So I herd u liek...civ4 more than civ3z.

[austincm]

Anyways, I just started playing civ 4, i knew some things about civ 3 and i played for about 3 weeks before i got my new computer and civ 4.

Anyways, in this one how do the mechanics differ. Like, is it good to build cities real close together like in civ 3? or to spread them out? is there corruption. i'll list my questions.

-What is the optimal city placement system? For both military and peacefull.
-Is religion important?
-Should I be founding my own religion and how does obtaining it work, and are there bad things about getting a religion from a different country?
-In the civics or w/e where there is government, rush method, and all that, which ones are the best or are they all the same?
-tell me everything i might need to know. I have read up a lot of civilopedia.

-VERY IMPORTANT NEW QUESTION, How do I specialize cities and is there a thread to explain this maybe? and are great people important. I heard that people designate science cities, great person cities etc, i just dnt know how to do it.

[theskibum]

check out Sisuitil's Beginner's Guide. It is the gold standard guide for newcomers. Welcme to Civ IV

[Ataxerxes]

Originally Posted by austincm

Anyways, I just started playing civ 4, i knew some things about civ 3 and i played for about 3 weeks before i got my new computer and civ 4.

Anyways, in this one how do the mechanics differ. Like, is it good to build cities real close together like in civ 3? or to spread them out? is there corruption. i'll list my questions.

-What is the optimal city placement system? For both military and peacefull.
-Is religion important?
-Should I be founding my own religion and how does obtaining it work, and are there bad things about getting a religion from a different country?
-In the civics or w/e where there is government, rush method, and all that, which ones are the best or are they all the same?
-tell me everything i might need to know. I have read up a lot of civilopedia.

-VERY IMPORTANT NEW QUESTION, How do I specialize cities and is there a thread to explain this maybe? and are great people important. I heard that people designate science cities, great person cities etc, i just dnt know how to do it.

Reading Sisiutil is the best advice. However, a couple of quick answers:

-A little city overlap is OK, but don't place cities as close together as in Civ3. In Civ3, more cities is always better but with city maintenance in Civ4, you want GOOD cities.
-Religion is very important mainly for diplomacy. If you found a religion, you can get shrine income. I prefer to let a neighbor found a religion and convert to theirs. This can often get you a good friend as AI's prefer religions they found. The only malus to an imported religion is somebody else gets the shrine income. Diplo concerns are often more important. Unlike Civ3, diplo matters a lot. You can keep some AI's from attacking you just by being friends.
-Civics come under the category of "it depends". All civics have times when they are best.

[lymond]

Actually, religion spreading to you is a good thing. For one, it gives you flexibility as far as which religion to adopt once you figure out which allies to align yourself with. Unless you are isolated/semi-isolated, it is best to wait on adopting a religion until you know who the best allies are. Create a religious bloc and use it to hurt the heathens. Also, the AP religion might spread to you which give you hammer bonus buildings.

Unless playing a strict religion type game - kinda unique in itself - it is generally not a good idea to go for one of the early religious. Better is to go for the worker tech to get your empire up and running. You can always try for Code of Laws or Philo to get those religions. OR you can just can out a conquer a holy shrine city from someone else.

As mentioned, Sisituils guide is gold. Changed my game a long time ago. You can find it in the CIV IV war academy (check menu at top of page) along with a lot of other helpful guides/articles such as several on city specialization.

Running learner-shadow games is also a fantastic way to learn the game.

[Sian]

i suggest a thread title that doesn't make people faceplam and bypass your thread