Advanced tips+ enjoyment

[newbie2]

So I played a fair bit the months after release, but then stopped because mainly the diplomacy AI was bothering me. With the fall patch I wanna pick it back up again. Although I assume the settler spawning issue will soon be fixed.

I'm hving a hard time enjoying myself when I fall behind quickly, or feel that I am falling behind early (playing on king, prince is way too easy). Example:
With the buffed religion I went for spain (as I hadnt played them yet, altohgh religion is fairly weat) wanting to have a religion early. Had luck with a relic and Jerusalem. Went for the pretty standard build order of slinger-builder-slinger, and then a holy site. Didnt have the luck to meet 3 city states to get the inspiration, but was ranking op great prophet points nicely (just in second place), and then when I went to look 10-15 turns later, I find there are already 3 religions founded... And offcours I find myself trailing already having postponed expansion for nothing (and having to fight an early war, which i really dont like)


And thats a bit the story of most games I start and then abandon after 100-120 turns. Any tips on how to improve? I know the basic stuff

 

[Swissy]

So I played a fair bit the months after release, but then stopped because mainly the diplomacy AI was bothering me. With the fall patch I wanna pick it back up again. Although I assume the settler spawning issue will soon be fixed.

Since its been some time since you played I'm guessing you missed the summer DLC/Patch which featured Nubia. The bugs and glitches introduced in that were only fixed with this new DLC/Patch. So, a quick the spawn issue fix would be considered a miracle

 

[newbie2]

Dont wanne be rude, but nothing in that reply helps me

And yes I know about the nubia dlc/patch

 

[Spudsie74]

Dunno if this is any help, but I win easily at emperor, with religion frequently playing a part (Domination Victory). I just posted a (somewhat long winded) strategy. General Strategy Tips-Feedback Requested. The short version is....well, there is no short version. I go for slingers to archers, a couple of chariots, and a melee unit or 2. Then cheap short conquests. I don't create a massive army, or as many cities as some. Glad to try to explain, but don't want to waste your time if my style is not your cuppa tea. Reply on my post or here if interested. G'luck.

 

[Archon_Wing]

You will need specifics for anyone to help. Start a game, or post any t30-t50 game save and tell us what you think of the situation. In general, whether you are ahead or not depends on the first 20-30 turns or so.

I would say in general, that expansion (either peacefully or violently) takes priority over getting districts up. And even for religion, holy site first can be risky depending on what is going on. Eg. (you're better off with 3 cities making builders/settlers, than 2 cities with a district up in one of them.). Regardless of your win condition, science should always be a huge priority.

This also depends on the size of the map. It can be very difficult to get into the religion game on smaller ones. If you really want a religion, I'd strongly suggest a civ that has bonuses in that area , such as Arabia and Russia, who don't have to deal with the opportunity cost as much.

 

[Bad_Viceroy]

Generalities.. focus on grabbing as many eurekas/inspirations as poss, make sure your cities are growing as fast as possible and are as productive as possible, expand as fast as possible, consider placing cities much closer together than you might have in Civ5, immediately on meeting an ai begin planning to kill them, the same for city states, don't role play, decide on a vc early and play accordingly, practice the early game over and over

 

[Spudsie74]

Is it worth grabbing the eureka for building a district? If so, what district?

 

[Bad_Viceroy]

I never get that one, probably have to be encampment

 

[EgonSpengler]

So I played a fair bit the months after release, but then stopped because mainly the diplomacy AI was bothering me. With the fall patch I wanna pick it back up again. Although I assume the settler spawning issue will soon be fixed.

I'm hving a hard time enjoying myself when I fall behind quickly, or feel that I am falling behind early (playing on king, prince is way too easy). Example:
With the buffed religion I went for spain (as I hadnt played them yet, altohgh religion is fairly weat) wanting to have a religion early. Had luck with a relic and Jerusalem. Went for the pretty standard build order of slinger-builder-slinger, and then a holy site. Didnt have the luck to meet 3 city states to get the inspiration, but was ranking op great prophet points nicely (just in second place), and then when I went to look 10-15 turns later, I find there are already 3 religions founded... And offcours I find myself trailing already having postponed expansion for nothing (and having to fight an early war, which i really dont like)

And thats a bit the story of most games I start and then abandon after 100-120 turns. Any tips on how to improve? I know the basic stuff

One thing I would suggest is reconsidering your initial build order. If you're interested in a religion, you need to jump on that fast. I play at Emperor, and I just skip religion unless the game serves it up to me on a platter. For example, some luxuries give you a Faith point, even without being improved, so you can see immediately whether the game is setting you up for a religion or not. Nearby marshes are also a sign from the Flying Spaghetti Monster, for building Mont St. Michel.

