R.i.p.

This place is a tomb ...
... I'm going somewhere more alive.

Everyday ... less and less players.

HELLO? ... HeLLo? ... hello? ... hello ... ------

Hey ... just fired up this game, to try it out. I built a few buildings, and will start working on harvesting.

What has to happen, before I can join a Civ? I would have thought that would be one of the first things they ask you, but no ....

Been awhile since I played their little walkthrough tutorial ...
... I don't recall the paces they put you through
... I don't recall it taking very long, though
Afterwards, you can just click the civ button in lower right (the top one at end of row) ...
... and select any civ to join (or found one) that isn't:
... ... 1) at MAX players
... ... 2) Closed Borders

Thanks! Sure enough, one of the steps in the tutorial was to join a Civ. I found one with only 3 members (I was the 3rd) that was not currently being attacked by barbs. Joined it, and cranked away.

I guess that the others haven't played in a while ... in short order, I got named Science minister, and then promoted to King

Hope that one of the big Civs doesn't come pick on us.

Large civs will attack you ... it is part of the game.
Don't stress overly much about it,
... unless you have a real chance of equal footing.
They WILL take your Wonders,
... so don't build 'em 'less you can protect 'em.

note:
... when upgrading buildings (granary, lumberyard, etc)
... ... its usually not worth it to go above "large".
... Oh, build roads on production tiles for increased production.
... ... I see alot of cities not using roads.

Two questions about production ...
1) What happens, if anything, while you're not playing? Does anything accumulate? I know that the market prices fluctuate. Do your citizens keep working, or do they only gather materials when you have the game window open?

2) Is there any benefit in waiting to use your harvests? Do they "charge up", so to speak, if you wait a while? Or can I do 2 harvests in quick succession, and both will yield about the same amount of food/prod/gold/culture?

vorlon_mi said:

Two questions about production ...
1) What happens, if anything, while you're not playing? Does anything accumulate? I know that the market prices fluctuate. Do your citizens keep working, or do they only gather materials when you have the game window open?

Click to expand...

A:
If at least one person is ingame you will recieve trickle income (prod,sci,cult,etc).
If noone is ingame ... zilch.

vorlon_mi said:

2) Is there any benefit in waiting to use your harvests? Do they "charge up", so to speak, if you wait a while? Or can I do 2 harvests in quick succession, and both will yield about the same amount of food/prod/gold/culture?

Click to expand...

A:
Yes and no.

If you can wait to harvest (or do minimal harvests),
... you can spend them on improved citizens.

This is contrasting 20x harvests at 5/citizen early.
-vs-
20x harvests at 40/citizen later.

I would argue this is where most of the strategy is derived.
You want to efficiently use your harvests.

Sometimes you'll want to use some harvests early to improve citizen yields.
Then use a large number of harvests
... 1) once citizen yields are increased
... 2) or team benefits by your harvesting (ie interior minister, etc).

The harvest timer can give you an indicator of how many harvests/day you earn.
... assuming someone is always online in a 24hr period.

Note:
These things require practice:
... 1) learn how to efficiently explore
... 2) learn how to efficiently increase citizen output
... 3) learn how to efficiently grow
... 4) learn when to stop growing
... 5) learn how to coordinate with team when buying/selling
... 6) learn to use chat
... 7) learn warfare
... 8) learn tech tree
... 9) learn what wonders to use, how to defend them
... A) learn mini-games
... B) learn victory conditions and how to achieve them.
... ... probably the hardest one for people to learn.

Were you aware
... food tiles recycle at full price?
... roads increase production (hammers)?
... roads can be built on water tiles?
... culture mini-game has x5 button?
... culture mini-game pays bonus for double-swapping?
... ... ie both pieces go into their proper place in one swap.
... ... set 'em up with x1
... ... finish 'em with x5
... science mini-game can be used to earn extra moves even if you can't solve it?
... there is a commodities market?
... etc etc

RD-BH said:

A:
I would argue this is where most of the strategy is derived.
You want to efficiently use your harvests.

The harvest timer can give you an indicator of how many harvests/day you earn.
... assuming someone is always online in a 24hr period.

