I think I have a decent understanding of the tutorial. However, I am not very well versed in strategy games, whether they're turn based, or RTS.

Let me give you an idea of what kind of help I need -- I have been playing games on noble for a long time, and I rarely find myself winning conquest or domination victory -- even if it's just one on one. Usually I'll win a mediocre time victory. In the meantime I read about a lot of players here who play on monarch or prince against a multititude of civilizations. Light years ahead of the games I play :P

I believe it has everything to do with my build order. The AI will usually overtake me in both tech advances and military unit building.

I suppose my question is, is there a guide out there for players like me who have problems such as this on this skill level? I'm sure if I read something comprehensive, it will help fill in some gaps of my understanding of Civ IV.

Thanks for any help :)

Hi,

First, I would not start on Noble level. The overall advice is to simply start from the lowest level and as you win then climb up the ladder of levels.

If you read the document in the thread below and follow the advices, you can really get some positive experiences and understand the way the game works.

Good luck.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=165632

1. Read everything you can in the strategy articles section here
2. Set goals when you play so you don't end up aimless.

1) The AI can't plan very well. It's a dumb computer that follows a script. So he is given certain "advantages" including the ability to upgrade his units for supercheap. That means you NEED to keep a tech advantage to have a hope of staying ahead militarily. The best warmongers are good researchers also.

2) Well promoted units will beat numbers any day. If you can keep a tech advantage, you can run through a mess of weaker units, promoting all the way. If the AI has a tech advantage, you waste money on suicidal units trying to break him down.

3) The best advice for a war monger is to build 2-3 production cities (lots of hills and a few good food sources to support your work of them) where you build Barracks, forges, factories, and the wonders they need (ironworks, heroic epic, west point, etc.) and the REST should be cottaged cities. Each city should focus mostly on science buildings (library, etc.) These will support your growth.

4) forget anything else that does not support your goals. Don't worry about culture, unless it is needed to hold off culture flips in newly conquered cities. Don't worry too much about wonders, unless they support science or war. Don't worry about GP's too much.

The trick to ALL strategies of Civ IV is to pick a strategy and STICK TO IT. The worst thing you can do is to say "Hey, I have built all of the XXX type buildings in this city, so its time to build something I don't really need just to pass the time." Don't do that. Find a way to make every city ALWAYS support your goal. Don't screw around building theaters in your military production cities. Make more units. If your science cities are full of science buildings, make a barracks and put out some more troops there.

2) Well promoted units will beat numbers any day. If you can keep a tech advantage, you can run through a mess of weaker units, promoting all the way. If the AI has a tech advantage, you waste money on suicidal units trying to break him down.

I'm not disagreeing with what you're saying here, but its hammers not money you waste on units. Its important to keep commerce(which is divided into gold/science) and production as seperate concepts, especially the further you go up the difficulty ladder.

I'd imagine most people who post their wins on monarch/emperor/diety level etc either started off on warlord or had a solid grounding in previous Civ games so don't get put off by this. You could actually see it as a strength of the game that you start by learning to win on settler/warlord and slowly build your way up learning newstuff (and unlearning old stuff) in the process.
Read the beginners guide to strategy articles in the strategy sub-forum coz that's what they're there for.

First thing, I'd say, is lower your difficulty level so you can not only learn, but enjoy the game more. Nevertheless, if you're winning some games on Noble--regardless of how--you probably don't need to go all the way down to Settler. Try Chieftan or Warlord; you'll probably only need one or two games at those levels before moving on.

And, yes, read through the strategy threads and articles here on the board. Including my basic strategy guide. Scandinavian, thanks for the rec. :blush:

Here's a quick take: when the AI is overtaking you in tech and military, the two most likely solutions are (1) city specialization and (2) cottage spam. There are threads here on the board devoted to both.

