CIV IV for dummies

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Weekend Hussler

Chieftain
Joined
Oct 16, 2008
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OK. So I've played 2 games so far.

Played on Warlord 2nd time around and got my butt kicked.

I can't seem to discover technologies as quick as other empires. I'm not getting anywhere near building tanks or building a space shuttle by 2050.
My gold reserves are huge, but all I can build/train is more and more artillery because I haven't discovered new technologies yet, but I still got demolished in wars. How can I speed this up?

Cyrus even gifted me 2 technologies I was so far behind. What a nice bloke.
 
Ouch. How big is your empire? A small empire is at an inherent disadvantage compared to a large empire. Expand until you don't have an economy then build courthouses (Code of Laws) to reduce maintenance. Prioritize cities near food resources because 2 :food: is just to slow of a rate of growth to be useful. Whipping through the slavery civic is a very good way of producing :hammers: if you have a good food source and a granary.

Also, you're most likely neglecting cottages! Cottages are the main way to get science (the other being specialists which are far more complex). Try playing as a Financial or Organized leader to get an economic boost.

The war academy is probably a good read too.
 
I mean get tons of cities through either war (my personal choice) or lots of settlers until your economy needs to run at 100% science. You'll question the wisdom of it when you do it but once you get into the Renaissance era you'll start to pull ahead and nobody will be able to catch you. The idea is that 100% of say 200 is a lot less than say 70% of 600. And no, cottages don't cost anything to maintain.
 
You have to maintain cottages by making sure your city is working them. Uh... basically with every population numble, the city can work a tile. You can go inside the city and move the worked tiles around. (the circles) While your city will still need food and hammers, some of its citizens can work cottages. Cottages will only grow and benefit you if you're working them.

The game though is pretty complex, and there's a lot more to it than just cottages. (though some might argue :p ) At any rate, strongly advise reading the various guides and expecially play-throughs found in the Strategy & Tips forums, watching someone play through a game (Sisiutil's ALCs are pretty good) can really help.
 
Weekend Hussler said:
OK. So I've played 2 games so far.

Played on Warlord 2nd time around and got my butt kicked.

I can't seem to discover technologies as quick as other empires. I'm not getting anywhere near building tanks or building a space shuttle by 2050.
My gold reserves are huge, but all I can build/train is more and more artillery because I haven't discovered new technologies yet, but I still got demolished in wars. How can I speed this up?

Cyrus even gifted me 2 technologies I was so far behind. What a nice bloke.
Click to expand...

My friend, welcome to the Civ learning curve - it's pretty steep, but ultimately rewarding. Pop over to the War Academy (?) and the strat section and read the beginner's guides (Sistuil's is pretty much standard, but there are several good ones). And take a look at some of the walk throughs in the Strategy Forums (even the one's in Stories and Tales - same thing, but with a plot!). Ask questions in the forums if you need further assistance. Happy Civing.
 
(Hopefully this isn't too remedial, but) on one of my very first games I hadn't learned the significance of the research slider , particularly that it will automatically increment down when you can't affort the setting it is at, and spent the entire latter half of the game with very low research but making lots of money once my economy got back up to speed. Anyway, that came to mind when you said it was only your second game and that you were making lots of money but not keeping up with research.
 
I've declared war on an enemy but it wont let me attack their cities with machine guns. Can't these units enter cities? I've trained so many of them too.
 
Weekend Hussler said:
I've declared war on an enemy but it wont let me attack their cities with machine guns. Can't these units enter cities? I've trained so many of them too.
Click to expand...

Machine guns are a defensive only unit. You can put them in your cities to defend (and they have a chance of shooting down planes) but they cannot attack. You'll need infantry or marines for that.
 
I noticed the game often says Autosaving... in the event log. Is there a way to restore an autosaved game? I just had Civ IV lock up on me and my last save was about 2 hours ago, I really don't want to redo all of that :(
 
The saves are in your folder "My documents/My Games/Civilization 4 (or warlords, or BTS, depending of what you play)/saves/single (if you play single)/autosaves; just load the most recent one.
 
Beware though. If you start another game, all of your previous games autosaves will be deleted in favor of the new ones.
 
And I guess you might have kept your workers at non-automatic and built only farms
Build cottages or in your first few games automate workers. Also ensure that your research slider is at 100%. At Warlords level, you shouldn't have a problem.
Also, don't cosy up to Cyrus too much, he'll win a cultural/space race victory without a warning.
 
How can you find where another empire is? I've looked all over my map and can't find them.

Also, how is it everytime I pillage a city, there's always settlers from another empire there ready to build a new city?

Every little inch of space a city pops up. It's annoying.

How do you expand your boundaries as quickly as possible? I know obelisk's help earlier in the game but what about later?

How dou you find out if an empire has a defence pact with someone else?
 
Weekend Hussler said:
How can you find where another empire is? I've looked all over my map and can't find them.

Also, how is it everytime I pillage a city, there's always settlers from another empire there ready to build a new city?

Every little inch of space a city pops up. It's annoying.

How do you expand your boundaries as quickly as possible? I know obelisk's help earlier in the game but what about later?

How dou you find out if an empire has a defence pact with someone else?
Click to expand...


1) They are probably on a continent only reacheable with caravels or other ocean going ships. Research optics and then astronomy.

2) That's one of the annoying thigs the AI does. If you are at war with that AI, just kill the settler.

3) Religion and religious buildings are good for border expansions. Later on, Free speech civic doubles culture output (tech liberalism).
 
If a leader has a DP with another one and you know both of them, that information appears on the foreign advisor screen.

As for finding other empires, if you did not meet the leader yet just continue to explore darkened areas, and otherwise try to buy world maps from this leader or another.
 
If you've uncovered the whole map then there are no other empires.
 
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