Random Fires
Chieftain
I've often mentioned that sifting through old threads, and other sites for useful tips. Reading them shed years off my end scores. It might help to have such info in one thread in one place. Please realize I'm no guide writer or Civ expert by any degree.
Stacks; Any space occupied by more then two units is a stack. Stacks allow the ability to "select" a unit whether it has moves remaining or not.
This is pretty big, if you can maximize on this. A basic example; A settler has moved it's two spaces. If another unit also occupies the same end space, you have a stack. The settler can be selected again, even though it has used up its moves. You can now, plant a city in the same turn, and rush another unit, say a horse, gaining another 2 moves, all in the same turn.
Turns; If it's not known, or in my case, I actually forgot...(thanx RickWJ) By accessing the city screen, the auto turn feature won't engage. Maximizing what can be done in a single turn is important. Especially if you have gold available to rush a unit or need to switch worker focus.
Workers; Manual, No Growth. Since the time I've been playing, there's no need for growth, or buildings. There also appears the need to produce, or have at least one warrior first. So, the very first goal is hammers, or gold. After that, tech. Horse Tech, thus far is the only tech, and certainly the first one. This is because, as quickly as possible, you need to close the distance between you and the enemy Ai's.
Enemy Ai's; The more time it takes to reach cities, the more resistance they'll offer. Often, if you can reach city soon enough, no ones home to defend it (a city with no flag means empty, the higher the flag, the more units). Send that first warrior forward while working on tech, and remember to pick up gold along the way.
Exploratory Gold; You can not collect this on the first 4000BC turn. I'm not 100% sure, but passing through that tile on the 4000BC turn might actually disable it for prior turns. Either way, after that first turn, don't ever dismiss it. Don't go way out of the way to get it either, but if it's on the way, pick it up. A little gold can go a long way to rush a unit in the same turn. Gold is mighty useful.
Gold, gold...GOLD! Gold provides the unique ability to rush units, anywhere if you have enough of it. A city on the back nine, the units it produces to far to be effective should produce gold or tech. Using the ability of a stack, you could also sell units. Having gold at the right turn can make a huge difference. Gaining 100 gold earns settlers, can enable rush builds, or even build roads.
Roads; Myself, I rarely build them, in any mode. In gotw, I think its something to consider near the end of the game. A last city may requiring more forces to capture, and may fall sooner with one good road. Being able to combine or send an experienced army/units several spaces but only costing one move can make an impact.
Status Report! Pulling the right trigger at anytime, brings up some important info. Amount of gold, tech, what tech is being worked on, and the amount of each produced at turns end. Resource management is critical.
If your going to produce more tech then required to finish the research at turns end, adjust workers. Don't waste. Plan for what you need and when that tech will be finished.
This can also apply to building units as well, don't grab hammers you won't use. Covert focus to produce gold to be used elsewhere.
Militia; On higher levels, you start with nothing but a settler, and two moves. By placing a first city directly next to a barb village, you'll gain a militia in the same turn, and can either sell, or move that militia to gain some exploratory gold. Manage that, and in the same turn, even rush a warrior unit, taking out the initial barb, or march towards an enemy city. Also, know that there's militia aboard a galley. Note: currently only the xbox version yields 5 gold for militia, and this will likely change to 0, after the patch.
Galley; By selecting workers to a specific sea tile, your galley will spawn on that tile. Just do this before rushing or building a galley. Don't forget to adjust workers after. A galley has 2 space moves along the coastline, utilizing the militia after those 2 moves can help. Moving militia to land will give you a better view of the terrain, and find or even grab, gold. If there's no land use, put them back in the galley at the next turn start.
City Placement; Only warrior and above levels require this. As with most Civ games, the closer or more central to targets you choose the better. Keep distances and possible barb huts or exploratory gold in mind, as well as resources. You can for instance move one space away from an enemy city and plant. Quickly attacking and capturing it. You have to gauge the amount of moves the settlers use to get there, vs. other city distances, and what in those turns you could have been doing.
Diplomacy; Since domination is our goal, diplomacy has only one purpose, gold. By trading techs you gain gold to rush units, and also deprive the Ai's of doing the same. Before attacking cities, hit the diplomacy screen, and get as much gold as possible from them. This gold at an Ai's disposal would be used to defend their city. It should also be mentioned to watch what you sell! I once sold democracy and when I attacked(a turn or so too late) I was greeted with hoptites. Plan your selling and attacking.
