I played 10 turns, to kickstart the game. This initial turns have a lot of decisions to talk about, but we need to balance discussion with turn playing. The majority opinion seemed to be to settle in place. In the end, as the pics will show, Archduke's spider sense is powerful and should be taken seriously.
Unfortunately, the fresh water tile near the lake didn't show on the first turn. We could have a fresh water city, with a 2/3 tile, a great luxury (gems), a lot of 2/2 tiles and hills to grow into. But I stand by the initial decision, as that info was unavaiable.
There's still a good place to put a city near the gems. It's not as good as the other one, but it's still decent. And beggars can't be choosers...
The good news from the early game came from Foreign Trade Inspiration and Vilnius as our neighbour. We got the free envoy. Quest is generate a Great Writer and the suzerain bonus is one random inspiration per new era. This city is a capture target for us, I'd say. The quick culture allowed us to reach Code of Laws very early, from which I choose +5 against barbs and +1 faith, +1 gold (because getting the pantheon is worth it, I think).
I opened with a slinger and I micro the city to the 1/2 tile at size 2. I think we need to focus on production in the early game, so that went over the 2/1 tile, probably until we have a builder ready.
We got a scout contact very early and, on the 10th turn, as my turnset ended, the reinforcements reached us. The good news is that the warrior already has a promotion, from a hut, so we can heal if needed. I think fortifying the warrior in the hill might be a good idea, or perhaps keep him on the south side of the river, to maybe fight only one horse at a time. Good news is that we have no tiles to be pillaged.
Overview picture from the south:
I think we should build a builder next, since the warrior and slinger, helped by the city, should be enough to keep the horses away. Next tech should probably be mining, archery can't take long as well, most likely. Be careful not to pass on the 50% of State Workforce, as we can Eureka it easily.
The builder could perhaps finish the pasture, wheat farm and a hill mine, because we have decent food, but we lack production. Just bouncing some ideas.
Archduke is next, 10 turns I think is enough. About the save, see next post...