Tips for extreme beginners

limit the number of workers you create
excess workers crowd your turns
too many workers ten to make you build too much

wtf ???
 
Limit the number of workers you create
Excess workers crowd your turns
Too many workers ten to make you build too much

If any new players are reading this guide, this is about the worst piece of advice you could possibly get. As someone who started moving up through the levels relatively recently, I found that building *more* workers was actually one key to improving. A commonly accept rule of thumb is 1.5 workers per city--and there's a reason it's commonly accepted.

It *is* a good idea to limit the number of buildings you create in each city, as building workers, settlers, wealth, or units is often a far superior choice. But this has little or nothing to do with the number of workers you're using.

More workers = more improved tiles. More improved tiles means your cities are working more powerful tiles--tiles with yields of 5-6 hammers/food or high commerce tiles like precious metals or gems. Many high-level players consider food to be the most important of these power tiles. This is because food allows your cities to grow quickly and use slavery whipping to boost early production or run specialists. Using whipping and specialists are things you'll need to learn to move above Noble or Prince. You can't work good food tiles if they're not improved, and you can't improve them without workers. So build more workers!
 
Actually, the Spartans called them hopalites. We call them slaves.
 
Eh, my joke was that this was the Persian messenger who says "this is blasphemy, this is madness!"

Which is what I would say to someone telling me to limit Worker production.

Well, I guess it isn't funny if I have to explain it.
 
Heh.


Anyways, to contribute to this thread:

Tip: State Property's power lies less with the maintenance penalty reduction, and more with the Food boost to Watermills and Workshops. Don't just switch to it if you have a large empire and are sick of maintenance.
 
Don't limit workers. Workers are the heart and soul of civ.

Other than that, a good advice is to play as you like, and have fun!
Move up in difficulties as you make progress, and don't be afraid to ask for pointers on this forum. We love helping new players!
 
If you had a bad start/bad land/whatever, and are trying to get back in the game, use weaker civs to your advantage. Trade techs with them to get tech parity with stronger AIs. Invade them for easy land that can catapult you to a win!
 
If you had a bad start/bad land/whatever, and are trying to get back in the game, use weaker civs to your advantage. Trade techs with them to get tech parity with stronger AIs. Invade them for easy land that can catapult you to a win!

Or just quit if your start is semi-isolated next to monty and/or shaka in tundra/ice.
 
Or just quit if your start is semi-isolated next to monty and/or shaka in tundra/ice.

I meant a start with fairly poor land, not a start where the game decides to troll you.


Anyways, more tips for newer players (if they don't know them already).

1) Sankore/Spiral/SoL is a potent combo for large empires. Additionally, Democracy can be a useful trade chip later in the game.

2) The AI never researches Aesthetics. Use it to your advantage, this tech is the ultimate trade chip.

3) In BtS, getting Music can be good even if you're not going for Culture: a key Golden Age can work wonders for a warmonger planning his breakout.
 
2) The AI never researches Aesthetics. Use it to your advantage, this tech is the ultimate trade chip.
This is a very bad tip. On beginner levels (Settler/Warlord) it's far stronger to tech Alphabet early instead to unlock tech trading. By this point, almost no AI will have both Writing and Animal Husbandry (nor Pottery, if you go that route to Writing) so simply trade those around for all the other ancient techs. Just make sure not to give away alphabet so they can't share techs with each other.


If you go for Aesthetics instead, you'll found no one is able to trade with you anyway for so long that it basically has zero trading use. It's only useful for trading on the highest levels where the AI techs much faster than you.
 
This is a very bad tip. On beginner levels (Settler/Warlord) it's far stronger to tech Alphabet early instead to unlock tech trading. By this point, almost no AI will have both Writing and Animal Husbandry (nor Pottery, if you go that route to Writing) so simply trade those around for all the other ancient techs. Just make sure not to give away alphabet so they can't share techs with each other.


If you go for Aesthetics instead, you'll found no one is able to trade with you anyway for so long that it basically has zero trading use. It's only useful for trading on the highest levels where the AI techs much faster than you.
That's pretty accurate. And the AI definitely researches Aesthetics, it's just that it's usually a relatively low priority.

