Order of Production

[Commy]

So like, say for your capital city, what order do you build your improvements and units and settlers and such?

I always build a warrior, then either a curragh or scout, depending on civ, then I build my settler. Next goes a spearmen or hoplite, and then a temple, followed by another spearmen or hoplite and then I go to a wonder...

After the wonders done, comes a library and then a marketplace...then, depending on conditions, another wonder...

Ultimately, I just have my capital city build 2 settlers, then let it build up...

[punkbass2000]

It's very situation dependent. Curragh, Warrior, Worker, Granary and Scout all have good odds at being my first build; little else does. My second is entirely dependent on the first and what the first does, and with only two plies there are already far too many likely combos for me to even mention, let alone go into any sort of detail about. I almost never build wonders or Temples early. One or two Barracks and two or three Granaries is how it usually works out.

[vmxa1]

So many factors have to go into the choice. Unless I am a seafaring civ, I don't expect to start where I can build a curragh.

I also need to have the the tech for it and I may not. I am more likely to use a second or the third city for boats.

If you are playing a level that only gets the first born as content, you will have to get a second warrior up soon. Otherwise you have to have luxs hooked up and/or use the slider. I am not going to have a temple until I try for a wonder.

Wonders are very tricky after emperor in the ancient age. I am not likely to try to get two, unless it turns out I have the only ivory and get SoZ as a second one or I play at demi or less.

That leaves workers and settlers. I tend to not make workers in the capitol. That is what pumps are meant to do. If the capitol has lots of food, it will pump out settlers, if not after a maybe two it will turn to other task. The first two settlers founding pumps (hopefully).

[Kloreep]

Always a few warriors to start with. I need to know what's around me, and I need to garrison my capital for happiness if nothing else.

Then, it depends. My priority is to either build a granary in my capital, or quickly build a second city near some food sources which will build a granary. Depending on that, it takes seperate tracks: Either a food pump, or a military producer that also builds some pop units as it can spare them.

[Shogun Gunner]

This type of queue scripting for standard build orders seemed to be more popular in Civ2.

With Civ3, there are additional variables that make build orders very "situational dependant" as Punkbass2000 stated. One of the major new variables would be the civilization's special traits and UU. The changes in terrain also influence choices.

[Theseus]

Different every game.

[Commy]

I don't tend to build granaries very much, in fact, I can't remember the last time I built one, I just like my temples and my wonders. Then again, I only play on regent, so my strategy will probably be far less different than you guys...

[chuckdelicious]

If you want to grow your civ, Commy, I suggest you look into building them. Most of us will use some early cities as settler and/or worker pumps. Granaries allow you to produce these units more quickly.

[Cort Haus]

Difficulty level, Civ traits, map type, local terrain all make a difference. On Regent you're pretty free to build what you like, and to a lesser extent on Monarch. At Emperor you are more restricted, and above that you have to get it right or you're in trouble.

Early priorities are to explore, grow, research, defend. Higher difficulty levels make all these both harder and more important.

On Pangea maps, contact with other civs is important to stay in the tech loop, so more warriors / scouts are needed early on with these maps.

As already stated, most players here will want a granary soon to churn out faster settlers. This will often be in the capital. Another advantage of granaries is that in sustaining/growing pop, more roaded tiles can be worked by cities for commerce -> research.

Being Militaristic or Religious offers cheap barracks or temples, both of which can benefit warmongery in the short and longer terms. A very early temple or two helps agains culture flips later in the game, and a barracks/granary combo in a low-food capital can alternate settlers and vet warriors/archers/spears to escort them. 10-12 early vet warriors can be handy to have around later on for a mass upgrade when Iron is connected.

[Krill]

OK, while everyone here has said that what they build depends upon the situation, alot can still change...

Here is a save and the opening pic. I (and I suspect, Commy as well...) would like people to play out the start and post a DAR, of the first 40 turns atleast. The settings are middle of the road, but raging barbs, and emperor (C3C 1.22)

[Krill]

And the Start...

[Krill]

Please note that it is a large map (I only just found out. My apologies if it stops you playing this game.)

[Kloreep]

Not sure if I'll actually play this game out, but I'll DAR the start, certainly

[Krill]

Thanks Klo

[Kloreep]

Warning: DAR with pic and descriptions follows.

4000 BC: Worker moves 2. This is the tile I'll want to work if I found here, and I will likely found right on the start; but, if the worker sees a food source I can get by moving, I will do so.

Worker sees a game tile! That's essentially a wheat on grass once the forest is chopped down. However, I'll get that tile in 10 turns anyway; I'd gain +1 spt by moving, but that would lose me some food and 2 shields; not to mention I'd have to either move away from the river or found on a bonus grass. So, I found Thebes right where the settler is.

After founding, I can see water to the west. No more food resources; that's a bummer. Even a wine would have given me that magical +5 food per turn.

I set research on pottery. You never know who you're going to meet, and unless I find a +5 food per turn spot, Thebes will be building a granary ASAP. Build stays on warrior.

3950 BC: I order the worker to road. Because of the way the builds of two warrors work out, mining first actually wouldn't get me the first sooner, and the second will be cut to 4 turns even if I road first. And this way I get a little more commerce.

3850 BC: Worker starts mining.

3750 BC: My first warrior completes; I'll send him out exploring.

Because I have a food resource that puts me near +5 fpt, my first priority will be to explore the area around it. This way, if there are more food sources close by that will give me a +5 fpt pump, I'll know before I have to decide between a settler and a granary.

The warrior moves 6 to start with.

3700 BC: The warrior moves 3 on to a mountain. Hope begins to fade for finding +5 fpt, but there's still a chance; he'll move south on that chance.

3650 BC: The worker finishes mining. Since I still have 5 more turns to go on warriors (I'm going to build all three), I don't want to chop the forest just yet; so, I move the worker 9 on to the bonus grass 3 of Thebes.

3600 BC: The worker roads. I don't want to spend the time on a mine, and the worker can move back on the road and mine once it's done with the game tile.

The warrior moves 2, and discovers two cattle tiles!

I now know my strategy. I will found two cites, one 2-2 of Thebes, the other 3-3-3 of Thebes. These two cities will build granaries and share the three (irrigated) food tiles. Since each tile will give +2 fpt, this will give each city either +4 or +6 fpt depending on which one gets the cattle in the middle; I'll alterante this so that each gets +10 fpt every two turns, giving me two food pumps that grow every 2 turns.

Once the game is chopped and irrigated, Thebes will grow every 5 turns. That should be good enough to get two settlers out of it for these two cities.

So, it turns out I probably could have researched something else before pottery (The Wheel?), since it will take a while to found the two cities, and they could have used Barracks as pre-builds. But, if there hadn't been other food sources out there and I wanted to build a granary right away in Thebes, that wouldn't have worked; so I'm still happy with my decision to research pottery first.