Tips & Tricks for New Players

[Scott P.]

I just ordered Civ II. I haven't figured out what a "tech", "wonder", or anything else is...



I only played Civ once before (Civ I?). I think I was slaughtered by an invading army soon after I had cobblestoned the roads of my two cities.

Question: Would someone be willing to give me a quick list or order to accomplish stuff?

How long before I raise an army?
How long before I found a second settlement?
How far away should second settlement be?

Thanks!

Scott

 

[ElephantU]

Welcome to CFC, Scott. My very first game I followed the Tutorial in the Civ Manual (you can download a PDF from CFC's Download section) using the TUTORIAL.SAV map. I then played a few Earth map games, starting as one of the civs on an island or corner of the world (Celts, Japs, Zulus). I tried different Difficulty Levels until I got beat a few times, then stepped down a notch and tried to figure out what I was doing wrong. Later I discovered the Game Of The Month, where I lurked for several months just reading the commentary and play logs and downloading the zipped game saves after the results were posted. Looking at the early saves of players like Starlifter and Smash answered questions about city placement and development; trying to emulate their games answered questions about "how long" and "how much". Then I tried a few One City Challenges and learned all about diplomacy, trade, optimizing tech research, and city development. Each player has a different style, and each game should develop differently based on your goals and abilities. Don't be afraid to try things, and don't consider defeat a disaster. I learned more from my defeats than my victories.

 

[Scott P.]

Thanks for the tips. I will use the "trial and error" method and check out the GOM idea as well.

Thanks!

 

[Rayxes]

As early as possible, you want to build ships.
If you can't build them, be ready to bribe attacking barbarian ships.
Half load both of them with diplomats and send them to trace the coast lines.
Whenever you encounter a hitherto unknown city, attempt to steal tech from them. If they have it you'll be spared the incident.
Do not land.
If you see settlers on coast lines far from yours, bribe them. They will be from the city of None and cost you no resources.
Use your diplomats to pop whatever goody huts you may encounter.
take any units aboard the trawler
When you've expended your diplomats or filled the trawler with None-ish troops and settlers, return to the homeland.
repeat as necessary.
Later in the game it's useful to repeat this with transports and spies.

 

[ElephantU]

I like your term "spy trawlers" - reminds me of the good old USSR in the '80s...

One thing to watch is how far the AI settler is from it's capital city. The further away, the cheaper they will be to bribe. I've seen from about 200g way up to 800~1000g for one close to home. If you are playing One City they are invaluable, and if the AI is your trading partner (and ally) you can leave them on the AI territory to improve the cities you have the best trade routes with. Road the tiles with the highest food values, then start irrigating and the AI city will grow and get more base trade arrows, which means your reciprocal routes grow too. I've added 20% to my trade routes that way.

 

[Schloss Ritter]

Heh, I never thought of improving allies city tiles to my own advantage. It seems so obvious now that you mention it.

 

[Lombax At Play]

Here's my two cents.

Ever have a huge massive battleship fleet? (I love em' ) Chances are you have, and if you have you remember the scads of cruise missles relentlessly pounding on your battleships one after another.

Well just stick AEGIS cruisers under them. About two or three is all that's needed. For the most part, the enemy will completely ignore your Battleship, if it's wounded I think they try to kill it, but in my experiences they've thrown summat around 20 to 30 cruise missles at my Battleship/AEGIS stack. And they survive, the battleship doesn't even get hit.

And if you're real new to the game, the reason is because AEGIS cruisers have double defense aganist air units.

Happy battleship bombing!

An Empire Building Lombax

 

[RickRickRICK]

This helped ALOT. I realised that my love for building wonders is a good thing, and that I can rushbuy to get them far faster. (;

 

[Peaster]

Railroad: 1/3 decrease of bonus payment
Flight: 2/3 decrease of bonus payment

Are these correct ? As far as I know, both decreases are 1/3 ... meaning that after each advance, your bonuses are 66% of what they would've been. This caused me much grief in gotm 110.

