I suck at this game. Even at lower difficulty levels its tough. On a recent game that had barely started I was exploring and found Alexander and his - get this - TWO SETTLERS. How did he have time for TWO Settlers already?

I'm playing on easy-medium levels. Combat is tough. I've got to have a ton of guys to win anything. I recently put up a 'Maginot line' of Forts and found out Forts are pretty useless. Swordsman go through them like they're tissue paper.

I play on random maps and always get crappy starting positions. Then I explore and find out I'm on an isthmus, or am otherwise surrounded by water.

I played a lot of Civ IV and did ok. But this is getting tiresome.

It's early game and Alexander and I are on an Island. I tried declaring War now to lock him into his starting position, but that's slow slogging.

There is so much water on all the maps I get and it seems to take a long time to be a naval power.

Sigh.

If it's any consolation, the AI receives a lot of bonuses on "normal".

If it's any consolation, the AI receives a lot of bonuses on "normal".

No kidding. Was just playing that game again and BANG, there's another Settler. Plus Alexander, with ONE city has already researched embarkation and has Hoplites surrounding his city. Bonuses are one thing, this is PFM.

What difficulty are you playing on?Cheiftan?Prince?

I don't know, but maybe you should just try being peaceful first and focus more on building up infrastructure.Make sure to build some libraries to help with science.Get at least four or five workers to improve things.Build farms around your cities for food to help them grow larger and thus be more productive.When you get a good infrastructure, build a sizable military force to protect your borders.

It seems strange that combat would be so tough.Usually the AIs are pretty easy to deal with for me, at least.Just keep melee units in front to absorb damage.Keep your ranged units and siege units behind and bombard the daylights out of your enemies.

Use research agreements to keep up in tech.And if you need further science help, consider using Rationalism.But be careful if you're using Peity, because Rationalism can't be open at the same time as Peity.

Also, if you have more than one copy of the same luxury resource, I don't think you get any extra happiness for them.So sell them off.I can usually get 240 gold for each of them.

Be careful not to expand so that your unhappiness gets bad, which makes your cities not grow nearly as fast.I think it's better to have a few cities that have alot of population, rather than many cities that all have one population, which can be the case if you expand too fast and have bad happiness.

Anyway, I know I'm not the best in the world, but I hope some of this helps.

What difficulty are you playing on?Cheiftan?Prince?

I don't know, but maybe you should just try being peaceful first and focus more on building up infrastructure.Make sure to build some libraries to help with science.Get at least four or five workers to improve things.Build farms around your cities for food to help them grow larger and thus be more productive.When you get a good infrastructure, build a sizable military force to protect your borders.

It seems strange that combat would be so tough.Usually the AIs are pretty easy to deal with for me, at least.Just keep melee units in front to absorb damage.Keep your ranged units and siege units behind and bombard the daylights out of your enemies.

Use research agreements to keep up in tech.And if you need further science help, consider using Rationalism.But be careful if you're using Peity, because Rationalism can't be open at the same time as Peity.

Also, if you have more than one copy of the same luxury resource, I don't think you get any extra happiness for them.So sell them off.I can usually get 240 gold for each of them.

Be careful not to expand so that your unhappiness gets bad, which makes your cities not grow nearly as fast.I think it's better to have a few cities that have alot of population, rather than many cities that all have one population, which can be the case if you expand too fast and have bad happiness.

Anyway, I know I'm not the best in the world, but I hope some of this helps.

Was playing on Warlord. What's a good build order? I usually do a Monument, scout, worker. I try to make enough gold to buy my first Settler so I don't have to have the 'no growth hit' while making one.

Well, I don't know how good this is, but I can tell you the general way I usually start off when playing on prince.

I aslo usually build a monument first.And then I go with Liberty first and then choose the policy that give you a free settler, so you don't have to buy it or build it.After the monument I usually will build a worker pretty soon, and around in there somewhere I build an archer to ward off barbarian threats, while going scouting with my starting warrior(Acutally I go scouting with the warrior as soon as I start the game).Then I continue down the liberty tree to get the policy that gives you a free worker.Then I usually build another settler eventually and build another archer to escort it, or send the archer I already have to escort it, and use the new one for the capital.And while getting my first few cities up I continue down liberty, finish it, get a golden age and a free great person of my choice, which I think I usually choose a great scientist to get some early teching done.

And that usually works good for me on prince.If you try it, hope it works good for you, too.

To get you started, you will generally pull ahead pretty fast if you go:
Tech: If Trees, Mining -> Pottery -> Writing, otherwise just Pottery -> Writing (alternately, techs that give you access to Luxury resources within your borders)
Policies: Go for the Free Settler in Liberty asap
Build: Worker -> Warrior (what are the vs barbarian bonuses on Warlord? Might not need a second Warrior this early) -> Settler -> Monument/Library -> more Workers -> more Settlers -> more army.

