achkkkk! Decisions, Decisions, and Barbarians!

[stwils]

OK. Today I played and am the Babylonians, and as usual stuck on a small island. I tried to implement the help I got from trada and Alex Johnson.

So I focused on science. (Set the tax to 0) And I went straight to mapmaking. And finally got triremes. Also built three cities. And had a lot of militia and a few phalanxes.

But I was unwise with the triremes. I went all around my island but could see no land nearby so I ventured out - and of course lost 3 triremes.

So I headed for Astronomy - had my settlers irrigating up a storm - and two of my cities got into a revolt - sent militia in, helped a while, then they revolted again. So I set the tax/luxery thing to 50%. That hushed them up.

Had several settlers irrigating and mining, then one city began starving.

I got Astronomy, but could see no option to get better ships than triremes.

And as I was trying to figure this out, barbarians invaded the coast, and eventually took one of my cities and began to move inward.

At that point I saved the game and decided I needed to learn more about playing.

I have the Civ 1 DOS manual and the CivNet manual.

Looks like by now my playing skills would be pretty good but they aren't.

I was playing Prince level which was not a good idea. But at least it showed me what I am up against in this game.

So many things to think about all at once! That is why I love this game.

And by the way, the news came that Elizabeth had built all these wonderful things and all I had built were 3 cities...

What do you read when you want to learn to play Civ1 better?

stwils

 

[Bomba923]

http://www.lilback.com/civilization/mp/civfaq.txt

 

[trada]

Excellent link, Bomba923.

I read the manuel before playing my first game. Then I basically played till I figured everything else out. I must have had dozens of games in Chefian before it hit me what was going on on the city screen

Seriously, that FAQ is probably the best reading material on there on civ1. It was compiled even waaay before civ2 was planned up and still holds as 'the' civ1 FAQ

 

[Alex Johnson]

It sounded like you were doing okay. Three cities at mapmaking isn't bad. How you ended up starving I won't know. Would you like to post your save game (civil#.sve and civil#.map) so we can look at your game?

I start on an island once in a while, but never a small one (perhaps the size of Australia). Keep in mind that roads are very important. If you put a road on flat land (desert, plains, grasslands) it will give you 1 commerce when a citizen works that land (inside the city view). Commerce turns into coins when you tax and beakers when you research. If you have no enemies and you've mapped your whole island, switch to republic and you double the value of a road. If you only have 3 cities, the value of commerce is much higher. Normally you get more commerce by building more cities, but you can't since you are on an island. So the logical thing to do is make your existing commerce higher for those 3 cities. ie, build more roads and switch to a peaceful government like Republic or Democracy. I usually build the Pyramids so that I don't have to research any government technologies...they all come free when you have that wonder.

Prince is a difficult place to start but it hasn't come into effect yet. Prince really only affects the strength of barbarians and the speed at which the computer civs build units. If you haven't met anyone, then it won't matter much if you are a Prince or a Chieftain.

Rule #1: Always have a strong defense unit in each city.
Suggestion #1: Have a strong attack unit sentried on a road or railroad between your cities. When barbarians land, attack them first. Don't let them attack your cities if you can stop them early.

I don't think I've ever had a barbarian attack win on my cities. Maybe a long time ago, but since I keep a chariot, knight, or armor sitting around on each continent now, I haven't had a single problem with barbarians.

 

[stwils]

It sounded like you were doing okay. Three cities at mapmaking isn't bad. How you ended up starving I won't know. Would you like to post your save game (civil#.sve and civil#.map) so we can look at your game?QUOTE]


I'm not sure how to post a saved game.

stwils

 

[Alex Johnson]

To post a saved game:
1. Go Advanced (the button on the post)
2. Manage Attachments (the button at the bottom)
3. Attach a .zip file containing 2 files from your civ directory. 1=civil#.sve, 2=civil#.map *, **
* The # represents a number. In the save list in game the top save is 0, the next save is 1, and so on to the bottom.
** You need to zip them because zip files are allowed on this forum but .sve and .map are not. You could also attach these two files if you changed the extension to something that is allowed, like .txt or .sav. zipping is more obvious.

 

[stwils]

I played the game in CivNet, not Civ DOS or WinCiv.

Does that matter as far as your being to open my game (assuming I can manage this sending a saved game. )

stwils

 

[Alex Johnson]

Well it does require someone owning CivNet. I owned it once back in college, but I have since lost it and cannot look at your saves. But someone here should be able to even if I can't. Post the save and hopefully you'll get some advice from a CivNet player.

 

[stwils]

Sorry guys. I can't seem to get this posting my saved game to work.

So I will just muddle along and come here for advice on my game.

stwils