Sisiutil's Strategy Guide for Beginners

In the case of Sid's Sushi, which is one of my favourite corporations, I usually just spread it to civs with whom I don't share borders.

Which makes me think of something: do you have any idea if a civ will spread on its own a corp to an other civ if it doesn't control the headquarters?

To make it more clear: you have Sushi's HQ, you have carthage on your borders and France on the other side of Carthage; if you spread Sushi to France, do you have any idea if they will spread it to Carthage cities? I think they shouldn't (nothing to gain, only things to lose), but I don't know in fact, cause I never spread corps to other civs :mischief:

All that said, I think I should begin my own article one of these days, to repay for all I took here :goodjob:
 
Which makes me think of something: do you have any idea if a civ will spread on its own a corp to an other civ if it doesn't control the headquarters?

To make it more clear: you have Sushi's HQ, you have carthage on your borders and France on the other side of Carthage; if you spread Sushi to France, do you have any idea if they will spread it to Carthage cities? I think they shouldn't (nothing to gain, only things to lose), but I don't know in fact, cause I never spread corps to other civs :mischief:

All that said, I think I should begin my own article one of these days, to repay for all I took here :goodjob:

I have never seen a AI civ do that; in fact, I have yet to see the AI spread a corporation to anyone else, even when it owns the HQ. But maybe I just need to keep playing more BtS games...
 
I have never seen a AI civ do that; in fact, I have yet to see the AI spread a corporation to anyone else, even when it owns the HQ. But maybe I just need to keep playing more BtS games...

I did see this. Founded Mining inc and spread it to some cities, while my neighbour found creative constructions. And then, I see that he spread it to some cities in which I had previously spread Mining Inc, thus removing the presence of my corp :eek:

Needless to say that I was not happy to lose both hammer bonus and gold; but then I doscovered that you CAN spread a corp to a city which has a competing corp. It will completly erase the presence of the previous corp, and the cost to spread the corp is higher (something like 3 times). The only city in which you can't spread a competing corp is the HQ.
 
Sisiutil said:
I usually foresee several potential problems with spreading certain corporations to rivals.
Mining Inc, Creative Constructions: You give a rival the hammer boost they need to beat to to certain wonders, or to the space ship.
Creative Constructions, Sid's Sushi Co, Civilized Jewelers: All of these boost culture; if they are spread to a rival city on your borders, you could wind up losing tiles or even a city.
Standard Ethanol, Aluminum Inc.: You could wind up giving a rival the resource he lacks (oil or aluminum, respectively) to win the game or at least make your life more complicated.

Well the trick is to pick AIs that will get the least benefit. Standard Ethanol and Aluminium Inc you can happily spread to AIs which either already have access to those resources, or are so backward as to be irrelevant. The culture corporations can be given to civs which you don't share borders with (particularly island civs), and are nowhere near culture victory.

You've also got to consider the impact on your trading. Is it worth spreading Sushi to an AI if it'll make them cut off trade deals worth ten lots of seafood?

JujuLautre said:
Which makes me think of something: do you have any idea if a civ will spread on its own a corp to an other civ if it doesn't control the headquarters?

To make it more clear: you have Sushi's HQ, you have carthage on your borders and France on the other side of Carthage; if you spread Sushi to France, do you have any idea if they will spread it to Carthage cities? I think they shouldn't (nothing to gain, only things to lose), but I don't know in fact, cause I never spread corps to other civs

No, the AI never spreads a foreign corporation to other civs, not even their vassals and colonies. Under 3.13 that's probably fair enough - while you might manage a few small benefits by doing so, it's way too subtle for the AI. Better to spread your own corporation (which they do, given the opportunity). The rarity of the AI spreading its own corporations is largely due to them not getting the early corporations. I also suspect they spread them abroad only when they've exhausted their own supply of cities, and then purely on the basis of which foreign cities are closest.
 
You've also got to consider the impact on your trading. Is it worth spreading Sushi to an AI if it'll make them cut off trade deals worth ten lots of seafood?

Didn't I just say that? ;)
 
I just posted a revised version (3.1) of the latest update. I made most of the suggested modifications and added a section on vassals.

I can't believe this thing has grown to 40 pages! :eek:
 
I have never seen a AI civ do that; in fact, I have yet to see the AI spread a corporation to anyone else, even when it owns the HQ. But maybe I just need to keep playing more BtS games...

