I need general tips for BNW

[Dudu90]

Hello,

I just played my second game on BNW and I'm not really happy. Somehow playing G&K was easier. Last game, I played Netherlands, and was at war with *all* other nations. First Pedro wanted to settle near me. I told him not to do so but he wouldn't listen, so I crushed him. Then Indonesia settled above my capital and he gathered his armies around my city, so I started attacking with my bowmen. I took one city from him and he gave me another one to make peace. Then it all started and all nations denounced me again and again. They had science treaties (I'm not sure if this is the right name since I'm not playing the English version, I can only guess.).
So... All in all they outraced me in science and Poland almost won with culture victory. I was stronger in army strength. I fought them but couldn't catch up.

Now I'm on my next match. Playing on continents as Russia (on difficulty 4). I'm on the same continent as Indonesia. First he had much less points (in ranking) than me. Now he is 100 points ahead of me. I'm building great persons and a lot of wonders to get as much bonuses as possible.

I fear, that Indonesia will declare war anytime soon, so I'm not quite sure what to do to get ahead of him.
Do you have any general tips for me playing BNW?


Thanks and forgive me grammatical mistakes, I'm not a native English speaker.


Regards,
ctwx

 

[regeneration64]

I think your English was rather good there! Science treaties are called Research Agreements

The best tip I can give for playing BNW is to be diplomatic. Pick your allies carefully, don't DoW unless other civs feel the same way. If someone is threatening you then denounce them or let them DoW first. Warmongering is a lot more difficult in BNW but still possible, you just have to plan it carefully. If you don't then you will have no friends which means no effective trading with the AI and very likely that your economy will collapse. Not to mention war on all fronts.

You cannot be at war with all nations. One or two, yes, and it is inevitable that half of the civs are going to hate you anyway as they always do! BNW is a fine balancing act between sorting out your domestic problems (science, food, culture, what to build etc) and your foreign policy (who to trade with, what trade routes to set up, the World Congress, City States, allies, waging war).

With regards to technology/science, the usual rules apply: Build NC ASAP; build universities and staff them; settle GSs first of all, then bulb; beeline certain techs you desire to get an advantage; Research Agreements with your allies; steal techs with spies. Science is key to any victory condition and especially so with Science (no doubt!) and Domination.

Also, don't worry too much about score - it is a very rough guide as to how Civs are doing.

Hope that helps.

 

[Dudu90]

Less fighting? Ohh.. My favorite victory type is domination. It was easy with G&K but now it seems impossible. Is it easier to force war on deity? I mean, when the AI is more aggressive, they won't denounce me all the time for fighting, won't they?

But thanks for your answer. I'll try to be more diplomatic in my current match. Perhaps Indonesia will attack me soon and then I'll crush him.

 

[regeneration64]

My favourite VC is Domination too. Don't fret - it can still be done, you just have to re-learn certain elements of the game Keep certain AIs sweet then backstab them one-by-one! A necessary evil. I can't comment on Deity, I'm primarily and Emperor player.

Good luck

 

[joncnunn]

If you are concerned about the World Congress having resolutions embargoing you and banning your primary luxury:

Open Patronage and build Forbidden Palace. This will give you +2 votes. Then if you also host the first congress you'll also get extra delegates which should put you in position to vote down anything you don't like until World Congress advances.

If the main concern is ideological happiness, there are two choices:
1. Build the guilds and run them yourself even if not seeking a cultural victory. Great Works are also the primary source of culture in BNW.
OR
2. DON"T be early to an ideology and instead adopt whatever ideology whichever AI with the most influence over you adopted.

Score: Has no baring on who is most likely to win. Instead head on over to the demograaphics screen and look at the bottom row (science). If you are #1 you are in the best position to win.
Also, you can now get more details about science progress via the trade routes available screen. The more science the AI would get, the further behind they are. Similarly, the more science you would get, the more behind you are. (I've ignored the minor impact of cultural influence, but hovering over the row will break those out)

 

[JohnnyKing]

Always go science buildings first.
Don't build Granaries at the start unless you have atleast one tile (bananas for example) to improve.
The first settler you should build yourself. The rest you buy with Gold.
If you ever have war and don't have an army, consider buying them with Faith.
If going for science victory, pick either Order or Freedom so as to get the level 3 tenets which tell you that you can buy a spaceship part either with gold or to have it built by a GE.
Wonders you should never try building (I am talking on Deity level):
Great Library, Hanging Gardens and Stonehenge.
If you want to declare war, finish Manhattan Project and Nuke him.
For your first and second cities, your order should be Scout>Scout>Worker>Settler
Social Policies depend heavily on your empire. Your first should always be either Tradition or Liberty depending on the empire you want to create. Then go Exploration if playing with Dido and so on.
Upon entering Renaissance Era, drop everything and complete the Rationalism Policy. It's the best.
For Ideologies, it really matters what kind of victory you have in mind.
If you are new to the game don't play with Byzantines and Chinese. Trust me.
If you want some easy civs to try, play with Babylons, Persians and Polish.
Religion can help a ton. See If you can complete the Hagia Sophia and use the Great Prophet for a religion.


Well that was all I had in mind.

 

[CraigMak]

Yes, I had the same feeling when BNW first came out. My first few games, I felt like it was much different and incredibly hard to wage war. No gold from rivers was a complete shock to most people's G&K strategies.

It was also very hard to get used to the fact that spamming cities was no longer as strong. Going tall is much stronger in BNW than in G&K. I was quite disappointed with the game and felt like they were turning it into a simcity fest making war very hard to do.

Now I wouldn't go back though. War is still viable, it just takes more finessing and I feel more skill than G&K where you had tons of money coming out your ears.

 

[Memoryjar]

Is it easier to force war on deity?

In a way, yes, it is. Prepare just yourself to lose.

War in G and K was like Conan the barbarian. War in G and K is like Machiavelli. You have to understand game mechanics and know how and when you can go to war.

On the other hand, if you just want to push your armies against all AI, don't care about DoW.

If you don't want to be hate, crush AI armies, shoot cities but don't take them, wait for peace treaty. Get gold or cities. Avoid to raze cities, sold them to wealthy AI.

 

[Redaxe]

I think everyone can probably relate to your experience as Craig says.

One point I would make is don't neglect trade routes - these are a major source of your income and can also be used to generate early science and to build stronger diplomatic relations. But don't send trade routes to nearby civs you suspect are going to attack you.

And yes as others say unless your playing at very low difficulty its very difficult to be at war with everyone at once. You will need some friends. So find some friends by trading, even giving free luxuries if you must, giving them your religion/or accepting theirs, matching ideologies etc....

And taking cities by force causes a huge diplomatic penalty so if you warmonger consider letting the AI send their armies against your wall of composite bowmen/Xbows then destroy their army and they will usually give you a city in a peace deal. it can be wiser to build your strength up that way, if you play too openly aggressive the other AIs will start to gang up on you as you noticed. So its always recommended to bribe some AIs to attack others. This is especially important if you notice a runaway Civ - usually the weaker Civs refuse to be bribed into attacking a stronger civ (Duh!) but the runaway stronger Civs can usually be bribed to declare war on weaker Civs. Whilst this may seem counterproductive if you do it correctly that Civ now will tend to be chain denounced and hated by a majority of the weaker Civs. Over the course of the game this tends to create a balance of power and you can use this in your favor to pass favourable WC resolutions etc... it's all about 'playing my enemies against my enemies'.

There are plenty of ways to get the most of the diplomatic system, one lesser known way is to open trade and ask an AI for gold in exchange for you declaring war on a civ they don't like.

 

[Hygro]

Buy cargo ships and fill up your trade routes asap.