Hi, folks. Very frustrated noob here. Particularly frustrated because my husband and I got the game just yesterday, and he's already managed to win in one day on the second level up.
I played with Civ III and Conquests, and usually sucked. Never could get off Chieftain, and usually lasted till Steam Power and would be on my way to totally steamrolling with a cultural victory....then everyone would have formed a military alliance against me and I'd be ganked from all sides.
I didn't like fighting other civs, because I didn't know how.
My problems - never having enough money to really *fund* a military, not understanding how to arrange what troops I did have to effectively wage a war...sigh. Pretty much everything. I just don't get this game (in any of its incarnations) at all.
I can't even get through the first city in IV without throwing up my hands in frustration. And I do want to play this. Really.
1. Where the heck do you BEGIN with this? I feel like I'm spinning my wheels in the first city and getting nothing done. Should I just start with Workers, or build a second Warrior Unit, or what? Should I dive straight for religion? Scarily enough, it's looking like it's turning into One True Way To Play (tm)
2. Problem I had in Civ III that maybe you can answer - when should I trade techs with other civs? I could never tell when it'd be advantageous, because I wouldn't want them to have the ability to catch up with me, so I wouldn't. I think that's what had them all go "Yo, China. This civ over here's ticking me off by not giving us anything. Want to hook up?"
What'm I doing wrong here?
(and yes, I am reading the guide, but it's not being too much help. guess I'm not tactically minded.)