I usually choose Pottery, since it helps to expand the cities and opens up Calendar and Writing. However, I like to check the resources available around my capital first, and if there's a lot of cows in the area, I sometimes opt for Animal Husbandry. What's your first pick for tech research?
I almost always choose pottery, just because I tend to start in areas where I can build plantations. I'd definitely say it's situation, and there isn't any one specific tech that I will always start with. I tend to start with pottery while I explore a little, then decide on the rest of the techs.
Yes, the situation is the key to decided the first research. I know some people will even pick mining, if there's a lot of hills around, or they feel they need a production boost.
It depends on a lot of factors. Which techs I need to hook up a luxury is important to know. If I'm on grass or plains I would be very interested to know if I have horses, but if I have Calendar resources in forest I will need 3 other techs to hook that up, so then I'll probably not go for Animal Husbandry first. Also if I'm on terrain that makes it unlikely for horses to show up I won't research that tech first. Of all 4 starting techs it's only Archery that I'll never research first. After that I think also Mining will often be not so interesting, because if I have a resource that requires just Mining I still have time to research something else before a worker is available. That would leave Pottery and Animal Husbandry as my favourites. In the back of my mind is always that Writing could make it easier to bag some money from selling Open Borders, but selling a lux will often be more profitable than selling Open Borders or horses, so I'll probably not beeline straight to Writing, unless I'm China or Korea.
@ jonthai: Have to agree with you, Archery is the least useful as an initial research goal. I used to think that getting Archery might be worth it when you had a number of Barbarians around, but after a few games I realised I can deal with them with Warriors anyway, and starting with archery slows down my progress in other areas.
Like others, I usually choose what I could actually use in the map. If I have minerals then I go for mining. If I have some animals then I go for husbandry. I only go for pottery if I see something that requires calendar to make a plantation.
@McGumbolumbo Mining seems not to be appreciated, maybe not without a reason, since your bigger worry at the start is growing the first city. Mines can't replace farms.
I just do it to do it. I like to get all of the resources up and running as fast as I can. But then again, I don't win most of my games.
Much like everyone else it depends on the immediate resources around me because I like to try and make use of them ASAP, but the first one I actually aim for is Archery because I love Archers! Oddly, even with tech victories, I feel guilty skipping over unnecessary techs so I find the time to research them all!
I think that the civilization that you are playing makes a big difference, too. If you're playing Babylon, you're obviously going to be gunning for Writing, so Pottery is a solid first choice, but if you're playing a more aggressive, militant civilization, you might want to focus Bronze Working to get those powerful military units out as soon as possible!
I definitely agree with this. Civilization has always been a game where you can't just use a template and play the same regardless of your starting position. Definitely a thinking man's game.
When playing alone, I almost always base the first research around what resources I have nearby. It also depends if I know the players' tendencies I am playing with or not. When playing against the AI I try to play very safe, as they almost always have the wonders finished before you do, even if you try to rush it as quickly as possible(on higher difficulties). If I am playing together with a friend of mine, we discuss the pros and cons of our starting position and then move on from there.
I always go for the military related ones first. You have to put up defenses before anything else in these games, and I'd rather have someone other than the basic starter units guarding my cities just in case I have to face a blitz early game, or a couple of barbarian raids here and there. Of course, this is from Civ3, so I don't know how things have changed through the years in Civilization games.
@OursIsTheFury Rushing attack with warriors is generally unfeasible in Civilization 5, since your city can attack hostile untis nearby on its own, even when ungarrisoned (although placing trops inside makes the defences stronger). Archers are more tricky, but you can still fend them off unless they came in big numbers, so it's not much of an advantage to research Archery first. If you miss on development in early turns, more productive players will overtake you before you can deploy enough archers to beat them up.
