50 First Turns

[ShadowoftheDark]

Could someone please make a guide on what to do on the 50 first turns of the game. This turns is crucial to the game and determines what makes or breaks your civ. I haven't gotten my civ4 copy, but I'll contribute to this thread as soon as I get mine. The format for this would be

1) Difficulty - state your difficulty setting
2) Path - military, religious, scientific (?), commercial (?)
3) Race used and why
4) Build que
a) build (if some explainations need be, please say so)
b) .... (your worker should be..., you should be researching this..., watch out for this...)
5) Other notes

I know this is too much, but please help us sucky players with this guide. If after following this guide and you turned out great after 50 first turns, and you still lost... well, better luck next game. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[MSTK]

Civilization is not a game where you have a single "best" strategy to beat the game. It's not about winning, but about the actuall process of playing that makes it fun. There is no best way to play. If you play it the same way every time, then what fun is that?

[lastchance]

I think my guide describes pretty well what you have to do during the first 50 turns. There's definitely a lot of variability, but you pretty much have to
A) Get a second city. (first 25 turns, don't build more than 1 warrior before settler)
B) Defend that second city with a warrior.
C) Get a worker to hook up resources/farm/cottage/chop.

This is not necessarily in that order, but pretty much every start you play will have something to the effect of Warrior, Settler, Worker (military builds should get Archers/Chariots/HA's instead).

[ShadowoftheDark]

Originally Posted by MSTK

Civilization is not a game where you have a single "best" strategy to beat the game. It's not about winning, but about the actuall process of playing that makes it fun. There is no best way to play. If you play it the same way every time, then what fun is that?

Its not really the same as enemies will react differently, terrain will be different and certain events will unfold differently. I'm just asking for a guide that will help the newbie players through the 50 first turns of the game.

Originally Posted by lastchance

I think my guide describes pretty well what you have to do during the first 50 turns. There's definitely a lot of variability, but you pretty much have to
A) Get a second city. (first 25 turns, don't build more than 1 warrior before settler)
B) Defend that second city with a warrior.
C) Get a worker to hook up resources/farm/cottage/chop.

This is not necessarily in that order, but pretty much every start you play will have something to the effect of Warrior, Settler, Worker (military builds should get Archers/Chariots/HA's instead).

Yes, I've read your guide, and I was kinda waiting for you to update it. It was really a good guide, although I haven't tested it yet (I don't have the game yet), it kinda just seems vague. Thanks for the replies!

[Broom_89]

the joy of civ is to find your own strategy

[ShadowoftheDark]

Originally Posted by Broom_89

the joy of civ is to find your own strategy

Yes, I know that. That's why I only asked for the first 50 turns. It's not like I'm asking the whole game walkthrough.

[ShadowoftheDark]

Any news on lastchance's strategy? Can you conform it to this thread's 50 First Turns? Thanks!

[Heroes]

Originally Posted by ShadowoftheDark

Could someone please make a guide on what to do on the 50 first turns of the game. This turns is crucial to the game and determines what makes or breaks your civ. I haven't gotten my civ4 copy, but I'll contribute to this thread as soon as I get mine. The format for this would be

1) Difficulty - state your difficulty setting
2) Path - military, religious, scientific (?), commercial (?)
3) Race used and why
4) Build que
a) build (if some explainations need be, please say so)
b) .... (your worker should be..., you should be researching this..., watch out for this...)
5) Other notes

I know this is too much, but please help us sucky players with this guide. If after following this guide and you turned out great after 50 first turns, and you still lost... well, better luck next game. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

0. Of course, there is no generic path. But there are indeed some common options to determine.

1. Difficulty: Although I think I'm a deity level player for civ 3, I still gave my 1st try at settler. Human research speed is incredibly high, and in battlefield it becomes Cho-Ko-Nu (Chinese UU replacing crossbowman) vs. archer, then rifleman or grenadier + cavalry vs. longbowman. Piece of cake. But you do learn the game mechanics a lot. The second try is noble, where human and AI are equal. I was total peaceful for ages. But after losing some resources due to India's border expansion, I built spears (the cheapest unit available) and upgraded to redcoats (English UU for rifleman). It's interesting to use redcoat against longbow and archer. After conquering the continent, to gain domination victory, declare war to Japan, and it's mechanized infantry vs. longbow, even more hilarious!

Certainly you don't expect to have tech advantage at highest levels, but it's good to get familiar to all the techs and units. Then I'm trying monarch, and see tech parity in battle field: war elephant + maceman + longbow + spear + cat in both side. Then I learn a lot of tactics.

2. Religion or not? It's a big question. Mysticism -> poly -> mono is a soild option, and I feel it's better than not foudning religion at least till monarch level. Military? Archer is extremely good city defender. But I used Inca in the monarch game, and their UU is a warrior with +100% to archer! Therefore capture Paris and exile Nalopeon. Other than Inca, I guess you can always try to steal worker from AI, and hold your city with no problem using archer.

3. Any civ should have its benefit and downside. I guess you'd better try several, at least exhaust all the possible traits before drawing any conclusion.

4. Some people say forest chop is the best way, or even the only viable way at high levels. I don't know, need to try it out.

[Azash]

Originally Posted by ShadowoftheDark

Yes, I know that. That's why I only asked for the first 50 turns. It's not like I'm asking the whole game walkthrough.

The problem is, you usually lay the foundation during the first turns.