Barbs; As you can see, barbs have there usages for the start. As with Ai's cities, the sooner you attack, the less resistance (flags can roughly indicate how many units). Sometimes it may be best to skip a barb altogether, keeping units strong, or cutting distances. However, the prizes gained, as well as the unit experience is sometimes crucial.
Settlers gained from barbs are of course a grand prize, next tech, and then gold. By setting your tech to horses, sometimes this may be the very thing given. Lastly, if you lose or about to lose a city to one, and it's in the end of the game, consider losing it. Gotw is an all offensive affair, little to no defense. The city in question disappears, so there's no city to recapture.
Friendly villages; Kinda the same. Often you'll gain horse tech if you set research before hand. Not a given, several maps haven't doled out this little bonus, various levels can also change, but its worth looking for.
Attacking; Pretty basic. Attacking cities before archery comes up is a bonus. If your facing hoptites, try to get to that city before they are even made, or make it last, and attack in force. Overrunning barbs along the way could yield some experience and gold along the way.
When you do attack cities, use the terrain. Hills are golden, but keep in mind, occupying resource tiles can effect the Ai's ability to produce defenses.
Random Seed; I avoided this as long as possible. I'm no programmer, so I don't know its real effects, only observation. The random seed seems affected by, well everything. Worker focus, unit positions,turn, how much gold you have, or what tech. This is already lengthy so I won't type every observation made, just that it affects the outcome of some battles, and what prize you may gain from barbs/huts. Changing any of the above, may make an attack go in your favor or swing the other way.
The Leaderboard; Myself, I use the leader board as a guide to what's possible. A difference of a 1000 years or more is often city placement. 500 years maybe some missed worker management, 200 maybe the random seed. It also gives me a rough idea where my units should be a few turns before that score. Bless the early scorer, they sometimes show the path.
Well hopefully it helps Someone.
Thanks go to Sigmaken, Grumbles, RickWJ, Spencer, others I may have missed, and those who reply and add to it.
If you see needed changes, or want something added, by all means let me know.
In the end nothing beats playing, my last tip.
Good luck, and good gaming.
Stacks; Any space occupied by more then two units is a stack. Stacks allow the ability to "select" a unit whether it has moves remaining or not.
This is pretty big, if you can maximize on this. A basic example; A settler has moved it's two spaces. If another unit also occupies the same end space, you have a stack. The settler can be selected again, even though it has used up its moves. You can now, plant a city in the same turn, and rush another unit, say a horse, gaining another 2 moves, all in the same turn.
Turns; If it's not known, or in my case, I actually forgot...(thanx RickWJ) By accessing the city screen, the auto turn feature won't engage. Maximizing what can be done in a single turn is important. Especially if you have gold available to rush a unit or need to switch worker focus.
Workers; Manual, No Growth. Since the time I've been playing, there's no need for growth, or buildings. There also appears the need to produce, or have at least one warrior first. So, the very first goal is hammers, or gold. After that, tech. Horse Tech, thus far is the only tech, and certainly the first one. This is because, as quickly as possible, you need to close the distance between you and the enemy Ai's.
Enemy Ai's; The more time it takes to reach cities, the more resistance they'll offer. Often, if you can reach city soon enough, no ones home to defend it (a city with no flag means empty, the higher the flag, the more units). Send that first warrior forward while working on tech, and remember to pick up gold along the way.
Exploratory Gold; You can not collect this on the first 4000BC turn. I'm not 100% sure, but passing through that tile on the 4000BC turn might actually disable it for prior turns. Either way, after that first turn, don't ever dismiss it. Don't go way out of the way to get it either, but if it's on the way, pick it up. A little gold can go a long way to rush a unit in the same turn. Gold is mighty useful.
Gold, gold...GOLD! Gold provides the unique ability to rush units, anywhere if you have enough of it. A city on the back nine, the units it produces to far to be effective should produce gold or tech. Using the ability of a stack, you could also sell units. Having gold at the right turn can make a huge difference. Gaining 100 gold earns settlers, can enable rush builds, or even build roads.
