Ah my first game of Civ 4….sweet……

I’ll start off by saying I had none of the problems others had installing the game. I knew in advance that my graphics card wouldn’t cut it, so I bought a Radeon 9250 (cheap but adequate). I had never installed a video card before, so I had some headaches but once it was running I loaded up the game. When I tried to start the game it said I was missing a DLL file and re-loading the game might solve the problem, so I had to uninstall and start over.

I got the dreaded “failed to initialize” message, but the fix posted here corrected that and I was off and running.

Choosing a random civ I ended up with the French Napoleon on Noble level. Industrious – bring on the wonders and Aggressive – WAR! My starting location was on a river, there are a couple of food resources around and gold. After a bit of exploring I come across the Chinese and establish peace. Some more exploring shows me we are alone on a decent sized island.

I found a religion, and some time later the Chinese convert….sweet. I get both Stonehenge and the Oracle in my capital and my great prophet sets up my shrine. Meanwhile my workers have hooked up copper and my other cities have built Barracks. With my Aggressive nature my units are starting off with two promotions…cool. I have stone but no marble. I figure I’ll work on getting the Pyramids with halved cost. While I do that I’ll build a settler and send him after some marble, so that I can get the Parthanon next.

For some reason, the Chinese declare war?!?! I shut down research for a few turns so I can upgrade a couple of warriors to axemen and bring three of them to his closest city, holding two archers in defense. The city is mine!! Foolish Chinese, I was going to allow you to peacefully co-exist for a few centuries but your arrogance will cost you dearly!

As the first Chinese city is falling I am hooking up Iron, and with it begin production of my swordsmen, with built in upgrades thanks to my Barracks. They march on the next Chinese city and make short work of it. Too bad for the Chinese they have no Iron or Copper hooked up, even though their Archers are entrenched as defenders they are no match for my stack of 4-5 Swordsmen/Axemen.

The Chinese try to negotiate peace, but they have nothing I need so the war rages on! By the time my marauders are healed and have moved to the next city they have been joined by two Horse Archers. The Chinese capital is next to fall, leaving him with three cities. I heal, move, and then capture the cities one by one and the island is mine.

Oops! In my haste to destroy the pitiful Chinese I forgot about my plan to go after the Parthanon! I get halfway through it but someone beats me….big mistake, but it is my first try and at least I have a feel for combat. Due to their lack of metals, I didn’t even have to bring in siege weapons.

The island is mine, I guess I’d better send out some ships to explore and see who else is left to conquer!!!

Up next – building infrastructure and exploring!

good job keep writing and try to add some pictures in

Not sure if this is right, new to the board and haven't posted a screen shot.

Anyway if it works you will see my Empire at 650 AD. I called it an Island but given the size it is probably a continent....and all to myself. As you can see I am focussed on getting Libraries and Temples.

Not much else happens over the next 300 years (played at lunch). I built an Aqueduct and used a Great Engineer to build the Hanging Gardens. My Great Scientist founded an Academy as well, with the Libraries I have built I should be doing well in the Tech race, although not having other civs to trade with could hurt.

I am about to complete a Galley so I can go exploring and have both the Great Library and Great Lighthouse under construction (woo hoo Industrious!)

Now that my basic culture buildings are done I'll soon have to decide whether to start building an army to invade the far off lands I am about to discover, or continue building infrastructure such as Marketplaces and Courthouses.

A new feature in civ 4 is that you owe money for having cities far away from it. This is to keep you from just massing cities. THats why you are owing so much money. Sometimes you will be a loss rather than a gain. You have to sometimes slowly build up.

Good call, thanks! I actually had my science slider down lower, but I was swimming in extra funds due to missing Parthanon and the money I got from sacking the Chinese so I thought I would bump it up and take a loss in order to get Calendar quickly (I have tiles that need a plantation).

Also my infrastructure is poor because I spent all my focus on military units to fight for the continent and keep a few resources from the Chinese. 8 of the cities are mine, 5 are from conquest. I'll have to see which ones are costing me the most.

Not much has happened in the last millenia to make me think my empire is in trouble. After building libraries and temples in most cities I came across first the Aztecs, then Romans and Germans. The latter two were friendly, but from the start the Aztecs will not agree to open borders....odd. Here is the map as of 1200 AD. I am working on a few more wonders and have forges being built to aid in production.


I am able to convert both the Romans and Germans to my religion, but don't bother sending out missionaries as I am still busy building up my cities into economic and scientific powerhouses. I am way out in front in techs, and work my way up to be able to build Knights and my UU Musketeers. This is a good thing, as the Aztecs start making demands. He is in no position to push me around, and a few turns later he declares war.

