, I played on Prince, which is harder if you don't usually do it; and got beaten out to everything, religion-wise. But a lead AI's religion seeped of its own into my camp, so I "adopted" it and the results are not terrible. I'm not at the top of the power grid, with tons of cash and all the AI's bowing down to me, but I've got the necessary happiness and am taking Montezuma apart while the rest of the AI pretty much respect me and my borders. Research is down though, due to lack of funds and I don't think I'll win this game. But h-ll, I'm in the middle of the pack on my first game of Prince with a borrowed religion and I'm not complaining.