Condensed tips for beginners?

[smartus]

Is there a thread about multiplayer tactics? I usually play on emperor, I beat a lot of Human players, but I suck at early MP warfare. Last game I was nearly destroyed at the beginning by player playing Mao (Drill I archers...).

 

[JujuLautre]

Two things I learnt during my actual game (vanilla prince, lizbeth), that could be useful to weaker or same level players:
- I learnt before: If you go to war, enter total war mode (build units, choose the right civics...) until the war is over. I would like to add: don't abandon total war mode when the war is over. Or more specifically, if your army suffered big losses, build it up again quickly! (especially if you have a psycho like Monty just next door)
I think that seeing Monty taking one of my cities because of this was a good lesson...
- This one is perhaps not true in all situations, but if in need of some friends at the beginning/middle of the game, do not hesitate to abandon a tech-lead or good tech situation. I used to say myself before that I should always try to be tech-leader, but this way you will have to find other ways to have friends. Modifiers for "our trade have been fair", "you helped us" and no "you refused to help us" can be really handy, especially to raise cautious people to pleased, and perhaps later pleased to friendly. At this point, you still have plenty of time to overtech again if needed, because you're better than they are. And it's not always needed

 

[seitz]

Is there a thread about multiplayer tactics? I usually play on emperor, I beat a lot of Human players, but I suck at early MP warfare. Last game I was nearly destroyed at the beginning by player playing Mao (Drill I archers...).

This should help you out:

http://civfanatics.com/civ4/strategy/getting_to_know_mp.php

In MP with small maps, it's a good idea to get bronze working ASAP, both to reveal copper and to start chopping down forests near your cities (forests work as cover for invading armies, especially get rid of forests on hills). I usually then go for animal husbandry to reveal horses. If you don't have horses or copper nearby, there is a good chance you are screwed, but also a chance that iron is nearby, so give iron working priority. Basically, your first goal in MP games is to get horses or metals hooked up. If all you have is horses, research horseback riding quickly, because horse archers can be a devastating early unit and chariots get owned by axemen.

In maps with close quarters, it's also better to be an aggressive (for the melee bonus) or creative (for city defense) civ.

 

[Sisiutil]

If all you have is horses, research horseback riding quickly, because horse archers can be a devastating early unit and chariots get owned by axemen.

Don't you mean the other way around? Chariots get a bonus attacking Axemen in Warlords. It's Spearmen who make mincemeat out of Chariots, and they stand up well to Horse Archers, too.

 

[Ishkinae]

During my game today, I noticed another civ's coloured square appeared right where I wanted to build my city. Now I know that other civ's also build cities, but this square didn't have a city in it. I tried checking the manual, but couldn't find any explanation. Is it possible to just claim a part of the country side without anything in it. I apologise if this sounds stupid, but it was very irritating. Could somebody please assist me with this ?
Just a rectangle of colour.. nothing in it.. Right in my way.

 

[Sisiutil]

During my game today, I noticed another civ's coloured square appeared right where I wanted to build my city. Now I know that other civ's also build cities, but this square didn't have a city in it. I tried checking the manual, but couldn't find any explanation. Is it possible to just claim a part of the country side without anything in it. I apologise if this sounds stupid, but it was very irritating. Could somebody please assist me with this ?
Just a rectangle of colour.. nothing in it.. Right in my way.

Do you have a screenshot?

This usually happens because there's another civ's city nearby, and its cultural borders have grown so that they project into this space. Sometimes cultural borders can wind up looking very strange, with one or two isolated tiles claimed in territory mostly belonging to another civ. Check the Funny Screenshots thread for a few examples.

 

[Vulcans]

I had missed religionship at my first game. I took the best of this situation.

Here is the strat:

Let the other create religion.
Let the other work on the religion.
Focus on production and science output while other focus on religion.