Found cities first in places that will give you new, unique Luxuries, second in areas with high tile yields (though don't do Desert Hills first just for that one gold luxury, there's some common sense here).

Sell excess Luxuries for whatever gold you can get for them. Use to buy city states or save for Research Agreements. Don't generally buy units, and don't buy buildings except maybe a Workshop later on in new cities.



These aren't optimal/"pro" strategies, but they can get you over the hump on Warlord difficulty and you can execute them fairly reliably on any map without too much micromanaging.

There are some great tips here, thanks.

Civ5 is way easier than Civ4, just very different. I suspect that Civ4 habits cause you to fail. Watch video LP's. They are time consuming but there is no better way to get the hang of the basics quickly. Or you can do it by trial and error, of course, which will take a lot longer.

The order I always start in is:

1) Scout
I put them on automatic exploration and send my warrior out as well (but control it as I want him back later as barbarian defense), getting to those city states (first) always helps due to the money they give. Ruins are also really useful as they might give you an extra citizen or a free tech.

2) Monument
After the scout I make a monument in order to get some social policies. Depending on what kind of victory I want I pick my policies but I usually do Liberty -> Collective Rule -> Citizenship because those are really handy.
After that I usually pick the Honor and Autocracy policies when I go for domination, Rationalism and Freedom/Order when Science, Commerce and Patronage for Diplomacy and Piety for Culture.
Tradition and Commerce are always handy so if I have nothing else I go for those.

3) Worker
A worker to improve tiles. I usually go for one farm first to boost growth, then the luxury resources (and make sure I have the technology required beforehand) and then some more farms on open grassland and mines on hills.
I almost never remove forests unless I absolutely have to because lumber mills can be quite handy later on if there are not enough hills.
My warrior is also back way before the worker is done as I want to protect him.

4) Second City
I usually get the settler from the policy tree at around the same time as my worker or later.
As my surroundings are explored pretty well by now I know where all the other useful locations are.
My first priory goes to other luxury resources, usually if there is at least 2 of them near the new city location. I can use the excess ones for trade (I sell them for 240 gold usually, less if the civ does not like me that much).
After I covered nearby luxury resources for trade I look for hilly areas as they might have strategic resources later in game, not to forget they are production cities for me. They can train military units in a matter of 2-3 turns.
Last but not least I make at least one coastal city for boat production (if there are oceans).

5) After this point I just produce some warriors/archers depending on barbarian activity. Sometimes I go without a real military until the medieval era. Always make workers and priorities whatever building you need for you empire.
(Happiness buildings if happiness is low, otherwise I prioritize production and science buildings with culture mixed through them if they are constructed fast.


TIPS
- I prefer to have my cities no more than 3-4 tiles apart to make trade networks (roads between cities) as profitable as possible.
- Science is always important. Get those science buildings when you can, don't forget markets/banks etc. either as you need to earn enough money to maintain both those buildings and your army.
- When talking military you want to have a modern army and not a huge yet outdated army. Numbers mean nothing against a small yet modern army.
- Use siege and ranged units a lot, they are crucial in your army.
- Forts are useless, Citadels (forts made by the Great General) are extremely powerful if placed right. Enemy units take damage when they are next to it (which allows your archers and siege units to take care of them more easily.
- Don't forget to manage cities, sometimes it's better to set the citizens to a production focus or a gold focus.


It's really easy once you know the basic rules that one needs to follow. I always play on Prince and usually win by just following the above things. It should also work for King.

Try to spend as little as possible in terms of hammers and/or gold on workers. Steal 1 from a City State, rescue them from barbs, steal them during war, get one from liberty, etc. Some times you will have to bite the bullet and buy one, but I can't remember the last time I built one. Hammers are just too precious in the early game...

You can't grow while you build a settler, but you can't starve either. Micro your citizens when you are building a settler. Force them to work only the highest production tiles. Don't count on the autofocus mechanic to maximize hammers, as it still makes sure you have "enough" food (even though 0 is actually enough when you are building a settler). If I'm not going Liberty in a game, I'm more likely to buy settlers than build them, because I won't be producing many and without the Liberty discount, I haven't found it the optimal use of my production.

The thing with combat is that it is often either too hard, or a walkover. If you have a number of units in one place, preferably adjacent to one another, flanking the enemy etc., then you get to a point where you can walk over the enemy army once or take one of his cities, and there's nothing he can do to stop you doing exactly the same again to his next city with the same army - and so on and so forth. The flipside is that if you don't have enough units, or have difficulty coordinating them, the AI can keep you in a stalemate for centuries or beat you, because any new units you build are just replacing losses.