Using Aesthetics as a catch-up tech is a tactic that's more useful at the higher difficulty levels (say Monarch and above), and therefore this tip isn't much use to an "extreme beginner".
 
That's pretty accurate. And the AI definitely researches Aesthetics, it's just that it's usually a relatively low priority.

Using Aesthetics as a catch-up tech is a tactic that's more useful at the higher difficulty levels (say Monarch and above), and therefore this tip isn't much use to an "extreme beginner".

Well, researching Aesthetics INSTEAD of Alphabet is pretty much Immortal/Deity stuff. Even on Emperor the AI usually doesn't have Alphabet by the time you get Aesth/Alpha.

But on Emperor it's still a useful trade chip for stuff like Mathematics/Iron Working/Ancient Era Backfill.
 
Ok, a few random tips for beginners.

-Bureaucracy is very powerful when you have 6 cities. It's pretty bad when you have 16 because you're paying a lot more upkeep for it. After you get a large empire, either switch to Free Speech if you have a lot of Cottages, or Nationhood if you don't. Nationhood is powerful because it has No Upkeep, makes cities happier with Barracks, and gives a bonus to EP! And of course, the Draft.

-If you've been playing an economy that doesn't really rely on Cottages, after you have a lot of cities, build Espionage buildings and steal techs from a friend! With Representation, Spy Specs still give you Beakers, so you can tech at a decent rate while stealing backfill from your buddies.

-Try to steal techs from crappy cities that will take a while to build Security Bureaus.

-Many top players like Isabella, but many new players have no idea why she is such a beast. If you can get to MiliTrad and Gunpowder first, then you will simply destroy people with Conquistadors.
 
Well, researching Aesthetics INSTEAD of Alphabet is pretty much Immortal/Deity stuff. Even on Emperor the AI usually doesn't have Alphabet by the time you get Aesth/Alpha.

But on Emperor it's still a useful trade chip for stuff like Mathematics/Iron Working/Ancient Era Backfill.

My recent experience told me that, neither Alphabet nor Aesthetics was the best tech for beginners. Just research whatever you really need by yourself. AI may or may not research certain techs, and even when they do, they may hold those tech back for all kinds of reasons: building wonders, tech secret ratio not breached, you are too advanced, don't like you enough, etc, etc...

So, don't beeline Alphabet and hope you can trade IW or Masonry for cheap. Just get IW if you have a few jungle gems. Especially, don't wait for Alphabet to trade those worker techs which you need right now. It's simple not worth the waiting.
 
I try my best to have one city oceanside , for the reason of having it be my army, navy, air base .
Always try to put the hero epic in it too , speeds up production - forge / drydock = mass naval units fast cheap and dirty , baby ! On top of that the palace can be moved to this city for an even bigger hammer bonus , i.e. w/ civics + the ironworks ... get those ocean going ships early build 4 early units / upgrade w/ cash boom , instant navy , load 12 units and go on a smashing spree ... then repeat :)~
 
I try my best to have one city oceanside , for the reason of having it be my army, navy, air base .
Always try to put the hero epic in it too , speeds up production - forge / drydock = mass naval units fast cheap and dirty , baby ! On top of that the palace can be moved to this city for an even bigger hammer bonus , i.e. w/ civics + the ironworks ... get those ocean going ships early build 4 early units / upgrade w/ cash boom , instant navy , load 12 units and go on a smashing spree ... then repeat :)~
Having an ocean-side HE is an excellent idea, however, I wouldn't move the capital to your military pump. Bureaucracy gives a 50% bonus to commerce, remember, and if you put your capital in the HE city you're either having to divert military hammers to commerce multipliers (and convert production tiles to cottages) OR completely forgo half of Bureaucracy's benefit. Not optimal.

If you build your HE city in a good production location and improve its tiles accordingly, (mines, watermills, workshops, only as many farms as needed) it should be able to pump out units at a sufficiently astonishing rate. :goodjob:

(I also prefer to put my Ironworks in an inland city to avoid any low-hammer water tiles, and it's also my late-game wonder pump, so less focus on military--but that could just be me. A lot of people like to combine IW+HE. Diff'rent strokes...)
 
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