Thanks all :) One thing I'm definetely ignorant about is city specialization. I also need to stick to a goal rather than trying to do everything. This is all great advice, and I'll try it out. Thanks again! :P (feel free to add more if anyone has something to add)

Attacking is a good option to keep up with the AI. At start of game the AI will have archers for a while even if you are behind on techs. A quick winning war cripples an AI and gives you the chance of a free tech in peace deals if you have alphabet. The AI will always bow to strength. Strong military = strong game. Not forgetting all the resources the AI had round its cities you captured.

Although you can only expand as much as your economy will allow. Cottages really are key in civ 4. Specilisation is key too. commerce cities/ production cities pumping out military units as much as possible/ great people farms using specialists and heavy farming for excess food and wonders.

I like the pick and choose building strategy for cities focusing on what you need. If theres no obvious build like court houses, etc build up your military defences. Common sense should always prevail. I dont think i have built a wall for any of my games to date. libraries and marketplaces are only built where they add real value. Adding a library to a city with 2 science beacons adds little or no value.

When i started on civ 4 i played one game on each level and moved up to monarch where im experimenting once with each civ. I did read the forum heavily before i played though. The rest i learned as i went along. Started with cultural wins. Then spaceship. Then domination. Not had a diplomatic win yet.

I always build worker worker settler at start and a degree of chopping forest to speed up start if no resources to work.

You'll get there. Experiment, play and expand quickly at start to 3-4 cities and further as you can afford it keeping science at 50% or higher.

Some people here adviced you to pick goals and try to accomplish them instead of just mindlessly building stuff. Make sure that everything you do is useful for your empire. This is actually the best (general) advice that can be given in my opinion. It's good to see that it was presented to you multiple times. I join those people who gave that advice.

In your first post, you are talking about a build order. That is actually the wrong way to look at this game. This game is very situational. The same strategy won't work every time or at least won't be the best every time. So you have to ask yourself the question: Is what I'm doing the most optimal thing? Could I do something different?.
If you have 8 cities, you could mindlessly build a 9-th in that last open spot. That might be the best strategy, but it might also not be the best strategy. You might consider building an army to conquer the city that another nation is going to build there. You might consider developing your empire's infrastructure first because you have overextended your empire a bit and are having monetary problems. You might want to go for a certain world wonder first because it is very useful at the moment.

Talking about world wonders: one of the most prevalent aimless building is the building of World Wonders. Many people tend to try and build every World Wonder for no other reason that it is there and there's only one of them and they must have it. You should always question yourself if the world wonder it worth the investment or if another better investment could be made. For instance: at the start of the game, a world wonder costs the same as several settlers. So building the world wonder could well mean that you end up with an empire that is several cities smaller than it could have been if you had build settlers instead of the world wonder.
I don't say that you should never build a world wonder, but I say that you should think about its usefulness compared to other constructions before deciding to build it. Sometimes it is also feasible to conquer the world wonder instead of building it (along with the rest of the cities of the nation that has build it).

Dervish,

I started at Warlord and worked up to Monarch. What I found is that it takes time to realize all the little things. Like commerce. Wow can that make a difference in science. For example if you have fish resources the commerce from that in the beginning really can bring your science up. Gold at the start is a real help in the beginning. If you have a city with sea resources and gold you have yourself a science/commerce city. Commerce=science. You can see what affect this has on the city screen. Cottages are another source of commerce but it takes time to develop. If you are playing a financial civ then that can be a big help since it adds gold to your coffers. Religious shrines are wonderful for upping the gold by having as many cities as possible following that religion. (including other civs) I have found foremost that commerce is important, city specialization helps but still let the AI do a lot of it. There are other tricks like CS slingshot but it can be tricky getting it to line up right on. Overexpanding can be a kicker sometimes although courthouses will help alleviate that.

Just go with your gut and don't always follow what AI suggest you build. As soon as you get Astronomy it will have you build observatories in every city. Only build science buildings in science cities. I have found the AI suggestions for building are terrible and I always examine the city and look close at science/commerce/production. If it is good production then build a forge don't listen to those suggestions they will kill you in the long run. I have lost out on important wonders by listening to that popup.