So you'll find people who struggle with the system, and people who moan that it's too easy, but not that many inbetween. The latter can still be fun - my last game was tense, with a lot of lost units and several captured and recaptured cities that made it dynamic. Still, I was never facing a serious prospect of being beaten, only of being stalled long enough to prevent my domination victory (which, in fact, happened - I got a time victory instead since Washington still had his capital) - and that took a long period of being simultaneously at war with 3-4 other civs at equivalent or higher tech level on a Pangea map, plus every non-conquered city-state (those blasted CSes killed/captured more of my cities than Siam, India and America combined).

Was playing on Warlord. What's a good build order? I usually do a Monument, scout, worker. I try to make enough gold to buy my first Settler so I don't have to have the 'no growth hit' while making one.

My own usual build order (Emperor) is to build the Scout first, then the monument - quicker exploration gives you a better shot at ruins, which can give you a culture bonus on occasion. It's also better to scout with him than with the warrior, since finding a ruin with a Warrior could net you the booby prize - turning him into a Spearmen and so (a) wasting an upgrade that could have given you a more useful archer, and (b) forcing him down the pikemen upgrade path with no further upgrades until rifles, rather than being able to upgrade to a swordsman and then a longsword.

I will then usually build a warrior before getting the worker, because I haven't usually researched enough techs to use the worker most effectively (if he's sitting around after building a pasture waiting patiently for plantations to be discovered, he's wasting time I could have spent bringing him out later and building something else instead). I usually delay the settler until I have 3-4 pop in my city, when they build fast and the growth penalty doesn't prevent you from doing useful things with the city - generally I'll get my first settler from the Liberty policy, though I'll build him if I take Honor instead. I also have two warriors by that point who are something of a deterrent and can be used to beat barbarians for gold (and culture if I go that policy route) I can then use to buy additional units (I'll usually buy rather than build an archer, as soon as possible after researching that tech) while I develop my cities.

No idea if it's a great strategy - I've won with it, but also often lost with it. But I get by with it on Emperor.

All good advice. Also, during a game, you can't view winning and failing in the same way as in previous civs. An AI with many cities is just a paper tiger, and owning more than four or five non-puppeted cities will usually bog you down. On the level you're playing at, if you build fewer units, non-science buildings/wonders, and roads than you did in Civ4, you'll do just fine regardless of your start location.

There are some great tips here, thanks.

One suggestion I would like to give to you, is to watch some LP videos on youtube.
I have learned so much from watching them. I'll give you a couple of links. These will be played on harder levels, but you will get the idea and learn as I have done.

http://www.youtube.com/user/biborkiraly Now Bibor is a member on here. He is who I started watching first and his games are played on emperor. If you scroll down on his channel, you'll see a list of his Let's Play CiV videos.

http://www.youtube.com/user/SBFMadDjinn?ob=0&feature=results_main MadDjinn I have learned boatloads from. He plays on diety, but does an excellent job of explaining things, and keeps you interested. He is also a member on here.

http://www.youtube.com/user/Wainyciv?ob=0&feature=results_main Wainy as well is very thorough. He also plays on diety. And likewise he's a member here.

When I started watching these I was playing on prince. Now I play on emperor, so it is a process. In fact, Pilgrim, who posted above helped me win my first game on emperor.

Take a look at some of these and keep playing, that's the best way to get better. Take care and have fun.

from settler to emperor, I would highly suggest going straight for writing and immediately build a library. Obviously go for liberty, and usually go for the free settler first. Then grab the tech for the luxes around you, expand (this was a problem I had when I played on warlord, not expanding that much). Then get archery if AI's are pretty close to you (their cities). Then make your way to education and build the university. This is probably one of the most solid openings for me. When you get into king+ lvls, you can add in other stuff like getting the Hagia Sophia -> GE -> PT - > use the GS for astronomy type of stuff.
Like others have said, scout scout scout! The more of the map you scout early on, the more knowledge of where the future cities are! GL HF

Less is not more in civ, more is more..

The more cities u got, the more poulation u got the better you ll do. So...

You want to expand as fast as possible (more cities) but also grow your cities as fast as possible (easier with less cities)

The restraint is happines. If you look at each city (depending on dificulty I guess, I only play MP) u get -4 happines/new city. In order to not restraint your growth that city need to be self sufficient on happines. If u got full liberty tree researched, road to the city gives +1. If it got horses or elephants +2 from circus, if it got a unique luxery, + 4, if you build a colosseum + 2.

So. Anywhere there is a unique luxery you should plant a new city as fast as possible. If there are horses/elephants, still fast but second priority. focus teching on getting luxeries early and improve them fast. They should be first prio for your workers (you can also plant new cities rght on top of them for instant acces.