I had a game in which the AI spammed the crap out of me with its corp. It requires that the AI gets to found one (needs to get a GP and the tech before you do) and that their economy is strong enough to support the costs of building execs. Probably helps if you can't take much advantage, too.

It's most likely to occur on late-start games, or I would imagine higher difficulty levels, since you're less likely to have much of a lead in such games.

(I later nuked the bastard so I could invade and at least have control of the corp HQ.)
 
I have noticed the following "problems" with this excellent document, mostly consisting of simple corrections or suggested additions, which may belong on the point mentioned or a new one (you know best how you want the doc organized). As most of my experience (especially recently) is with BtS 3.13 Bhruic, I haven't been able to make distinctions between versions most of the time, and if I have, they could still be incorrect considering the changes made with patches.

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sec 4.2, 6th point: It bears mentioning that if you build your city ON a resource, you will get only the base bonus (1 food, hammer, or coin) from it, and can't "exploit" it for its full bonus, but at least you don't have to waste worker turns connecting it either.

sec 4.3: further aids to city growth are Lighthouse and Supermarket, and Khmer's Baray (Aqueduct) UB.

sec 4.3.1, point 1: This describes the effects of unhappiness in BtS. Unhealthiness makes the whole city consume one extra food per excess unhealth; no one stops working. This could result in starvation; at the very least, it's an unnecessary inefficiency, but regardless, if you have plenty of food and your health cap is low with no way to improve it, there's nothing inherently wrong with having a few points of excess unhealthiness.

point 2: Supermarket also provides health. Some UBs provide health.

sec 4.3.2, point 1: war weariness is significant enough to bear mentioning here.

point 4a: there are some UBs that also affect happiness. Super temples (cathedrals) should be mentioned here as well.

sec 4.6.2, point 9: Coal doesn't affect factory production, but it does affect coal power plants and the Iron Works. If you have an alternate power plant (hydro, nuclear, or TGD), then you can put NP here. Never mix IW with NP, though.

And what exactly are the production cities supposed to produce? Their only use is to build the military or wonders.

sec 5.1, point 2, second sentence: check the language on that. Remove the "and" for best results?

point 3: it should also be mentioned that even if you don't lose units, you will likely need to use some to garrison your conquests, which is just as good as losing them if you don't have enough left over to continue the conquest. Of course, if you raze cities, then that matters less.

point 7: Privateers make for good interceptors because you can sink enemy transports before they enemy has declared war on you or dropped off that latest batch of spies, and this doesn't cause a war to happen before you're ready for it.

point 8a: However, you still cannot use a fort to link a landlocked city to the sea, nor can ships ever enter landlocked cities.

sec 5.2, point 4: promotions MIGHT expire if you upgrade the unit; sometimes, upgrading reduces the amount of XP a unit has, making its next promotion even harder, and this could deny you a promotion you were saving. I haven't tested this to know it it's true.

sec 5.4, point 1a: Nationalism does nothing to fight WW (except indirectly, by increasing happiness); however, Police State does. If you keep this mention of Nationalism, then in sec 5.5 you need to mention every other happiness-making building/civic/trait/whatever.

point 2: It's been my experience that if you bribe a civ to go to war, you also go to war with your target, making this less attractive as an option to weaken the enemy (but still attractive enough to do it).

sec 5.5, point 3: Extra word. Remove the "is" from the first sentence.

sec 6.3: Incorrect word. Change "couple are duds" to "couple of duds".

sec 7.1, point 2: Can you add the names of all the culture levels, please?

point 4: remove the commas surrounding "effectively".

point 5: You need some note that in Warlords and BtS the "Obelisk" was renamed to the Monument, but that there is a UB called Obelisk.

point 9: It bears mentioning that the Sistine Chapel bestows culture points to all specialists and additional culture points to buildings of your religion.

sec 8.1, point 3: Specialists produce 3 GPPs. World Wonders produce 2. National Wonders produce 1. Super specialists and Citizens produce none, but still get other per-specialist bonii.

sec 13 point 7b: Civilized Jewelers is good for making money! LOTS of money! With a courthouse to reduce the maintenance and the three financial buildings to multiply the gold earned, CJ can make you a lot of extra money, and it's compatible with SS and CC. Mining Inc is incompatible with too many other corps to be much use; CC is much better, even with lesser production. CC, SS, CJ, and AI can all be in the same city. I consider MI to be a "consolation" corp.

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Somewhere it should be mentioned that you can't unfound cities, like you could in earlier editions of Civ. Your only shot at removing a city is if you capture it and are asked to raze it, which won't happen if you're the founder, so you need to be sure you want a city to be where it is when you build/take it.

