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Feels strange to be referring to myself as a Newbie, but that, in a very real sense, is exactly the case here. Sure, I've spent a lot of time playing strategy games in general, but CtP2 is brand new to me, and from what I have seen in my limited forrays into the game thus far, it stands to have the kind of depth and intricate inner-workings that I have been hoping to find.
From what I have seen so far, it's a simply stunning system! Best 19 bucks I ever spent on a computer game!
What I'd like to do is make my newbie observations here exactly as they occur to me in-game, and if they're inaccurate or just downright wrong, I expect the CtP2 vets who might follow the development of this thread to correct my newbie mistakes. With luck, time, and games under my belt, the end result will be an ever-growing, quite good strat thread that others who take the time to discover just how cool the game really is can read, and get off to a running start!
So....first thing, and this may well show my newbie status better than anything else....I started my first (and only, so far) game as the Scots, and accepted all game defaults, which means Medium difficulty level. The game opener saw me with two (2) settler units--note to self: this may be variable, depending on difficulty level, and as such, may not be a universal rule of thumb, BUT! For the moment, two settlers....that's a familiar scene, hearkening back to SMAC days (transcend level play, two colony pods at game start).
Right away, I knew how to handle this, then, and felt quite comfortable with the setup.
I also decided that there was no compelling reason NOT to use use my usual Civ-style city spacing (with three blank tiles between cities, or, put another way, cities four tiles apart), so this led me to my first real strategic decision.
The same thinking that held true in SMAC *should* hold true in CTP2....that being, the most efficient use of those initial two settlers is to move them both on turn one, in opposite directions to get rapid spacing between them. (this, as opposed to building a city on turn one, and moving the other). Turn two sees me moving both settlers again, and now they're in position for building both cities on turn three (this, as opposed to building a city on turn one, and then having to wait until turn five to build the second city) - Caveat....since rivers effectively double your movement rate, rivers are of CRUCIAL early game importance, and founding cities on rivers seems the best move, not only for commerce bonus (I'm assuming that, in any case), but also for the sake of speed--if you're already ON the river moving, it's easy enough to set up shop there).
Thus, my first conclusion: Rivers are the BEST thing you can hope to see on the opener, even if the terrain surrounding the river is marginal....the speed bonus of being able to get both cities set up quickly FAR outweighs the long-term impacts of marginal city spots in the early game.
First priority after getting those cities founded is to train some explorers, and warriors are perfect in this role, so as a rule of thumb, we get, found city, build warrior to explore, build Hoplite to defend with, and fortify him in town.
That gets you set up where exploration, offense/exploration, and defense are concerned.
And of course, your exploring warriors are lookin' for new city sites and cashing in on those juicy "goody huts."
Growth: The best thing you can do for yourself in the early game is to make a farmer specialist and jack up that food production to help the city grow faster! A size one city won't produce much anyways, so it's not like you're losing a lot.
Other stuff to consider early on:
* Lower the science tax - not much need in having a wampum big science tax when you have no real scientific base to work with.
* Raise the length of workday for your people
* Increase their pay, to offset the increase in workday (countermand the happiness hit)
* Leave their ration the same, or lower it slightly if you find yourself flush with cash and can raise wages further to offset this added unhappiness hit (more food = faster growth, faster growth = more population, more population = more of everything).
* Lower public works tax 10-20%. In the early goings, all you're really gonna need are 1-2 farms and some roads for each of your towns....can't get mines and such till you have a few techs under your belt anyway, so you might as well squeeze out as much raw production as you can in makin' scouts, settlers, and defenders.
* USE the rushbuy button! Cash seems to be VERY easy to come by in this game, ESPECIALLY if you build a few of your cities near goods, with an eye toward trade routes a bit later (err...at least, if I'm understanding the way caravans work!).
* Roads = Mobility! In the early goings, make use of rivers whevever possible, but when you spend your PW points, spend them on food first (if you have a new town that has no farm) and roads as a close second. Connect rivers with roads leading to them to get a bit more mileage out of your fledgling road network!
Combined arms: Make an army as soon as you're able to, with at least three units in it. If you get an archer unit from a goody hut, so much the better....stick him in an army with a warrior and a hoplite, and you've got a mean trio....add a second archer as you can (either via goody hut or ballistics tech), and you've got a relatively mean, ancient era force. The thing is...with armies set up like they are, a force that has lossa missile troops and/or flanking units in it can CREAM a force made up entirely of footsloggers, even if that force is many times larger....take advantage of that, and set yourself up for the win with good army composition!
Feats of Wonder: The presence of the 'Circumnavigation' Feat of Wonder is an outstanding reason to get a boat in the water ASAP! That makes a coastal city of high importance as you explore! If your first two cities aren't on the coast, I'd make it a point to plant the third one there, and build a boat first thing!
Also, the "recapture what was once yours" feat of wonder can be a GODSEND if you time it right....given the limit on your number of cities, if you can conveniently arrange to lose one of your cities at about the same time you begin violating the city limit on Tyrannical governments, you can buy yourself some more time to make the switch to something kinder and gentler.
Slavers! They rule! They give you extra slaves any time an enemy unit is lost in battle! if your army does not have a slaver in it, you're missing out! Slaves = production! Get some from a barbarian horde near you (or any convenient neighbor!)