At some time, 2 civ will have the same religion. It is the time to be of this religion. To work it, simply put a town near the foundator of the religion. Put a road to his empire and wait. The religion will spraid eventually. Accept to convert at this religion.

So, you will be 3 civ with this religion... it is time to work for the religion, spot other civs without religion and send them missionnary. Send some settler near the civ you want to convert, create a town and put your religion in it. Create temple and the monk place and see what happen... your religion will spread.


I always play on the HUGE setting, always play with no more than 8 civs to be sure that we will have large empire.

And it had always paid to be in the clan of the brothers in faith.

Yes, the holy city can pay (about 20 to 50 gold a turn) but having a lot of brothers and sisters in faith is always better when they are next to your empire.

More of it, to have a holy building, you will need a great prophet, to have them you will need a religious wonder to raise the prophet chances. And prophet are not the best Great Poeple.... religion wonders are not the best wonder... for me the best are Engeneer, they boost your wonder production.

By the way, civ4 can be played with any mind set. The most important thing, is to have fun.

Enjoy!

Jourdelune

nice, although, i'd declare on my "brother" to take his holy city after doing all that work for the faith i desserve the reward. and if done early enough my brothers of faith will forget about the little "mishap".

 

[thadian]

thing with perm alliances and AI is you become responsible for your partners actions, if you use it, make it with a good partner who can suppliment you.

If your a hippie type of nation like Brennus, and Ghandi, Pair up with Hannibal. Hes not a psycho like Shaka and Monty (Montetzuma) who will get you into big trouble.

If you ARE one of those psychos, go for whoever has the tech lead.

If your near Isabella in the begining, you should A: Aim for hinduism as she will always go fo buddah, then you can spread missionaries and convert her. She will always give you a big bonus for being the same religion.

Starting points matter a lot. Settlers can move from any terrain type to a non-terrain tile next to it (plains and deserts for example) and settle.

Think about the area around your first city. I often move one tile to a coast or river for the health bonus. The first 25 turns mean a lot, and often dictate the rest of the game. Within 25 turns, you should ideally have 2 cities (3 if expan) and 2 tech advances. By watching your opponents, you can guess what theyre researching.

I always start with a beeline to liberalism if i want a non bloody game. Otherwise i Beeline to gunpowder.

The Pyramids is a really awesome wonder. If you see a wonder that can be built, talk to your "friends" and see who has the techs for it besides you. All too often, someone will complete it before you.

Micromanagement sucks, but every 10 turns, it doesnt hurt to see whats going on in your cities and juggle around workers to keep happiness above 70%, in the first 25-30 turns thats a little more important than hammers.

Sacrificing to slavery might sound scary, given the penalty and losing population. If you see a city getting too out of hand on size and its making people mad, they might be a little relieved if you get someone out of there and sac them. 5 is good enough for aincent era. If it hits 6, its time to sac.

Normally, once i have my fourth city, i ALWAYS have 2 building units at a time, even if its worthless archers and warriors. a million is never enough. You can always upgrade them later.

Pay attention to military size. If someone next to you hates you anyway and you have a decisively better military, its time to start demanding techs-gold.

Often the AI knows when to give, and if they say you made an arrogant demand, ask each leader every 5 turns how he feels about the others.

Nice when you learn someone hates your enemy other than you.

Lastly, your bloody battles should occur once you have military tradition, a beeline to it is often smart if you cant get in the religion boat.
Dont get caught up in a bloodfest too early, unless its axeman and chariot vs warrior and archers.

 

[Magnus of Borg]

I have passed my final exam yesterday, so now I have some time to return to playing Civilization. I play Ghandi of India, Prince, Marathon, Standard Map, trying to use Specialist Economy. I'm alone on my island, but there is another continent in the south - I can see french cultural borders there. The question is: where should I place my cities and how should I specialize them?

