Okay, so we're all kind of Civ 4 idiots right now (unless your name is Sulla or Sirian and you've been testing it for six months), so I thought I would focus on tips and strategies for the Ancient Era. On the higher difficulty levels (at least in my experience), you may not be winning once you get out of it, but a strong Ancient Era obviously puts you in a much better position to make a charge later in the game.
1) One of the biggest jumps between Civ 3 and Civ 4 is the number of improvements that you can make to your land. So much for just roads, railroads, irrigation, and mining...
The improvements that you can make with Ancient Era technologies are camps, cottages, farms, fishing boats, mines, pastures, and quarries. All of these are unlocked by Ancient Era technologies, and it is going to depend on the kind of land and resources you have as to which of these techs you should care about.
If you have deer or ivory, you're going to want to make Hunting a priority so you can build a camp. Furs are also best used with camps, but only commercially, which is not as important as food or production when you are a young civilization. Hunting is pretty unimportant if you don't have one of these three resources, however.
Cottages are unlocked by Pottery, and are the AI's favorite construction when it doesn't know what to do with a tile. Early on, unless you are a financial leader, there are probably more important things for you to pursue; however, if you are financial, you should definitely make a beeline, because the more cottages you build early, the larger the pile of money you will be sitting on in the Medieval and Industrial Eras.
Farms are a godsend if you are by fresh water. They come with Agriculture, and are the best use of tiles by fresh water even if they do not have corn, rice, or wheat. You will get exactly the kind of growth you are hoping for if you get workers out to build farms on lands by fresh water, especially if it is grassland. The proximity to fresh water is important, because farms can't be built elsewhere until the Civil Service Tech (an early medieval tech), so if there is no fresh water in sight, take your time getting to Agriculture.
Fishing boats are what you do with clams, crabs, or fish, and it makes a huge difference in your food production. If any of these resources are in the range of one of your cities, get to the Fishing tech as soon as possible. You have to build a fishing boat in a coastal city before you can maximize use of these resources, so plan ahead.
Mines add +2 production to hills, which is awesome. This is also the way to exploit copper (visible through Bronze Working), iron (visible through Iron Working), Gems, Gold, and Silver. If you have any of the latter three resource luxuries, or copious amounts of hills, you should make sure to get Mining soon. You should make sure you get mining soon anyway though, because mining is the tech that enables you to get Bronze Working and Iron Working. It's a bit of a roll of the dice (after all, nothing says you'll have copper or iron in your lands), but if you do have them, you'll want to get to them and hook them up as soon as possible, because copper and iron is the sole means of obtaining a dominant Ancient Era army. Knowing whether you have copper or iron in your territory is going to make a huge impact on your strategy. Playing multiplayer makes this tech doubly important.
Pastures are what you build when you have horses, cows, pigs, or sheep. A pasture on all of these resources except horses will boost your food considerably. If you have horses, you need to get the Animal Husbandry tech, and then go for the Horseback Riding tech, to make best use of your resource (Animal Husbandry enables pastures, and Horseback Riding enables the Horse Archer as long as your city is connected by road to the horses). If you have cows, pigs, or sheep in your city range--well, the food bonus is still a big deal, so get to Animal Husbandry and get a worker out to that tile as soon as you can.
Having a quarry is also a big deal if you are playing single player and have stone or marble within your range. Stone and marble cut in HALF the hammers necessarily to make several early wonders, so getting to Masonry (which requires Mining OR Mysticism) is essential. If you are a philosophical or creative leader and you have either of these resources, this should be your first priority--because you want to get your hands on as many wonders as you can.
2) Getting an early worker out is key if you find yourself in a resource rich or near fresh water starting point. Workers cost more than they do in Civ 3, but your civilization will not be anywhere near its capacity until you make one, so this is undoubtedly an early priority. If you got screwed by the map, don't worry about rushing it, even if the game recommends that you do--if you got screwed, you got screwed. The best thing to do is to react according to your leader traits: if you are aggressive, build military units and try to find copper or iron; if you are philosophical or spiritual, build cultural improvements; if you are industrious, build any improvement. Don't waste your time with workers until you can actually do something with them.
3) The Mining>Bronze Working>Iron Working tech line is important in single player, and downright mandatory in multiplayer. As mentioned earlier, this will enable you to find copper and iron, which will have a huge impact on your strategy. Most of the early military units (swordsman, spearman, axeman) require these resources, so if you don't have them, you better start building a whole lot of archers fast. Having horses (and the horse archer unlocked by Horseback Riding) helps, but if you find yourself bordering an aggressive Civ with these resources (or worse, Greece or Rome with their unique ancient units), you better kiss some major butt, or they're going to crush you.
