Off for a good start

angryvark

Chieftain
Joined
Nov 15, 2014
Messages
22
I've played all civs to the death except Civ4. I tried it when it came out and I thought it sucked compared to Civ3 so I went back to Civ3 until 5 came out. I didn't like 5 either until it came on Steam as a sale with all addons and DLC's. Civ5 is cool but I don't like war.

I want to try Civ4 for a domination victory but I'm failing :sad:. I suppose its been too long since I played 3 and besides with all the changes from the patches and addons it looks more like Civ5 with square tiles than I remember.

Can someone give me a quick rundown for a good start for a domination victory. I pick an aggressive leader, I suppose any one with Org/Fin/Exp/Ind/Prot would be fine for a 2nd trait. I'm not sure what I would like best for a 2nd trait, maybe Fin, I like having boatloads of money. I also suppose having a special early millitary unit helps but as tend to like late warfare more, it isn't required. I just need to hold them off so I can expand, build an empire to support a large army and off I go.

I don't need noobie handholding, I know what everything means, how it works in general and all that. It's just that I'm kinda struggling to get a good start. I'm not sure what techs to prioritize, how many units to build, which wonders to get and which ones to pass up, etc. How quickly do I build settlers, how many units do I protect each city with? First game I had 3 I got wiped off the map in no time. I figured I try with 6 again I loose a city.

Another thing that I'm struggling with is happiness. It works differently and early on I can't seem to build anything to counter it. So I'm preventing growth at 5 or 6 until I get a building but I think I'm missing something obvious. In Civ3 there was the entertainer.

Last but not least, where on the city screen do I see which resources a city has? Isn't it supposed to be there somewhere?

Thanks!
 
Sisiutil's Strategy Guide for Beginners would be a good start. Remember, Civ IV is not Civ III; many strategies that work in Civ III are big fails in Civ IV.

Aggressive is considered one of the weaker traits, but you should be able to win domination with any leader's traits, although some will make it easier than others.

Food is king in Civ IV--first couple of techs should be geared to improving food in capital's big fat cross (BFC). Then bronze working for slavery to whip away those angry citizens. Happiness can come from religion (don't have to found it yourself; let an AI found a religion and spread it to you) and resources. Hereditary Rule will let you increase the happy cap by one for each military unit stationed in the city.

Generally build a worker first. Then grow on warriors until size 3 and build a settler. Overlap of BFCs can be good, especially with first cities.

Go visit the Strategy and Tips forum for more advice.
 
(requested move to S&T)

Civ IV looks like Civ V? :crazyeye::lol: Welcome back to the best Civ game ever.

First advice...worry less about traits and more about basic execution. With that said, Aggressive trait is one of the worst traits and should not be considered a plus for Domination. Surprisingly, leaders like Gandhi and Asoki are great warmongers for the human. Learning why is part of the process.

Based on what I know from 3, IV requires much more balance and micro to get where you need to be. For domination, you must balance expansion with economy whether you war early or late.

Having cities at size 5 or 6 early is not a bad thing. Usually you want your cap to grow some after initial whipping to expand, in order to take the brunt of research needs. Other cities can be whipped pretty aggressively though for units or expansion depending on what you're plan is. Regardless, happiness is not that hard to come by once you get Monarchy or build the Mids, and certainly trade for any happiness resources once they become available.

How many units do you protect cities with? All you need is one or sometimes none. Main reason for one unit is MP happiness and more units if running HR and you want the city to grow larger. Otherwise, the focus should be on building armies, not defending cities. Learn about diplomacy and understanding when AIs might attack. BUG/BULL or BAT mods are probably something you want to install as it makes info more readily available.

Anyway, don't defend cities. Best defense is offense in this game. Either take the fight to them or be ready for them. A mobile army is much better than dumping tons of useless units in each city. Units cost maintenance by the way. You don't even need a large standing army until near the point you attack. Keep a reasonable stack around, but you can beef up quickly shortly before attack by using whipping effectively (or drafting/rush by late game)

Resources are located in the top right of the city screen. Resources are global unless for some reason a city is cutoff from trade networks.

As for domination, unique units don't matter although there are 2 or 3 that are special like Quechas (on higher levels), war chariots (any level), Conquistadors (any level) that come to mind. Everything is situational, but the key is getting off to a good start. As note above, almost always worker first (except for some coastal starts), emphasize food first, good worker management, grow to size 3 build first settler, expand to 3 or 4 cities and consider attacking a neighbor or two. You might consider the Horse Archer as it is one of the best early units to war with.

Try to get Currency fairly early as it changes your economy. Focus on setting up a Bureau cap. Don't neglect great people. Run scientists asap first thing and plop an academy in your cap (or potential cap).

3 key concepts:

1) FOOD is king in the game/food is production
2) Granary is hands down the most important building
3) Worker is the most important unit. You will win many wars because of this passive unit.

(note: if you want know a good unit for mid-game warfare for a sweeping domination win, look to the Cur. Great unit on any level. MT is a good tech to Lib for this. Use some GS bulbing for a fast Lib>MT strategy) Of course, difficulty level plays a factor on your strategy and I'm not aware of which level you are currently comfortable with.

If you want a good "crutch" Leader for a newer player and warfare, try Asoka. The Fast Worker is the best unique unit and his traits are very solid. Spiritual will give you the benefit of not having to worry about anarchy from civic switch (you can use Caste for brief spells for great people generation or quick border pops or diplo) and Org will help you a bit with your economy, which newer players often struggle with. A Creative leader like Hatty is another option, plus her UU is OP.
 
If you want specific advice, you can try to post a start in strategy and tips, with what you would do. Then post a new turnset of maybe twenty turns every day/two days to receive advice. The first 100 turns or so are the most important ones.

And follow lymond's advice:
3 key concepts:

1) FOOD is king in the game/food is production
2) Granary is hands down the most important building
3) Worker is the most important unit. You will win many wars because of this passive unit.

Regarding
Last but not least, where on the city screen do I see which resources a city has? Isn't it supposed to be there somewhere?
In the top right. There are icons, you can hover over them to see the name of the resource.
 
Good stufff!

Thanks for taking the time to help out. I'll be giving it another few tries and take the advise into consideration.

If I still don't manage to get a good game going I'll take your advise dutchfire and try to post a start.

Thanks guys!
 
I looked around, but what mods are these?

BUG/BULL or BAT mods are probably something you want to install as it makes info more readily available.

Thanks again!
 
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