Any strategy guides for Chieftain level?

[pikesfan]

I'm actually reading Sisuitl's Noble guides, seeing what I can pick out of them and trying the things I can understand on the Chieftain level which is where I am now. (playing Vanilla)

I suppose what I need is a guide to get you up to the level from which to get up to the level where you can use the Noble guides

I have learned some things:

Send your settlers with a warrior escort.

Montezuma cannot be trusted even if you are the same religion and you have traded well to him. I had a game where he declared on me and pillaged things galore before I was able to build enough units to pound him in to submission and destroy him.

I also had a Terra game where the barbarians (on their own continent) had riflemen. That was a shock.

I tried a Quick Quechua Rush on an Egyptian city that was where I needed to expand.

I had a recent game where I was Rome and quite dominant, because I had built Praetorians and conquered the Mongols who were my next door neighbours, and then later the Greeks who became very mean to me. My new next door neighbours were Hatshepsut and Roosevelt, and when Roosevelt declared on Hatshepsut, he came to me and asked me to join the war. I declined, but sold him some iron as I had lots and he had none. To my surprise, the next turn Hatshepsut and Roosevelt made a peace treaty, which was nice, because I wanted peace and quiet and wanted two quiet happy weak neighbours rather than one annoyed one.

I'm still trying to get the hang of units being balanced by other units, and some units are not effective to attack other units.

I suppose at heart I am a peaceful builder, and if you are friendly and peaceful to me I'll be friendly to you (such as if your name is Hatshepsut), but if you attack me, or prevent me from getting resources with which I can build, I want to make you pay dearly for it, even if I have to wipe you out, because I don't feel safe around you.

 

[JujuLautre]

Try to post a save; it's no use to try and comment just a description of a game; a savegame, on the other hand, has all the necessary informations

 

[Silver Marmot]

I'm not sure if there is such a guide.

What does your username refer to? I sure hope it doesn't refer to the Pikes fraternity. Phi Tau all the way!

 

[VoiceOfUnreason]

I suppose what I need is a guide to get you up to the level from which to get up to the level where you can use the Noble guides

First point: CIV is intended to be a strategy game - you are supposed to think. Keep in mind that this is your big advantage over the computer.

Second point: learn the war mechanics. War is a good place to start - you've already started on rock - paper - scissors. Also experiment with promotions, and learn why catapults are important. War isn't a necessary part of the game, but you will do better if you think about choosing your opponent, rather than letting them choose you. After you have a good grasp of things, you can go back to being nice. The point is, that you should never be alarmed when the AI declares war on you - it's a nuisance, but if you have learned that part of the game it will not be a threat.

Third point: learn how commerce works. In particular, play with cottages, and figure out how commerce affects research and wealth. Especially important to learn that science percentage (as shown on the main page) is less important than research (the amount shown on the financial adviser screen.

Fourth point: learn the tech tree. Which techs are important militarily? Which are important for research, which unlock wonders.

In terms of strategy suggestions....

1) Build a worker immediately in your city unless you have a compelling reason to do other wise. Compelling reasons are less common than one in five.

2) You'll need a garrison for every city eventually, so train that unit before building the settler.

3) Any time a great person is born, settle them in your capital unless you have a compelling reason to do otherwise.

4) You DON'T have too much military. Train at least one unit for every building that you construct.

5) Land is power. The easiest way to ensure a late game win is to have more land under your control. The earlier you control that land, the better your position will be.

 

[oyzar]

build workers. You won't ever have enough workers. Turn on resource bubbles and settle near them. Every city should have at least one decent food title. Build enough cottages especially on grassland.

 

[Fetch]

If the barbs in the new world on Terra have rifles, you've waited waaay too long to get over there. You know it's there. Do bit of a beeline to astronomy (I think that gives galleons) and settle up the Americas.

 

[Cleverbeans]

Play the tutorial, it's a good way to learn the basics. Next, move up to Monarch and play a couple games. You can expect to lose badly, but you'll learn a lot about early build orders and technology. Once you move back down you'll find warlord much easier.

 

[eewallace]

Everything in the higher level guides will also help you on the chieftan level. I would say that some of the things you should focus on when learning to win on chieftan include: Learning exactly how many cities you have before you encounter economic difficulties, then learn how to solve those economic difficulties; learn how many defenders (and what type) you need to keep in cities; learn the tech tree. If you find that you are consistently ahead of the AI civs, that they are never attacking you, or (worst of all) you are building all of the wonders (a bad habit you will need to break at higher levels) then it will be time to move up to the next level. Best of luck!

 

[Cam_H]

I agree with most of the thoughts expressed in the above posts, such as JujuLautre's suggestion of uploading one of your games for feedback.

Sulla's walkthough was posted in the early days of Civ4. It is written almost like an introduction to Civ4 for Civ3 players, but nonetheless is an entertaining read. I wouldn't go so far as to describe it as a 'strategy guide', but it sets out the Civ4 concepts pretty well. Please note that some rules have been tweaked since this guide was authored - for instance you require Animal Husbandry to see the Horses resource.