4) There are three ancient era religions, that are founded by the first to three ancient technologies: Buddhism (meditation), Hinduism (polytheism), and Judaism (monotheism).
If you start with mysticism (the first level tech that enables all three of those religious techs), you'll probably want to go straight for founding a religion. Polytheism is the precursor to Monotheism, so going for Hinduism is the safest bet (if you miss it, you're still in good shape to get to Judaism). Buddhism is a hit-or-miss tactic: if you get it, you will be the first in the world to found a religion; if you don't, you're not in any better position to found another one. The choice is yours, but so far I've had great success going after Hinduism or Judaism.
If you don't have mysticism, it may not be worth it to go straight after religion. After all, there are still four religions to be founded in the Classical and Medieval Eras. I've found that if I don't start with mysticism, it's a good idea to shoot for alphabet (an early Classical tech). This enables technology trading which will put you in a better position to acquire those religious techs (which you may have ignored) that are precursors to the later four religions. And even if you don't found one of the seven, it's still not the end of the world as long as you've paid attention to your leader strengths and have taken advantage of the time other Civs have spent building religious things to gain over them in other areas (i.e., MILITARY).
5) The wonders seem to be pretty balanced, in the sense that there are no "must-haves" no matter who you are or where you start. But, there are certain situations that make them far more important. If you are industrious, philosophical, or spiritual, wonders are a big part of leveraging your traits to your advantage. If you have stone in addition to either of these traits, it's pretty dumb to not make a push toward Stonehenge (mysticism). If you have marble, it's pretty dumb to not make a push for the Oracle (priesthood). Both of these have benefits that are very good to have early on.
6) Getting a settler out ASAP is not as important as Civ 3, since it can tank your economy if you do it too soon, but it's also good to get your cities going as soon as you can. You will still find yourself in positions where depending upon where your neighbors are, you will want to grab certain pieces of land before they do. Settlers are more expensive, however, so I would recommend considering carefully your proximity to good things to have (resources, etc.) as well as the proximity of your neighbors before you take the time to build one. Getting a good start on your military, improvements, or wonders can be just as important depending upon what kind of traits you have.
7) In short, Ancient Era play seems to be mostly dependent upon your leader traits and your available resources. These factors should impact what you build in your cities as well as your tech choices, which are even more important. If you combine these tips with some of the old Civ 3 tips (micromanagment, adjusting the tech/tax slider every turn, etc.), you should find yourself in a good position emerging into the Classical Era.
1) One of the biggest jumps between Civ 3 and Civ 4 is the number of improvements that you can make to your land. So much for just roads, railroads, irrigation, and mining...
The improvements that you can make with Ancient Era technologies are camps, cottages, farms, fishing boats, mines, pastures, and quarries. All of these are unlocked by Ancient Era technologies, and it is going to depend on the kind of land and resources you have as to which of these techs you should care about.
If you have deer or ivory, you're going to want to make Hunting a priority so you can build a camp. Furs are also best used with camps, but only commercially, which is not as important as food or production when you are a young civilization. Hunting is pretty unimportant if you don't have one of these three resources, however.
Cottages are unlocked by Pottery, and are the AI's favorite construction when it doesn't know what to do with a tile. Early on, unless you are a financial leader, there are probably more important things for you to pursue; however, if you are financial, you should definitely make a beeline, because the more cottages you build early, the larger the pile of money you will be sitting on in the Medieval and Industrial Eras.
Farms are a godsend if you are by fresh water. They come with Agriculture, and are the best use of tiles by fresh water even if they do not have corn, rice, or wheat. You will get exactly the kind of growth you are hoping for if you get workers out to build farms on lands by fresh water, especially if it is grassland. The proximity to fresh water is important, because farms can't be built elsewhere until the Civil Service Tech (an early medieval tech), so if there is no fresh water in sight, take your time getting to Agriculture.
Fishing boats are what you do with clams, crabs, or fish, and it makes a huge difference in your food production. If any of these resources are in the range of one of your cities, get to the Fishing tech as soon as possible. You have to build a fishing boat in a coastal city before you can maximize use of these resources, so plan ahead.
Mines add +2 production to hills, which is awesome. This is also the way to exploit copper (visible through Bronze Working), iron (visible through Iron Working), Gems, Gold, and Silver. If you have any of the latter three resource luxuries, or copious amounts of hills, you should make sure to get Mining soon. You should make sure you get mining soon anyway though, because mining is the tech that enables you to get Bronze Working and Iron Working. It's a bit of a roll of the dice (after all, nothing says you'll have copper or iron in your lands), but if you do have them, you'll want to get to them and hook them up as soon as possible, because copper and iron is the sole means of obtaining a dominant Ancient Era army. Knowing whether you have copper or iron in your territory is going to make a huge impact on your strategy. Playing multiplayer makes this tech doubly important.
