What unit do you build first?

[damarcus]

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the competiting considerations in different terrains, etc.

I build the settler for the reasons outlined in my previous post ("How do you deal with barbarians").

[couerdelion]

Generally, I'll go for a scout if I have the hunting tech.

Alternatively, with Fishing and a seafood resource to develop it would be a WorkBoat

[Thedrin]

A worker if I can improve a lot of tiles without researching anything.

A settler if I get some high hammer output at the beginning when playing as an imperialistic civ.

A work boat if I don't have much land tiles which can be improved in the early game and I start with fishing and a seafood resource.

Not a scout since I started playing with tribal villages deactivated.

Usually a warrior.

[Blake]

About 50% of the time I go for Worker or Workboat (if I need to research fishing first... well I'm still really going after the workboat even though I obviously kill time training a warrior first).
About 25% of the time I go settler 1st.
The remaining 25% of the time I train warriors while growing size 3-5.

If you have any resource tile which yields "6" food+hammers (ie fresh water corn, grassland pigs) AND have the tech, or can research the tech immediately, it's pretty much a no-brainer going worker first - such a resource pretty much doubles the productivity of your capital. And if your worker can just generally be gainfully employed with starting techs - get him. Workboats are an amazing investment.

If you have floodplains, it only makes sense to grow to at least size 3 first - this is because each time you grow, you gain +1f +1c and you can whip the population for more hammers than it cost food to grow (ie it's better to grow on floodplains then whip than to train the unit - costs 22/24/26f to grow first 3 levels, and whips provide 30h).

If your capital is just kinda lame - like maybe you have cows, but you'll need to research both Hunting and Animal Husbandry, then Settler First is a good choice.

Settler first is also good if you want to found an early religion and don't have an useful worker techs.

[Beatie]

I voted on The warrior to! If I have hunting I build a scout for sure, but mostly I play with the US. I love my Seals, and my bonusses! The US don't start with Hunting, so a scout can't be build at the start!

BTW: I can't believe anyone wants to start to build a settler right from the start! Because a city's growd is halted if your building a worker or a settler, it's not a wise thing to build. Better wait until a city is 3 or 4 so you can build a settler a lot faster. Perhaps some of us still use CIV2 opening strategies? (build settlers until you have 10 city's)

[Saurus]

If I manage to find a city on a plainhill and have tech for Scouts, then I build a Scout first.
Otherwise I build a worker first.

However, voted "worker first" since most of the time I do not play a civ who is cabable of initially build scouts.

[Thedrin]

I can't believe anyone wants to start to build a settler right from the start! Because a city's growd is halted if your building a worker or a settler, it's not a wise thing to build.

If I start with a workboat I'll halt growth if it's possible (by working a forested plains hill). I work on the assumption that getting the large tile bonus early will see my expansion begin quicker. The same thinking is behind decisions to start with a worker.

On marathon a settler generally takes 50 turns to complete from the first turn. With imperialistic its possible to reduce that to 20 turns (city on a plains hill with stone or marble, working a forested plains hill with deer). With anything less than 35 turns I'll consider it, especially if there's a workable precious metal available for exploitation to help keep research up. It slows down your capitals growth but can potentially allow for faster growth of your empire.

[couerdelion]

Originally posted by Thedrin

On marathon a settler generally takes 50 turns to complete from the first turn.

What I don’t understand is why units were made so cheap on marathon? The speed of the game for me is too slow and I don’t have the patience for that rate. What makes it strange is that units are already more powerful because they get extra moves, relative to other speeds. Making them cheaper seems to me to swing the balance too heavily in favour of the AGG-style game – and it is already biased towards that anyway.

[Diadem]

I think that's the entire point of marathon. More units, more unit actions, compared to the overall progress of the game. You don't play marathon so you can spend 30 turns researching hunting

If you like empire building and researching there's no reason to play marathon. Marathon is for people who like units.

[Beatie]

Do you guys ever walk with your settler at your first turn?

I realy wander, I usualy never walk unless I can build my city in the same first turn. I think it's importend not to wait 2 turns to found your first city, but perhaps it's not that importend? And the bennefit you get from (example) a gold mine close your city is way more important than those 1 or 2 turns?

[couerdelion]

Personally, I’d value pigs or corn next to freshwater as being better than gold. In general, you’’re more than likely to get a poorer bunch of tiles if you move than if you stay. The real value of moving is to found your city on a plains hill (and for added bonus with stone or marble on the tile). The extra production that you get from your city site in the early game makes a big difference.

I’d say I move more than 50% of the time (one move then found on same turn does not count)

[rah]

Depends on the land.
Usually a scout or warrior (if you can't build scouts) stalling till size two.
A workboat if water special close and have the tech.
As soon as it's size two, worker. (whatever is in the queue can wait), unless it's a workboat.

[Arrian]

Mmmm, workboats. Love 'em.

I will often punch out a warrior (or scout) first, while growing to size two (or in the case of a seafood start, researching fishing) and then going worker (or workboat). Occasionally I'll grow fast to size 3 or 4 before the worker (floodplains).

-Arrian

[zeace]

Here's my general strategy for my first few builds...

1) Workboat if I have fishing & coast & seafood
2) Worker if I have something improvable immediately (Deer, or something I can farm if I have agri...)
3) Scout if I have hunting
4) Warrior if the city has a decent 2nd tile to work
I'll keep building scouts or warriors until my city reaches size 2 if it has a decent 2nd tile to work
5) Worker if I haven't built one yet, and have researched something for it to do
6) Settler

[Solver]

Warrior first. Of course, unless a workboat is feasible. Usually a Worker on reaching size 2, but sometimes wait for size 3, in that case, wait while building another Warrior or pre-building Barracks. Whether I build my Worker at size 2 or 3 depends on the terrain. Usually, you get the Worker earlier if you build it at 2, but in some cases, waiting until 3 allows you to gain 1 or even 2 extra commerce from an extra worked tile - then I wait.