[SPOILERS] TheArchduke blasts into Space as Russia

[TheArchduke]

Turn 1

Really only one option apart from SITP. I am unsure if I want to settle 1 SW.

Trying to get the game going quickly. Will check over everything else a tad later.

   

I move 1 SW, I can always turn back.

Another move SE? Unsure. With those PBEMs, you seldom need an optimized dotmap but rather strong pushy cities. (high production or other assets.)

GP, all good stuff except for Boudicia. +1 science to libraries, early fleet, +2 gold for routes. All good stuff.

   

[williams482]

Nothing fancy out there to justify moving more, and that river to the west extends farther than it looked like it might. Plus, moving could possibly block placement on the river to the south, so extra not worth it.

I'd settle right where you are.

[TheArchduke]

Turn 2

No real reason to move as far as I can see.

   

I settle in place, start astrology and a settler. No need for a worker tech early and I want the first religion this time around.

   

[TheArchduke]

Turn 3 and 4

Continuing southwest with the warrior. Focusing on growth over production for now. Plan is scout and then a quick settler if I can before two holy sites.

[williams482]

Any pictures? Never to early to overthink possible city sites!

[Sullla]

Given those amazing starting tile yields, I would agree that this is the ideal situation for settler before builder, followed by locking in cheap Lavras at the initial two cities. A second city placed somewhere to the southeast, in a spot where those 4/1 spice tiles could be shared with the capital, seems like the ideal spot if there's fresh water over there.

I have not read any of the other threads by the way, if you're interested in bouncing ideas off another person. Here's a general discussion question that you've probably already been thinking about: what pantheons would you like to pick if you have your choice? Being first in turn order gives you an excellent chance to have one of the initial pantheons by virtue of that silly "only one player can found a pantheon each turn" rule.

[TheArchduke]

Nice to have the company, I can whip something up, bear with me for a second.

[TheArchduke]

Turn 5

As always, one should ignore the on map information. Both the scout and population 2 will finish in two turns as the city information says.

   

I would love to have a dedlurker, one´s game tends to improve by quite a lot simply by the act of gathering information to share with your dedlurker.
Self-analysis improves that way and sometimes one does not see the whole picture when one is immersed in the game.

Now on pantheons. I think I have seriously underestimated just how critical culture is Gathering Storm. Culture unlocks Governors and Governors are the reason Alhambram ran away with the last game. So one has to give serious consideration to the culture enhancing pantheons over the other ones. So front loaded culture pantheons are the way to go.

So let´s get over them.

I do not think that City Patron Goddess is most of the times worth it. We will most likely build our first 2 districts before we get our pantheon.
Dance of the Aurora is out as I see no tundra in the vicinity.
Desert Folklore, the same.
Divine Spark, now without China this accelerates our religion by quite a bit. Being Russia we will get +2 GP per Lavra, this makes it 3. With one project or a bought shrine this turboboosts Religion so even Stonehenge would not stand in the way. After that it just gives Great Scientists. I will probably not manage a quick campus or more GS points then the others without it.
Earth Goddess I find underwhelming, we do have quite contrary to my last game as Japan, some breathtaking tiles.
Fertility Rites, even with the free builder a questionable choice. I find builders easy to come buy thanks to golden ages and monumentality and the normal bonus is nothing to write about. Pop growth is always a housing or happiness problem, never a "growth" problem.
Fire Goddess, nope. Never worth it.
God of Craftsmen, not good enough unless you have 4-5 horses in sight. Doubt this will happen.
God of Healing, a peculiar effect which lends itself to SP. In MP a human player knows that he needs to kill not wound.
God of Forge, we are not going to rush. Else take it of course. Cornflakes should have taken this in PBEM 16.
God of the open Sky, a mainstay of pantheons for me. The +1 culture is crazy good, only problem, right now I got 1! cow.
God of the Sea, as much as I like production and I like to take it in SP, this will not help me enough especially seeing as my 2nd and 3rd cities will not be coastal.
God of War, even more ridiculous then God of Healing. If you think fighting close to your cities is a good sign, you are sorely mistaken.
God of Festivals, as awesome as the God of the Open Sky
Goddess of Hunt, my new favourite as you get bonus food and production making for some awesome tiles.
Initiation Rites, yeah, right, no.
Lady of the Reeds and Marshes, Sullla´s analysis is still right, one of the better ones out there, nothing for my current setup.
Monument to the Gods, Can be fun as China, else you are better of with something else. Without China I could go with a fancy route, but I did that with River Goddess last time and I got burned badly.
Religious Idols, not enough mines around, better use out of the pantheons as you can see luxury and bonus. I like desert folklore and sacred path more if you want a faith boost.
Religious Settlements, went from useless to banned and overpowered. A free early settler? Nothing comes even close!
River Goddess, got a nice boost, I tried to use it, I think culture is worth more. Khmer will probably want it. I could try to deny it to them.
Sacred Path, can be quite good, but you want to raze those rain forests long term.
Stone Circles, decent and plan able.

