Really need help with the game

I am familar with the basics of the game. I just have one problem in particular. I can't seem to finish a game of civilization or other 4x and I have this nagging feeling that I have to overthink every turn like 'I must have x tech in y turns'. I need any advice to get over this feeling and just enjoy the game.

As of the moment that is my only problem and as much as possible I try to avoid civ specific guides as it will make me overthink stuff again. Advice on game settings to help me get in to the game will be much appreciated.

By the way, I have Civ V with all expansions and DLCs

try roleplaying

killmeplease said:

try roleplaying

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yeah this is the only way i play. settings on Diplomatic/Domination or even just Domination alone, no Time limit. Earth maps with true starts.

Then try to keep the euro powers alive, gift some american cities to them so they have colonies.. be sure to hold onto the suez and panama equivalents. Stack units against russia/mongolia at all times to be ready to stop them gobbling up eurasia. In fact once it gets to the point there are only 3 or 4 civs left on a game i will quit.

I have never finished a game of Civ v or iv. I cant remember if i finished a game of any of the earlier ones. A "YOU'VE WON" popup ending the game on a space race, or whatever, whilst in the middle of mastering the planet, is the thing i can't stop over-thinking about (if i were to play a mode like that.) seems too stressy. so i just rp

Ok. So my other question would be, who do I choose? My other problems with the game is that I tend to see domination as the only way to play the game and I know I am approaching it with a wrong mindset.

I haven't found the 'right' playstyle for me yet. I also think that I should always build improvements or buildings within my city and in one game I ended up having deficits due to building a lot and not being able to keep track of my income.

Sounds a little OCD-like, and I find the only solution to that is to endure the discomfort and just do whatever causes it until it subsides. In this case: just play.

You can start simple, e.g. play on Warlord, pick the alphabetically first civilization, and pick a winning condition you want to go for. If you change your mind while playing, that is okay, it is just Warlord, you will most likely win anyway.

Alternatively, you could also look at the Steam achievements and try to work on those. Win as civ x, win on difficulty y, succeed with winning condition z, etc. You will eventually figure out things and what you like.

But do play. Do not spend 90% of your Civ time reading the forum. It will just keep frustrating you until you walk away from the game. Speaking from experience here, I managed to kill plenty of games for myself in that way.

Towerbooks3192 said:

I also think that I should always build improvements or buildings within my city and in one game I ended up having deficits due to building a lot and not being able to keep track of my income.

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If I am not playing with a mod that increases city spacing i will be sure that all my cities have the maximum tile reach in every direction. This can mean razing nearby cities. I only want massive cities, that have both food and production. These cities are worth building buildings in. If you build a city on a skraggy tundra coastal outrock somewhere then do so only for its territory and freeze any future population growth at 1. My colonies are usually frozen on 1 population, so that whichever luxuries it has go towards higher populations in the capital and other producing cities.

IMO this as better than having spaced out population amongst different size cities, with also a spread out army. I keep army "groups". One in America, one in africa, one in europe. They might be quite some distance from one of my colonies which is otherwise undefended, but that is a form of baiting which I enjoy.

Mivo said:

Sounds a little OCD-like, and I find the only solution to that is to endure the discomfort and just do whatever causes it until it subsides. In this case: just play.

You can start simple, e.g. play on Warlord, pick the alphabetically first civilization, and pick a winning condition you want to go for. If you change your mind while playing, that is okay, it is just Warlord, you will most likely win anyway.

Alternatively, you could also look at the Steam achievements and try to work on those. Win as civ x, win on difficulty y, succeed with winning condition z, etc. You will eventually figure out things and what you like.

But do play. Do not spend 90% of your Civ time reading the forum. It will just keep frustrating you until you walk away from the game. Speaking from experience here, I managed to kill plenty of games for myself in that way.

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I wish I could do something about my OCD. Ok I will try it. So play on Warlord and set a goal. I want to really sit and finish a single game so I could feel that I have really achieved something. I think what triggers my OCD are the techs because I don't feel the same way with games like Heroes of Might and Magic 3 or Eador Genesis. I just play those games without worrying about stuff whereas when I play turnbased 4x, that is when it starts. I kind of tried over and over again to play on prince as it is the normal difficulty but I guess I would ratchet it down to warlord then.

Pick someone you like. Not necessarily the best civ in the game (it could be though - who cares) and then go with it.

Play down one difficulty level. The pressure to win comes off...if that doesn't work, play up a difficulty level...it will challenge you to finish out the game because you could "squeak" out a win.

Make a rule, if I'm 100 turns in...no quitting. No reloading. No starting another game. If you're loosing. Just DOW everyone and spam military units. You'll lose quicker and get to start over, lol.

I just started a game with Caesar and played aggressively. I managed to clear out the city-states and Netherlands who shared a continent with me. Now on to my next road block. How do I go about developing my empire or exploring new lands to conquer?

If you are going the warmonger-like play, you might want to repair your national happiness, rebuild your forces, and get Navigation and set sail to take over the next continent.

PreLynMax said:

If you are going the warmonger-like play, you might want to repair your national happiness, rebuild your forces, and get Navigation and set sail to take over the next continent.

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Today I made tons of progress. I discovered all the Civ and hosted the congress (did not go well) Then I established a city on a continent where poland is and he declared war on me but luckily I have a superior navy so I managed to take over most of his cities (all except capital was coastal) and I am on the way of sieging his capital.

