Getting tired of rolling out huge armies and grinding down the opponents

Tend in any case to beat my nearest neighbour with an axe rush and then find myself so far behind on tech that it takes until infantry to catch up.

Decided in my next game to steal a tech lead at the strart

Only wage war when a tech ahead

Tips please. How do I change my empire of dunderhead rednecks into a boffin war machine

Cottages!!

depends on what lvl. you're playing; from emperor(included) upwards you can't expand peacefully while staying on par/getting ahead on tech. The ai makes cities like no tommorow. That's the reason why I still play many games on monarch... axe/chariot rushing every game can get tiring after a while...

without going to far down a very worn path

why cottages ?

I thought maybe farms and specialists (at least in early game)

trust me I ain't no emperor. think noble or prince.

without going to far down a very worn path

why cottages ?

I thought maybe farms and specialists (at least in early game)

I think DaveMcW has an auto-reply on;)

umm, you can either:

a. cottages(especially if financial)
b. pyramids - specialists(with farms).

- Oracle is definitelly an option on this lvl., even without beelining priesthood, so use it(not beelining doesn't mean reasearch it last either ;) )
- CoL early; eventually via oracle. So you can afford your cities maintenance. Hold on with your... 6th city(I think, don't know, it varies on lvl. and I have no clue where's the gap on noble/prince) till CoL.
There's a point when city maintenance starts increasing, more about city maintenance http://civfanatics.com/civ4/strategy/city_upkeep.php
- 1st advance with your cities towards the ais, without open border, and afterwards fill in the gaps from behind where the ai can't reach anyway;
- try to keep a decent military(aka, don't be last on the power graph);
- don't be shy in bribing the ai to war against each other, even if it means giving them a tech and some coins;
- read the manual, read the guides here and so on(while taking any strat. with a grain of salt...)
- if you go for some wonders as part of all your strategies(though you should take every game as a standalone challenge and keep your strat. as flexible as possible) try to learn around when the ai usually finishes it(obviously it varies from game to game but it's usually around the same timeframe) so you don't miss up on the wonder crucial to your current strat.(though your strat. should never depend on one wonder in the 1st place, unless you play se and we talk abour pyramids).

without going to far down a very worn path

why cottages ?

I thought maybe farms and specialists (at least in early game)

Because cottages are easy to use and never let you down. Sometimes the simplest strategy is the best.

Cottages, with specialists in one or two specialized cities (GP farm, religion/money city).

I find that the best tech advantages come from when I get catapults (can't remember what the tech is for that), grenediers (chemistry) and cannon (steel). So, beeline to those techs (most of them also have significant side benefits) to build those units. Catapults can take on anything if you're willing to lose a few. Grenediers and cannon will be the terrors of the battlefield if you're even or a little bit ahead and tech.

great people farms - should I use those great people to light bulb a tech or add a specialist ?

What about literature and great library. Is that a big boost ?

Getting tired of rolling out huge armies and grinding down the opponents

Tend in any case to beat my nearest neighbour with an axe rush and then find myself so far behind on tech that it takes until infantry to catch up.

Decided in my next game to steal a tech lead at the strart

Only wage war when a tech ahead

Tips please. How do I change my empire of dunderhead rednecks into a boffin war machine

Don't bother. If you're playing at a high difficulty level, and you're trying to keep a tech lead, then you're doing it wrong. Your best bet is to trust in your military to do everything for you. You're not supposed to be anywhere close to the AI's tech... because the AI gets ridiculous bonuses to teching, so you have no chance. The AI's greatest weakness is war, which is why it's pretty much your only option.

Some AI is starting to pull far ahead in tech lead? Take him out (when it's a civ that's far away from you, it can get frustrating though)!

great people farms - should I use those great people to light bulb a tech or add a specialist ?

What about literature and great library. Is that a big boost ?

Personally, I like to try to farm great engineers, and I use them to build wonders, generally in the GP farm itself to further increase GP points. Any scientists I end up getting, I usually use to build academies in my 2 or 3 highest-beaker cities.

And yes, Great Library in your GP farm helps a lot. Not only is it the two free scientist specialists, but it is also 8 gp point (6 for the specialists, 2 for the wonder). It's a pain to build if you don't have marble. But then, a great engineer helps a lot!

don't bother ?

i'm playing no higher than noble - done the axe rush

don't bother ?

i'm playing no higher than noble - done the axe rush

No higher than noble? Well then you can try for a religion, you can try a peaceful victory, and you can just play to get the hang of the game. At higher levels, it's very brutal how the AI gets insane bonuses.

great people farms - should I use those great people to light bulb a tech or add a specialist ?