Roads; Myself, I rarely build them, in any mode. In gotw, I think its something to consider near the end of the game. A last city may requiring more forces to capture, and may fall sooner with one good road. Being able to combine or send an experienced army/units several spaces but only costing one move can make an impact.
Status Report! Pulling the right trigger at anytime, brings up some important info. Amount of gold, tech, what tech is being worked on, and the amount of each produced at turns end. Resource management is critical.
If your going to produce more tech then required to finish the research at turns end, adjust workers. Don't waste. Plan for what you need and when that tech will be finished.
This can also apply to building units as well, don't grab hammers you won't use. Covert focus to produce gold to be used elsewhere.
Militia; On higher levels, you start with nothing but a settler, and two moves. By placing a first city directly next to a barb village, you'll gain a militia in the same turn, and can either sell, or move that militia to gain some exploratory gold. Manage that, and in the same turn, even rush a warrior unit, taking out the initial barb, or march towards an enemy city. Also, know that there's militia aboard a galley. Note: currently only the xbox version yields 5 gold for militia, and this will likely change to 0, after the patch.
Galley; By selecting workers to a specific sea tile, your galley will spawn on that tile. Just do this before rushing or building a galley. Don't forget to adjust workers after. A galley has 2 space moves along the coastline, utilizing the militia after those 2 moves can help. Moving militia to land will give you a better view of the terrain, and find or even grab, gold. If there's no land use, put them back in the galley at the next turn start.
City Placement; Only warrior and above levels require this. As with most Civ games, the closer or more central to targets you choose the better. Keep distances and possible barb huts or exploratory gold in mind, as well as resources. You can for instance move one space away from an enemy city and plant. Quickly attacking and capturing it. You have to gauge the amount of moves the settlers use to get there, vs. other city distances, and what in those turns you could have been doing.
Diplomacy; Since domination is our goal, diplomacy has only one purpose, gold. By trading techs you gain gold to rush units, and also deprive the Ai's of doing the same. Before attacking cities, hit the diplomacy screen, and get as much gold as possible from them. This gold at an Ai's disposal would be used to defend their city. It should also be mentioned to watch what you sell! I once sold democracy and when I attacked(a turn or so too late) I was greeted with hoptites. Plan your selling and attacking.
Barbs; As you can see, barbs have there usages for the start. As with Ai's cities, the sooner you attack, the less resistance (flags can roughly indicate how many units). Sometimes it may be best to skip a barb altogether, keeping units strong, or cutting distances. However, the prizes gained, as well as the unit experience is sometimes crucial.
Settlers gained from barbs are of course a grand prize, next tech, and then gold. By setting your tech to horses, sometimes this may be the very thing given. Lastly, if you lose or about to lose a city to one, and it's in the end of the game, consider losing it. Gotw is an all offensive affair, little to no defense. The city in question disappears, so there's no city to recapture.
Friendly villages; Kinda the same. Often you'll gain horse tech if you set research before hand. Not a given, several maps haven't doled out this little bonus, various levels can also change, but its worth looking for.
Attacking; Pretty basic. Attacking cities before archery comes up is a bonus. If your facing hoptites, try to get to that city before they are even made, or make it last, and attack in force. Overrunning barbs along the way could yield some experience and gold along the way.
When you do attack cities, use the terrain. Hills are golden, but keep in mind, occupying resource tiles can effect the Ai's ability to produce defenses.
Random Seed; I avoided this as long as possible. I'm no programmer, so I don't know its real effects, only observation. The random seed seems affected by, well everything. Worker focus, unit positions,turn, how much gold you have, or what tech. This is already lengthy so I won't type every observation made, just that it affects the outcome of some battles, and what prize you may gain from barbs/huts. Changing any of the above, may make an attack go in your favor or swing the other way.
The Leaderboard; Myself, I use the leader board as a guide to what's possible. A difference of a 1000 years or more is often city placement. 500 years maybe some missed worker management, 200 maybe the random seed. It also gives me a rough idea where my units should be a few turns before that score. Bless the early scorer, they sometimes show the path.
Well hopefully it helps Someone.
Thanks go to Sigmaken, Grumbles, RickWJ, Spencer, others I may have missed, and those who reply and add to it.
If you see needed changes, or want something added, by all means let me know.
In the end nothing beats playing, my last tip.
Good luck, and good gaming.