Don't build settlers/workers in high production btw as it takes food to build them. Something I didn't realize for a while. I also read that a city has to be linked to stone/marble directly to have an effect on wonders. So what I mean is that if you want to build a wonder far away from the marble/stone it won't help it needs to be within the citie's own borders. I still not convinced on this but something like this can make a big difference. Try checking out the GOTM threads you can see seasoned players. Some of us are "warmongers, builders, or whatever. I am both and enjoy both.

Another thing I have realized following the AI suggestion to settle is not always the best. Sometimes you are not aware of a future resource and that can be a factor the AI is telling you to settle there. Just don't settle one tile away from the ocean as you will loose a lot of food being unable to build lighthouses. Also lacking the ability to build ships.

Keep a strong military and practice on those barbs. Promotions help a lot later on and don't change civics for the sake of changing. What I mean is if you get Pacificism don't automatically change to that civic. You might have a huge military and it will adversely affect your purse. Caste system early in the game can be useless as you won't have access food to have specialists. So having unlimited specialist doesn't help and caste system is costly.

If you have a floodplains some consider "GP farm" or "cottage spam". Financial civ yes but a philosophical might benefit much more from GP farm. You don't always have to use those Great persons for research but can add them to the city as super specialist which is you do that in a GP farm it will add GP points and you will get more Great people. Certain national wonders also add considerably to the GP farm. I believe "National epic" adds 100% GP production so build that in your GP farm. You won't believe what affect 5 or 6super specialist will have on science/commerce/production. I used to think Angkor Wat was useless (read that in the forums here) however for every priest you have it adds 1 hammer production. As you grow it can really add up over time. Although there will be a time it becomes obsolete.

Great Library I consider to be very important in the beginning as it will gave your science an immense boost. Again this should be built in science city.

There is a more and many have stated good strategies. Each game is unique and you need to adjust according to needs/goals.

Good luck
Henry

PS
off topic but Dervish I like your signature.....
I had no idea Cyrus the Great was such a Great man. I went to do some reading on him when I read your signature. First to issue human rights 2500 years ago. Wow .... Where were the Europeans still slave trading in 1700.

Very impressive

I had much the same issue as you. I got the game and for four months I struggled on Noble, without winning a thing (I don't count Duel games, they're easy). I was getting beat down on all fronts especially research a score. I decided to bite the bullet and shot myself right down to Settler level.

From there, I won convincingly, then went to Chieftan, and won convincingly, than played four or five games at Warlord until I was walking that level to (I lost the first game).

Now I'm playing Noble, and winning most of my games, and am thinking about having a crack at Prince.

Obviously, I was learning alot during playing the earlier levels, whilst reading articles here.

Also, try an OCC game, not necessarily to win, but to get to grips with city management. I played a couple of these when I went down to Settler, and having only one city to worry about makes it a less tense learning experience.

Another good lesson is to read all of Sisiutills All Leaders Challenges. He focusses on different kinds of strategies and everybody chips in to tell what they think is best. I learn a lot from those games.

Another good lesson is to read all of Sisiutills All Leaders Challenges. He focusses on different kinds of strategies and everybody chips in to tell what they think is best. I learn a lot from those games.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand I'm blushing once again. :blush: :D

^^sisiutil does loads for the community and deserves the praise :)

biggest tip I can give: slow down, concentrate, take your time, make good decisions.

i play on monarch and i still find myself rebooting and kicking myself cuz i was playing too fast, not taking my time, and therefore making stupid mistakes.

like others have said, plan your strategy, and then take your time implementing it. it's not real-time, so take your time.

I also read that a city has to be linked to stone/marble directly to have an effect on wonders. So what I mean is that if you want to build a wonder far away from the marble/stone it won't help it needs to be within the citie's own borders. I still not convinced on this but something like this can make a big difference.

To get the production bonus, the appropriate resource (e.g. stone for Pyramids, marble for Oracle) has to be improved and connected by trade route to the city that is building the wonder. It must be within your cultural borders, but does not have to be within the fat cross of any of your cities. The resource could be on the far side of your empire from the city building the wonder and it will still give the production bonus, as long as it is improved, connected by trade route, and within your cultural borders.