Or do I just suck. Seems I always start in bad spots, or the AI hates me with a passion.
First, I have never played a civ game before. I do like strategy games and generally do quite well at them. I picked up Civ 4 just last week, did the tutorial, then did 1 settler mission (note - never finished the mission, tanks rolling over archers wasn't my idea of a challenge).
I then found this and other forums, figured my next step was a hop to Warlord. First game - warlord/large map/temperate ect ect ect. I find my settle/warrior in hell to start with. There is mountain and desert, a river and basically nothing for resources. I spend 5 turns running around looking for something (I realize that was an error). I panic and just plunk him down on a hill beside a river and hope for the best. I train a worker, start research towards bronze making (to do the tree chop method). Things are going ok, I get the research done, cut trees, make settler, move settle out to a new city site that I have mapped, and well, he got a little ahead of the warrior. Lion = dead settler. To make a long story short, I did manage to get 4 cities down, but endless barbarians from the wasteland to my east and very aggressive neighbors were the end of me.
Game 2. Much better start, however I was quickly surrounded. I was about 200 points ahead of the pack (700). I started losing my borders to the british via culture. I was also having problems with an overly aggressive AI in trade negotiations. End results, after a prolonged war with the british (I was winning), Catherine came out of nowhere with an armada and took my best city. I restarted the game.
Game 3. I customed this game, so there would be no tech trading (less hastles with AI I hoped). Unlike previous 2 games, I started in what seemed a great spot, resources everywhere. I put my city in a reasonable spot, started the tree chopping, even had 2 villages within 2 spaces of my city, got gold and hunting tech. Did some exploring and found heaps of resources, and soon realized it appeared I was on an Island, however it was connect to the mainland, and Cyrus had already blocked my expansion. Made an archer, declared war, plopped the archer down beside his town in the forest. This kept him pretty much pinned down.
After a few unsuccessful attempts to take his town, I finally got it. Unfortunately by that time I was still pinned by two other civs and Cyrus had made friends with them. I converted to there religion to avoid further conflict. So, my neighbors were Cyrus, Yanks, and Spanish. I was behind everyone in points except Cyrus. Stupidly I opened borders and both Americans and Spanish put cities on my little Peninsula (in the corners where my culture hadn't covered). Slowly the rest of the world showed up and I was behind everyone in points (and I thought I was doing well). Being cornered I chose to go Warmonger. I crushed Cyrus without a problem, but in return got some real crappy cities. Then the Chinese invited me to attack the Spanish and I did so, taking their one town from my Peninsula and one neighboring my Southern border. I now have 9 cities. My main neighbor is the US. I figure I have a tech advantage and decide to try and gain control of my Peninsula in full.
He has Riflemen. I have Cannons, rifles, grenadiers, m-gunners. I set up my southern border with decent defences (I think) and then attacked Seattle. I get within 2 or 3 riflemen of taking Seattle. Then his Cavalry (I didn't know he had any
) start causing havoc down south. I sent my own horse archers and knights into his land to plunder as well. I finally repel his attack to the south, but then notice he now has artillery and infantry 
. Seattle now has infantry as well.
So My Dilemna. I believe I have the upper hand as I have plundered enough to cost him, I don't think he has access to horses anymore and I am readjusting my border defences. Also using M-gunners to plunder as he seems to avoid attacking these. He has the tech advantage and I can't seem to take his city. My attempts at taking Seattle has just made the 3 rifles and one infantry that much more harder to kill. Should I wait until I have a tech advantage before I try taking Seattle again?
I am guessing to take out the 4 troops, I would need to assault with 6 cannons, then 4-6 grenadiers (or better tech). Alternatively, I could just surround it with M-gunners and wait for him to call a truce. Any suggestions?
Thanks
Kilt.
Ps - I always play the Japanese. No desire to play any other civs really. Usually slavery and vassalage.
First, I have never played a civ game before. I do like strategy games and generally do quite well at them. I picked up Civ 4 just last week, did the tutorial, then did 1 settler mission (note - never finished the mission, tanks rolling over archers wasn't my idea of a challenge).
I then found this and other forums, figured my next step was a hop to Warlord. First game - warlord/large map/temperate ect ect ect. I find my settle/warrior in hell to start with. There is mountain and desert, a river and basically nothing for resources. I spend 5 turns running around looking for something (I realize that was an error). I panic and just plunk him down on a hill beside a river and hope for the best. I train a worker, start research towards bronze making (to do the tree chop method). Things are going ok, I get the research done, cut trees, make settler, move settle out to a new city site that I have mapped, and well, he got a little ahead of the warrior. Lion = dead settler. To make a long story short, I did manage to get 4 cities down, but endless barbarians from the wasteland to my east and very aggressive neighbors were the end of me.
Game 2. Much better start, however I was quickly surrounded. I was about 200 points ahead of the pack (700). I started losing my borders to the british via culture. I was also having problems with an overly aggressive AI in trade negotiations. End results, after a prolonged war with the british (I was winning), Catherine came out of nowhere with an armada and took my best city. I restarted the game.
Game 3. I customed this game, so there would be no tech trading (less hastles with AI I hoped). Unlike previous 2 games, I started in what seemed a great spot, resources everywhere. I put my city in a reasonable spot, started the tree chopping, even had 2 villages within 2 spaces of my city, got gold and hunting tech. Did some exploring and found heaps of resources, and soon realized it appeared I was on an Island, however it was connect to the mainland, and Cyrus had already blocked my expansion. Made an archer, declared war, plopped the archer down beside his town in the forest. This kept him pretty much pinned down.
After a few unsuccessful attempts to take his town, I finally got it. Unfortunately by that time I was still pinned by two other civs and Cyrus had made friends with them. I converted to there religion to avoid further conflict. So, my neighbors were Cyrus, Yanks, and Spanish. I was behind everyone in points except Cyrus. Stupidly I opened borders and both Americans and Spanish put cities on my little Peninsula (in the corners where my culture hadn't covered). Slowly the rest of the world showed up and I was behind everyone in points (and I thought I was doing well). Being cornered I chose to go Warmonger. I crushed Cyrus without a problem, but in return got some real crappy cities. Then the Chinese invited me to attack the Spanish and I did so, taking their one town from my Peninsula and one neighboring my Southern border. I now have 9 cities. My main neighbor is the US. I figure I have a tech advantage and decide to try and gain control of my Peninsula in full. He has Riflemen. I have Cannons, rifles, grenadiers, m-gunners. I set up my southern border with decent defences (I think) and then attacked Seattle. I get within 2 or 3 riflemen of taking Seattle. Then his Cavalry (I didn't know he had any
) start causing havoc down south. I sent my own horse archers and knights into his land to plunder as well. I finally repel his attack to the south, but then notice he now has artillery and infantry . Seattle now has infantry as well. So My Dilemna. I believe I have the upper hand as I have plundered enough to cost him, I don't think he has access to horses anymore and I am readjusting my border defences. Also using M-gunners to plunder as he seems to avoid attacking these. He has the tech advantage and I can't seem to take his city. My attempts at taking Seattle has just made the 3 rifles and one infantry that much more harder to kill. Should I wait until I have a tech advantage before I try taking Seattle again?
I am guessing to take out the 4 troops, I would need to assault with 6 cannons, then 4-6 grenadiers (or better tech). Alternatively, I could just surround it with M-gunners and wait for him to call a truce. Any suggestions?
Thanks
Kilt.
Ps - I always play the Japanese. No desire to play any other civs really. Usually slavery and vassalage.
)
I think I have most of the combat details figured out. However, I think I can improve on my city management better. I didn't catch onto city management until about half way through this game. 