Also, I'd like to thank you for properly using the English Language. Not once did I see confusion about "accept/except", "affect/effect", "your/you're", "its/it's", or even the epitome of all evil, "should of". Other than a meager handful of typos, it was thoroughly readable, even the parts that should've bored me. It's scary that I should have to thank someone for being NOT stupid, and not be sarcastic about it.

Other than that, thanks for making it and keeping it updated. It answered a few of my questions and revealed things I didn't even know I didn't know. Thank you! :goodjob:
 
Also, I'd like to thank you for properly using the English Language. Not once did I see confusion about "accept/except", "affect/effect", "your/you're", "its/it's", or even the epitome of all evil, "should of". Other than a meager handful of typos, it was thoroughly readable, even the parts that should've bored me. It's scary that I should have to thank someone for being NOT stupid, and not be sarcastic about it.

:lol:

Thanks for your feedback, I'll incorporate what I can into the next revision. As for the English, well, I used to teach that subject, so it would be embarrassing if I made too many mistakes! And you're right, using "of" instead of the abbreviated "have" ('ve) is an abomination and a modern pestilence.
 
Is anyone else having problems downloading the file?
 
I had no problem downloading it.
I have only played this game 2 times and really suck at it.
This was nice reading and I understood most parts, but I dont know what you meant by "stealing workers".
That could use some explanation.

Thanks!
 
Stealing workers is accomplished by capturing them. Generally, as you're gearing up for an offensive war, you may notice your target's workers working tiles on the border. If you declare war while they're close, you can capture them and make them yours, in effect stealing them. Because workers tend to be skittish, it's hard to capture workers outside cities, and this is the primary way of doing it.

- -

I just downloaded it again to see exactly what the question was, and had no difficulty.
 
This guide is wonderful; upgrading to the new BtS version of the guide now to see what has changed. I will let you know if I have any comments.

When is the Sisiutil's Advanced Strategy Guide coming? I know there is a lot of debate over what strategies to use beyond about Prince, but it would be nice to have one location to detail several of those strategies (even if they are at odds, you can simply state so in the guide), and you have a real knack for writing things clearly and concisely.

Sam
 
This guide is wonderful; upgrading to the new BtS version of the guide now to see what has changed. I will let you know if I have any comments.

When is the Sisiutil's Advanced Strategy Guide coming? I know there is a lot of debate over what strategies to use beyond about Prince, but it would be nice to have one location to detail several of those strategies (even if they are at odds, you can simply state so in the guide), and you have a real knack for writing things clearly and concisely.

Sam
Thanks! As for "advanced strategies", there are just too many to write a comprehensive guide! Check my sig for other articles, and go to the War Academy to find the excellent guides to specific elements of the game that others have written.
 
It's good to be back, and good to see this article and the ALCs are still going. I never did finish that Wang Kon game and I don't even know if I have the save anymore. :sad:

Anywayz, how about an intermediate guide? It seems I can only beat Monarch with a few civs/leaders. Since you're now playing above Monarch, you could share with us how you got over the hump. Prince to Monarch was a huge jump for me, Emperor is probably the same in terms of a difficult gap. I'm sure other players feel the same.
 
Ok.. so I'm new here and trying to find my way around these excellent forums and learn a great game.... but where is this strat guide to be found? I've looked in the download database - no joy... I've clicked on the link in Sisiutil's sig and it just brings me back here.

I'll admit I'm 60 but I don't think senility has creeped in yet... LOL..

Bill
 
Anywayz, how about an intermediate guide? It seems I can only beat Monarch with a few civs/leaders. Since you're now playing above Monarch, you could share with us how you got over the hump. Prince to Monarch was a huge jump for me, Emperor is probably the same in terms of a difficult gap. I'm sure other players feel the same.
Well, there's my intermediate tactics and gambits, and some of the tips in this guide are borderline intermediate. Beyond that, I think the intermediate and above level of play broadens considerably, so I usually just point people to the War Academy and the many articles there.
Ok.. so I'm new here and trying to find my way around these excellent forums and learn a great game.... but where is this strat guide to be found? I've looked in the download database - no joy... I've clicked on the link in Sisiutil's sig and it just brings me back here.

I'll admit I'm 60 but I don't think senility has creeped in yet... LOL..

Bill
Go to the very first page, very first post in this thread; the link to the guide is in my post there. Just click on it, you should get the option to download it.
 
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