Sisiutil's Strategy Guide for Beginners
What I've tried to do in this file (attached) is to collect together, in one document, a summation of most of the basic strategies and tactics that I gleaned from this community. I verified the utility of each as I moved up the difficulty levels. I hope it proves useful to some. I just wanted to give something back to this community which has helped me enjoy this wonderful game far more than I could have just on my own.
Please note that the guide is not meant to incorporate all possible game strategies, but rather, just enough for a beginner to experience success in Civ IV's lower levels (Settler through Noble).
Speaking of which, this is also not meant to be a strategy guide for the higher levels. This is why it's a beginner's guide. I myself have only had my first victory on Prince at the time of posting. And from what I've seen on the board, at Monarch and above, players often vehemently disagree over strategies that work for some but not others. They also warn against relying on strategies that worked in the lower levels but are often counter-productive at Diety, Immortal, and so on. So, once you leave Noble behind, all bets are off, in my opinion.
Revised October 17th, 2011
Thank you for sharing this very good guide. I wish I had it before I'd wasted hundreds of hours trying to beat Warlord level.
I did not see any mention of the Hanging Gardens wonder.
I did not see any tool with which to create a Keyword search within the document.
I notice that things like Wonders were not alphabetized. A small point, but every little thing
helps....remember, some of the people reading your guide are literally frazzled out of their
wits, and desperate to find solutions.
I gave up on my last game, and am in the beginning of a very similar one. Warlord, Pangea, Large Map, Standard Speed, Four random Opponents, I play as Rome.
Unfortunately, I'm still having trouble with population.
For example, I have a city that is only size THREE, and yet if you go into the city screen there is a red Angry face STILL complaining "It's too crowded".
I dont' then understand what "crowded" means. The Three size city is surrounded by three cottages, a farm, a mine, a lake and one barren desert square.
Is it possible to turn off the Specialist Strategy so that the AI cannot use it against you? I think I'd rather watch paint dry than go through the agonizing
boredom and frustration of the constant micromanagement you say it requires.
I also don't see a button anywhere that is called the "Governor" that everyone says should be turned off.
I move the white circles around to move citizens so they are working developed squares, and it doesn't do anything. Ever. At all. Makes zero difference.
I click on something like "maximize hammers", but have no idea why I'm doing it. How do you decide what to maximize in what city? The entire concept of
specializing a city bugs me. As far as I can see, until you reach currency and can turn over to Wealth, you're pretty much FORCED to construct buildings in cities,
whether you think that city needs it or not.
Thinking about when I very first started playing Civ 4 BtS, I remember being enraged by how the game brings you to a unit or a city, and you have the opportunity to do something with it. Then, the game immediately YANKS your point of view to another part of the map!
Well, wait a minute! I saw things I wanted to do in the first zone. As a newcomer, I had NO IDEA that I could manually return to the first view, and select another unit to interact with! I felt I was forced to give units commands in the order that the game selected! That's a really s**** feeling to shove down the throat of a total newcomer.
I've learned to live with it, but this is a really, really, REALLY obnoxious aspect of the mechanics that HAS to be changed. I want to stay in ONE zone doing what I want, with no change of viewpoint until I DECIDE to click to the next zone!
Sigh. as long as I'm wishing, how about a fix so that Trebuchets are not invincible? I've seen upgrades to make my units better against seige weapons, but that upgrade just bounces off enemy trebuchets. They come in with those, and a pile of knights, and it's hopeless. I still want to know factually and mathematically HOW the enemies can produce so many military units so fast???!
How about INcreasing the power of Nuclear Missles? I get into an end game and it's crystal clear that some S.O.B. is going to race to a Space victory or something. I want my missles to WIPE OUT entire cities, not just do some minor damage! If I can't win, I want the ability to literally burn the entire planet up with me.
Yeah, and how about a "scorched earth" option, where you raze your own city and retreat before it can be captured?
