A little overwhelmed: Getting the most out of BTS

[Nez477]

So first...

Wow. This site is freaking amazing. Like, I'm constantly salivating just reading through all of the forums, subforums, mods, et cetera.

I've owned Civ I through Civ IV. Each game has been really fun, but honestly with Civ III I probably only played a total of 4-5 games and I actually never won a game, due to mismanaging my tech tree and my lack of military experience.

Well, about two months ago I bought Civ IV Gold, and won a Civ game for the first time in like 6 years! (I obviously hadn't put enough time against this game)

A quick recap of the game..... I randomized against 8 opponents on a Continents map in Noble. I drew Americans, I believe FDR as my leader. I was squished inbetween the Aztecs and the English and the French on a large continent and ended up warring with the Aztecs in the Classical era for a long time, but I survived, eventually eliminating him and having around 15 cities.

Once my courthouses/towns started going into effect, I was able to get to the modern tanks and such quite quickly and transported my way over to the other two continents and ended up with a domination victory with 22 turns to spare and Frederick about to launch into space.

Was really gratifying and awesome.

I've been playing the game pretty much non-stop since, and my wife just got me Beyond the Sword for Christmas.

Anyway, I want to go Beyond (pun intended) and start maximizing this amazing game. I've always just randomized a leader and chosen some map characteristics and it's gogogogogogogogo

I do enjoy it immensly still, but I'm wondering are there really essential mods/patches/scenarios, etc that y'all would recommend?? I mean, reading the site, and even the FAQ's I feel I could go in 175 different directions.

I did learn first hand in my current game that going for 12 cities pre Code of Laws was absurd.... good god my was at 20% at one point due to maintenance!

Anyway, if there is a good thread to read for me or anything, you could point me to that too, but this game is amazing and I want to start using it to it's highest potential.

Thanks in advance.

 

[noto]

start reading the war academy. That'll keep you busy for a week.

 

[madscientist]

Welcome Nez. My suggestion would be to play several games. When you have an issue or question, post that thread with a specific question and you'll get all the answers you want, and probably alot of others once the discussion goes off on a tangent.

Example: "Is there a difference between gold and commerce"

Also there are very good walkthrough games, especially from Sis's ALC and Orion71 newbie walkthroughs.

Enjoy

 

[Nez477]

I assume y'all would suggest I play more non-mod and non-patched games before using customizable content?

 

[Verge]

I assume y'all would suggest I play more non-mod and non-patched games before using customizable content?

Eschew the mods but definitely install the patches. For BtS, that's version 3.13. And once you install that, download Bhuric's Unofficial 1.11 Patch for 3.13, which fixes a number of problems introduced with 3.13 (go figure).

 

[MrCynical]

Installing both the official 3.13 patch and Bhruic's unofficial patch is worth doing (and definitely install both of them; the official version of 3.13 introduced almost as many game breaking bugs as it fixed).

As to mods, I'd play the unmodded version for a while, and only move onto them if you get bored.