Pastures are what you build when you have horses, cows, pigs, or sheep. A pasture on all of these resources except horses will boost your food considerably. If you have horses, you need to get the Animal Husbandry tech, and then go for the Horseback Riding tech, to make best use of your resource (Animal Husbandry enables pastures, and Horseback Riding enables the Horse Archer as long as your city is connected by road to the horses). If you have cows, pigs, or sheep in your city range--well, the food bonus is still a big deal, so get to Animal Husbandry and get a worker out to that tile as soon as you can.
Having a quarry is also a big deal if you are playing single player and have stone or marble within your range. Stone and marble cut in HALF the hammers necessarily to make several early wonders, so getting to Masonry (which requires Mining OR Mysticism) is essential. If you are a philosophical or creative leader and you have either of these resources, this should be your first priority--because you want to get your hands on as many wonders as you can.
2) Getting an early worker out is key if you find yourself in a resource rich or near fresh water starting point. Workers cost more than they do in Civ 3, but your civilization will not be anywhere near its capacity until you make one, so this is undoubtedly an early priority. If you got screwed by the map, don't worry about rushing it, even if the game recommends that you do--if you got screwed, you got screwed. The best thing to do is to react according to your leader traits: if you are aggressive, build military units and try to find copper or iron; if you are philosophical or spiritual, build cultural improvements; if you are industrious, build any improvement. Don't waste your time with workers until you can actually do something with them.
3) The Mining>Bronze Working>Iron Working tech line is important in single player, and downright mandatory in multiplayer. As mentioned earlier, this will enable you to find copper and iron, which will have a huge impact on your strategy. Most of the early military units (swordsman, spearman, axeman) require these resources, so if you don't have them, you better start building a whole lot of archers fast. Having horses (and the horse archer unlocked by Horseback Riding) helps, but if you find yourself bordering an aggressive Civ with these resources (or worse, Greece or Rome with their unique ancient units), you better kiss some major butt, or they're going to crush you.
4) There are three ancient era religions, that are founded by the first to three ancient technologies: Buddhism (meditation), Hinduism (polytheism), and Judaism (monotheism).
If you start with mysticism (the first level tech that enables all three of those religious techs), you'll probably want to go straight for founding a religion. Polytheism is the precursor to Monotheism, so going for Hinduism is the safest bet (if you miss it, you're still in good shape to get to Judaism). Buddhism is a hit-or-miss tactic: if you get it, you will be the first in the world to found a religion; if you don't, you're not in any better position to found another one. The choice is yours, but so far I've had great success going after Hinduism or Judaism.
If you don't have mysticism, it may not be worth it to go straight after religion. After all, there are still four religions to be founded in the Classical and Medieval Eras. I've found that if I don't start with mysticism, it's a good idea to shoot for alphabet (an early Classical tech). This enables technology trading which will put you in a better position to acquire those religious techs (which you may have ignored) that are precursors to the later four religions. And even if you don't found one of the seven, it's still not the end of the world as long as you've paid attention to your leader strengths and have taken advantage of the time other Civs have spent building religious things to gain over them in other areas (i.e., MILITARY).
5) The wonders seem to be pretty balanced, in the sense that there are no "must-haves" no matter who you are or where you start. But, there are certain situations that make them far more important. If you are industrious, philosophical, or spiritual, wonders are a big part of leveraging your traits to your advantage. If you have stone in addition to either of these traits, it's pretty dumb to not make a push toward Stonehenge (mysticism). If you have marble, it's pretty dumb to not make a push for the Oracle (priesthood). Both of these have benefits that are very good to have early on.
6) Getting a settler out ASAP is not as important as Civ 3, since it can tank your economy if you do it too soon, but it's also good to get your cities going as soon as you can. You will still find yourself in positions where depending upon where your neighbors are, you will want to grab certain pieces of land before they do. Settlers are more expensive, however, so I would recommend considering carefully your proximity to good things to have (resources, etc.) as well as the proximity of your neighbors before you take the time to build one. Getting a good start on your military, improvements, or wonders can be just as important depending upon what kind of traits you have.
7) In short, Ancient Era play seems to be mostly dependent upon your leader traits and your available resources. These factors should impact what you build in your cities as well as your tech choices, which are even more important. If you combine these tips with some of the old Civ 3 tips (micromanagment, adjusting the tech/tax slider every turn, etc.), you should find yourself in a good position emerging into the Classical Era.