What about literature and great library. Is that a big boost ?

gl is a big boost for your gp farm. Usually I play with gl/nat epic in the gpp farm(those are usually the only wonders, since the gp farm doesn't have heavy prod. usually - many citizens are specialists). On prince you should be able to build more though. Anyway, if it's 1 wonder I really want in the gp farm, it's the gl(that if your objective is to get gs, obviously, otherwise, don't bother with it).

What to do with the great ppl.:

- if you want a peaceful victory, settle your gs in a specific city(after you've build an academy there with your 1st guy). That's where you'll later want the oxford univ.
If you want war, use them to lightbulb useful techs - an era tech advantage(i.e - catas/elephants vs archers/axes, grenadier/cav vs longbowmen, infantry vs riflemen) can make a war very easy.
- ge - usually I keep them for wonders; but I usually don't target ges, so...
- ga - if you war, keep them to culture bomb new cities; if you don't, settle them if you go for a cultural victory(the 1st ones, last one are better to culture bomb too in your 3rd city)
- gm - usually I send them in trade mission for cash for upgrades/keep a higher research slider
- gp - obviously shrine if you founded something; lb if you can found christianity/taoism. Otherwise, settle.

N.b - 95% of the times I want a gs, so what you should do with the rest are just assumptions, not talk from experience...

I am this typical type of player. Still stuck at Noble, winning a few games here and there, and getting demolished at Prince.

I, too, invades and wipes out my closest neighbor, then fall way behind in tech race. My strategy is to take the romans (or the other civ with a special unit swordmen) and rush for construction and build a lot of catapults (I mean a lot). The war is faster.

Also, one of our common mistake is to occupy each city we conquered (instead of destroying it). I read that if a city does not have any wonders, just destroy it. Then, you'll be able to maintain your science PCT.

I am not a Civ god by any mean, but I am trying to improve my game. And cottage economy is still a mystery to me.

Anykeyz

Risk being diverted here...

I like noble because its a balanced level so you can build rather than go for all out war

I do destroy raze cities but keep more than just the wonder cities - if the citu has access to special resources it can usually pay its way. Successive cities each add a little more to the cost of maintenance.

worth bearing in mind that financial improvements help you tech because they let you keep your science slider at a high level. start with market or library which both add 25% to commerce tiles. If playing England the stock exchange is a good bet

In this game I am trying to get a tech lead and then upgrade to make the most of that lead. That requires a huge base of commerce task because not only do I need beakers but a substantial war chest too. However the common factor in tech and the war chest is the stock of improvements in the cities and number of the good commerce tiles

The cottage adds one commerce point to a brown tile. so you get on that tile enough food, a hammer and 3 commerce points. later in the game some civics add extra benefits for towns

I don't see how you could be behind in tech at noble level, except if you let the governor assign tiles worked in your cities, without any emphasize button used.
The governor doesn't seem to care for commerce in this situation.

My guess is just build more workers, improve the land, work the tiles.
This is the most common mistake AFAIK.
1 worker for 3 cities isn't enough.
3 workers for 3 cities is barely enough to give you a soso economy.
6 workers for 3 cities will make you a tech monster.
One more thing on this issue : you don't want 6 workers building 6 improvements in 4 turns. You want 4 workers building a cottage in one turn!

From my experience, up to Monarch level it's possible to lead the tech race and punish the nearest neighbor at the same time. My axe rush is never ultra-early, but quite early anyway. Usually get about three cities myself and then go for a kill.

My early strategy usually follows these guidelines:
- Have a riverside science city and two production cities up quickly, if possible. Cottages around the science city to boost research (ok, I usually play financial leaders, which really helps). Lots of axemen out from the two other cities.
- Attack the nearest civ. Raze cities more than occupy them.
- During the war, reasearch Writing (--> Libraries) and Priesthood (--> Oracle). Get Library to the sience city, assign a scientist specialist to get a Great Scientist (-->Academy). Allocate one of the production cities to build Oracle.
- Keep the victim alive until Alphabet. Squeeze skipped early techs for peace.

One thing to mention, though: I tend to take crazy barbarian risks with my early settlers. Sometimes it pays off, sometimes I'm done by 3000 BC.

I don't see how you could be behind in tech at noble level, except if you let the governor assign tiles worked in your cities, without any emphasize button used.
The governor doesn't seem to care for commerce in this situation.