Note:
These things require practice:
... 1) learn how to efficiently explore
... 2) learn how to efficiently increase citizen output
... 3) learn how to efficiently grow
... 4) learn when to stop growing
... 5) learn how to coordinate with team when buying/selling
... 6) learn to use chat
... 7) learn warfare
... 8) learn tech tree
... 9) learn what wonders to use, how to defend them
... A) learn mini-games
... B) learn victory conditions and how to achieve them.
... ... probably the hardest one for people to learn.

Were you aware
... food tiles recycle at full price?
... roads increase production (hammers)?
... roads can be built on water tiles?
... culture mini-game has x5 button?
... culture mini-game pays bonus for double-swapping?
... ... ie both pieces go into their proper place in one swap.
... ... set 'em up with x1
... ... finish 'em with x5
... science mini-game can be used to earn extra moves even if you can't solve it?
... there is a commodities market?
... etc etc

Click to expand...

Thanks! Yes, I was aware of some of those items, and had stumbled upon the bonus in the culture mini-game by accident. I lucked into some double-swaps, and noticed the bonus. Some follow-up questions from your numbered items ...

1) Efficiently explore... is that simply where you place your guard towers, and how often you move them? I read somewhere that moving an upgraded building will downgrade it, so one must be careful about doing that willy-nilly.

7) Learn warfare ... is that covered in the wiki? My civ right now is really small (3 players), so I have just bought some defensive troops for when the barbs attack. I don't have a good handle on strategy or tactics in war.

2) and 3) Growing, and citizen output. I've picked up on some of that; house citizens with similar jobs next to each other, and keep their round trip as short as you can.

5) and 6) Guess I need to get into a civ with more members, that are playing more often. Not much action on these fronts, so the game is moving r-e-a-l-l-y slowly.

RE: 1) Efficiently explore
... where you put towers
... how many towers you place
... which towers you upgrade
... what tiles you are looking for
... what towers to tear down

RE: 7) Learn warfare
... The CivForum tab (top of CivWorld window)
... ... many articles on how combat works

RE: 2) and 3) Growing, and citizen output
... changes from era to era (citizen bonuses,civics,etc)
... I can produce 45+/citizen in a couple days
... ... do I really need that 7th citizen?

RE: 5) and 6) Coordinating w/teammates
... output/citizen doubles with enough population
... ... coordinate w/teammates to push your Monarch into double output

OK, let's talk about citizen growth. I must be missing something, because it takes me many days just to grow 5 citizens. Each growth takes more and more food, and I don't always have nicely watered terrain to build adjacent to. It's pretty boring to just sit there and do some harvests. I have some nice tiles to work, but not enough citizens to work them.

I'm getting better at the trade route minigame, and they've chosen interesting artwork for the culture minigame. The science maze is too hard; I don't have enough moves to solve it in one session, and I forget the layout between sessions. Plus, as soon as someone solves it, they put up a new one and your moves in the old one are wasted.

Bottom line: for someone who is used to the single-player Civ, there's just not enough happening in each session of Civ World. I'm not eager to play "just one more turn."

You have to play your map ...
If you have good food locations,
... work food.
If you have good production locations,
... work production
... trade for food
If you have neither of those,
... a) work artists for Great Prophets
... b) change civics to +growth%/+happiness
... c) work scientists for food/production improvements
... d) consider merchants and buy food/Great Prophets
... note:
... ... keep an eye on bonuses and work what pays the most
... ... both citizen output and market value need considering
... ... 20 hammers/citizen @ $450 > 40 culture/citizen @ $90

RE: maze
... I check each maze for easy beakers and collect moves
... Don't stay in the maze, backtrack to outer ring; preserve those moves

vorlon_mi said:

... I must be missing something ...
Bottom line: for someone who is used to the single-player Civ, there's just not enough happening in each session of Civ World. I'm not eager to play "just one more turn."

Click to expand...

You are.

Civ World has a steeper learning curve than civilization. Most people just quit and call the game stupid.