A meager raiding force of three Horse Archers and a Jaguar land, but they are met by 4 Knights who make short work of them. I decide to use a Great Prophet and Great Scientist to trigger a Golden Age to help me fuel my War Engine. Shortly I have a stack of Musketeers, Knights and three Catapults on Aztec soil outside of Tlacopan (size 2). I bombard and their first city is mine. They respond with a diverse stack of defenders giving me pause about going for their next city (size 10). They offer peace and 150 gold, I take it to bide my time until I can bring further troops across the ocean.

I am able to trade World Maps with a few civs to get a better sense of where I stand. For some reason Caesar won't give me his World Map....I wonder what he is hiding up his sleeve? He is in very good terms with me, with 4 active trades, and his state religion is the same as mine....hmmm....

I've got Observatories in many cities now, and am working on financial buildings and a couple more wonders (woo hoo Industrious). Here is where things stand at 1550 (map attached).

Score - I am WAY out in front of everyone, about 2200 to 1200 next closest.

Land - Looks like taking out the Chinese early paid off HUGE. Everyone else is sharing a continent with someone else, while I have one to myself. I should build up my coast guard to prevent invasion by sea, the only thing that could really threaten me in this game. Rome and Germany are the two civs to the SE. Arabs are SW, Aztecs immediately West and not sure who is in the NW, have not met them yet.

Techs - I am way out in front. I have numerous Libraries, Observatories and three Academies.

Finances - Got these under control. Building the Forbidden Palace, mainly to see the movie as it is not really needed.

Wonders - The following are mine: Angkor Wat, Chichen Itza, The Great Library, The Great Lighthouse, The Hanging Gardens, Notre Dame, The Oracle, The Pyramids, The Spiral Minaret, Stonehenge.

Religion - I have founded 4, with shrines for two of them. My state religion spread on it's own to a couple of Caesar's cities (it is also his state religion).

I will probably add a few more cities, then decide how I want to win.

nice stuff man keep it going

you are 0wning what difficulty level

Note to self don't post with out thourulogy reading (i'm a retard)

Update:

It is almost 1800AD. My war against the Aztecs failed miserably. I thought because my units were superior they would be fine. He sent in a wave of catapults against me first to soften me up with collateral damage! I was too cocky to have enough reserves ready on ships to cross the ocean. He retook his city and I took solice in sending a few calvary rampaging through his countryside pillaging.

I am generating technology like crazy. My top 8 cities are giving me over 800 beakers a turn and it is only taking me about 4 turns to get any tech. Alas I don't have any coal, and there is none easily available without waging a lengthy battle across the sea, something I have never been good at, or enjoyed that much. Rome has the easiest to get, but I am getting 3 resources from them through trade and would prefer to keep my relations intact. Maybe I'll do some missionary work now to get a feel for that.

At this point I'll probably look at either a cultural victory (with all my wonders) or try for a diplomatic one. Fall back will be space. Also need to see how bombers work.....not good news for the Aztecs. If I can soften them up enough maybe I'll resume my assault on their shores. I am working on Scotland Yard too to get a feel for spies but have no plans for them yet.

I control the seas, my ships have 2-3 times the strength of my competition so no one is getting near my continent with an invasion force.

My score is about 3200, next closest are the Romans at about 1600...

A lot of mistakes in this game, but it was a learning attempt. Can't be so careless in future games (coulda had coal but didn't bother developing that little island to the SW and Rome scooped it up before I realized coal was there). I'll update tomorrow morning with further info and pics. If you have Picture requests post them.

Well that was anti-climatic. I decided to do diplomacy or space win. A military victory would take WAY too long and I was ready to start my next game (I have a good story idea by the way)

I built the UN but couldn't get enough votes to win. Much earlier in the game Rome asked me to stop trading with Arabians and I did it....now their relations were poor enough to not let me win. What's worse, Rome was the next powerhouse, so his support was also gone...he was the one up against me!

On to space victory then. I had the last component ready to be built in a city..but it was going to take too long so I wanted to switch to another larger city. When I tried I couldn't build it! I was worried it was a bug. After about 25 turns the smaller city finished it's build and the space component came up. Apparently it was in the Q to be built, so I couldn't build it elsewhere.

By that time I realized that if the Arabs had bad relations with Rome I should cancel all trades with Rome to get the Arabs on my side. Sure enough the Arabs voted for me and the world was mine!

So much for a climax oh well it's the internet and we all know that the internet= serious business!!