Condensed tips for beginners?

That bastard! Does he really?!? I'll sack him!


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The Governor should not be affecting your gpt rate. I don't think it can even rushbuy for you.

Sounds more like you're not working enough commerce tiles, or not improving and growing enough cottages, or your money is tied down with overexpansion or overbuilding units. For now, build some more markets and banks.

Also post some screenshots of your empire, with tile yield icons, and of your city screens. That could diagnose the weaknesses of your play.

The governor really does rush things, TMIT in the past has suggested its actually pretty decent at whipping. The governor does need to have the production emphasis active to do so IIRC.

in my current game i have horses on a tile (in the city radius) that is separated from the city and rest of my empire by one mountain and surrounded by sea. i have improved the tile by still have no access to horses. is there any way i can get access or do i just get the tiles worth without the horses to use

first time ive come across this!

RedAndWhiteArmy said:

in my current game i have horses on a tile (in the city radius) that is separated from the city and rest of my empire by one mountain and surrounded by sea. i have improved the tile by still have no access to horses. is there any way i can get access or do i just get the tiles worth without the horses to use

first time ive come across this!

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try to build fort (and possibly road)

I'm sure this has been answered somewhere but....I'm lazy.
Q.--Assume you build the AP but are not currently running a state religion (various religions are present in your cities but haven't adopted one)...what becomes the 'AP religion'? Does the 'AP religion' become the one which has the largest presence in your cities? Or, would the game give you an option to choose the 'AP religion' amongst those present in your cities?

You can't build it without a state religion.

elitetroops said:

You can't build it without a state religion.

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Now that was a fast answer! Thanks, elite. Shows ya how often I tech Theo.

ShiVvV said:

I'm sure this has been answered somewhere but....I'm lazy.
Q.--Assume you build the AP but are not currently running a state religion (various religions are present in your cities but haven't adopted one)...what becomes the 'AP religion'?
Nothing. If you (or another for that matter) built it, that mean you (or another) were running a state religion and that religion remains the AP religion. Never changes.
Does the 'AP religion' become the one which has the largest presence in your cities? Or, would the game give you an option to choose the 'AP religion' amongst those present in your cities?

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No, no chance in hell.

RedAndWhiteArmy said:

in my current game i have horses on a tile (in the city radius) that is separated from the city and rest of my empire by one mountain and surrounded by sea. i have improved the tile by still have no access to horses. is there any way i can get access or do i just get the tiles worth without the horses to use

first time ive come across this!

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Build the city on the horses, if you can not provide a road from them to the nearest friendly city.

Andera412 said:

Build the city on the horses, if you can not provide a road from them to the nearest friendly city.

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If there is already a city within 2 tiles and as long as we're not talking about a seperated island on a different landmass, settling a city on top is not possible. Building a Fort and a Road though is.

(a fort is a water node just like a city is)

RedAndWhiteArmy said:

in my current game i have horses on a tile (in the city radius) that is separated from the city and rest of my empire by one mountain and surrounded by sea. I have improved the tile by still have no access to horses. Is there any way I can get access or do I just get the tiles worth without the horses to use

first time I've come across this!

Click to expand...

As Iwo Jima says;

Assuming you are playing BtS
You need to build a road and a fort, and as you already transported a worker there to build a pasture you have the necessary sailing technology that enables trading on the coast.
This is also how you hook up those small one or two tile off-shore islets inside your cultural radius.
You can even use this to hook up resources to island cities near the coast by building a road from an inland city and building a fort at the end of the road inside the islands city's' cultural border to connect the resources.

In vanilla you might be out of luck.

Forts in BtS are very powerful and versatile there is a really good thread on how to get the best out of them in the Strategy&Tactics forum (and several links to it already in this thread) .