I have a fair amount of success winning as a one man civ spending no civbucks (win 25% of the time, second best the rest)

I stop trying to grow at 8 population, and rarely get larger than 10
I usually attack all civs every day starting on day 1
I spend between 50-100 great people a game
My games never last a week
And I can only play 2-3 games a month because of the "just one more turn' nature of CivWorld... It Is even MORE compelling when you have teammates.

I have just one word for you son... 'Hammers'

ShuShu62 said:

You are.

Civ World has a steeper learning curve than civilization. Most people just quit and call the game stupid.


I have a fair amount of success winning as a one man civ spending no civbucks (win 25% of the time, second best the rest)

I stop trying to grow at 8 population, and rarely get larger than 10
I usually attack all civs every day starting on day 1
I spend between 50-100 great people a game
My games never last a week
And I can only play 2-3 games a month because of the "just one more turn' nature of CivWorld... It Is even MORE compelling when you have teammates.

I have just one word for you son... 'Hammers'

Click to expand...

Wonderful! Thanks for replying; I'm willing to give the game another chance,
and I appreciate finding someone who is willing to help others in the spirit of CivFanatics.

Would you be so kind as to post a link to the 2K Forums that answer some of my strategy questions (mentioned in the podcast thread)? I spent quite a bit of time reading the Civ 2 and Civ 3 manuals when I first got those games, and substituted several strategy guides hosted on CivFanatics when I got Civ 4.

http://forums.2kgames.com/forumdisplay.php?94-Civilization-World

The 2K forums are basically the only active fan site. Civ Fanatics basically dismissed CivWorld before the Beta even opened.

The strategy section does not have many articles, and there is basically only one thread for each topic (except for battle, I launched a number of threads on that topic)

I have heard from many folks that my 'stories' or after action reports are quite useful as a learning tool. They aren't for everyone, but they do a good job of illustrating that the game is about the people in the game, not the game mechanics.

I have two visible on the first page. Babies Ride Again covers a lot of topics that illustrate the game within a game within a game nature of CivWorld.. I am not a role model is more about how you can get wrapped up in a game even when there is no competition.

Even the 2K forums are faily idle these days, but there is an active core of diehard fans who are apparrently sufficient to keep the game afloat despite the abismal daily numbers.

The golden era of civ world debate on the forum was back in septemberr (the Beta Opened)... That is when fanboys and haters roamed the streets and all introductory topics/shortcomings got touched on. By late october,the discussions are less from a newbie perspective and more from that of experienced palyers.

Now-a-days, the forum is only prowled by senior players, but we are the friendly senrior players who welcome new posts as long as they aren't of the 'I have been playing for a week and am now an expert and I declare this game stupid' ilk.

vorlon_mi said:

...I spent quite a bit of time reading the Civ 2 and Civ 3 manuals when I first got those games, and substituted several strategy guides hosted on CivFanatics when I got Civ 4.

Click to expand...

The civWorld wiki is the equivalent of a game manual. The titles on the the 2K forums provide more details for various topics.

There are no real strategy guides, and quite frankly I am not sure one could write one as the strategy required changes from game to game.

My approach to learning the game was to watch the players who beat me in each game and deconstruct what they did and then try to reproduce it.

Sam, upped his game to where every guild he runs across invites him to join. He has been sampling Guild strategies.

Joining a Guild is the standard way most people go to learn more. I find guilds to be one dimensional, but they do what they do very well.

I have contemplated putting together a compendium of the main strategies employed in civWorld ... and their counters (hehehe) ... but, the forums are so dead, i didn't think anyone would read them. I may ressurrect that effort at some point.


This link; gives and overview:
http://forums.2kgames.com/showthread.php?114599-Player-types

Thanks for the links. I read several of the posts you highlighted, and especially enjoyed "Babies Ride Again." I was entertained, and more than a little jealous.
I would simply *love* to share my passion for Civ with my daughters, but alas,
they have other interests and passions.

Your compendium might include a glossary, e.g., dancing, cycling. After reading several of your "after action reports," I can appreciate the significant differences from game to game in the strategies used. Some tactics or gambits remain consistent, but you and your civ-mates seem to be very adaptable. And part of that adaptation involves retreat, when the situation calls for it.

vorlon_mi said:

... And part of that adaptation involves retreat, when the situation calls for it.

