[BNW] General game questions

So with the help of others regarding using great people for great works and such I have some more questions. I play for fun first of all, but yes I'm looking to learn how to play better and I've been pouring over the threads here for quite some time.

I play on Prince, but tried a mod by ptr1ck called "AI Fair Play (v2)" that sets the AI handicap values to be equal to the player on Prince so they get no bonuses at all. I modified it a bit to give them half of the their bonuses back so they do get some to make the game a bit harder. This may not be the best way to learn, but gives me a chance to learn about all the mechanics and such and what does what.

Anyway, game was quick, standard size, continents, 7 civs/14 CS, all win conditions except time and I was Polynesia. I was first to discover everyone so got control of the world congress. Man this is powerful if you can be the first to do it. I always build scout, scout, shrine, usually scout(sometimes archer) then worker or settler. How do you all balance everything that needs to be done?

If you aren't the first to discover do you ever stand a chance to get control of the congress? Perhaps if you get ally status with all CS's would help? I tend to be a wonder whore, but am getting better with not building so many so that needs improvement. If you're not warmongering do you build every building in every city, or just the essentials?

Captain obvious here, but I guess there's no reason to develop archeology sites outside your territory unless it's inside a city state since you'll never work them and get nothing from them that I can tell? Also, once your greatwork slots are filled up do you then just burn all great people? Sorry for the long read, but any help would be appreciated.

If you are not the first to find the World congress, get patronage and go for the Forbidden Palace. If someone gets to the palace first, then you better start sending gold to CS.

I think most players hijack the congress at some point in the game, so don't worry if you don't found it - most of the time you won't.

Develop archeology sites outside your borders!!! You take the artifact for culture and tourism. Get them before the stupid AI does.

1. Three scouts may be more than you need, you may want to consider no more than 2 Scouts. Besides there is so much to Build Early that you might look at a Shrine, Granary, or Library instead imho.

2. I would not recommend any Mods while learning the game because then you are learning how to play with Mods, not core game learning. You can accidentally learn bad habits and it is a pain to unlearn them sometimes.

3. The World Congress/United Nations is not something that you need to Lead unless doing so will allow you to force Propositions like World Ideology and World Religion on your AI opponents. It is usually enough to be a Proposal Member unless you are going for Diplomatic Victory in my experience. If you are pursuing a Diplomatic Victory then yes, CS Allies can be crucial.

4. Continue to wean yourself off of Wonders that are not Key Wonders in your opinion as they take very long to build. Furthermore, every city should have only the Buildings that you need in that City. Building everything everywhere drains your Gold and Turn Times too much so it is not usually a good idea.

5. Archaeologists can be sent into CS and Enemy AI Lands to Steal Artifacts. There are two main reason to do this. Firstly, this denies those Artifacts to your opponents so that they do not maximize their Themed Bonuses. Secondly, you may need Stolen Artifacts to maximize your Themed Bonuses. Of course since you are going to be a Warmonger, you could also let an AI dig them up and then take the City he puts them in to save building Archaeologists altogether

6. When all of your GW Slots are filled up, it is time to check your Theme Bonuses and make sure they are maximized. Then you may consider Conquering AI Cities to get more GW's and GW Slots. Try not to burn GP too much as they are a very useful resource when used carefully.

My problem is trying to do too much I think. I'm trying to scout the entire map first and build so many wonders, and build most buildings in each city and so on all at once.

I prefer the 3-4 city tradition, tall empire route. Just so I understand is getting your population as high as possible in each city as fast as possible so you can work as many hexes as possible quickly and so move up that way? When a city isn't building do you put it to either gold or science output?

1. I will try the 2 scout route and so get to building stuff that much quicker.

2. I'll try a game without any cheat/altering mods and put some of these ideas to play. I've been reading a lot of guides and tips from others for info as well.

3. I didn't understand the WC at first. I felt that not being the host made it so you didn't really have a say with your paltry 2-3 delegates. Once the host stays in charge they really shoot ahead and you seem to never have a chance.

4. I'm getting a little better with holding off on some wonders. Still have more to learn to wean off of though.

5. I was sending my archeologist everywhere, but once all my slots were full I didn't see the need. Or should I keep doing it just to use up those artifact so no one else can get them even if I can't use them?

6. All my themes were maxed out too so I now understand that. Though I used mods to make the AI not as hard so will try all this without cheats.

Only build wonders that suit your playstyle.

Rifraf said:

Anyway, game was quick, standard size, continents, 7 civs/14 CS, all win conditions except time and I was Polynesia. I was first to discover everyone so got control of the world congress. Man this is powerful if you can be the first to do it. I always build scout, scout, shrine, usually scout(sometimes archer) then worker or settler. How do you all balance everything that needs to be done?

Click to expand...

Balancing everything that needs to be done is easier on standard map speed than quick.

Rifraf said:

If you aren't the first to discover do you ever stand a chance to get control of the congress? Perhaps if you get ally status with all CS's would help? I tend to be a wonder whore, but am getting better with not building so many so that needs improvement. If you're not warmongering do you build every building in every city, or just the essentials?

Click to expand...

The good news is that unless a different AI built the FP before it was founded that you can still propose resolutions.
The human will win any tie for being able to propose resolutions. But note that current leader will win ties to hang onto office.

Until the World Congress advances an era to welcome city states, FP and being the host are the only ways to add votes.
After that it's city states.

As you go higher on difficulty levels less world wonder building is needed.
Going tall, that's just about every single building everywhere just to build the national wonders.
Self founding wide skips most of the natural wonders.

Rifraf said:

Captain obvious here, but I guess there's no reason to develop archeology sites outside your territory unless it's inside a city state since you'll never work them and get nothing from them that I can tell? Also, once your greatwork slots are filled up do you then just burn all great people? Sorry for the long read, but any help would be appreciated.

Click to expand...

Actually, you have a choice of an artifact to place in Palace / Museum / Louvre / Cathedral in addition to landmarks. Sometimes even two types of artifacts.
You do need to ensure you have slots available for artifacts when doing this so normally a museum is built before the first of this type. (While by contrast ones that you are going to turn into landmarks are dug up earlier)

If you manage to fill all art slots available, yes future Great Artists become Golden Ages.