Now. Capital is where you make the settler (since the liberty bonus makes them fast there) that also restraint growth in capital, (but you dont loose population either when making a settler even on negative food) so a good way to do it is to grow the capital to at least population 3 or 4 while only settle second city from liberty settler. Make sure u can work 3 hills at least if possibe from the capital. then while amking the settlers in capital manually asign to work all hlls (remember to put the workers back to food again when done with settlers or you ll loose population), this way u should be able to produce settlers in the capital in 3 turns. Now make 5-6 cities. Look for hills in combination with rivers. Look for unique luxery and horses/elephants.

If you think it s to much water.. play pangea....

What's a good build order? I usually do a Monument, scout, worker. I try to make enough gold to buy my first Settler so I don't have to have the 'no growth hit' while making one.

My usual build order is something like:

Scout -> Worker -> Warrior

After that I might try a run for the Great Library; this lets me slingshot into the medieval era with Theology or Civil Service, and gets me a free (regular) library in the capital to boot. I don't often build a monument in my capital since I usually open with Tradition instead of Liberty using culture bonuses from ruins, and Tradition not only has a policy that gives you free culture buildings in your first few cities (so long as you haven't already built them, in which case the policy is wasted), but it gives you +3 culture in the capital--more than a monument, and without having to build anything.

I tend to be a little slow getting around to settlers, for better or for worse. I prefer to build up my capital first so that it's strong enough to defend my early cities, and have enough population to get decent production and science.

..it s worse.... not better

For King on continents i usually go for the following start and strategy:

Starting Techs:
Archery -> Mining -> Pottery -> Writing

Archery to get myself some archers to fend off barbarians and for early wars. Mining for hammers, and up to writing to get the great library.

Starting Builds:
Scout -> Monument -> Archers until.. -> Great Library

All the while working on the liberty social policy to get the free worker and settler. After that, if i have neighbours, i do my best either to kill them or knock them down to one crappy city so i can pursue a science victory peacefully :D

If you succesfully pull off a National College start (and yoink the Great Library in the process!) you are set for the next few thousand years. Build order is scout - monument and then theres usually a few turns surplus to work on a warrior or something. Pop settler and worker from liberty, get that second city up, save your money for a library purchase here, and then start work on NC as soon as Great Library is finished. Tech should of course focus on pottery - writing, and then worker techs. Pop philosophy with the library as it is still rather expensive. On emperor/immortal, a decent start gets you the library around turn 42-43'ish.

For King on continents i usually go for the following start and strategy:

Starting Techs:
Archery -> Mining -> Pottery -> Writing

Archery to get myself some archers to fend off barbarians and for early wars. Mining for hammers, and up to writing to get the great library.

Starting Builds:
Scout -> Monument -> Archers until.. -> Great Library



You actually only need 1 or 2 archers on king to hold off 6-7 warrior rush from the ai.

..it s worse.... not better

Obviously, I disagree. :P

If you expand faster than your military production can keep pace--especially on maps where your starting point is in the middle of a bunch of AI players with few natural borders--then those cities probably aren't going to last very long, especially once the AI players start whining about you settling in spots they feel they own (id est, anywhere on the map).

Obviously, I disagree. :P

If you expand faster than your military production can keep pace--especially on maps where your starting point is in the middle of a bunch of AI players with few natural borders--then those cities probably aren't going to last very long, especially once the AI players start whining about you settling in spots they feel they own (id est, anywhere on the map).

First. Monument is the superior start, regardless of policy choise. Making a worrior that early is waste of producction in the capital.

Second. I have no experience in science or cultural wins. I play MP so what i know is domination. Now of course MP are different from SP (and at the level i play much harder then SP)

..And trust me, bigger is indeed better if you are going to war. Economy, millitary, producction..... I do some practise games against AI, diety or immortal. IF AI close kill AI... I dont do diplo. but I guess if u play several AI on pangea, Do some diplo and bribe some AI s to war toehrs so they stay ocupied while u kill the closest one... After that you should be powerfull enough to steamroll the others....

My start is usually:

Capital - Scout > Worker > Settler > Wonders
Other Cities - Monument > Settler > Wonders

First. Monument is the superior start, regardless of policy choise. Making a worrior that early is waste of producction in the capital.

Second. I have no experience in science or cultural wins. I play MP so what i know is domination. Now of course MP are different from SP (and at the level i play much harder then SP)

..And trust me, bigger is indeed better if you are going to war. Economy, millitary, producction..... I do some practise games against AI, diety or immortal. IF AI close kill AI... I dont do diplo. but I guess if u play several AI on pangea, Do some diplo and bribe some AI s to war toehrs so they stay ocupied while u kill the closest one... After that you should be powerfull enough to steamroll the others....

I like the way you think sir. You remind me of...me.

People LOOOVVEEE scouts and warriors as first thing in capital, but I think Monument is the best. If I go Tradition then maybe a scout first.

Scout and then monument for me. Then warrior, and settler, another settler if no iron...

