What is the best way to go

[civmaster_16]

What is the best way to go for building your first ten cities. What buildings and units do you build within that time and how long does it take you to get that amount of cities?

[Nordicus]

Civmaster_16:

I'm not sure what the BEST way to go is. I usually do things the hard way. But maybe this can help you a bit.
It depends on your environment and how you want to play--peacefully or, like me, a militant bastard. I rarely play peacefully, so can't help ya there. If you play aggressively, then leave one defensive unit in each city that is safe from attack by the AI civs. Get walls up quickly, esp. near AI civs' territory. Build mounted units that can spread out quickly (take advantage of huts, however insipid they may be...I usually reduce the amounts of these or change their values (i.e. risks.txt) because I'm not a big fan of 'hut armies'). Try to get Theocracy as soon as you can, build temples and graineries, since doing so will help you expand and prevent trouble with unhappiness.
Also, put a slaver in every city to spot AI slavers trying to enslave your people.

AI civs equal or stronger then me I try to ally with insistantly. If you're on a medium sized contintent alone, then you're cruisin; if you have one or more neighbors, think defensive and ally with the stronger, dig in and work on your navy since your expansion is fairly limited. If your on a large land mass, subdue as much and as quickly as you can (before any neighbors can do so), don't worry about a navy for a while, of course, locate any threat and use defensive units (preferably on terrain that adds a defensive bonus) to prevent the AI from wandering on your property. Whenever possible, what I do is build a front along an AI civ's border--if I don't want to take them over right away--with fortifications if possible. Keep it as tight as you can to prevent any AI unit from sneaking past.
By the time I have eight cities or so, I'm usually semi-mobilized and the next few cities of mine come from a weak AI civ.
It depends how long it takes. I start the game in -5000, so by probably -3500 (-2500 if I play from -4000) I have ten cities, in an average game, I guess, though I've never really kept track of that. It all depends on the type of continent I'm on, who's on it with me, and the terrain (which determines how fast cities can grow, how fast settlers can be produced to create new cities). As for Wonders, again, which ones to go after depend on different things, so it's hard to say.
But if you want a peaceful sort of game, hopefully someone else can share some tips.

That's all I know. Hope it helps.


N.



[This message has been edited by Nordicus (edited October 24, 1999).]

[Nordicus]

Oops! That's not right: -2500 in a -5000 game and -1500 in a -4000-starting game.

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