Okay, you've decided on a leader and you've launched your nation. There's a little worker dude and a little settler dude with his backpack and they're raring to take over the planet.

But slow down there, Caligula. You don't know it yet but the Japanese are 18 squares away and the Inca are 24 squares away in another direction. You can't see them but they already have capital cities and they might be building in your direction. Quick! you say, build some military units and we'll crush them with one swift and mighty stroke!

Ehh, no you won't. See, the problem is they already have bronze working and your citizens aren't even eating off plates yet. Don't worry. Every aspiring world ruler runs into the same problem, and with a little planning, a little luck and a little knowledge, you might find yourself a well established ruler with a couple of Japanese and a couple of Inca cities inside your borders.

But first, you need borders. The key to the early game in Civilization is cities, and lots of them. Cities give you trade which you can convert into scientific advances. The more cities you have, the more trade you can generate, and the faster you'll have bronze working and maybe even iron working too. The strategy early is to get to at least 20 cities as mathematically fast as you possibly can. This means the very moment a city has extra population, build a settler, get far enough away and build another city.

The second major priority in the early game is figuring out exactly where you are. For this you need exploration. Whatever you do, don't send your workers or settlers exploring. Do this with units that have at least some combat capability, because there might be barbarians lurking out in the wilderness and they will make quick work of your settler or worker units.

But the absolute top priority is to explore as much of the surrounding territory as possible as early in the game as possible, and in the maximum number of practical directions. This will do two things. One, it will tell you if there are any nearby rival civilizations, and how far they have built. Two, it will give you an idea what the surrounding land and coastal areas look like, and also tell you what resources are nearby. As you uncover new land, you should evaluate the best places to build new cities based on terrain features, food production potential and nearby resources.

The basic rule of the early game is 20 cities, no matter what. Don't crowd them and don't build on terrain that doesn't give you a production advantage. If you are too late in getting 20 cities on the map, your terrain advantages aren't going to matter because your bow-and-arrow-equipped soldiers will be defending your cities against B-24 bombers.

As you get to a point where you are about to complete your first 20 cities, then you can begin improvements and start working towards an early mid-game. One very important thing to avoid is leaving a city undefended. A barbarian capture of one of your early cities can set you back 15 turns or more, and that can be devastating to the early game, especially if one of your neighboring civilizations is hostile.

The first and most important improvements are roads. The reason for this is that if settlers produced at your more central cities can reach your borders faster, it means you will have an overall better chance of completing your initial group of cities earlier in the game. This is crucial because it allows for major production advantages in mid-game. It also gives your cities a defensive advantage. If a threat appears from a given direction, defensive reinforcements can be moved via your road network to positions advantageous to defending nearby cities, and then returned to their home cities when they are no longer needed. For advanced players, it also means central cities can sometimes be left undefended since they cannot be reached without passing within range of defended cities.

Less important, but still worthwhile, is irrigation and improvement of surrounding farmland. Improved farmland produces more food, which in turn increases populations and provides the opportunity to build more settlers. Be careful not to overproduce or allow cities to grow too quickly. Large cities are unnecessary in the early game, and they can easily descend into civil unrest which can cause production problems.

There are differing schools of thought on early city improvements. Some consider at least a temple to be indispensible, while others consider city improvements to be superfluous early, since they only consume gold. City improvements only become necessary in growing cities, and if you're playing the early game right, there shouldn't be any growing cities. Save your gold and save the improvements for early mid-game.

Also, on turn one be sure to set your tax rate for maximum contributions to scientific advancement. Even one turn at the wrong tax rate early can set your nation back 50 turns or more in mid-game.

In the next article, Improving and Winning the Mid-Game in Civilization, the real fun starts.