I'm playing Civ4 BtS for the first time in a good while? What settings do you...

[Dr. Nomadic]

...recommend? I started a game as Portugal on Noble with all the default settings, and by the middle ages things quickly started to look bleak. So tell me all the settings that you recommend for someone who is playing Civ4 for the first time in a while.

BTW I've won games on Noble level in Warlords, but I've never won anything in BtS.

Also, I might try to chronicle my game on this very site.

[sunrise089]

I'd try Noble again. IMHO BtS is easier than Warlords - certainly in the early game.

[Dr. Nomadic]

Well, I had financial problems in my file and then Saladin encroached on all of the city sites that I wanted. Then I settled a useless ice city (with hills and iron!), and I just quit. Oh, and I was technologically behind (only slightly, but still).

Finally, what settings (map, map settings, civilization, leader, and whatever I'm forgetting) do you recommend to me?)

[Dr. Nomadic]

May I please have a quick response?

[Dr. Nomadic]

Please give me a response.

[Iamjohn]

This isn't CFC, you arn't going to get a response 20 minutes after you post.

I'd say go as Rome, normal pangea, noble, quick or normal, with maybe more opponents then normal.

If you'd rather go economic instead of military change it to Mansa, and maybe a bigger map?

[Dr. Nomadic]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm picking the former option, except with normal amount of civs. In both of my games in Warlords cities that I captured turned out to be my most productive ones (or, in the case of the second game, two Viking cities that I flipped through culture).

[Dr. Nomadic]

And I begin. I shall note major developments at times, but I won't be taking notes or anything.

[Dr. Nomadic]

Bah, I won't really talk about progress. Here are some big highlights though.

-I settled ON TOP OF IRON (AS ROME!!!)!!!
-I conquered the Vikings on my first session.
-I have also built the Great Wall and Pyramids. Still no Great Engineer yet, though I have rolled a Great Spy.
-All my scouting warriors are dead.
-On the first siege of a Viking city, I won two battles in a row that were less than 30% odds to take the city. Boy I was lucky.
-Five cities, hopefully productive land.
-I shall convert to Buddhism sometime in the next session (forgot to do it in my golden age, argh!), which will make me friends with ISABELLA and enemies with the Zulu and Dutch in the east.

[MyOtherCar]

What I gather from your posts ("In both of my games in Warlords cities that I captured turned out to be my most productive ones "/"5 cities, hopefully productive land") is that you may not be very concerned where you put your cities. Make sure you pick sites with enough food to grow quickly and either build some cottages (money=research) or get some hammers (production). Best is if you can specialize your cities. For instance one city focuses on commerce (cottages) and another on production.