Post Short Tips/Tricks Here

couple things I noticed this weekend:

#6: End game wars: When other civ's recognize you are winning and start declaring war, immediately ask to talk to the warring civ's leader. Often the AI is automatically triggering a war, even if you have good relations. Occasionally that civ will back off immediately, even right after declaring war.

#7: Tech jumping: 50% of the required techs for a future tech must be completed, but additionally the tech jump must be within 10 turns (I think its ten). Sometimes, in order for a tech to even show up as an option you must adapt your cities' production to science. For example, I was playing as Americans and wanted to build factories for the triple production bonus but I was a ways off from the tech. All I had to do was change my gold production city to science and told my science city to focus on science (rather than being balanced for growth), and the option to study industrialization came up after a turn. I quickly cranked out factories relatively early in the game and snatched up most of the modern wonders!

#8: Sometimes an exploring unit will get trapped due to the growing culture of a civ that blocks a chokepoint. Rather than disbanding the unit for gold, consider placing it on top of a special resource. I had a great game in which I received the Great Wall from Angkor Wat. After receiving a horseman for defeating a barbarian village and realizing both my warrior and horseman were trapped, I placed them on important resources on the peninsula. The enemy civ couldn't declare war, and had to focus its efforts on getting engineering just to be able to expand (but of course, without these resources the civ was severely crippled).

No, about the pre-reqs it works in this way:

You have to have the pre-reqs of the technology you want to get, let's say, you want irrigation and you got pottery (pre-req).
The cost of irrigation skipping masonry is:

Irrigation + (Masonry - 10 beakers). In this way, it's 70 instead of 80, but normally, I would get the first to get bonuses, because it's almost every time a good thing.
 
Hi. I recently picked this up, and I'm no expert but I've collected a number of tips that the next beginner might find useful. Many of them have been listed already. Apologies for it being obvious ones to exp players:

- Pick nice surroundings when founding city, but don’t wander too long
- Explore area for nice spots for huts & relics
- Don't settle city on useful tile. Settling tile becomes useless (becomes normal city tile)
- Use hills to attack from and forrest for defence. Protect hills next to city (excellent attacking position for opponents)
- Note that battling across a river adds to defense of opponent (attack weakens) Rivers only gives your units -50% attacks (only catapults, artillery, bombers don't get this, and maybe I'm missing others)
- Note that attacking from Naval unit weakens your attack It's -1/2, different from -50% because a % is counted normally, let's say a legion is 2 attack, with veteran and infiltration, then it becomes 4. Attacking from a river, it's 3 (deleting one of 50% bonuses), instead, if you attack from a naval unit, it's 2, because you add 100% (infiltration and veteran) first, then you lose 1/2

- Don't leave cities idling. All cities should always produce (hammers/science/gold/trade)
- Expand – get more cities, and grow all cities (look for nice spots in exposed area nearby. Build border/choke cities with heavy defense
- Grow culture – easy way to get cities (culture flip) Not a good advice, only going for culture or improving this before military or economics (science/gold) thins would kill you, normally

- Combine strong attack with strong defensive units and move them together
- Remember "Form Army" option Remember also that if you got 3 units and all one got 1 moviment, and you know your units are better than the enemy, you can attack with the first two ones, then form the army without losing any movement, and remember you don't have to heal

- Attack with multiple units (pref. armies) to take city Well, it's normal, how would you conquer a city? And, waiting for many armies while you can attack before, is not always a good advice, then, it depends on situation

- Find choke points and exploit them
- Don't just build roads because you can. Ops/AI will also use them. If you do build roads, block them with a defensive unit in the middle. Do the same on Op's roads
- Use Spies (e.g. to steal GPs.) First send ring of spies, leave quietly, then send single spy
- Group of Caravans adds more to your gold but keeps other civ's tax the same
- Democracy is good for “Defend and Develop” approach but really bad for military approach
- Constantly check on Gold vs Science and switch some cities to your benefit when needed (a city can only do one of them, not both at the same time) If you read some of my "strategies", you can see also how to produce gold and science in the same time. Just "exploit" the market, you can still produce like 300 gold per turn easily with the right bonuses, while producing science