 

[Duckboy7]

cant be bothered to read through all replies, but anyone else do this with the Howitzer ??

Move 10 or so Howitzers to a city you wanna attack, use the Howitzer for one turn and move it back to a safe place, use the next one and so on until city is empty.
Then i have 5-6 Mech Infs ready to move into the empty city.
obviously its no use when the AI has nukes, why couldnt there be an option for No Nukes ??

You dont lose any Howitzers and ready to move onto next city.

 

[WildPony]

Are these correct ? As far as I know, both decreases are 1/3 ... meaning that after each advance, your bonuses are 66% of what they would've been. This caused me much grief in gotm 110.

General Peaster you are 100% correct. The poster "might" have been thinking cumulatively, 33% with rail and a total of 67% with flight.

 

[WildPony]

cant be bothered to read through all replies, but anyone else do this with the Howitzer ??

Move 10 or so Howitzers to a city you wanna attack, use the Howitzer for one turn and move it back to a safe place, use the next one and so on until city is empty.
Then i have 5-6 Mech Infs ready to move into the empty city.
obviously its no use when the AI has nukes, why couldnt there be an option for No Nukes ??

You dont lose any Howitzers and ready to move onto next city.

I would be more inclined to capture the city in one turn, still losing no howitzers, holding back their fire once they are injured.

 

[Duckboy7]

I would be more inclined to capture the city in one turn, still losing no howitzers, holding back their fire once they are injured.

the city is captured in 1 turn, you keep all your Howitzers without them just being a sitting duck for a AI to kill them.

 

[timtofly]

the city is captured in 1 turn, you keep all your Howitzers without them just being a sitting duck for a AI to kill them.

Use your Howitzers just like you are doing to "clear" the city. Then with a Spy cause a revolt. That should keep the SDI intack. If they are in Democracy, just leave the city empty and go onto the next one. Try to empty the cities with nukes in them first.

 

[Peaster]

General Peaster you are 100% correct. The poster "might" have been thinking cumulatively, 33% with rail and a total of 67% with flight.

Oh ... so these penalties are additive (-1/3 and -1/3 makes -2/3) rather than multiplicative (2/3 x 2/3 = 4/9) ?

Not sure we should go on very long about howitzers in this thread, but IMO once you have those, and enough engineers for instant RRs, the game is probably over. You can destroy and retreat, or you can build an instant fortress over the wounded, or etc. But I don't play Modern Age much, so what do I know?

 

[WildPony]

Oh ... so these penalties are additive (-1/3 and -1/3 makes -2/3) rather than multiplicative (2/3 x 2/3 = 4/9) ?

Yes, of course you are right, it is multiplicative

...howitzers... IMO once you have those, and enough engineers for instant RRs, the game is probably over. You can destroy and retreat, or you can build an instant fortress over the wounded, or etc.

Yes, i agree with this 100%. And generally with rail, this could be managed very nicely with cannons, long before Howitzers are available.

But I don't play Modern Age much, so what do I know?

You seem to know enough

 

[WildPony]

the city is captured in 1 turn, you keep all your Howitzers without them just being a sitting duck for a AI to kill them.

I see Duckboy, sorry i misread you and mistakenly thought you were talking about not going inside.

 

[Ali Ardavan]

Yes, of course you are right, it is multiplicative

Have you actually tested this?
The only reason I am doubting you is that most everything in Civ2 is additive

 

[WildPony]

Have you actually tested this?
The only reason I am doubting you is that most everything in Civ2 is additive

Consider this. If it was additive and you start with 100%, developing Invention or Navigation would bring you down to 50%. Then developing rail (-33%) would bring you to 17%. Then developing flight (-33%) would bring you into the negatives.

So are you saying all of the defensive bonuses are additive, not multiplicative? I have never found a clear answer to that, but i suspect it's additive.

 

[Ali Ardavan]

Good analysis. You are right.

Defensive bonuses are indeed additive. People have done extensive analysis of the subject. I am sure you can find articles in CFC and Apolyton on the subject by searching for it.