The reason I suggest we don't ask for a NAP immediately is that we are unlikely to encounter a civ already gearing up for war as our first contact. Given that, we don't really NEED the NAP immediately unless we plan to leave our cities ungarrisoned, and it may be helpful to us to keep them guessing about our intentions until the 3rd or 4th diplomatic exchange between us.
I'm not suggesting we forego NAPs with our first neighbour, but they don't know that, and if we get lucky and are next to a paranoid player, we might even influence them into building a warrior too many, or putting hammers into a barracks instead of a granary or something like that.
I'm not suggesting we forego NAPs with our first neighbour, but they don't know that, and if we get lucky and are next to a paranoid player, we might even influence them into building a warrior too many, or putting hammers into a barracks instead of a granary or something like that.