I go scout, monument, warrior, worker, while my capital grows. A lot depends on your map and strategy. Are you going to expand rapidly, or go for great library, NC, or early war to knock off a close rival, grab archery and bronze working. If you have luxury resources you want to get them improved and sold if possible to bribe city states, buy tiles etc etc. There are many possibilities. Think and play that's all I can say.

Played this game.. a bit to fast and sloppy.. but just wanted to prove a point.. posted in stratey forum since somone there also asked for a domination strategy... Gamle played only on immortal difficulty. would have had to put much more time and attention into the game on diety....

this is why bigger is better when going for war. Tech path was going for machinery and ingeneering + some lux tech, neglecting writing. then using GS from Liberty finisher to get machinery and after that go down the other tech path getting writing and those techs....

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=460936

First. Monument is the superior start, regardless of policy choise.

Then Legalism goes to waste, which you need anyway to get the two policies behind it.

Making a worrior that early is waste of producction in the capital.

Building a second warrior after my worker gives someone to protect the worker so that I don't have to run him into town every time a barb shows up on my borders. It also allows me to clear up any foggy spots I might have missed near my capital with my scout and initial warrior, and if I bring the first warrior back from exploring I can use the two as a team to clear out nearby barb camps.

Then Legalism goes to waste, which you need anyway to get the two policies behind it.


Not if you time it for free temples insted......

Liberty is a faar superior start..mabye 1 spot in tradition initially.. then liberty.. but to start filling out tradition tree..... ?

As second policy tree its ok.. but not as first

What level do you play SP on? .. I can play around with immortal.. and that is without knowing jack about abusing AI or diplo... I just kill them all... (and outeching them)

On diety thought I run into some problems if playing quick speed on bigger maps (I dont know anything about diplo and probably would have to learn some for that..)

Unless ur a diety player who wins regularly on diety I think u should lisiten to what I say if u want to improve ur gameplay...

Not if you time it for free temples insted......



How would you do that? Wait till you're in the Classical Era?

Not if you time it for free temples insted......

If I'm working up the Tradition tree, I'd prefer to have it earlier; especially if I plan to go for Monarchy (useful when there aren't a lot of luxury resources around) and Landed Elite instead of picking up a few Liberty policies for the free settler and worker. Legalism is usually my second policy in this case, well before I have Philosophy.

Liberty is a faar superior start..mabye 1 spot in tradition initially.. then liberty.. but to start filling out tradition tree..... ?

Liberty is excellent because of the settler, worker, and great person. But beyond that it's actually a fairly bland tree. Tradition and Honor's policies tend to be meatier in every other respect.

What level do you play SP on?

Emperor, generally. I can beat Immortal (and Diety), but not consistently.

Unless ur a diety player who wins regularly on diety I think u should lisiten to what I say if u want to improve ur gameplay...

I listen and take into account a great deal of advice from other players; yours included. But not exclusively. :P

Forts is never a waste, They make empty spots in your empire defensible in the impossible scenario where AI is kicking your butt in the war.

And if you get a fort built up in the quiet period before war, have infantry fortify them, they likely won't get attacked except maybe artillery'd. Going overboard on them is bad, so strike a fine balance there. I have empty forts deep in my empire because the stage of war has moved the frontline. Doesn't matter, they don't cost you maintenance, if the war isn't going in my favor, those forts get manned again.

Forts is never a waste, They make empty spots in your empire defensible in the impossible scenario where AI is kicking your butt in the war.

And if you get a fort built up in the quiet period before war, have infantry fortify them, they likely won't get attacked except maybe artillery'd. Going overboard on them is bad, so strike a fine balance there. I have empty forts deep in my empire because the stage of war has moved the frontline. Doesn't matter, they don't cost you maintenance, if the war isn't going in my favor, those forts get manned again.

I use them just wish AI was smart enough to use them.

I use them just wish AI was smart enough to use them.

I've never seen the AI use them at all.:(

I've never seen the AI use them at all.:(

I know, I hope that changes with the expansion.

I use them just wish AI was smart enough to use them.

No Civ AI has ever made much use of forts that I can recall (let alone good use of them).

I recommend selecting "Legendary Start" from the advanced options. It will ensure your capital has a very nice start location. Sometimes it truly is legendary!

This helps a lot when learning the game.

Also; the computer loves to pick Liberty or Honor policies. The former will give them a free settler and allow them to build settlers faster. The AI abuses this and city spams because it has more happiness than the player. If the AI picks up Honor they'll try to be aggressive.

On the combat side of things, I suggest taking it slow. Don't rush into a fight, set up good defenses and let them come to you. Pick Shock promotions for your melee units so they'll always have a bonus regardless of terrain. Putting your ranged unit on hills allows them to shoot over forests. Keep your units next to each other so they cannot be flanked (combat penalty). If against small numbers of superior units, surround them for flanking bonus.