• They are not just good for the +50% defense on a hill that can't be bombarded away !
• You can use them to build Portages like ancient Corinth or combined with city(s) and lake tiles to build your own Panama canal across an isthmus.
• They can be built on calendar resources before they become available ensuring the resource is connected on the turn you finish researching or trade for calendar.
• By the strange logic of CivIV they can't be occupied against you (as long as they are still inside your cultural borders)
• all goods no bad except that they take a long time to build.
• Your troops City defender bonus works in them
• A stack of archers fortified in a hilltop fort at a choke point will often be a more effective defense than a flatland city with walls and if sited correctly can defend multiple cities

Your troops City defender bonus works in them

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But don't city raider bonuses also apply?

rah said:

But don't city raider bonuses also apply?

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Yes, CR against Forts in enemy culture works . It's still very difficult to beat a Longbow that's in a Fort on a forested hill. Afaik, that's 125% defenses you can't bombard away, that's like a Walls + Castle + Pizza city, and the Longbow can have CG2 + 25% stationary + 25% which it gets as a city-defender in general very easily, so we're looking at a STR somewhere near 20. Those Deity-OCC-players made use of that tactic a lot and even had GG-defenders that had CG3 + C6 + Drill IV on top. That was 1 or 2 years ago, threads with screens should still be in the forum.

That's when that stack of CRIII rifles comes in handy.

Seraiel said:

Yes, CR against Forts in enemy culture works . It's still very difficult to beat a Longbow that's in a Fort on a forested hill. Afaik, that's 125% defenses you can't bombard away, that's like a Walls + Castle + Pizza city, and the Longbow can have CG2 + 25% stationary + 25% which it gets as a city-defender in general very easily, so we're looking at a STR somewhere near 20. Those Deity-OCC-players made use of that tactic a lot and even had GG-defenders that had CG3 + C6 + Drill IV on top. That was 1 or 2 years ago, threads with screens should still be in the forum.

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The +10% vs melee CGIII also makes a big difference as it gives equally promoted defenders the all important higher bonus Over their City Raider opponents +10% vs Gunpowder

rah said:

That's when that stack of CRIII rifles comes in handy.

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Even without being able to leave the forest in place in Vanilla those CRIII rifles will find it slow going. I always mix in my Guerrilla II Longbows I have upgraded from archers and some new hires with Shock to cancel out the CR bonuses


In CivIV Defense (especially in BtS) is stronger than Offense but the player is usually too busy invading the Ai's to notice.

For a peacefull Deity OCC I would give my GG defenders Guerilla III/Woodman III and tactics rather than the extra Drill promotions. The woodsies get free strikes anyway and +80% withdrawal gives the Guerrillas a huge advantage to fall back to the next Pre-prepared position and accompanied by your first GG medic an advancing enemy stack is going to be continually hammering at the same damn Longbowmen over and over You could really bleed out an advancing stack that way.

I know seraiel thinks (for good reasons) the Red Cross is a waste of 1800 hammers but on a hotly contested border the effect of the free promotion for your defenders doubles the healing bonus of being in a city, if that city has one of the (6) hospitals needed to build it you get +30% Healing a turn almost good as a standard GG medic at +35% and the hospitals have good chances of surviving capture if you loose the city and have to recapture. Meaning fewer cheep Defenders (hopefully in nodal defense stacks) can hold off the enemy while you can spend your hammers on a strong counter attack.
Strangely Gandhi demonstrated this to me Who woulda thought!

Here's what I've learned from my time playing CIV IV, either through random little tooltips or reading on these forums.