 

[Avo Man]

I have passed my final exam yesterday, so now I have some time to return to playing Civilization. I play Ghandi of India, Prince, Marathon, Standard Map, trying to use Specialist Economy. I'm alone on my island, but there is another continent in the south - I can see french cultural borders there. The question is: where should I place my cities and how should I specialize them?

Since you have this continent to yourself you will have some time to concentrate on it's expansion (not waring). If you sense another continent to the south I would recommend another coastal city in that direction, trying pick up some resources. Maybe go for the copper and the gold, then the marble if you want to try for any wonders (Grt Lt house, the Taj). Then somewhere around the clams/fish on the tip to take advantage of the hills and food, maybe make that a coastal city again so you can get some boats made eventually.

That's my two cents anyway.

 

[rrr_r]

Hello.

I have been playing this game for some time now, and I am having extremely difficult troubles with it. On noble, I can go through the game and win every single time regardless via score or domination. However, as soon as I play a game of Prince, I lose, hands down, every time. I read the manual, but it neglects to say anything about how much the difficulty jumps from noble to prince. Does anyone know? The gap from noble to prince is ludicrous in every way. I can have more score than every other nation put together on noble, and then have the lowest score by a long shot on prince.

Also, about cultural victories: no matter what I do, I have never gotten one. I can build upwards of ten world wonders in a city, integrate in several great artists and throw in free speech and more, but it will never make it beyond influential status. What's going on?

 

[LoH_Numa]

this is an awesome thread! Thank you!

 

[Magnus of Borg]

I have completed my game with Ghandi (not much success there), another game with Alexander (nice conquest victory) and now I’m trying Frederick of the Germans. As usual Prince / Marathon / Fractal / Standard. I have a couple specific questions:

1. I’ve been experimenting with different starting build orders. The optimal proved to be Warrior (micromanage so that warrior is build the exact turn the city grows to 2), Worker (no whipping, starts chopping immediately after built), Settler (chop 1 forest, then whip). It works best if I have a tile, and tile. Now, is this really an optimal start? I’ve heard that letting your capital grow to 2 is a waste of time?
2. I normally built 2 cities early in the game. Frederick is Organized. Does that mean I can afford 3 cities?
3. City placement. Take a look at the attached screenshot. I’ve just researched Bronze Working. (no Animal Husbandry yet) Copper is placed most inconveniently. . Dark Green location seems to be a wasted spot – a coast with no seafood. Light Green is not better – no access to fresh water and no food resource in the initial 8 tiles. Both locations have copper in the outer cross.
4. City placement. The other city is also interesting. Stone is tempting, but I rather immediately start working on the gold. Stone can be claimed by third city.

 

[winkerdinko]

most important rule for newcomers
Save, and save often

LOL, easily the most important rule!

 

[RandomLeader]

I have seen screenshots of cities which population is over 30. How is this possible?? I play prince (tried monarch and got my ass whooped pretty good every time and lowered level) and my biggest city is around 26. Boy that city had food. After that it was unhappiness and dicease more than I could handle. Now I realize that I should have used culture slider.. but anyways.

 

[JujuLautre]

I have seen screenshots of cities which population is over 30. How is this possible??

Plant a city in the jungle, raze all the jungle, irrigate everything and get biology. This way, you will have 20 tiles with +2 food, and ultimately 41 pop
But I'm sure you can get more with a few floodplains and/or food ressources

 

[tycoonist]

I have completed my game with Ghandi (not much success there), another game with Alexander (nice conquest victory) and now I’m trying Frederick of the Germans. As usual Prince / Marathon / Fractal / Standard. I have a couple specific questions:

1. I’ve been experimenting with different starting build orders. The optimal proved to be Warrior (micromanage so that warrior is build the exact turn the city grows to 2), Worker (no whipping, starts chopping immediately after built), Settler (chop 1 forest, then whip). It works best if I have a tile, and tile. Now, is this really an optimal start? I’ve heard that letting your capital grow to 2 is a waste of time?
2. I normally built 2 cities early in the game. Frederick is Organized. Does that mean I can afford 3 cities?
3. City placement. Take a look at the attached screenshot. I’ve just researched Bronze Working. (no Animal Husbandry yet) Copper is placed most inconveniently. . Dark Green location seems to be a wasted spot – a coast with no seafood. Light Green is not better – no access to fresh water and no food resource in the initial 8 tiles. Both locations have copper in the outer cross.
4. City placement. The other city is also interesting. Stone is tempting, but I rather immediately start working on the gold. Stone can be claimed by third city.