Build order: Slinger-Builder-Holy Site-Monument-Temple

Go Astrology and then Mining; Mysticism then Theology, then chop the nearest woods for the Holy Site or the Temple. You want to keep the Warrior close enough to fall back to fight, but you have to go looking for huts (for the +20 bonus Faith, specifically) and a Natural Wonder (which is the Eureka for Astrology). If you get the +20 Faith from the hut, you can get the quick Pantheon (with the God King civic, if need be), which is the Eureka for Mysticism.

Tobacco or Incense close to my Capital tells me the game might want/allow me to have a religion. I'll send my Warrior looking for a Natural Wonder and goody huts. I won't bother to fight Barbarians, even if they're close to my capital (yes, this risks the Barbarian Horseman Firehose of Doom - so be it, I can't waste the time).

In skipping early military units, you run the risk of getting swamped by a warlike neighbor, but that's life. Like I say, at Emperor I don't even bother with a religion unless the game is obviously handing it to me on a silver plate. Obviously, that'll vary depending on the difficulty level, even aside from what the map gives you.

And, of course, your choice of Civ can make a big difference. I usually go Random and let the computer choose my Civ for me, and again, if it gives me someone with a religious bent I'll try to go that way. Arabia seems like the obvious choice, because they always get a Prophet, but it's the last Prophet and therefore you get the last pick of Beliefs and you're last out of the gate converting cities with just Missionaries. Screw that; if I'm going to get a religion, I want it fast and hard. Egypt is nice; 15% bonus to the Holy Site on a riverbank, and a quick Sphinx gets you +1 Faith and +1 Culture. The Norwegian Stave Church is pretty great too.

 

[Art Morte]

I'd suggest building a settler and getting your 2nd city before any districts.

Basically, if you want a peaceful start and not conquer cities, I'd say that getting a handful of cities up and running is more important than building early districts - unless you want a religion, in which case what I usually (not often, religious game isn't my thing) do is get my 2nd city and then holy sites.

 

[chazzycat]

With regards to founding a religion, the AI will spend faith to buy great prophets. So having a lead in prophet points is no sure thing. Don't be afraid to spend faith to buy the prophet as soon as you can.

Make sure you understand how district costs work. Usually you want to plop down as many districts as you can, as early as possible, just because the act of placing a district on the map locks its cost. You don't have to actually FINISH building it, just START building it then switch to something else. If you don't do that, every single tech & civic you research is inflating the costs of future districts.

Districts are key to pretty much everything in this game, and plus in general, more bonuses earlier in the game compound to strong advantages over time. So completing districts in a timely fashion can have a pretty huge overall effect on your game.

 

[newbie2]

I do dislike war in Civ, on the one hand because its a bit tedious (also the game has crashed everytime I went for domination victory), and I prefer it do do in other games, like TW. Civ is more my peacefull, awesome science/pop/economy/culture/religion management simulator if you get what I mean. Maybe I should learn to become more aggressive and a bit more risk taking. But the mediocre placement of AI cities isnt exactly an incentive. I also really hate the "decisive victory" prediction lying to you that much. ive lost a lot of troops that way. I wish they would predict minimum damage rather then average (Renowned Explorers, International Society does it like this, really helpfull, and really good game)

At which difficulty would you guys say a dominant religion is impossible to get? It was just prety painfull to go from almost first to get a great prophet to 4th....

Which is then the best build order (in a general situation, not religion focused)?

 

[Archon_Wing]

I usually do scout slinger builder slinger settler If I see barb scouts early, I build 1-2 warriors before the builder. If I see horse barbs, a third one gets built after the builder.

Usually craftsmanship asap for +50% unit production and then state workforce to reduce maintenance cost after I finish building units. At this point I usually attack and build a monument but if peaceful, I build another settler. I usually want my new cities also building builders and settlers, and don't forget the cards that boost. Usually I will get a campus if I am have extra time but I would rather get at least 3-4 cities up first.

After that I go for political philosophy and get autocracy for the wonder bonus and extra yields. Then go for games and recreation to build collossseum, and machinery/printing to grab forbidden palace for a policy card. Meanwhile, every city gets a campus and maybe harbor if possible. Holy sites and theaters get plopped down wherever they fit if I am aiming for those sorts of victory.

I have only gone up to winning on king, but doing this, it is generally pretty easy if I don't do anything stupid or if Kongo is there which I usually have to war in those cases

Also on super hilly starts, the scout can be ignored. In bad spawns, you should recall your early scouters back home to defend.