-Usually you want to build a worker first unless you have a situation like Saladins on the Earth map.
-On higher difficulties it's usually a better idea to research aesthetics instead of alphabet. The AI doesn't prioritize it and it makes a great trade chip. (They won't ignore it forever though.)
-You generally want 1.5 workers for every city. (Rounded up)
-If a civilization is currently at war with another civilization and makes a demand or request and they're NOT your ally. It's okay to refuse, they won't start plotting war if they're already in one.
-Montezuma and Shaka will declare war on you, and they'll almost always attack you with massive amounts of backwards units. Cathy is the one that attacks with modern units, she's the one you want on your side.
-If there's a huge religious split between your neighbors, it's probably a better idea to stay out of a religion unless one is not a threat to you.
-If Mansa Musa is in your game he's gonna have all the tech, no matter what. Not once have I seen a backwards Manny. Even if that guys isolated he's still extremely advanced somehow. Oh and he's the only AI that trades techs at Annoyed.
-Make liberalism a priority. It's a good trade chip and if you get it first, you get a free tech! At that stage (for me anyways) the techs temporarily take more turns than any other period. (Until somewhere around physics)
-Guided Missiles are worthless.
-Financial is a powerful civic, but don't drop cottages everywhere. They aren't quite so effective on a plains without a river. Usually a workshop or farm is a better idea there.
-Settle near food resources, they allow you to whip much more than a city that has none.
-You can attack successfully without strategic resources and defend exceptionally well.
-On higher difficulties, really any difficulty above warlord, you want to "spawnbust." Place your units on a hill preferably with a forest and have them defend or sentry. Barbarians can't spawn in any area that is in a 5x5 grid surrounding your unit (with your unit at the center of course). That goes for Barbarians too, they can't spawn near other barbarians.
-Don't be afraid to settle directly on top of resources! You immediately and undeniable get access to it without having to set up its improvement. This goes especially for sugar: It takes a long time to get to calendar and a plantation only provides one more food (and commerce) than you would otherwise get by settling on the tile.
-Random events are best left turned off. And if you can, be sure to pop huts with a scout. Even though I don't believe huts should be in the game either.
-You want to establish trade routes between your cities as quickly as possible. That first trade route between your cities gives you an extra 2 commerce which is a huge boost.
-State Property is a fantastic civic as it makes grassland workshops food neutral. Couple that with Caste system and you have some fantastic tiles.
-You want to specialize your cities. Don't just drop cottages all over your cities. Have what's known as a "Great Person" farm if you can. Those guys are exceptionally powerful early on. Have a production city so you can get those wonders you think are shiny too or make a nice army on demand.
-Gold is nice, but don't overshoot for it. Don't do something crazy like settle 20 tiles away in the middle of a desert just so you can get your hands on gold you crazy bastard.
-Don't even bother dealing with Japan. Tokugawa can be a good ally if he's friendly and/or actively trading. However, that's so rare that it's just not worth it.
-If you aren't at your health cap in any cities and it doesn't look like you're going to be for a while, but you're lacking in happiness resources. It's totally fine to trade away your only clam for silk or something.

I have to go so I can't finish. But I hope these helped!

Dinkir9 said:

I have to go so I can't finish. But I hope these helped!

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Many good points...

- Don't build too many buildings! (this was a biggie for me). There is no such thing as a "science city" or "gold city" unless you play an outdated "specialist economy" or have a Shrine-city. There is just Commerce, and if it's turned into science or gold depends on your slider. You want to keep your slider at 100% as much as possible, therefore grocers, markets and banks ususally are a waste of time and hammers. Libraries, an academy and the Bureau-civic is the thing . Get gold by selling resources and tecs, pillaging, taking citys, building wealth, building Great Merchants, etc, and try to keep your slider at 100% most of the time. In at least two parts of the early game it's an advantage to use the concept of "binary research", turn your slider to 0 while buidling the Capital-Library and save up some gold just before you get the first GS to build academy.
- The most important thing in the game is Food, and the most important building is the granary!

what sound like some good points there.

Now, onto spies
I have a couple in one game I am flogging to death (year 2091AD...)

1. When you have spy get another player's (I only play vs AI) 'plans', where do you go to see the plans ? Otherwise I've wasted a spy.

2. After one mission by one oh my spies, and 'some' missions by another, the ability to select further missions is no longer there: either the select button(s) is darkened out or it is absent.

2a. A supplementary question about sabotage (button can also be darkened out). If you carry out acts of sabotage, e.g., destroying production of a bank when nearly finished, or of a nearby farm on a food resource, won't the sabotaged player know that a spy is operating ? will he find out which nationality the spy is ?

SmallBrain
17.April.2016