1. certainly not a waste of time. but it depends on how much ground you need to improve and whether you have worker starting techs (e.g. agriculture, mining) or non-worker starting techs (mysticism, fishing). IMO, worker first then grow is often optimal.

2. you can build probably about 4 cities at the start. with all this good land, i would REX out quickly and definitely consider building Stonehenge for the free obelisks.

3. Definitely light green, i wouldn't be too concerned about the lack of food in starting square. you will want the cities which eventually get biggest and best, and this is a good one.

4. Why do you want to start on the gold straight away? build on the grass by the river. this will also help combat floodplains unhealthiness. you gain stone and a floodplain and those are more powerful tiles than the ability to work the gold.

 

[Harbourboy]

Also, about cultural victories: no matter what I do, I have never gotten one. I can build upwards of ten world wonders in a city, integrate in several great artists and throw in free speech and more, but it will never make it beyond influential status. What's going on?

Try some culture multiplier buildings. Three major religious buildings (Buddhist Stupa, Taoist Pagoda, Hindu Mandir, Confucian Academy etc) in a city should easily slingshot it to Legendary. Each gives 50% culture so three of them will give you 150% to your base culture.

 

[The Flame]

nice, although, i'd declare on my "brother" to take his holy city after doing all that work for the faith i desserve the reward. and if done early enough my brothers of faith will forget about the little "mishap".

Lol I was thinking the same thing. It'd be nice to get all the benefits by owning the holy city.

Try some culture multiplier buildings. Three major religious buildings (Buddhist Stupa, Taoist Pagoda, Hindu Mandir, Confucian Academy etc) in a city should easily slingshot it to Legendary. Each gives 50% culture so three of them will give you 150% to your base culture.

Why not build all seven? That would be about... 350% extra culture. And then you can use all the great artists on your other 2 cities and get their culture pumped up. Or, if you're not going for cultural victory, use the mega culture city to suck in other cities.

 

[xatsmann]

I have completed my game with Ghandi (not much success there), another game with Alexander (nice conquest victory) and now I’m trying Frederick of the Germans. As usual Prince / Marathon / Fractal / Standard. I have a couple specific questions:

1. I’ve been experimenting with different starting build orders. The optimal proved to be Warrior (micromanage so that warrior is build the exact turn the city grows to 2), Worker (no whipping, starts chopping immediately after built), Settler (chop 1 forest, then whip). It works best if I have a tile, and tile. Now, is this really an optimal start? I’ve heard that letting your capital grow to 2 is a waste of time?
2. I normally built 2 cities early in the game. Frederick is Organized. Does that mean I can afford 3 cities?
3. City placement. Take a look at the attached screenshot. I’ve just researched Bronze Working. (no Animal Husbandry yet) Copper is placed most inconveniently. . Dark Green location seems to be a wasted spot – a coast with no seafood. Light Green is not better – no access to fresh water and no food resource in the initial 8 tiles. Both locations have copper in the outer cross.
4. City placement. The other city is also interesting. Stone is tempting, but I rather immediately start working on the gold. Stone can be claimed by third city.

1. How can you not let your capital go to 2 if you plan to whip?

2. I don't think the city upkeep penalty is that bad early in the game so I don't think Fredrick makes that much of a difference.

3. I'd put my city to block as much territory as possible as the AI will settle anywhere.

4. I agree go for the gold, unless you want to go for the Pyramids then you want stone first.