The tools of the trade

Thought I'd start a thread containing all kinds of clever little ways you can improve your game in Civ1. Please contribute, things that seem obvious to you might be very helpful to know for others.

First tip:
if you have a parlay (diplomatic meeting with another civ) coming up and you expect that they will blackmail you for money, then make sure you have between 50 and 100 gold in the bank. This way you can pay them off and keep the peace at a very cheap price. That means you get extra time to get things ready, because when the AI starts to threaten you it can mean a war is right around the corner. Being able to decide when a war is beginning is an enormous advantage because being prepared is vitally important, especially at the higher difficulty levels.

Another one: buying units that can move is a lot more expensive than buying structures.

But you can trick the algorithm.
Example: I've started building something and want a cannon which takes 40 shields.
Buying it is expensive so you change production to temple or barracks (also 40 shields)
and then buy that before switching production back to cannon.

Money easily saved. If you already have temple and barracks in that city you can even
buy a more time-consuming structure and still save money.
I checked an example where buying cannon would cost me 125 gold.
Then I checked the prize for buying granary, which takes 60 shields to make and that
only cost 108 gold.

And lastly, buying anything before the production has started is hideously expensive.
Check for yourself the difference on buying something when your shield-box is empty
compared to when you have a single shield or a couple of shields in the box.

I usually like to maximize the scientific development in my games and it's annoying to
huzzle for money any more than necessary.

A few quick ones off the hat.

Mine+irrigate unproductive grassland if the city has enough food to max out.

It's ounter-intuitive, but sometimes irrigating a gems square in a smaller city will give you better trade, as the 3 extra food from railroaded grassland will allow you to work three ocean squares.

When playing a game with less cities (or an OCC), fiddle around with the tax/science settings when you're about to discover a new tech to maximize income and minimize loss of bulbs. Same goes for when you're building stuff in cities - if what you're currently building requires 10 shields to finish and your city is producing 20, get some people out of the mines and make them fishermen for the last turn of construction.

Gundus said:

Thought I'd start a thread containing all kinds of clever little ways you can improve your game in Civ1. Please contribute, things that seem obvious to you might be very helpful to know for others.

Click to expand...

1. Never give anyone money for any reason.

2. No rival on my landmass may be allowed to live.

3. When you get over 20 cities, the demands on your attention are a drain to actually playing and having fun. The solution to this is simple. Grab a sheet of spare paper and a pen. Every five years, make a list of the cities which will fill their foodbox in four turns or less. Now you don't have to check every city every turn, you just check 10% of your cities the next turn, and when they pop, you adjust your farmers/miners and scratch it off the list. Next turn you're only checking 8% of your cities, and so on. By the fifth year, the list is empty, so check your cities and make a new list.

You will find that most of your cities can be left on autopilot for a dozen turns or more, the key is to know which ones need looking after. With this method, you can manage a very large empire with minimal effort, and turn that empire to whatever you choose: a very large war, great populace, lofty science, or a spiffy rocket.

When a city has reached its natural size and it's above Size 10 I usually sell off the Aqueduct. You will earn 120 gold and save maintenance cost.

Hard to wage war and run a good government type at the same time? Try building a Shakespeare's Theatre Wonder (requires Medicine) in your most productive city. All its citizens will remain content no matter what so start
making an army of military units in this city and/or import good military units from other cities and give them a new home city (by pressing h when inside the S.T. city). Then you can go on military campaigns without worrying about riot under your profitable Democratic or Republic Government. Ideally this super-city should be next to the ocean so you can travel to other continents this way.

Just remember that developing Electronics will cancel this Wonder, so use the time well until you need to focus on science again.

Don't adjust your tax rate on turn 0. Leave it at 50/50 until 3940 BC, when you'll get to select your first technology to research. Any lightbulbs accumulated are lost at that point, so you might as well get some coins into your Treasury instead. But don't go for 100% tax as you do need to be putting some flasks into research or else you won't get to choose a research goal.

