Hmm.... normally I'm a big fan of tight spacing for early cities, so that it can share capital specials and get off the ground quicker. But none of those tiles seem that great and/or haven't been scouted well (1SW of corn, S-SE of the cows)
Reaching for the horses seems fairly far away (SW of horse?). You coudl also settle on the ivory for a 2-hammer plant
Another thought I had was 1S of the rice.
But I guess I don't know where YOU are going to plant, but I'd plant 1SW of the corn, assuming that your scout finds other goodies there
And I vote Mining for tech, for a) your worker to have something to do, and b) on the way to Bronze Working
And I'm not sure why it looks like you're improving hte cows before wet corn?
It's either Mining or Pottery in this situation. I'm going to say Pottery because I'm psyching myself out and over-thinking. You've got +8 food with the corn farmed and cow pastured, so BW & pottery are both needed, but may as well get the cottages down earlier in what looks to be a good bureau capital.
Edit: Forgot to guess on city location. SW of the horse seems like a winner. You can put another city 1N of the rice later on, but right now the pigs/horse are a better city location with less investment needed (rice city needs border pop + fishing researched).
Now I'm talking myself into teching Fishing and planting right by the fish. This is why I shouldn't be on your top 10 list
Quote:And I'm not sure why it looks like you're improving hte cows before wet corn?
Cows takes 1t fewer to improve and is also adjacent. The end result is you grow to size 2 a turn earlier with cows while also producing 4h to complete the warrior and get 2h overflow, and can then immediately start a worker or settler at size 2. Once at size 2 the only difference between improved corn and cows is 1 commerce.
City 1SE of the pigs for pigs + horses. Its a bit slower than the rice city, but it's better enough to make it worth. Maybe an early chariot could work too, to give something for the opponents to think about.
Tech is mining. Too early for pottery or religion, especially since the second city doesn't need a border pop to be good. And I don't see grassland cottages being worked so early in the game, especially with possible riverside grassland mines to be worked.
Either Myst>Med or Poly, settler at size 2 and settle 1S of the horse to get the holy city to pop borders and get the pigs and ivory as well. Other option is Mining>BW, 8fpt is enough for two turn growth at size 2 without any saved food, meaning it is easy to catch up and slave out a granary later on. Pottery to me seems to be a bit slow, can't slave or chop the granary, no mines to build it, no pop to work cottages as yet, and pottery and a second worker just seems to be the wrong move. Pottery and early settler doesn't really accomplish anything is rather risky.
So I'm going to go with Mining>BW because I think Polytheism would be researched before a second city can be founded. Mining is 37 beakers, BW 91 beakers, total research time is 10 turns. It might actually be possible to go Mining>BW and then still get to Polytheism first. It means that a granary is out and you wouldn't slave too hard, but you're gambling that you get an extra 3 happy from religion, quickish ivory and cheap SPI temple when you go to Priesthood for the Oracle. That then allows you to build/chop the Oracle in the second city (1S of the horse) whilst researching Pottery to open up free MC.
Settling desicion is premature, but based on available info claiming Horses+Pigs makes the best 2nd city. Not sure about tech. Getting religion to 2nd city would be good idea, but it might land too early to be useful on 2nd city so I would go for Mining. In case religion is potentially landing then settling position is very flexible. If not, then the tile SW from horses is best.
Timing information for people who have already guessed:
Hinduism is 12 turns out (in the screenshot, before ending turn). A settler can be built in 10 turns (4t to grow, 6t for the settler: 3*9h + 3*12h + 2h overflow from warrior). This is not to say that settler next is necessarily the best choice, but it does line up just fine with getting a religion.