Tradition is a strong policy tree for being on the defense. Oligarchy vastly increases the damage of your city attack so long as a unit is garrisoned (their icon is a circle on the top left, not the top right). Honor is good as well if you expect a lot of fighting and also makes dealing with barbarians a breeze.

No Civ AI has ever made much use of forts that I can recall (let alone good use of them).

Civ4 AI is able to build forts on strategic resources which aren't in a city's BFC and puts unit on it to defend.

I usually build: Scout> Worker> Monument> Library...I pick the Tradition policy for the +3 culture, then the bonus for building wonders, then I go to the Liberty for the free settler and worker....

I recommend selecting "Legendary Start" from the advanced options. It will ensure your capital has a very nice start location. Sometimes it truly is legendary!

This helps a lot when learning the game.

Also; the computer loves to pick Liberty or Honor policies. The former will give them a free settler and allow them to build settlers faster. The AI abuses this and city spams because it has more happiness than the player. If the AI picks up Honor they'll try to be aggressive.

On the combat side of things, I suggest taking it slow. Don't rush into a fight, set up good defenses and let them come to you. Pick Shock promotions for your melee units so they'll always have a bonus regardless of terrain. Putting your ranged unit on hills allows them to shoot over forests. Keep your units next to each other so they cannot be flanked (combat penalty). If against small numbers of superior units, surround them for flanking bonus.

Tradition is a strong policy tree for being on the defense. Oligarchy vastly increases the damage of your city attack so long as a unit is garrisoned (their icon is a circle on the top left, not the top right). Honor is good as well if you expect a lot of fighting and also makes dealing with barbarians a breeze.

Ok, I've looked and looked but can't find 'Legendary Start' anywhere on the advanced options. Maybe it's time for new glasses.

Where is it?

No Civ AI has ever made much use of forts that I can recall (let alone good use of them).

Not wanting to continue derail, but wasn't there an affect that was patched out ages ago, that building forts on an isthmus allowed naval units to pass through both sides (thus you don't need to build a city there)?

Not wanting to continue derail, but wasn't there an affect that was patched out ages ago, that building forts on an isthmus allowed naval units to pass through both sides (thus you don't need to build a city there)?

There was? Oh man, I wish I'd known about it when it was still there. They seriously need canals in Civ. I hate having to send my ships all the way around a continent for the rest of a game just because an AI settled a city one tile off from the isthmus before I could get to it. -_-

Ok, I've looked and looked but can't find 'Legendary Start' anywhere on the advanced options. Maybe it's time for new glasses.

Where is it?

Its the resources. U know where you can choose between balanced, abundant etc...

Its the resources. U know where you can choose between balanced, abundant etc...

Resources? Where is that???????

You go into setup game. There is one 'advanced' screen. It has things like which civs are in the game, victory conditions, standard stuff like 'map size', etc.

Where are 'Resources'?????

This is driving me nuts. I just do NOT SEE IT. This is 1.01.511, yes?

After you klick setup game, now pay attention to the "advance setup button, lower part of the screen, klick there)
http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/594717856457917463/B8949041C3C12125C812A4EB95C50DC644058338/

then u ll get here...
http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/594717856457885236/2F638F57CA5B95A69083F41A6A2EBC42E10D4D44/

..there u go....

I'm not kidding, it's NOT THERE.

I have :

Map type
Map Size
Difficulty Level
Game Pace
Game Era

And that is IT. Then it has check-boxes for 'Victory Types' and a series of check-boxes for 'Advanced Game Options'.

I'm playing game 1.01.511. Is that your version?

Why don't you and I have the same 'Advanced Options' Screens????

Can you give us a screengrab of your game? (function should be F12)

edit: ignore

I just hit the 'RESET' button and now I have all the options.

WEIRD. Why would they make them GO AWAY?

Great UI, Firaxis.

Those additional options are tied to individual map scripts. Hitting RESET will change the map type back to Continents, hence giving you the Resources option.

Which means you were playing a map type that didn't offer the Legendary Start.

Oh yeah that s it.. thing is not all options are there for all maps. For example scrimish allways have balanced resources and u cant change it.. etc tec.. so depending on map type u ll get different options.

Forts is never a waste, They make empty spots in your empire defensible in the impossible scenario where AI is kicking your butt in the war.

And if you get a fort built up in the quiet period before war, have infantry fortify them, they likely won't get attacked except maybe artillery'd. Going overboard on them is bad, so strike a fine balance there. I have empty forts deep in my empire because the stage of war has moved the frontline. Doesn't matter, they don't cost you maintenance, if the war isn't going in my favor, those forts get manned again. If I take the Honour tree, I'll throw a fort (or citadel) in a tile right next to my city and station a melee unit there. It makes defending the city substantially easier as the melee unit can absorb tons of damage (and gains tons of experience w/ the +50% XP) while the ranged unit stationed in the city gains +10% to damage.

