Sisiutil's Strategy Guide for Beginners

Alltidxx said:
Great guide this one :). I learnt important details that I had not given a thought previously. It is also a very balanced document for what should be included in a beginners guide. I’ll keep it next to me at coming games. I can tell lots of work has been put into this document, but I have some questions. With the strategy of eliminating citizens to get rid of unhappy faces mentioned at several places in the guide, can one be sure to kill off an unhappy face? What if a happy face is killed off? Or is that just not ever happening? At the promotions section, is not also the preceeding percentage of successful outcome in a fight impacting XP earned after fight won?

I also found some stuff I’d like to flag in v3.3:

- I was under the impression that one cannot trade a tech that one has not researched oneself. If that is true, the next to last point on 3.2 needs to be changed.
- In 4.1, point three, there is an incorrect reference to section 4.3. It should say 4.4
- At 4.3.1, point four, I think the statement “having more than one of them” should be changed to “having more than one of the same resource”
- At 4.6.3, “Stable” should be added to point one: “High-priority builds”
- At 5.5, point four, there is an incorrect reference to section 4.2. It should say 4.3.2
- At 13, there is a spelling error: “Sid’s Sushi Co.: G[r]ants”
- At 13, point nine dealing with Mercantilism, the section is now confusing and I think it should be worded “Mercantilism prevents foreign corporations from spreading to the cities of the civ running the civic and will nullify the effect of branches already established there.”
- At 15.6, it should be explained what factors that affect score and maybe a summary of whether they carry equal weight or not.

Again, thank you for a great guide.:thumbsup:
Click to expand...
Thanks. I'll consider your suggestions for the next revision.
May Day 10 said:
Here is a question.

I am getting the concept of specialized cities and specializing specific buildings/wonders for them.

What buildings should be placed in all cities... and also, if the only buildings are undesirable for the specialized city, should I just build units until another building is available?
Click to expand...

Buildings for all cities? It's a short list.

Granaries.

Everything else depends.


As for building things you don't need--again, it depends. You could always use another unit. On the other hand, sometimes your military city produces >10 research points and therefore could benefit from a library, so don't let specialization tie your hands.
 
Sisiutil said:
Thanks. I'll consider your suggestions for the next revision.


Buildings for all cities? It's a short list.

Granaries.

Everything else depends.


As for building things you don't need--again, it depends. You could always use another unit. On the other hand, sometimes your military city produces >10 research points and therefore could benefit from a library, so don't let specialization tie your hands.
Click to expand...

You might add courthouses to that list now that they contribute Ep's as well. I tend to delay building them in close cities because the maintainence costs aren't that high. Skipping them in even 3 cities is 6EP per turn. That really adds up in the early game. And can deny you crucial knowledge about power levels.
 
Just an update for Alltidxx: I've incorporated most of your suggestions into the next version, except for the following, or with some qualifications.

Alltidxx said:
- I was under the impression that one cannot trade a tech that one has not researched oneself. If that is true, the next to last point on 3.2 needs to be changed.
- At 4.6.3, “Stable” should be added to point one: “High-priority builds”
- At 15.6, it should be explained what factors that affect score and maybe a summary of whether they carry equal weight or not.
Click to expand...

  • "No Tech Brokering" is an option in the custom game screen, but is not on by default. You can indeed trade techs you have not researched yourself to other civs by default.
  • I added it, but I usually either settle great generals in the HE/military city or built West Point there. As a result, my military city tends to build non-mounted units, as my other cities can produce these with stables providing the additional XPs. But that's more of an advanced strategy, so I went with your suggestion.
  • I prefer my simpler explanation: the earlier you finish the game, the higher your score. But I'll add a little more about other factors, like population, that affect score.
 
CivCorpse said:
You might add courthouses to that list now that they contribute Ep's as well. I tend to delay building them in close cities because the maintainence costs aren't that high. Skipping them in even 3 cities is 6EP per turn. That really adds up in the early game. And can deny you crucial knowledge about power levels.
Click to expand...
The what now? What is EP's? And what is denying knowledge of power levels? May this be another gaping hole in my otherwise so very rock solid knowledge of CivIV? :lol: Is there more to courthouses than decreasing maintenance?
 
dalamb said:
EP - espionage points. In BtS you don't get to see other civs' power levels until you have enough EP. Don't have a link for a fuller explanation; sorry.
Click to expand...
aaah so THATS why. I wonder how many EP:s are "enough"?
 
Alltidxx said:
aaah so THATS why. I wonder how many EP:s are "enough"?
Click to expand...
It varies; it's relative, you see--it depends on how many EPs that AI is devoting to you as well.

The idea of denying the AI knowledge of your power levels means you're trying to make this work in reverse--you're devoting so many EPs against them that it's too "expensive", in terms of EPs, for the AI to earn enough EPs to see your power level.

I'm not sure if that's such a worthwhile endeavour. It depends on how the AI is programmed to react in that situation--does it stall any declaration of war until it knows your power level (which sounds like a bug the Better AI time should fix, frankly), or does it just shrug its virtual shoulders and do whatever it was going to do anyway?

Also keep in mind that if your power rating is quite high, you usually want the AI to know about it, to deter them.
 
I think Alltidxx's question was simplier than the advanced question your answer was aimed at Sisiutil. :)

To tell how many EPs you need to see a given civ's graphs, you should look at the espionage screen. In the area that also lists how many points you need to see their research, there should be one for demographics (I don't have a screen in front of me). When your EPs vs. that civ are greater than that number, you should be able to see that civ's graphs. It is a relative number so the more points they've invested against you, the more you will need to invest to get over that number. To switch between the various civs, click on their leaderheads--each will have a different value.
 
Great answer, thanks. Basically then it is probably a matter of time until they can see your powergraph although one can prolong this period by tweaking espionage effects.
 
I would guess that the changes you said you were going to make haven't yet been uploaded - the document hasn't been revised. Haven't looked myself.....
 
TheDS said:
I would guess that the changes you said you were going to make haven't yet been uploaded - the document hasn't been revised. Haven't looked myself.....
Click to expand...
Ah, I see. No, I'm gradually working on version 3.4. I'll probably post it sometime next month.
 
Thanks Sisiutil, having recently stumbled across the forums (and your guide), I just wanted to say that it's a great piece of work you've put together - I'd gladly have used my first 3 turns' research to get my hands on it ;)
 
Thanks Sisiutil; I have just got back into CivIV after purchasing Warlords and Beyond the Sword and I've been really struggling. All of my beginner mistakes from earlier Civilization games (over expansion, etc) have been haunting me and I needed a guide like this to get me back on the straight and narrow.
 
Discovered this site through a google search for civ tips.

As a newbie to the game this beginners guide is most helpful!

Thanks for putting it all together.
 
I've posted version 4.0 of the guide in the first post. It's been reorganized, clarified, edited, and I added a handful of new sections on things like WFYABTA and WHEOOHRN.
 
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