Any help for a noob?

[JK_13]

Hello, I am new to the civilization series,never bought it, but I have read about it for a while now. I finally decided to take a chance and buy the gold edition(Still don't have BTS) yesterday. I am throughly enjoying the game, but I am not very good yet.
I like to war but I am having a hard time finding a reason to do so, and having trouble getting the other leaders to help me in my struggles. I also have a hard time taking fortified cities. Can I get some help, and maybe some other general tips?
Edit: Also, what does REX stand for, and how does it work?

 

[holiday_hawk]

REX is rapid early expansion, it is when you build settlers and expand your empire like theres no tomorrow, but when you do this you'll fall behind in science at first adn your economy will crash i'm not the best at REXing so i can't offer you many tips but there are several threads and stories about how to REX so you can learn. If you need a reason to go to war, use this "Hum I would like it if those cities were in my empire" and soon enough you'll be invading your neighbors. To get other people to help you then they need to think that entering the war will help them some how and even then it cost a lot, but its worth it since the A.I. is already bad at war and your ally will distract them and make it even worse at war. Taking fortified cities is hard, you'll need to use cats(catapults) or trebs(trebuchets) to soften up the defensive bonus and then attack with them to cause collateral damage. By the time they lose that 20-60% bonus and all take damage your other units will be able to take the city.

 

[Eldarion]

I like to war but I am having a hard time finding a reason to do so...

You don't need a reason to go to war. You need a reason to NOT go to war.

Kidding aside, unless you really WANT to go the peaceful route, a common strategy is to beeline Bronze Working (BW) / Iron Working (IW) and pump out axemen and/or swordsmen to rush your closest neighbor. As a general rule, if you have the tech advantage and your neighbor has something you need, that's a good reason to take their cities.

As far as making other folks participate, that's much more difficult. Check the diplomacy screen to see who they hate the most - if it's you, you'll have a hard time convincing them to help. If it's someone else, attack that civ, and if there are enough bonuses going your way (same religion, trade routes, etc.), they're more inclined to help you. Or you can let them initiate the war and then help THEM, but that's playing on their terms... generally a non-optimal strategy.

Those are just some general tips - there are plenty of more detailed strategy guides lurking around. Welcome to the forums!

 

[JK_13]

I see, I don't think REXing would suit my style, since I like to beeline alphabet and tech and trade from there. I ask about the cities because in my current game Ghandi pissed me off so I went after him, and his capital is fortified, and on a hill. No matter what I do I can't take it. When I take a city, sometimes it gets destroyed, with out me getting to choose to raze it or keep it?

Thanks for the kind Welcome.
I learned to check the diplomacy screen after declaring on the most loved civ, and was promptly demolished.

 

[holiday_hawk]

If he is on a hill your gonna have a fun time, its gonna take plenty of cats and probably some suicide units just to soften them up, if you have enough of a tech lead and a big enough SoD then you will be able to take it. Also if the city only has one pop (non nuclear weapon damage) then you can't keep it.

 

[JK_13]

If he is on a hill your gonna have a fun time, its gonna take plenty of cats and probably some suicide units just to soften them up, if you have enough of a tech lead and a big enough SoD then you will be able to take it. Also if the city only has one pop (non nuclear weapon damage) then you can't keep it.

Ohh i get it, it was because it was a new settlement. Should I wait for it to get 2, or just destroy them. Also I dislike suicides because it just seems like such a waste

 

[holiday_hawk]

If a city is not in a very productive area or if you think the enemy will be able to take it back say bye bye baby, but if it is in a good area then i never raze it, so if it was i would have waited till it got up to two.

 

[JK_13]

Thanks for all of you help, looks like a nice forum community here, I will try to stick around.

 

[vicawoo]

Ohh i get it, it was because it was a new settlement. Should I wait for it to get 2, or just destroy them. Also I dislike suicides because it just seems like such a waste

Too bad, there's a lot of defending bonuses, and you often need twice as many units.

One major reason to war is if enemy civs have blocked you off from settling more land.

Basics of warring against well-defended cities. Bring lots of siege weapons. Bombard defenses down to 0%. Make sure you have units to defend against a counterattack, and that they can handle any particular unit the enemy has.
Attack defenders with siege weapons, to do collateral damage, until enemy units are at half health (there's a cap on how much collateral damage you can do). Kill off remainder of units with highly promoted city raider units or well promoted high strength units. Heal, repeat.

 

[Rockefella]

Since you like to beeline alphabet, an alternative to reducing the defenses in a particular city is to create a spy and use it to incite revolt in the city you want to capture. In that way, the cultural defenses of the city drop down to 0% for a couple of turns making it easier for you.

 

[JK_13]

thats a great idea, I will try the spy thing next game. I eventually crushed my opponent, but it came at the price of 4 trebs and 3 cats.

 

[KingJim]

I am by no means an expert at this game yet. I only win at Prince 1 out of 10 times but I do seem to do better with war.

Here's what I've learned so far:

Pay attention to what units your opponent has defending. Before going to war do Open Borders and see what they have. Use the built-in Civ encyclopedia to tell you what units go well against what your opponent has. For example, don't try to use horse archers if he has more then 1 spearman there.

If the city is too well fortified or too many units then go on to another city in that empire.

Before going to war trade to get all of their technologies. If you have your army at their border and even if you end up giving them something that could help them in the war you can trade it for a tech you don't have yet and they won't have time to use it. I usually do this earlier on in the game when the enemy civs are smaller or if the tech doesn't matter.

Pay attention to what goals your opponents are going for. I choose random personalities when I play to make it a little more fair for the computer. If they are going for culture or science then they are not likely to have a lot of military and you should be able to take them easily.

If another Civ is friendly with the one your about to attack the friendly one may go to war with you too. Make sure you cities are well defended if you attack on one front you may be attacked on another by their friend. Use the terrain on your home land to slow or stop the attacking friend until you destroy the first civ. Then bring your troops home to defend and attack the friendly one.

Another good rushing strategy is to use horse archers early on in the game. They move fast and the withdraw promotions can make them last on the longer campaigns. It's also good to have a medic with the attacking group. So after the city is destroyed hopefully you have horse archers that have withdrawn and the medic can heal them quicker.

 

[Diamondeye]

thats a great idea, I will try the spy thing next game. I eventually crushed my opponent, but it came at the price of 4 trebs and 3 cats.

For crushing an opponent and taking their capital, this prize is fair. Think of how much the city will benefit your empire during the course of the rest of the game!