The Big Picture

[OzzyKP]

Oh, ok then.

[DNK]

Especially since this will be an aggressive MP game, focusing on specialists rather than cottages will be important - razed improvements is common even if you repel an enemy. As such, cottaging in our core and farming our outer cities will be necessary.

Should we aim for the Mids then? It's a massive hammer sink, but if we're going farm-heavy, have the resource (stone?), and have the forests to chop, is it a terrible idea? I always run a cottage-heavy economy, so my specialist skills and experience are lacking...

[Dinner]

Should we not first decide on a general strategy we like best for our combined tastes,
and then after that select the best civ/leader choice to fit that strategy?

ie. Are we going for:
- slaving
- cottage
- great people
- early wonders
- expanding
- early militaristic

I assume that this game is going to be a lot more warmongerish then we are used to in our diplogames.
Perhaps a militaristic approach won't hurt too much.
There are some odds that the early phase may be more about surviving then about expanding.

That's what I'd do and what it seemed like 90% of the MP game players did. Rush to slavery so you can whip, build some cottages so the money can flow, then expand like mad and if you can find an undefended city or a scout you can kill along the way do that as well.