What to build at the beggining.

[Tillur]

Is it good to build like 2 workers, 1 scout, 2 settlers, 1 warrior, 2 spearman, barracks, and then one other random thing for your first ten things. Thats the order I normally use for my capital at the beginning.


And is it best to put your capital by a river, by an ocean, on a resource, or right beside a resource. I normally get my capital right by a river or a good resouce.

[Capt Dizle]

Somewhat dependant on the level and the position. If you have a scout you may not want another. You do not need a barracks or a spearman. Most common start sequence is warrior, warrior, settler. Use the first warrior to scout and the second for happiness.

In placing your first city do not move far. Never found one square away from the ocean. Use a scout or your worker to move first to reveal terrain and if you are going to move a square or two you should consider food. Food is the most important early resource.

[Jon Miller]

I geneally build warriors and settlers

with the occasional worker if it looks like it would be advatagious

jon Miller

[vmxa1]

It is best to found next to a river, because that will allow your city to go to size 12 without an aqueduct. Rivers provide extra commerce to adjacent tiles and of course are a source of water for irrigation.

I basically agree with what JT said. You could consider a move to a granary for the city before the first settler, but after is viable as well.

Making workers first is best left for a very specific game and a very skilled player. Make two pump cities and use them to make workers.

[:) Smiley]

Whenever you can, found on a hill. Hills make your city easier to defend, and all city squares produce the same resources. That said, avoid wasting a grassland shield or resource square on the city square.

[vmxa1]

I think using a hill for a capitol is again a special case, if you have to move to do it.
The defense bonus is rarely going to be needed for the capitol. It will not come under attack all that often. Later cities can benefit form the bonus, especially if close to another civ.

[PeaSoup]

now, if that hill contained gold, then it'll definitely be worth it to move there since your city can take advantage of the extra commerce right away

[MrWhereItsAt]

Keep in mind that if you found on the only hill in your radius, you had better be sure there are other sources of shields around, as founding on any terrain will only give you a single shield for the city square. The only bonuses that are kept when founding a city on them are trade ones.

If you are going to build workers early on, then you will need to be sure that you can do something worthwhile with them, otherwise they are just potential barbarian fodder. Since food is regarded by many as King in the early game (including me!), using your starting worker and any new ones you build to get any wheat or floodplains in your radius irrigated is an excellent idea, as is using a worker(s) to clear a forest around to speed up the construction of a Granary. Gaining an extra food per turn for a city or two does not seem like much but it can have a profound effect.

A strategy expert known as Velociryx once wrote of 'turn advantage'. He wrote about it in relation to a different game, but the idea still applies. If you gain a slight turn advantage early on and KEEP it, that 1 extra food per city for a few turns ahead of your opponents can lead into an enormous benefit later on.

[steven8r]

NEVER settle on Bonus Resources (unless it's just a commerce bonus) because you will lose any extra food/shields that that bonus would give.

That being said, once you get out of the REX phase, and on into later Ages, you can settle a city on a resource, but do it only to secure said resource, not to benefit your city.

Resources that only produce Commerce (OK to found a city upon):
Horses
Saltpeter
Rubber
Dyes
Incense
Spices
Ivory
Silks
Gems
Gold
Tobacco

As for an early-game build queue, check-out the Strat Forum.
Here's a good thread by Theseus (it's' actually in the General not Strat Forum.) And my new personal favorite early strategy by Ducki that is especially useful--if somewhat confusing)

Edit: added links /edit

Steven

[Theseus]

All good suggestions, and I think you'll find the Winning Early... thread a useful tool.

More important for a great early game though, I think, is to focus on what you want to accomplish... and the one thing I can tell you is that no matter WHAT strategy you are pursuing, you want ROADS. Check out some the screen shots from the best of the AU games in the Strat forum, and you'll see that all of the best players road their early terrain like crazy.

Sorry for taking this a bit OT, but the thought jumped out at me.

[MrMismatch]

Here is a rough build order for my Capital at the begining of the game.

1. City Defender, usually a Spearman if avalible
2. Warrior, to scout new city sites
3. Spearman, to protect my Settler
4. Settler
5. Worker, to improve my new city and Capital
6. Temple, keep my citizens happy
7. Granary, if near fresh water

At this point I look at the state of my world. Do I have a fresh water source at my capital? If so, I generally shoot for the Pyramids or at this point. If I do not have fresh water in my Capital I use it as a settler factory, alternating production between settlers and spearmen.

In my other cities I generally build as follows.

1. Worker
2. Temple
3. Barracks
4. Settler
5. Spearman

This gives me a solid base from which I can expand from. These lists are not set in stone, and often the most influential factors include fresh water, coast line, as well as how near I am to my enemy(ies).

The wonders that I generaly concentrate on are:

1. The Pyramids
2. Sun Tzu's Art of War
3. Adam Smith's Trading Company
4. The Sistine Chaple

Often I find that I am able to get one or two of these wonders. I recently played severaly games in which I was unable to get ANY wonders completed at all. These games are often the most difficult.

[Theseus]

No insult intended, but I am hereby taking a new, general, warmongerish stance:

Spearman suck.



I might even put that in my signature.

[asleepathewheel]

spear first? zounds!!!!

depending of course on the terrain (and always if ag), I might go-worker-warrior (scout) warrior (garrison) grainary, settler. (fiddling with the WF until growth=unit build) (using lux slider if growth outpaces the first garrison build)

If expansionist, I always build a scout first. Otherwise you are wasting the trait, IMHO. Need to get the huts faster than the AI.

[vmxa1]

First to build a spear you need the tech. Second they cost too much and take to long to start with them. Warriors are just fine.

[MrMismatch]

I build spears because they can be upgraded thru the eras, so therefore when I upgrade my units I have at least one modern defender in each city I build.

often i build a warrior then a spear, all depending on how many food and shields I have in my begining city.

and yes spearmen do suck, but not against horsemen. no barbs cutting into my treasury early game