- Use ships for Naval support in battles to boost your chances
- Don't use GP immediately – wait first, and check options/progress. Also look at other city to settle GP in a city
- Consider option for Great Scientist to rush tech, but wait first to check progress. Use appropriately
- Consider option for Great Builder to rush Wonders. Wait first, start a wonder, then use super power
- Consider option for Great Thinker to flip cities Consider also to wait. If the enemy is attacking you, and you got a good culture, if he takes off one of your cities, you can instantly flip it getting his units. That's how I won a game against tanks, when I haven't got them before the enemy (cool game, against another top player)

- Check advantages of Civ you are using (like techs during eras)
- Get Nuke first and either fire it or defend that city heavily (Manhattan Project). There is only one. A capitol can't be destroyed, but perfect to sack after nuke.
- Use Diplomacy to gather intelligence And sell technologies to AI, whatever you can if you want, that won't be a problem for you, take care about your enemies however, they could attack the AI and get your tecnologies

- Militia can be used as scout in attacking force after exploration (put in same stack as armies)
- Check aircarft units for low fuel warning

Use it, don't use it. These are not hard & fast rules, just advice.

I added comments on your post

PS: some advice are good ;)
 
Thanks for the clarification, MorteEterna. I don't mind. Even though this is by far the game I'm spending the most time on, I still feel new to it compared to the levels of achievement I read on the forums.
Which strategy explains the Gold plus Science trick? I can understand that certain "get Tech first" bonuses and certain wonders and GPs gives the +1 ... or sometimes +50% in city. Is that it? I would have thought that these bonuses are more beneficial in a relevant city (like multiply your Gold city as far as possible, or same for science)?
Thanks for the tips!
 
Here's a trick I discovered:

If you are behind in the tech race, try talking with the tech leader(s). Sometimes they'll offer to go to war for money, even if they are currently a democracy. If you can afford it, pay them. They'll frequently switch from the tech-happy democracy to the tech-hostile fundamentalism, giving you several turns to catch up. Of course, sometimes they'll start bullying you.

I used this strategy when I was trying to set myself up for an economic or technology victory (as Spain). Greece was in the game, happily piling on tech at an alarming rate (and they were on an island, to make it worse). I realized they were going to get to AC before I could build the world bank, since I was currently besieged by two hostile AI civs. But I paid them to go to war, and they never quite got back into the tech race.
 
One cute trick: Block enemy ports with your obsolete ships. I discovered a hostile barbarian camp on an island late in the game, and they gave me a galley to go along with the Cruiser parked next door. What to do? I found a use for it.

Since you cannot build a ship if your only port squares are occupied, I parked it in the only water square of an enemy city. Once I controlled the rest of the sea it sat on, it was safe from enemy attack. It happily sat in port, preventing any ships from being built, until I finished the game.

It was awfully amusing to see it doing the victory dance right next to my fleet of battleships.
 
One cute trick: Block enemy ports with your obsolete ships. I discovered a hostile barbarian camp on an island late in the game, and they gave me a galley to go along with the Cruiser parked next door. What to do? I found a use for it.

Since you cannot build a ship if your only port squares are occupied, I parked it in the only water square of an enemy city. Once I controlled the rest of the sea it sat on, it was safe from enemy attack. It happily sat in port, preventing any ships from being built, until I finished the game.

It was awfully amusing to see it doing the victory dance right next to my fleet of battleships.

much in the style of zulu impi warriors camping out in the enemy's squares, parking ships next to the enemies cities is a very useful thing to do. The most powerful and easiest way to do this is with the americans.

Basically, after five techs, you get the half cost unit bonus, but this is really 1/3 cost in the medieval, since it's half the cost of ancient era rushing price. So basically, once you get galleons from navigation, or just galleys, start rushing them for 30 gold a piece (it's not hard raising money with the americans, in the medieval you can basically convert hammers to gold by selling units), and then just suffocate you enemies cities on the coast, taking out his fish, whales, and dye first. This is extemely effective on H2H, on FFA it's a little harder to do since you've got more cities to do this to, but still can be done on a prioritized basis.
 
