Nice cold start (save game inside)

[Diadem]

After taking a look at the save I still think moving west (to the stone) is best. Moving east gives you gold, but west there is wheat. And having that 2 hammer capital is just too big a boon to pass up. Not having to build a quarry after inventing masonry, while working on henge or pyramids, is also very nice.

As it turns out there is iron east. But you don't know that at the start (and there's coal west anyway, so that compensates).

Anyway you ofc have to make your decision at turn one. You can't look around first. But at the very start you can already see that there is nothing east (your scout starts there). So moving west is the logical choice in this case. It's your best bet of finding resources.

[Seedle]

Okay, when we left off, I had killed the metalless Boudica and was planning on assaulting the barbarous, warmongering Sulieman. However, as I pass through Carthaginian territory, I see it is far too weakly defended to be let alone. So I attack Carthage instead. And although I made the mistake of not checking every single tile for metals, (seriously, he had like 5 tiles I couldn't see, he had a second source of metal in those 5. Oh well, what you get if you are lazy.) I did manage to pillage some improvements and raze 3 cities with minimal losses. With Sulieman somewhere the heck faraway, and Carthage neutered, I decide to settle down. A few thousand years of building, improving, and city founding pass, and gets me here:
http://apolyton.net/upload/thumb/90347_whereitsat2.CivBeyondSwordSave
Take a look if you care to, it is easier than me posting a hundred screenies. Comment on what you like, what you don't, and what you can't conceive any decent player ever doing.
For those who would prefer to just have screenshots:

The mighty Persian empire, largest in the world.

How in the heck do you have a GNP of 1?!?!

A couple AIs, notably Willem, have tech parity, but as my cottages mature and my new cities build Sankored religious buildings, I should pull ahead. The important thing is Carthage is just backwards as possible and Sulieman isn't doing much better, so my continent is mine.
Speaking of securing my continent, I was planning on upgrading these immortals to knights and going a-warring:

It would need reinforcements, but shouldn't have much trouble. However, I'd still have problems paying all the extra maintenance at this point, so I think I'll just start putting all my hammers into research instead, and go with my original plan of infantry-based conquest.

[MoonWolf]

This looks like a nice game to play for fun! I too would have moved the settler one tile east

[Vampgelus]

Originally posted by Seedle

How in the heck do you have a GNP of 1?!?!

By being a single-city that is working only forests, you would still have a GNP of 9 (1 from city tile + 8 from palace), so that's really strange !

Edit : I know how! Palace is under slaves revolt, and the second city is only working forests.

[snoopy369]

GNP, also, is reduced by maintenance costs (not that there should be maintenance costs that early).

[Supr49er]

Is it just me, or does anyone else get excited seeing any starting map - thinking about settling, expanding, building, etc.

[rah]

It's not just you.

[MoonWolf]

Originally posted by Supr49er
Is it just me, or does anyone else get excited seeing any starting map - thinking about settling, expanding, building, etc.

Me too! And that's probably why I rarely finish my games. I like to start a new game, maybe try out something new etc.

[Vampgelus]

Same thing here. The most of my games stop about renaissance.

[couerdelion]

Originally posted by Seedle
@Theben: Yeah, moving one square east is goodness. Why didn't I see that?

Doesn’t your later screenshot show your capital sitting on the stone (to the west!!).

I’m definitely with Diadem on this one. The only problem with settling on the stone is the short delaying in working the 3/0/1 corn tile at the start. But then the first build is presumably a worker so the cost is small.

The gold tile is OK but perhaps better for a second or third city. City one likes food and hammers and settling on the bonus hammer tile give you a lot of turn advantage.

[Diadem]

Originally posted by couerdelion


Doesn’t your later screenshot show your capital sitting on the stone (to the west!!).

I’m definitely with Diadem on this one. The only problem with settling on the stone is the short delaying in working the 3/0/1 corn tile at the start. But then the first build is presumably a worker so the cost is small.

The gold tile is OK but perhaps better for a second or third city. City one likes food and hammers and settling on the bonus hammer tile give you a lot of turn advantage.

I'm glad someone agrees! I was starting to think I was the only one. Even after having seen the entire map I'd say settling west is best - though the difference is less clear. But before having seen the map, settling west is a no-brainer. You've already seen east, and there are no resources there. So even if you don't know for sure what's west, you know it can't be worse than what lies east. Missing out a desert gold is really not such a big deal.

[Seedle]

Originally posted by couerdelion
Doesn’t your later screenshot show your capital sitting on the stone (to the west!!).

No, it doesn't.
Anyway, I need to increase my post count, so another update.
Being the wishy-washy leader I am, I ended up attacking Carthage when I got guilds. Knights and Maces roll on archers and swordsmen, so they went down easy. Ended up razing most of the cities, but had settlers following my stack, so all the land is safely in my culture. After finishing off Carthage, I had 9 turns to rifling. Waited, upgraded my maces, and am currently rolling on the Ottomans with CityRaider3 riflemen. The Ottomans are researching engineering .
My new land:


In less encouraging news, I popped my fourth great spy of the game. . I mean, I expect one with the Great Wall, but 4? The percent chance was 8 for the fourth one.
Other bad news: Cathering built the Taj. I was honestly planning on calling this a victory once I finished off my continent, but that is . Catherine must be punished.
My demographics:


With a tech lead (Willem is faking parity, but he's just beelining, he has to go back and get early stuff at some point.) and a huge commerce/production lead, this should be a cake walk.
And, because it's easier than posting a thousand screenshots and more informative, a save:

http://apolyton.net/upload/view/90347_whereitsat3.CivBeyondSwordSave

[Vampgelus]

You got easier tech lead, because in my game, Capac wiped out america and got all their land. He had done this before compass! So he is teching like hell.

Nice game you got there !

[Seedle]

Originally posted by Vampgelus
You got easier tech lead, because in my game, Capac wiped out america and got all their land. He had done this before compass! So he is teching like hell.

Nice game you got there !

Oh dear god, a financial civ with land. Yeah, that would make things interesting.

[Vampgelus]

BTW, that's why i said the AI was surprising me. Because they usually vassalise other AI rather then overtaking them completly.