What do you do during the first 20 minutes?

[sboog]

I've got to get a better start or something. It seems the first 20 minutes of the game all I do is build warriors, fortify them or just explore. I might build roads. And after awhile I get a science advance.

And so I keep on exploring and my warriors are scattered around and nothing happens unless I bump into another civ which I can not conquer with one warrior.

I end up bringing them back home - wasting their moves.

Nothing happens.

How do you spend your first 20 minutes?

I need a plan or a simple strategy guide. The Prima one is not much help.

sboog

[Lethargic]

Prima's "strategies" are always funny, could you post some of them?

[zulu9812]

Build settlers. Early expansion is the key. Just be wary of Barbarians.

[dojoboy]

Re: What do you do during the first 20 minutes?

Originally posted by sboog

And so I keep on exploring and my warriors are scattered around and nothing happens unless I bump into another civ which I can not conquer with one warrior.

I end up bringing them back home - wasting their moves.


sboog

Maybe park some warriors over key resources. The AI could still build a city next to the warrior but it might discourage them, or better yet, if the map allows it, set up a blockade w/ warriors to prevent rival civs access. Just thoughts.

[Stuie]

Re: What do you do during the first 20 minutes?

Originally posted by sboog
How do you spend your first 20 minutes?

First twenty minutes:

Build capital with settler (without moving - just take what you're dealt).
Set city to build warrior (or spearman if available and city growth is slow enough that it won't slow down settler production).
Move worker to nearest plain/grassland, with preference going to wheat/cows/etc.
Build mine with worker, then road. Repeat.
Once warrior/spearman is built, either:
build settler if city will grow to 3 before settler is completed;
build another warrior.
Send warrior/spearman out exploring.
Once first settler is built, build a unit to defend the city, then begin on settlers again timing them for completion right around when city will reach 3. I repeat this cycle with my additional cities as well.

Note that because your first city is plopped down wherever you started, the placement of your second city is extremely important. Chances are the second city will end up far surpassing your first in terms of production.

Oops, I think my twenty minutes are up.

[BigBear]

Humerous.
http://sports.yahoo.com/pga/gallery/...gs_rcp107.html

[Capt Dizle]

I actually play during the first twenty minutes. After that what I do is watch the "please wait" notification and take blood pressure medicine. The American Heart Association has recently added the following to their web site:

The risk of coronary heart disease rises as Civ3 play activity increases. When other risk factors (such as high blood pressure, cigarette smoke, high blood cholesterol levels) are present, this risk increases even more.
Playing Civ3 on computers that are well above the minimum system requirements for Civ3 can somewhat mitigate this risk.

[Jawa Jocky]

Re: What do you do during the first 20 minutes?

Originally posted by sboog
I've got to get a better start or something. It seems the first 20 minutes of the game all I do is build warriors, fortify them or just explore. I might build roads. And after awhile I get a science advance.

And so I keep on exploring and my warriors are scattered around and nothing happens unless I bump into another civ which I can not conquer with one warrior.

I end up bringing them back home - wasting their moves.

Nothing happens.

How do you spend your first 20 minutes?

I need a plan or a simple strategy guide. The Prima one is not much help.

sboog

Here is a suggestion for your next 20 minutes. Get Iron, build barracks, bring your warriors home and upgrade them to swordsmen.

Here is a suggestion for the following 20 minutes. Think of your swordsmen as garden shears. Now go pruin back that annoying AI.

[Arrian]

I build warriors and settlers. The warriors explore, pop huts, and meet other civs. Then they roam about either killing barb camps for 25g a pop, or meeting up with settlers and acting as garrisons. The settlers... um, settle. New cities build temples, a worker or maybe a new settler, barracks, a spearman to compliment the warrior they already have, and then start on attack units (chariots mostly). When I have enough troops, I start breaking things.

You may want to check out the strategy forum.

-Arrian

[Bella Hella]

i actually consider the very beginning of the game to be on of the most fun parts of the game. expansion is such a critical thing and so important to plan out! i make warriors to explore every inch of the map so i know exactly where the AI is, and to escort my settlers. i make a ton of settlers and... uh, go settle. spearmen to defend, blah blah blah. but i think the exploration and expansion is actually pretty exciting. if you're looking for some more action, you could set the barbarians to raging or something.. or play a smaller map? and instead of moving your warriors back home, why not trace the border of the AI's territory to get a good idea of what they're up to? or patrol for barbarians - they're always popping up.

[Sava]

Settlers are the way to go.... temple, spearmen, settlers,library, spearmen, settlers.... sometimes I throw in something else, like a worker... it depends on the situation I'm in. My strategy is not set in stone, it is catered to the environment.

[zulu9812]

very true - horses for courses

[jshelr]

At the beginning, I tend to research warrior code, iron working, head for horseback riding before dialing back to minimun research. At the same time, with barbarians set on raging, I try to limit warrior production and use speamen/bowmen as Bab. They are far more survivable. The trick is often to stop expanding at the right moment (before you become thin and overly extended) and build out your road network and barracks in time to be well prepared for the inevitable early war. Because your head count is low, but qualitly of unit high, the AI will attack you early. Make them pay, beat some techs out of them, and try to overrun your continent using the intitial cities as a swordmen/horsemen factory. The trick at that point is not to get too extended. Once you are big enough to compete for the long term on science and you've landed enough lux, stop and build. (Always get some tundra or position to get it after calvary.)

[Cookie Monster]

In the beginning I set science to 1 or zero. I want to maximize my gold intake.

Build 2-3 warriors right off the bat. Maybe then I start a settler. Send the warriors out to explore. When you first contact a civ try to buy tech off of them. You should have the money to do so.

Explore a bit more while continuing to build troops plus the occasional and I mean occasional settler. Find another civ if any and buy tech off of them too all the while you keep building up an army. Forgot to mention you need a couple of barracks.

Then go grind your neighbors into the ground. Kill 'em off early. Extort all sorts of goodies from them for peace. Then kill 'em anyway. Rinse repeat.

Then settle down and play peacefully for a while. Always look to expand your land one way or the other.

[Ribannah]

During my first 20 minutes, I ponder about the optimal city site for my Settler ...