Problem is Arabia who is my main trading partner is starting to provoke me by settling close to me. So now I am going to send the frigates close to arabia. I am a policy short of completing the exploration tree. I will try to upload some screenies once I figure out how.

I have an issue too where, when I realize that AI has no chance anymore, I lose will to finish the game.
I wish inferior AIs would play partisan style even if you are the runaway of the map - instead they just go "afraid" and "please consider the weak please", bah.

Falconiano said:

I have an issue too where, when I realize that AI has no chance anymore, I lose will to finish the game.
I wish inferior AIs would play partisan style even if you are the runaway of the map - instead they just go "afraid" and "please consider the weak please", bah.

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Like in Civ Rev when you can choose an option of "my people are poor and stupid, go away" when they demand something?

Ok I just eliminated arabia and I think I probably have the strongest navy in the world however I am behind in tech and both korea and babylon are ahead. I do have a fleet with 2 ironclads for now and about 5-8 Frigates. I think only me (Rome), Morrocco, Babylon and Korea Remains. Morroco is isolated in another continent and I think Babylon and Korea share the same since they each hold a city that used to belong to Spain.

Is it possible for me to still defeat them even though I am out teched like if I catch up by setting all my cities to produce research? I also have a standing army I used to conquer arabia's continent.

You need libraries, national college, universities, and Oxford in order to keep up in tech. Just setting your cities production on research won't do it.

PreLynMax said:

You need libraries, national college, universities, and Oxford in order to keep up in tech. Just setting your cities production on research won't do it.

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Oxford helped me jumped a little bit forward in military tech.

I just exterminated Morrocco and I only have to deal with either Babylon and Korea. I pretty much have all the continents except the one shared by babylon and korea. I think their civ bonus gives them research so I don't expect to get toe to toe with them in research.

I am pretty sure they already have nukes. So I have the effect from autocracy where I get reduced maintenance and purchases for units plus the double strategic resources. I have 5 battleships and 2 ironclad close by korea. I also have 7000 plus gold and around 70 oil. Do you think I could exterminate all of them if I just swarm them with units?

You can catch up on a science leader by spamming science buildings, assigning citizens to scientist specialist slots and beelining key science techs like Education and Plastics and neglecting other techs along the way. Being first in military score helps to deterr enemy civs from attacking.

Pop your great scientists if you have some in storage. Considering your situation, either go Flight to get GWB and later Bombers, build Carriers and launch your naval invasion. Note that you will need the bombers later to defeat the enemy cities inland, so don't waste them foolishly. Alternativley, tech nukes and nuclear subs and nuke them back into the stoneage. Nuking their capital and 2 or 3 large cities usually renders an AI unable to do anything for the next 50 turns or more (loosing science output, production and so on). Spend your cash on either GWB/bombers or on nukes, whatever you get first. Or spend it on science buildings. Don't waste it on useless stuff, just because you have a chunk of money lying around.

PS: Nuking a city destroys every unit inside it, including ALL airborne units (planes and missiles alike. Nuking a city full of nukes is first striking at its finest while taking your enemy the chance to launch a retaliation strike)

Finished the game with rome and for the first time I finished on standard with all the victory conditions on. I tried a step forward to prince difficulty and tried a random game on a small map (I wanted a shorter game) and I managed to get hiawatha and my usual beeline writing then beeline bronze working while building the great library and then choosing iron working as the free tech made me unlock mohawk warriors asap.

Too bad I kind of thought of playing a peaceful culture game and having ghengis kahn as my neighbour. I got killed since he sent a lot of units on me and I only had a composite bowman and a mohawk to defend an unwalled city on a hill. Makes me wonder how he progressed so fast to medieval age.

If there is one thing I did not understand, it is how science is determined. I don't want to learn the numbers but I just want to get the gist of it though.

At core, science (beakers) come from population (1 citizen = 1 beaker). Certain buildings provide beakers directly (e.g., Public Schools provide 3 beakers, Mayan Pyramid provides 2 beakers, etc.), but buildings are mostly useful for their multiplier effects -- Library and Public Schools each provide 1 beaker for every 2 citizens in a city, National College increases city science output by 50%, university increases city science output by 33%, Observatory 50%, etc.

Other beakers/multipliers come from various social policies. The Rationalism opener provides an extra 10% (15% in G&K) empire wide if your empire is happy, Secularism adds 2 beakers from every specialist (even non-science specialists), Free Thought adds 17% to the university multiplier (topping it up to 50%) and adds 2 beakers for every trading post you work, and Scholasticism (Patronage policy tree) provides science from CS allies. There are a few others.

You can get beakers from some religious beliefs, like Messenger of the Gods (2 beakers per trade route) and Interfaith Dialogue (science from missionary spread actions).

Finally (though I have probably forgotten something), you get beakers from Research Agreements and bulbing Great Scientists and free techs from building Oxford and finish Rationalism.

Towerbooks3192 said:

I am familar with the basics of the game. I just have one problem in particular. I can't seem to finish a game of civilization or other 4x and I have this nagging feeling that I have to overthink every turn like 'I must have x tech in y turns'. I need any advice to get over this feeling and just enjoy the game.

As of the moment that is my only problem and as much as possible I try to avoid civ specific guides as it will make me overthink stuff again. Advice on game settings to help me get in to the game will be much appreciated.

By the way, I have Civ V with all expansions and DLCs

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Actually - you're doing it right. Keep at it and we'll have some epic deity battles in no time!

No, seriously - the great thing about Civ5 is that it rewards the thinking that you do. Keep thinking and don't worry too much about it. That's the fun of it really.