Click to expand...

Valuable life lesson, that.

Start buy having your daughters help you with some of the mini games. Heck, I even got my wife playing a little just to do puzzle swaps.

ShuShu62 said:

http://forums.2kgames.com/forumdisplay.php?94-Civilization-World
The golden era of civ world debate on the forum was back in septemberr (the Beta Opened)...

Click to expand...

I thought the beta opened like last April or May.

Countmonte8242 said:

I thought the beta opened like last April or May.

Click to expand...

There was an Alpha...
Then a closed Beta...
Then the Beta opened in September.

I joined in September.

I read backwards in time. The game seems to have changed considerably during the closed Beta. The event wonders cost one GP a piece at one point completely eliminating all strategies but event wonder racing.


Automatic Meritocracy dominated the talk just before the beta openned.

Suprisingly, even with the instant combat experiment in October, the gameplay has not changed much since then. The level of sophistication in the community has however. Many things that were employed in september and decried as trollish behavior, are now broadly accepted as advanced gameplay.

Many things that were employed in september and decried as trollish behavior, are now broadly accepted as advanced gameplay.

Click to expand...

Here, let me offer some corrections: Many things that were employed in september and decried as trollish behavior are now broadly accepted as advanced gameplay by people who still have not quit in disgust because of the trollish obnoxiousness of these 'things'.

What are these 'things'? Since this is a strategy board, I'm quite surprised we're not addressing the elephant in the room. In fact, we could say these win the game far better and easier than if we just played the game according to the so-called tips and strategies posted in this entire thread.

These are the 'things' responsible for players quitting over time since September or drastically reducing their time in Civworld, leaving behind a remnant who think these 'things' are 'broadly accepted'. These are 'things' that new players will leave immediately once they know about it.

1. Civbucks buy harvests. Harvests buy lots of production if you're running hammers. Alternatively, harvests buy entire techs if you're running science. It's the "I win" button of the game if you know how to play the game.

Imagine one person running civbucks. Now imagine that person running the maximum civbuck limit, which can range from 20 a day to 120 a day. That averages about 40 additional harvests to 240 additional harvests a day.

Now imagine an organised team of regular players who play a Civworld game together, all spending the maximum daily civbuck limit every day. Now imagine they know how to rotate the interior ministry so they store all their harvests and as IM, grant team members bonus harvests when they spend their civbuck-charged harvests.

I've seen 'games' where a small group would be the Civ3/4/5 equivalent of 3 ages ahead of the nearest team. So why would I play a strategy game that basically rewards people who want to throw a few bucks a day every day until they win? Do I really want to spend the same amount every day until I stop them from winning?

2. Post Civworld requests to your Facebook wall to get bonus moves and swaps.

Find a group of players, add them to your friends list or get someone to form a FB group page. Allow Civworld to post links to your facebook page. Whenever you run out of moves in the maze or puzzle, Civworld asks if you'd like to post a request to your wall. Agree.

Anyone who clicks on the help link on your facebook wall gets 5 bonus maze moves or puzzle swaps. You get 5 bonus maze moves or puzzle swaps. Now imagine if you have a large group of friends/fellow players doing this. Now imagine if you post the link to the "help me" link on a few facebook groups. Now imagine if the groups time it properly so you don't get an overflow of moves/swaps for each puzzle.


Playing Civworld becomes a question of "Am I willing to pay 20-50 civbucks a day" and "Am I willing to devote X hours a day spamming maze and puzzle links" -- all to compete viably and reliably against the top 1-2 civs in the game.

Let's go back to the OP's question. Why is Civworld these days a tomb? For many people, Civworld is not a fun strategy game. It's not even a strategy game any more. Good for you if you and a few others feel that "trollish behavior" is now broadly accepted.

For those of us who disagree and don't intend to quit just yet, we're stuck to playing each Civworld game, then adding each member of each civbuck team, each maze group, each guild to our in-game friend list so we know who to avoid and which games to quit immediately when we see these names.

There, I hope this answers the OP as well as reveal a few more tips and strategies that help understand the strategies available to Civworld players.