Ooh, ooh, and - your capital doesn't need to be your biggest, baddest city. If your capital is hopeless but there's a great site just a couple of squares away, make that other site your killer city! The corruption will be negligible and you can use your feeble capital as an endless source of Settlers that can found new towns or be re-homed to whatever other town you choose. (Thanks Dack, your prediliction for posting GOTMs with pathetic capital sites has noticably helped my game play!)

Gundus said:

When a city has reached its natural size and it's above Size 10 I usually sell off the Aqueduct. You will earn 120 gold and save maintenance cost.

Click to expand...

Depends on your ultimate goal. If you use the "We Love The Leader" parades to rapidly increase your population, a city without an Aqueduct will still have the parade, but it will not grow past the normal non-watered size. I sometimes use this effect to be able to pick which cities will grow and which ones i do not want to grow just yet. Let them have parades, but regulate which ones pop a citz by "turning off" their Aqueduct (i.e., by selling it), and can turn it back on at any time with a couple Caravans.

I think by "natural size" Gunduz means that it no longer has any excess food, even with Railroad, under Monarch/Republic/Democracy. Such a city can have WLTP but won't grow. However, if you sell its aqueduct and then something happens - it loses its Settlers or a disaster reduces its population, for example - it can't regain its full size unless it rebuilds the Aqueduct. So it's a double-edged policy.

A simple one: think twice before stacking units (putting them on the same square).
Five chariots in one square has no more defensive power than a single one, and you risk losing them all at once (unless they are inside a city or a fortress).
But sometimes it makes sense to stack: using a cannon and a rifleman as a pair/twin gives them attack strength 8 and defense strength 5, because they cancel out each others weaknesses.

Also consider carefully in which order you move and fight with your units. A diplomat can go where army units can't go so use this to sneak up on the enemy. Always attack with the strongest piece first.

I always like to have a "close knit" civilization. I rarely spread out too far, for example, if I'm playing the Americans on Earth, I stick to North America for the majority of the game and don't really expand out into South America. To me, makes managing my cities a little easier.

To keep with that philosophy, I like to start a Customized game keeping land masses small. That helps to keep things close like I like it plus the other civilizations seem to stay in check because they cannot expand too far. At least until they developing sea units!

Gundus (or any moderator): I suggest to change the title of the thread because it took me some time to understand it was not about Trade itself.

Tip #1 - Select "New Game" instead of "Earth" - this way it will be much funnier than knowing how the world is beforehand.

Tip #2 - Select "King" for the level of playing as this is the most fair level. If you choose an easier level, you will get benefits when compared to other Civs (like growing faster or needing fewer shields to complete an improvement). If you opt for Emperor, the game will be harder for you than for other Civs. King doesn't guarantee 100% equal rights to all civs but it is the fairest.

Tip #3 - Select 7 Civilizations as this the closest option to real world - with lots of tribes, later becoming nations.

#4 - When prompted to select your Civ, just press Escape key, this way the Civ will be choosen randomly just like when you were born.

#5 - In the Game menu: turn "animations" off, turn "civilopedia text" off, turn "enemy moves" on (quite important this one), "Palace" is irrelevant, turn "end of turn" on (this one is quite important as well), "Autosave" is up to you, "Sounds" are helpful specially in the later stages of the game (when there are many units from other civs) and so should be on, "Instant advice" is not advised .

#6 - Study carefully your initial location. If your first Settler unit starting point is in the coast with a river nearby (or grassland with shield symbol) and at least one hills square, don't hesitate and found your first city right there. However, if these conditions are not matched, move around for a few turns, preferably not more than 4 to 5 turns (or you will be losing valuable time). Move just until you find a suitable site. If it seems that the ocean is too far away, just forget it and found your city in a place where it can grow (food) and produce (shields). You will have time to search for the ocean.

#7 - After your first city is founded, the first priority is to check its surroundings. Choose to build a Militia unit as it is the quickest one to get. After completion, don't leave it inside the city - you will have time to build a stronger defensive unit. Instead, move it around in all directions (North, East, South, West) and it will discover new squares where you citizens can work and explore. Also, it can provide some hints on where to send an expedition and which direction to start expanding.