Courthouses are nice, but not always necessary. Often, your tradesmen are more valuable than your workable city tiles. Build courthouses to capture outer ring resources or upgradable tiles like hills or plains, but don't bother if all you are getting is forest, grassland, or sea. Usually, only the first four tiles from the outer ring worth working (enough to grow your city to 12), and after that tradesmen take over (at 1 Hammer / 2+ Trade each).

This isn't necessarily accurate if your city has any gold or science multiplier buildings (library, market, etc) since the multiplier buildings do not apply to the trade generated by unassigned workers. So in a city with a university, a worker on the water (2 trade) will generate 8 science, while a tradesman working in the 13-16 pop slot would only generate 2 science.
 
much in the style of zulu impi warriors camping out in the enemy's squares, parking ships next to the enemies cities is a very useful thing to do. The most powerful and easiest way to do this is with the americans.

Basically, after five techs, you get the half cost unit bonus, but this is really 1/3 cost in the medieval, since it's half the cost of ancient era rushing price. So basically, once you get galleons from navigation, or just galleys, start rushing them for 30 gold a piece (it's not hard raising money with the americans, in the medieval you can basically convert hammers to gold by selling units), and then just suffocate you enemies cities on the coast, taking out his fish, whales, and dye first. This is extemely effective on H2H, on FFA it's a little harder to do since you've got more cities to do this to, but still can be done on a prioritized basis.

Haven't you stopped giving tips for Americans? :D

However, workers in the city get 2 gold/science after 7 pop (or 6)
 
When going for Domination by 1000AD...

I marched Settlers with my armies over to the last two longest distance Civs.

Built a city and a road and then pummelled them with additional Armies...
 
Nice Thread. Good tips here, It is really helpful to me.
All tips are very interesting and I teach something new over here. Nice information.
My heartiest thanks for sharing.
 
I didn't read the entire thread but if you have a unit stacked with a settler, you can establish a new city even tho it has used it's movement points for the turn.

When you have a settler unstacked (tsk! tsk!) it won't let you get to his options after his move points are gone.

EDIT: Ah poop someone already posted this.

I love this game. I've put more time on this game than all my other PS3 games combined.
 
Things i'll add...

With the highway approach, you should have plenty of time to build an archer+catapult army to patrol the road system, before enemies can "block" it effectively. Defeating the fighter problem is easy... be the first to build the "advanced tech" wonder (Alexandria?)

Beware that the "leave quietly" option places your spy ring back to the last square, so if it's unprotected... you'll lose the ring, and have to destoy THEM to get back into the city. Also on the same note... placing archer armies near enemy capitols early in the game helps give spies the protection to steal GP/destoy Bldgs, when that civ is soaring up the tech tree/cultural ladder

Something i haven't seen here...
Does anyone use the "chain of defence" approach?
Having a "chain" of defenders link your choke points so a freshly built defender can be placed where it's wanted/needed (thru reinforcement). This also helps when the AI gets aggressive, as you can form a few armies quickly, to stop the onslaught. Another thing is that an entrenched archer on every coastal square of a land mass is better (as well as cheaper) than building walls, and virtually eliminates invasion of that mass until an enemy has flight

a question about enemy spies...
Has anyone seen one prior to it destoying your fortifications?
 
With the highway approach, you should have plenty of time to build an archer+catapult army to patrol the road system, before enemies can "block" it effectively. Defeating the fighter problem is easy... be the first to build the "advanced tech" wonder (Alexandria?)

Oxford University. It gives you the highest tech that you have a prerequisite for. Popular choices are Steam Power->Flight, Industrialization->Advanced Flight, Corporation->Networking.