Also note that the ai is bad at upgrading units. Chances are you can still kill then even if they are ahead on tech because they put their production towards things that aren't army. They also make odd beelines to things so do not panic if you see them build a spaceport-- chances are they are far from the needed techs or even the ability to make the projects.

 

[EgonSpengler]

Which is then the best build order (in a general situation, not religion focused)?

Playing at Emperor, I usually go Warrior-Monument-Slinger-Warrior-Slinger-Slinger. One of those slingers gets the eureka for Archery, then I upgrade them. I declare war on my nearest neighbor pretty much immediately, sometimes two, and any City-States whose ability isn't great. On a Large map, I'll have 4-5 cities and carve out space for 6 or 7 more before I build my first Settler. Then I adopt Colonization and bang out 3-4 Settlers (one from each existing city, ideally). Once I reach the Classical Era, I've got 6 or 8 cities, enemy cities have walls and archers, warmonger penalties are starting to exceed my comfort levels, and my cities need some TLC. So I turtle up and play in my sandbox for a while. This is a platform to win 70% of games at Emperor, and you can pretty much choose any Victory Condition except Religious.

 

[Victoria]

So it is about spreading before improving.
Playing warlike is best but playing peaceful if you can you do need to get to about 10 cities and then start on your districts (apart from any eureka districts)
Chopping is a huge improver, if you do not chop that is probably the single biggest thing as well as eurekas.

For immortal/deity unless you are really going well for a sub 200 turn victory you have to expect to be behind maybe even up to T150. But do not place to much worry on yourself about this if going for an RV. An RV is about conquering the world with religion, you could even do that with 1 city falling waaay behind on techs and culture. The other victory conditions are about going wide fast. Religion is a different beast although I would personally get that prophet but then not activate it. Instead get as many cities and holy sites and then activate it as all holy sites would go at once and you will have a strong starting faith as well as being able to get apostles immediately.

I'm not quite sure exactly what tips you want... there are plenty... for example for getting the defensive tactics eureka (someone declare war on you) just declare war on someone who is suzerain of a city state as that city state will declare war on you.

Chops and eurekas and getting to the right places on the cultural tree early.... culture is underrated at the beginning, you should be looking at monuments fairly fast in all cities. If you can get political philosophy by turn 50 you are on the right track. It's not easy, I have done it by turn 38 before with Gorgo but 50 is a good target.

 

[liv]

I do agree with everyone being behind in the beginning is no problem. You will catch up.
Spain is maybe not the best nation to play peaceful because their advantage is converting while conquering which is kind of fun

Getting a religion can be hard but you have to commit to it and it will leave you a bit behind on somethings. I would go for holy site as soon as possible. Maybe build a scout first to find city states and natural wonders for the eurekas and then slinger and worker. And then chop for the holysite and run the project till the prophet is had. It is almost impossible to be first with religion since someone will build the stonehenge and get there first.

 

[newbie2]

I see a surprising amount of scouts and monuments being recommended. I though inspirations made the monument kinda obsolete/waste of production?

And for the scout, isnt the production better spent on something else? an additional slinger? It seems a strategy based on luck to find citystates and natural wonders as first one. And goody huts dont seem to be that common anymore

 

[Victoria]

. I though inspirations made the monument kinda obsolete/waste of production?

At the beginning getting to a level 2 governement around turn 50 is very useful, getting to mercenaries as soon as possible after that gives a very very powerful knight army that if you play right can take most of the world.... all due to early monuments. Its not just that... things like getting to enlightenment earlier for great science boosts, feudalism is very immportant for thew double builder as well as the kinight eureka.... the list just goes on and on.

And for the scout, isnt the production better spent on something else?

Sooo, last game my scout got a settler 6 turns in, what can compete with that. Its much more than that though... the scout is such a handy unit played well. For a start it will always be targeted first so you can get unbits to chase you or even sacrifice your scout so save a more expensive unit. 3 archers in front of a city will take a long time to kill it because it heals... a scout behind the city will then put the city under seige.
The scout can be used as a support unit and a flanking unit for +2.
I have not even started on the luck stuff you talked about aspart from the settler.

 

[EgonSpengler]

I go back and forth on a Scout as an initial unit. Lately I've been building a 2nd Warrior, and I think my last two games I've gotten a Scout from a hut. Obviously you can't count on that happening, it's just coincidence that it's happened twice (unless it's some kind of bug - if it happens a 3rd game in a row, I'll start to wonder what's going on).

 

[Victoria]

It's about the way your pic is "random"
Scouts for one day, builders the next.