For me, this is an effective build order for the first few turns to get a good start.

1. Scout - you need to know whats out there resources, other civs, natural wonders and ancient ruins which can give some pretty good things such as increased population or upgrading a unit for free.

2. Monument - It helps your borders expand and gives you social policies faster, both of which are important.

3. Warrior - You can build a worker now, but most likely it will get stolen by barbarians or you it will be sitting idle in your city to not get captured. An extra warrior will help a lot for protecting your workers, especially if your first warrior is exploring (which it probably should explore around the capitol area)

4. Worker - You need to build a worker fairly early or you will really fall behind. Build farms, also look at the hex yields to see where to build. Build farms near rivers or on grassland. Build mines on hills. Make sure you work any luxuries first, such as cattle, gold etc. They help a lot in many different ways.

I don't really have advice on a build order after this, it depends on the game.

Some other tips, make sure you build libraries, universities and other science buildings. You'll want to research things like education and writing early. Also, try to get iron early to have a strong military, and never let your units become obsolete. When you fight wars you need to use the terrain to your advantage. Try to avoid attacking across rivers, let them attack you as they will have a disadvantage. You should try to fortify in forests and hills which will give you a defensive bonus. Attack the enemy when they are on open flat land. Ranged units can also weaken your enemy for a melee attack.

Also, read the civlopedia. I know it seems like a pain, but it has a huge amount of information that can help anybody. You don't need to read every single page, but you should browse through all the topics and read about things you want to learn more about. There is an in-game civlopedia that you can access during game play. But there is an identical version online at this link.

http://civilopedia5.com/

I've been doing monument, granary, great library, and national college. I find that keeps my science rate fairly high on both Warlord and Prince. I use the liberty tree to get my second city (which I immediately build a library so my capitol can build national college). I find having 2 cities early on is plenty. The only danger in this plan is if the ai attacks you. Because you won't have many units for a long time. Most likely just one warrior (most likely upgraded to a spearman from a hut). Barbs are a nuisance but usually not much of a problem.

Warlord is too easy, and I mainly only do that for builder games where I want to build a large impressive empire.

Prince on the other hand is a huge jump. And I wish there was something in between. I'm told you are even with the AI on this level (like on the Civ4 medium level), but I struggle at this game more than Civ4. But I think it's because I think too much in Civ4 terms. I can still win on Prince without much trouble, but I have trouble being #1 in score. I don't know why, but I feel the need to always be #1 in score. Winning when I'm not #1 in score just seems weird.

My main struggle at Prince is my economy. My last game I as the arabs, but even then I struggled with my economy until the modern age. I think maybe the problem is I'm not building enough trading posts, and too many farms. There is no sense in building that many farms since I also struggle with happiness too.

If someone could give me advice to make gold and improve happiness, I would enjoy it.

Also, read the civlopedia. I know it seems like a pain, but it has a huge amount of information that can help anybody. You don't need to read every single page, but you should browse through all the topics and read about things you want to learn more about. There is an in-game civlopedia that you can access during game play. But there is an identical version online at this link.

http://civilopedia5.com/
Actually it's pretty outdated. It would be nice if the author could update it. Till then one should read the in-game one.

I've been doing monument, granary, great library, and national college.
....

Prince on the other hand is a huge jump. And I wish there was something in between. I'm told you are even with the AI on this level (like on the Civ4 medium level), but I struggle at this game more than Civ4. But I think it's because I think too much in Civ4 terms. I can still win on Prince without much trouble, but I have trouble being #1 in score. I don't know why, but I feel the need to always be #1 in score. Winning when I'm not #1 in score just seems weird.

My main struggle at Prince is my economy. My last game I as the arabs, but even then I struggled with my economy until the modern age. I think maybe the problem is I'm not building enough trading posts, and too many farms. There is no sense in building that many farms since I also struggle with happiness too.

If someone could give me advice to make gold and improve happiness, I would enjoy it.
First of all, you should start with scout. Early exploration is very important. And make sure you have a worker early to connect luxuries and allow growth.
Second, if you still cannot rid off Civ4 habits, I suspect you have too few cities. Unlike previously, in Civ5 the more cities you have, the better shape your economy is in.
Third - trade a lot. Sell open borders to friendly AI for 50:c5gold:, spare luxuries for 240:c5gold: per lux, and spare strategics for 45:c5gold: per unit.
Forth - if you have big military in defense - don't. You don't need big army unless you go offensive and then conquest pays for itself.
Fifth - don't build buildings you don't need. If there is only one city that builds units, don't have barracks everywhere. Almost all buildings cost maintenance.
Sixth - try to found cities close to rivers, build markets and connect them to the capital. Just remember no to place cities too far away from each other, since roads also cost maintenance.

