Starting Strategies

tunerica · 12-02-2004, 06:04

Not sure if this has been asked before, but I couldn't find it anywhere on this site, I was wondering what peoples general strategy or plan of attack for the first few turns is (for single player games).

As a general rule I think most people focus on expanding, what I am more interested in knowing is what are some good ways to expand quickly. What improvements are important, or whether it is even worth having any improvements built in the early stages?

I play emperor level, my strategy in my most recent game was to build a few warriors first up, one to keep the people happy at size 2 and the others to find good spots for my future cities, I then built a temple, to keep them happy at size 3, then from this point on till I could not expand anymore I built settler, spearman, settler, spearman .....etc. Sending the spearman to the city constructed by the previous settler. For all other cities after the capital the first thing I built was a temple, then most of these also started buiiding settlers. The only problem I found with this strategy was that I had early money problems.

Any what are peoples thoughts

Plux · 12-02-2004, 06:53

I think you might find that most of us generally don't build temples so early (unless you're going for a cultural vic) but often build grannies instead (after the obligatory warriors/curraghs). Depending on what tiles I've got I often use forest chopping or (only with an abundance of flood plains or wheat) pop rushing to speed it up. Get that 4-turn settler factory running!

col · 12-02-2004, 08:33

Spearmen are too expensive early on - its often quite late before I build them. Warriors are just as good for garrison duties.

Many of us play variations on the farmers gambit - that is only building units for exploration and just pumping out unescorted settlers as fast as we can. Use the lux slider to keep order. Of course the barb setting has a big effect on whether this is a viable option.

Skyfish · 12-02-2004, 08:45

As you note yourself, temples cost too much in the early game in upkeep !
They also take a long time to buid, warriors used as MP are much better to keep your cities happy.
Most important is to use the lux sliders ! Sometimes you can have the lux slider up to 40% for a few turns, its not a problem.
It requires to check your F1 screen every turn though...
Temples are really not needed until well into the game. Connect luxes as soon as possible

Lt. Killer M · 12-02-2004, 09:45

I ain't tellin'

Socrates · 12-02-2004, 09:47

I'm a fan of the beginning of the game, so I want to add my point of view...

First I see if I can set up my capital as a settler factory. This requires +4 or +5 fpt, so I have to see if I can reach that with the 21 capital tiles. One year ago, when I was starting playing Civ3, I found out it was hard to play like I had been doing so far with Civ 1 & 2, and the first important thing I learnt at CFC was the settler factory. I think I jumped a whole level just by considering that.

Now under some conditions, setting up a settler factory might not be a good idea, it depends on the size of the map, the victory you are after, barbarians... Anyway like many others, I'm a huge fan of expanding very fast.

As for techs, it really depends on a lot of conditions, your starting techs and other things, so there is no strict rule IMHO. And yes, warriors instead of spearmen.

Now you have to know something, even if it's obvious. Building settlers and workers can be seen as an investment, just like with money in RL. You lose power for a while, hoping to gain more power than you first lost in the long-term. So your call. If you want to stay with a little bunch of cities for the whole game (why not ?), you won't want to build so many settlers, and so you could build temples and spearmen faster. Your empire will be stronger for a while, and maybe you could take advantage of this to make it stronger (wars... wonders...). Settling like mad will help in the middle of the game only. That's where the game is usually decided. And remember : the more land, the more luxes and strategic resources.

I suggest you read solo reports on some of those great players' Web sites, and/or spoilers on this forum, even if it's PBEM.

tunerica · 12-02-2004, 10:21

Great to hear everyones input. Will try using the warriors instead of temples, sounds like it could be a winner. I think the reason I persisted with the spearman instead of warriors was because of a few factors, but I guess it all came down to the fact that I had temples instead of granaries. Since the city was taking longer to get to size 3 (without the granaries) it seemed that building the spearman took up enough turns that the settler would always finish around about when the city reached size 3, whereas when I used the warriors turns were always wasted waiting for it to get to size 3. The weird thing about it all was that this game was the most I have ever dominated the game on this level.