So, our current situation?

God of Festivals (thanks to the two spices and the one dye).
Goddess of Hunt (two tiles which would be awesome, maybe if we find more)
Lady of the Reeds, (depends on a possible city southeast)
River Goddess (I still think it could be worth it!)

[williams482]

I'm dedlurking here for sure. The more the merrier.

God of Festivals seems like the strongest by a good margin with the map we can see now. Boosting our preferred yield on three tiles we will absolutely work, although some might not come into play until the third city.

Regarding Divine Spark, "wasted" great person points are now converted into faith, so this pantheon essentially gives you +1 faith per Lavra, Shrine, or Temple. I don't think that's enough to bump it above a really strong culture pantheon, but that's a pretty nice boost on top of the scientists and the earlier religion. I'd probably put it ahead of Earth Goddess in our situation.

I don't think Lady of the Reeds is much help given what we see right now. It boosts the marsh rice and nothing else currently visible: the benefit is to desert floodplains only, so the flooded grass and plains tiles don't get anything out of it.

Finally, you're not wrong about River Goddess in this situation, where the best HS spots are already riverside. It's definitely a fallback, but a solid one if we think we will have space and time to grow upwards.

[Sullla]

Emphasizing early culture is always a good idea in Civ6 (says person who played Rome in two PBEM games ). I was also thinking that Goddess of Festivals (+1 culture from plantations) was likely the best option for this start, if it hasn't already been taken by someone else first. I think that God of the Open Sky (+1 culture on pastures) should also be considered a top choice, as you're likely to find more pasturable tiles as you continue exploring (plus horses are still invisible for the moment until discovering Animal Husbandry). Fortunately you'll have a lot more map information here before you need to make a choice. Goddess of the Hunt (+1 food and +1 production from camps) seems like a good fallback option if they aren't available since you have both deer and truffles in the immediate area. The deer tile is already 2/3 yield and would go to 3/4/2 yield (!) with that pantheon and a camp, just as the truffles would become a 3/3/5 tile. Limited usefulness but if there's a camp-able tile at each initial city location, could be a strong option. And while I generally don't like River Goddess, if ever there was a game to use it, it would be when playing as Russia. Also if you end up getting a late pantheon, Earth Goddess is worth a look just because more faith is always going to be good for Russia.

Pending more map information, my tier list would be roughly similar to yours:

1) Goddess of Festivals
2) God of the Open Sky (there will be more cows and horses out there in the fog!)
3) Goddess of the Hunt

Then a sizable drop off to things like River Goddess and Earth Goddess. I wouldn't even consider Divine Spark since Russia doesn't need it to found a religion - I'm pretty sure that Lavras still get double Great Prophet points and you can lock in the (very cheap cost) at your first two cities for a pair of quick districts. Based on back of the envelope math, I think they might be as cheap as 35 production, literally about the same as a warrior. Just hope that you can find a natural wonder quickly. (I generally hate scout first builds but in your situation here, where you need to find a natural wonder ASAP, it feels like a solid choice. Plus map info and finding city states are obviously always good.)

My one major suggestion the moment would be thinking about putting your second city over to the southeast where it could grab those 4/1 spice tiles and share them with the capital. The capital has amazing production with all those forested hills so getting a couple more high food tiles that it could borrow would help out a ton. Also, this is super early and will probably change as you explore the map, but your "1" Holy Site might be better situated a tile east of the "2" marker. That plains hill tile also has the double mountain adjacency bonus whereas the current "1" tile only gets it from being next to forests, which you'll probably chop at some point. Obviously this would not be the way to go if you decide to go with the River Goddess route.

Finally, if there was ever a civ demanding Choral Music for their religion, it would be this one. Let's hope that it doesn't get sniped by someone with Stonehenge or something.