Also, read the civlopedia. I know it seems like a pain, but it has a huge amount of information that can help anybody. You don't need to read every single page, but you should browse through all the topics and read about things you want to learn more about. There is an in-game civlopedia that you can access during game play. But there is an identical version online at this link.

http://civilopedia5.com/

Actually it's pretty outdated. It would be nice if the author could update it. Till then one should read the in-game one.


If you take a look at our sticky to that site here (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=399413), you will notice that there's an updated version here (http://www.dndjunkie.com/civilopedia/) :).

There's some helpful tips for building a strong economy.

1) When you settle a new city, determine if it's good for production. If there isn't a lot of hills or forests, consider having this city focus on gold production. Be sure you are actually working the tiles that produce gold.

2) When you conquer a city, instead of annexing it make it a puppet. Puppet cities will always focus on gold production. Build lots of trading posts in puppet cities.

3) Settling next to rivers is a good idea. Every tile next to a river gives +1 Gold.

4) Research Currency early and don't hesitate to build Marketplaces.

5) If you have extra copies of Luxury resources then you should sell them to the AI. If you have extra Strategic resources, you can also sell these.

6) You can sell Open Borders to Friendly civilizations for 50 gold.

7) Economics technology gives +1 Gold to Trading Posts and Camps. If you many of these improvements and work them, that's a lot of extra money.

8) Don't build frivilous roads, each tile is -1 Gold per turn. Work out the shortest routes between your cities so you save money. The amount of Gold a trade route earns is based on the Population of the city, capped by the Population of the Capital. So an 8 pop city linked by a 5-tile road is earning 3 Gold per turn.

9) Pick up Commerce policies. The starter is +25% Gold in your Capital. This also combos well with Tradition, were one of the policies gives +1 Gold in the Capital per 2 citizens.

There are two strategies I normally use for my Immortal games or my cuthroat multiplayer games.

Depending on my start I will go tradition or liberty (Tradition is really underrated).

This is froma multiplayer view now but can be applied to easier singleplayer.

If I have a nice start for a Great Library Rush and want to play a centralized civ game, I will go tradition. I open with monument -> Worker -> Great Library. This way I can get Great library in quick anywhere from turn 22-27. During this time my warrior exploring and the start will be suitable enough to get me about 100 gold (from city states, ruins, and gold per turn). I buy a scout as soon as I can to explore. With Great Library tech I either get Mathematics or Philosophy (and keep teching to Math). This way I can get a free temple to continue rushing through early policies. I normally use warmonger civs so after getting Hanging Gardens (or the Great Library and then deciding to expand) I play a bit build up and then war (recently been having fun with rushing to chivalry with my early tech advantage).

But of course there is my more typical liberty start. Even then I still go monument first, then scout. Monument to get liberty faster and then my scout will have found if I need to rush settlers (due to neighbors proximity) or if I can delay with worker policy and then spam cities.

These ideas work for singleplayer too. Creating a ton of early cities allows you to build a few units and increases your beakers early as well. It can be better than the Great Library, but with a tradition start and focusing on a few cities you can focus on a richer gold game once you start conquering while maintaining policies and tech. The food bonuses allow your cap to be extremely productive. Been having fun with mud temple speed policying and then mandelaku cavalry rushing after my initial buildup is finished.

If you take a look at our sticky to that site here (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=399413), you will notice that there's an updated version here (http://www.dndjunkie.com/civilopedia/) :).
Oh great! Thanks! :)

The only thing I've noticed, techs costs are a bit off, just as they are in main menu civilopedia. In-game civilopedia shows different values.

Also,

I would recomend that you stay on warlord difficulty for a while. Wait until you get comfortable at warlord. Once you are comfortable, play a few more games to really get comfortable. Then try moving up to prince. At first you will not feel comfortable a prince, but eventually you will be. Once you are comfortable at prince try moving up to king.

Anybody who wants to get better should use this tecnique. If you stay at a level you are comfortable with you will develop a strategy that works and not really progress any further. If you want to get better you should always be pushing your limits.

I recomend this up to king, then you can decide what to do from there. I am at the point where I can consistently have sucess on king, and I can usually play a pretty good game at emperor. But I don't like emperor because I find that the AI is EXTREMELY agressive at this level, almost to the point where it is not realistic. I find king a very comfortable and fun difficulty to play on, so I ussually stick with that, unless if I am in the mood for a much more agressive and challenging game. But king is fun, and anybody can get to this point. If you are stuck at warlord, it may not seem like it, but you can do it, it just takes a little practice and experience.

Also, if you play multiplayer with good players you will get better real fast. At first you will get your ass kicked, but its part of the learning experience. Most people are friendly and don't mind helping other players learn to get better. Before you get killed, ask your oponent what you did wrong, and ask them what you should have done differently. Most of the time they will help you and give you good advice. Just wait till the end, they won't tell you if you are still a potential threat, but once you are about to lose they will help to teach you how to play, most of the time.