#8 - If your city is already producing two trade arrows, adjust your trade rate so that you treasury starts growing and your science starts as well. If not, just go for the money (since you start with none) and wait until your city grows to size 2.

#9 - When asked for which technology to study - choose "Bronze Working" if available (so that you can defend your cities with Phalanx units) or one that will lead you to "Mathematics" (in order to be able to defend your cities with Catapult units). "Alphabet" and "Masonry" are good options.

#10 - Quite probably, one Militia unit will not be enough for exploring the surroundings. Until you are able to build a Phalanx unit, continue building Militia units and send them in all directions. Keep an eye on ideal spots for cities (for later).

#11 - When you are able to build a Phalanx, switch from Militia to Phalanx. Once the Phalanx unit is complete, just leave it fortified inside the city.

#12 - Always check your cities before hitting "End of turn".

#13 - In your first encounter with other civ: check which unit you bump into (e.g. if it's a Catapult you can tell they already have the technology and they are militaristic), always accept the meeting, check the number of advisors that accompany the leader (from 1 to 4; one meaning a feeble civilization and 4 a quite powerful one), don't trade any technology with them, always accept peace and take the opportunity to know if they have already met one other Civ. Don't ask for tribute because you will get none (at least in your first encounter) and it will have a negative effect towards your Civ.

#14 - Unless you found a city, quite probably, the other civ's unit will start chasing your Militia unit. Be careful or you might end up stuck without being able to move the unit. If possible, move away from your cities or your area of influence and they will go after you, leaving you enough room and time to fulfill the territory between your existing cities and their city with a bunch of new cities.

#15 - If by chance, you find an undefended city, quickly destroy it. Even if you are at peace with the other civ.

#16 - When your first city has produced a couple of militia (for exploring) and a Phalanx unit for defending itself, and perhaps you have not achieved Mathematics yet, if your size is at least size 3, it's time to build your first Settler unit. After completion, don't waste time irrigating or building roads (save it for later), immediately go to an ideal spot (you should have found one by now with your Militia units) and found a second city. If your first city is not in the coast, this time you really should look for the ocean.

#17 - If you have found more than one ideal site for a city (let's say one lies to the West and another to the East), always choose the one which is closest to other civ you have found. This way you will prevent them from growing and you will get more territory. If you found no other civ, choose the site which is closer.

#18 - As soon as your first settler unit founds a new city, start buiding another settler unit in your first city and use to build a third city as quick as possible. In the meantime, if you have discovered Mathematics, interrupt this process and choose a Catapult instead.

#19 - In your second city, give priority to defend it - Phalanx and Catapult. Only later you should turn to Settlers.

#20 - Bear in mind that a city is only reasonably well defended when it is protected by a Phalanx unit, a Catapult unit and some money in the bank for emergencies. In later years, when all your cities are connected with Roads or Railroads this will be somewhat different because a city can rely on neighbouring cities for protection. Fortify the Phalanx and put the Catapult in sentry mode.

#21 - Don't build any improvement unless it is absolutely necessary. Temples will be absolutely necessary when you'll switch to Republic by year 0 but not earlier. You don't want to pay any maintenance costs.

#22 - Now, back to technology. After getting Bronze Working and Mathematics, you should move to Writing (so you can produce Diplomat units) and then Trade (so your cities will produce Caravan units).

#23 - Don't build too many military units unless your goal is to crush all your enemies as soon as possible. Even if you're playing for world conquest it is funnier to save it for later when you have ships, aircraft, tanks, nuclear weapons... So, unless you are in a hurry, don't build too many military units, because they will consume your shields.

#24 - What to build? When in doubt, always choose Diplomat or Caravan units, because you can never have too much of them and they don't cost you any shield for maintenance.

#25 - Wonders of the World: pick the ones that are really important. Most of these are the ones whose benefits are never outdated - usually the first of these to be available is Magellan's Expedition. But later ones, like Women's Suffrage and J. S. Bach's Cathedral are the ones you really don't want to miss.