12-02-2004, 06:04	#1
tunerica Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Australia. Posts: 123	Starting Strategies Not sure if this has been asked before, but I couldn't find it anywhere on this site, I was wondering what peoples general strategy or plan of attack for the first few turns is (for single player games). As a general rule I think most people focus on expanding, what I am more interested in knowing is what are some good ways to expand quickly. What improvements are important, or whether it is even worth having any improvements built in the early stages? I play emperor level, my strategy in my most recent game was to build a few warriors first up, one to keep the people happy at size 2 and the others to find good spots for my future cities, I then built a temple, to keep them happy at size 3, then from this point on till I could not expand anymore I built settler, spearman, settler, spearman .....etc. Sending the spearman to the city constructed by the previous settler. For all other cities after the capital the first thing I built was a temple, then most of these also started buiiding settlers. The only problem I found with this strategy was that I had early money problems. Any what are peoples thoughts

12-02-2004, 08:33	#3
col King Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: South Sandwich Islands. Posts: 1,529	Spearmen are too expensive early on - its often quite late before I build them. Warriors are just as good for garrison duties. Many of us play variations on the farmers gambit - that is only building units for exploration and just pumping out unescorted settlers as fast as we can. Use the lux slider to keep order. Of course the barb setting has a big effect on whether this is a viable option. __________________ I can't be arsed.

12-02-2004, 08:45	#4
Skyfish Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: dead. Posts: 2,349	As you note yourself, temples cost too much in the early game in upkeep ! They also take a long time to buid, warriors used as MP are much better to keep your cities happy. Most important is to use the lux sliders ! Sometimes you can have the lux slider up to 40% for a few turns, its not a problem. It requires to check your F1 screen every turn though... Temples are really not needed until well into the game. Connect luxes as soon as possible __________________ <font color=\"brown\"> <b><i>\"NOT back from the dead\"</b></i> </font id=\"brown\">

12-02-2004, 09:45	#5
Lt. Killer M Emperor Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: HAWK!. Posts: 4,365	I ain't tellin' __________________ One more turn..... just one more turn... one MORE!

12-02-2004, 09:47	#6
Socrates Emperor Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Seattle, WA Posts: 3,946	I'm a fan of the beginning of the game, so I want to add my point of view... First I see if I can set up my capital as a settler factory. This requires +4 or +5 fpt, so I have to see if I can reach that with the 21 capital tiles. One year ago, when I was starting playing Civ3, I found out it was hard to play like I had been doing so far with Civ 1 & 2, and the first important thing I learnt at CFC was the settler factory. I think I jumped a whole level just by considering that. Now under some conditions, setting up a settler factory might not be a good idea, it depends on the size of the map, the victory you are after, barbarians... Anyway like many others, I'm a huge fan of expanding very fast. As for techs, it really depends on a lot of conditions, your starting techs and other things, so there is no strict rule IMHO. And yes, warriors instead of spearmen. Now you have to know something, even if it's obvious. Building settlers and workers can be seen as an investment, just like with money in RL. You lose power for a while, hoping to gain more power than you first lost in the long-term. So your call. If you want to stay with a little bunch of cities for the whole game (why not ?), you won't want to build so many settlers, and so you could build temples and spearmen faster. Your empire will be stronger for a while, and maybe you could take advantage of this to make it stronger (wars... wonders...). Settling like mad will help in the middle of the game only. That's where the game is usually decided. And remember : the more land, the more luxes and strategic resources. I suggest you read solo reports on some of those great players' Web sites, and/or spoilers on this forum, even if it's PBEM. __________________ Sent from my Debian

12-02-2004, 06:53	#2
Plux King Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 1,213	I think you might find that most of us generally don't build temples so early (unless you're going for a cultural vic) but often build grannies instead (after the obligatory warriors/curraghs). Depending on what tiles I've got I often use forest chopping or (only with an abundance of flood plains or wheat) pop rushing to speed it up. Get that 4-turn settler factory running!

12-02-2004, 10:21	#7
tunerica Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Australia. Posts: 123	Great to hear everyones input. Will try using the warriors instead of temples, sounds like it could be a winner. I think the reason I persisted with the spearman instead of warriors was because of a few factors, but I guess it all came down to the fact that I had temples instead of granaries. Since the city was taking longer to get to size 3 (without the granaries) it seemed that building the spearman took up enough turns that the settler would always finish around about when the city reached size 3, whereas when I used the warriors turns were always wasted waiting for it to get to size 3. The weird thing about it all was that this game was the most I have ever dominated the game on this level.