Beware that the "leave quietly" option places your spy ring back to the last square, so if it's unprotected... you'll lose the ring, and have to destoy THEM to get back into the city. Also on the same note... placing archer armies near enemy capitols early in the game helps give spies the protection to steal GP/destoy Bldgs, when that civ is soaring up the tech tree/cultural ladder

Spies are pretty good for stealing GP. I don't usually bother destroying buildings except maybe if a civ with temples and stuff is near where I want to expand.

Something i haven't seen here...
Does anyone use the "chain of defence" approach?
Having a "chain" of defenders link your choke points so a freshly built defender can be placed where it's wanted/needed (thru reinforcement). This also helps when the AI gets aggressive, as you can form a few armies quickly, to stop the onslaught. Another thing is that an entrenched archer on every coastal square of a land mass is better (as well as cheaper) than building walls, and virtually eliminates invasion of that mass until an enemy has flight

Yeah, that's good. Also if you have a small island, you can fortify a unit on every tile to prevent enemy units from landing easily.

a question about enemy spies...
Has anyone seen one prior to it destoying your fortifications?

You never see the AI moving spies and GP around. It can teleport stuff, especially spies and GP, but also sometimes armies will teleport to your fog of war and sometimes AI settlers will teleport to islands, even when the AI doesn't have any naval units. The AI can't teleport units to areas that are currently in your view, so you can curtail this behavior by putting old warriors on hills and things.

According to a 2K rep on another site, the AI does not get free units. So it can teleport legion armies into the heart of your empire, but it's not making them out of thin air. They still cost gold/hammers.
 
Yea, that's basically what i was referring to with entrenching all coastal squares. The smaller the mass (island), the quicker you can get to building important things... IE; a 3 or 4 square island w/ oak is a beautiful thing to see. Just build appropriate # of archers to entrench all squares, then you can build bldgs and wonders with great efficiency.

Teleportation? Ha... that's a great way of explaining what i consider a major flaw in the game. Teleportation won't even be possible by 2100 (when the game ends), in reality lol

Also...

Regarding the galley scout and teleportation, placing your scout on or the closest hill from a chosen city site will negate (to a great degree, at least) the "teleportation" of settlers, and armies appearing out of nowhere
Remember that a "teleported" army will march to your city (usually your capitol), and demand peace... giving you an opt-out. Point is, don't panic...
 
what about caravan spy movement... stack them and head into enemy borders. chances are high you shall get the spy into their territory. Only one downside: caravans get captured by "bandits" :( not really a strong solid technique but its good if its a civ with some culture and alot of GP
 
Spanish Armarda-Atlantis technique: earlyish on when you are relatively stable in defence spam the enemy with galleons and "defend" atlantis with about 5 galleon fleets and then if you do get the chance of using Leonardos Workshop you could upgrade to cruiser/battleships and justr patrol atlantis seeing as the enemy can "teleport" units here and there. also build some naval bases close by with reserve galleons and fighters (late game) to add extra security to the region. result: advanced/modern technology late on with only what 500-750 hammers spent between whole empire to secure a tech finish. hope this has helped :)
 
The diagonal trick: There is almost always a special resource two diagonal steps away from your starting square on turn one. S=That square is very special because it will be outside your city radius even with a courthouse and it will be too close to your capital to efficiently settle there. However, if you move one space diagonally before settling (still on turn one), you will have that resource in your initial city radius. So it is a good idea to look at your initial position and ask yourself if you can move one step diagonally in any direction and still get 2 grass, 2 forest and 2 water in your initial radius. If you can, do it. Three civs really stand out with respect to this strategy. The Russians get 2 food from plains right away, so they have a greater chance of being able to move without being short on food, the games most critical resource. They also can see the resource they are getting on their fun local area map. The Japanese get food from water tiles, so they are not as dependent on having grassland in their initial radius. FInally, the Greeks with a Courthouse in Athens can almost always move before settling, because their outsized city radius will almost always reach the initial required resource squares (i.e. 2f, 2h, 2t).
 
Noob Trick: If a new player is wary of what a flag in your city means then put 3 GP and a spy ring inside the city this makes it look heavily fortified and if you are still a little scared put some tank armies behind the city for counter offensives if they get too close.
 
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