My guess is just build more workers, improve the land, work the tiles.
This is the most common mistake AFAIK.
1 worker for 3 cities isn't enough.
3 workers for 3 cities is barely enough to give you a soso economy.
6 workers for 3 cities will make you a tech monster.
One more thing on this issue : you don't want 6 workers building 6 improvements in 4 turns. You want 4 workers building a cottage in one turn!

I don't perform any micromanagement in my city (selecting tiles for citizens)
I'll include this in my upcoming games
Thanks (used to do it a lot in Civ 3 and I pwned the game badly. Haven't figure out how to do it in Civ 4, but will figure out).

I don't perform any micromanagement in my city (selecting tiles for citizens)
I'll include this in my upcoming games
Thanks (used to do it a lot in Civ 3 and I pwned the game badly. Haven't figure out how to do it in Civ 4, but will figure out).

you don't need to MM the cities.
just build enough workers, improve the tiles and use the emphasize buttons.
don't automate the workers, though

I find that whether at war or peace I can fall behind if i don't constantly look for some kind of tech trades to make. It's good to bee line for something, which no other civ has and begin to make trades. that will catch you up faster than anything. Emphasize your economy (build many cottages and prioritize commerce with your city governor whenever possible) and be on the look out for tech trades, even during war.

Citizen micromanagement is key, the governor is retarded, and will not have the same goals as you, micromanage every citizen to maximize growth up to happy cap, then emphasize the cities goal. Personally I control the work of Every citizen, in my empire. My current game is empororer/large/marathon, having over 60 cities.
Worker automation is also a very poor choice, except late game, where you have nothing to do until railroad/repairing random pillaging. At that point worker automation is helpful, assuming you have leave forests/old improvements.
A good way to do things, is looking at a city every time it finishes building, or if the time till growth of a small city is delayed, it may be a good idea to find out why, and afterwards if you notice a tile that is out of place, send a worker to come fix it. Sure its tedious, and some may find this boring, but trust me the results will pay off well.

Micromanagement is important...It really helps, do you actually grow 2 turns faster or get certain tech done one turn earlier.
Or in other situation you change tiles to production or you crow some cottages...almost every turn might be the most important one...

But there are times when you can just let it roll.

One my friend has just started to play civ...he lost almost every time in noble...

One major problem he had, was that he wasn´t paying attention to what he was aiming for. He didn´t have a goal (exept to win, but he didn´t manage).

You may, and should in some cases, change your plans in different phases, but not too much...I mean that you can win domanation if you have planned cultural, but you can´t win cultural if you decide it in modern times...

So...Have a plan and do everything you can to achieve it and adapt it if game situatiion forces you.
Still there are players that would won you 100-0, but you win AI in noble 100% sure...
You don´t need to do everything perfectly or you don´t need perfect sense of luck in noble, Deity is a different story...I mean with the sense of luck, that sometimes you can have a small hint what would be the best thing to do, for example something happens in another land, really good deity players have good skills in that...

I think being first to alphabet is important for the tech race. If you don't get there first, the AI will jump way ahead because it will do a lot of trading.

I'll give you my autoreply:
Tech path: specialist economy, oracle, liberalism. Try to get liberalism before 750AD.

Periods of time to attack:
- axe rush before 1000BC. If you can't take out the AI capital, it's not because you don't have enough axes, but because your attack wasn't fast enough
- catapults: works well even against knights and granadiers
- cavalry: if you got flanking 2, suicide them against machine-guns and infantry.

Personally I control the work of Every citizen, in my empire.

having over 60 cities.


Holy mother of micromanagement!! I love my mm, but every citizen in 60+ cities?! What's that, one turn per hour?! No wonder it gets 'tedious'. ;)

Citizen micromanagement is key, the governor is retarded, and will not have the same goals as you, micromanage every citizen to maximize growth up to happy cap, then emphasize the cities goal. Personally I control the work of Every citizen, in my empire. My current game is empororer/large/marathon, having over 60 cities.
Worker automation is also a very poor choice, except late game, where you have nothing to do until railroad/repairing random pillaging. At that point worker automation is helpful, assuming you have leave forests/old improvements.
A good way to do things, is looking at a city every time it finishes building, or if the time till growth of a small city is delayed, it may be a good idea to find out why, and afterwards if you notice a tile that is out of place, send a worker to come fix it. Sure its tedious, and some may find this boring, but trust me the results will pay off well.

citizen MM is boring when you have more than 2 cities.
the emphasize buttons are working really well.