More later....almost time to go home and continue my game!
-=Vel=-
From what I have seen so far, it's a simply stunning system! Best 19 bucks I ever spent on a computer game!
What I'd like to do is make my newbie observations here exactly as they occur to me in-game, and if they're inaccurate or just downright wrong, I expect the CtP2 vets who might follow the development of this thread to correct my newbie mistakes. With luck, time, and games under my belt, the end result will be an ever-growing, quite good strat thread that others who take the time to discover just how cool the game really is can read, and get off to a running start!
So....first thing, and this may well show my newbie status better than anything else....I started my first (and only, so far) game as the Scots, and accepted all game defaults, which means Medium difficulty level. The game opener saw me with two (2) settler units--note to self: this may be variable, depending on difficulty level, and as such, may not be a universal rule of thumb, BUT! For the moment, two settlers....that's a familiar scene, hearkening back to SMAC days (transcend level play, two colony pods at game start).
Right away, I knew how to handle this, then, and felt quite comfortable with the setup.
I also decided that there was no compelling reason NOT to use use my usual Civ-style city spacing (with three blank tiles between cities, or, put another way, cities four tiles apart), so this led me to my first real strategic decision.
The same thinking that held true in SMAC *should* hold true in CTP2....that being, the most efficient use of those initial two settlers is to move them both on turn one, in opposite directions to get rapid spacing between them. (this, as opposed to building a city on turn one, and moving the other). Turn two sees me moving both settlers again, and now they're in position for building both cities on turn three (this, as opposed to building a city on turn one, and then having to wait until turn five to build the second city) - Caveat....since rivers effectively double your movement rate, rivers are of CRUCIAL early game importance, and founding cities on rivers seems the best move, not only for commerce bonus (I'm assuming that, in any case), but also for the sake of speed--if you're already ON the river moving, it's easy enough to set up shop there).
Thus, my first conclusion: Rivers are the BEST thing you can hope to see on the opener, even if the terrain surrounding the river is marginal....the speed bonus of being able to get both cities set up quickly FAR outweighs the long-term impacts of marginal city spots in the early game.
First priority after getting those cities founded is to train some explorers, and warriors are perfect in this role, so as a rule of thumb, we get, found city, build warrior to explore, build Hoplite to defend with, and fortify him in town.
That gets you set up where exploration, offense/exploration, and defense are concerned.
And of course, your exploring warriors are lookin' for new city sites and cashing in on those juicy "goody huts."
Growth: The best thing you can do for yourself in the early game is to make a farmer specialist and jack up that food production to help the city grow faster! A size one city won't produce much anyways, so it's not like you're losing a lot.
Other stuff to consider early on:
* Lower the science tax - not much need in having a wampum big science tax when you have no real scientific base to work with.
* Raise the length of workday for your people
* Increase their pay, to offset the increase in workday (countermand the happiness hit)
* Leave their ration the same, or lower it slightly if you find yourself flush with cash and can raise wages further to offset this added unhappiness hit (more food = faster growth, faster growth = more population, more population = more of everything).
* Lower public works tax 10-20%. In the early goings, all you're really gonna need are 1-2 farms and some roads for each of your towns....can't get mines and such till you have a few techs under your belt anyway, so you might as well squeeze out as much raw production as you can in makin' scouts, settlers, and defenders.
* USE the rushbuy button! Cash seems to be VERY easy to come by in this game, ESPECIALLY if you build a few of your cities near goods, with an eye toward trade routes a bit later (err...at least, if I'm understanding the way caravans work!).
* Roads = Mobility! In the early goings, make use of rivers whevever possible, but when you spend your PW points, spend them on food first (if you have a new town that has no farm) and roads as a close second. Connect rivers with roads leading to them to get a bit more mileage out of your fledgling road network!
Combined arms: Make an army as soon as you're able to, with at least three units in it. If you get an archer unit from a goody hut, so much the better....stick him in an army with a warrior and a hoplite, and you've got a mean trio....add a second archer as you can (either via goody hut or ballistics tech), and you've got a relatively mean, ancient era force. The thing is...with armies set up like they are, a force that has lossa missile troops and/or flanking units in it can CREAM a force made up entirely of footsloggers, even if that force is many times larger....take advantage of that, and set yourself up for the win with good army composition!
Feats of Wonder: The presence of the 'Circumnavigation' Feat of Wonder is an outstanding reason to get a boat in the water ASAP! That makes a coastal city of high importance as you explore! If your first two cities aren't on the coast, I'd make it a point to plant the third one there, and build a boat first thing!
Also, the "recapture what was once yours" feat of wonder can be a GODSEND if you time it right....given the limit on your number of cities, if you can conveniently arrange to lose one of your cities at about the same time you begin violating the city limit on Tyrannical governments, you can buy yourself some more time to make the switch to something kinder and gentler.
Slavers! They rule! They give you extra slaves any time an enemy unit is lost in battle! if your army does not have a slaver in it, you're missing out! Slaves = production! Get some from a barbarian horde near you (or any convenient neighbor!)
More later....almost time to go home and continue my game!
-=Vel=-
It's an honour to see the great strat writer take on CTP2. *bows humbly*
That's good to hear, Tamerlin, I feared you had given up already (I thought of doing a Dutch translation myself but the humongous Great Library file strike my heart with fear 
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