Anyone else feel overwhelmed at the start of a new game? Where to focus my efforts?

[Bursk]

I haven't played Civ IV this year, but I did play a lot previously, finding myself at the "can almost always win at Prince, but almost never on Monarch" level.

With BtS on the horizon, I've been thinking a lot about the game recently. This has led me to experience some sort of anxiety, as I think back to when I used to play regualrly. Basically, at the start of every new game I'm torn on what to do.

I really like the SE concept, so to do that I need to quickly build libraires and have cities big enough to support specialists. If I go the CE route, I need cities that are big enough to work a couple of cottage tiles.

But what about the all-important land grab at the start of the game? I need territory, right, so perhaps I should be building settlers rather than letting my cities grow to support specialists or work cottage tiles.

And what about early war? Isn't that the key at higher levels? But I can't grow my cities, found new cities and build axemen all at the same time! And then there's city placement: should I take the risk of founding cities early or should I wait until I've discovered e.g. ironworking? What if I found my cities, then later discover ironworking only to find that none of my cities are near some iron? Isn't iron a really important resource? So do I research ironworking early at the expense of beelining for libraries, or what?!



Man, getting back into this game and, more importantly, not being aimless is going to be tough. I know from past experience that focus is very important, but trying to think of what to do and in what order is making me nervous.

Any advice on what steps to take and in what order at the start of a new game?

 

[pigswill]

Obviously leader's traits will give some kind of direction to the game. Apart from that its basically down to exploring the neighborhood, locating resources and neighbours which will probably take you up to 2500-2000bc. Chances are you'll have researched BW/AH by then and made a decision on second city.

That's probably the point at which you decide on your basic strategy eg rex or war, CE or SE.

 

[EEE_BOY]

normally, i built the second city to grab either copper or horse. and depends on the distance of the AI, if one is close enough , build a force of 4-5 axeman OR 5-6 chariots to attack cities and reinforce. if the AI is far away i will build the 3rd or 4th city and prepare for the war when the target is selected. i normally get iron working through trade. so beeline to alphabet after writing. once i get 5-6 cities i will let my cities grow and prepare for the next war. so code of law is another important tech. SE is great but needs more practices and micromanagement hence more fun.

 

[futurehermit]

At the start of each game you need to secure a military, which means copper or horses. This is to deal with barbs, especially barb axes, but also to attack a neighbour if you have one close. If not, you need to build around 3-5 cities depending on the difficulty level, availability of precious metals (e.g., gold, gems, silver), and leader traits (e.g., financial, organized). Oracle is helpful, especially if you have marble or are industrious and especially if you are playing below emperor. If you have stone and/or are industrious you can consider pyramids if you have solid production and forests for chopping.

First priority should be axe-rushing a neighbour if you have copper and a close neighbour. Start with enemy capital. Don't keep more than you can pay for (3-5 cities total).

 

[JoeBlade]

First priority should be axe-rushing a neighbour if you have copper and a close neighbour. Start with enemy capital. Don't keep more than you can pay for (3-5 cities total).

A word of caution here: this strategy works well on standard size maps with standard number of civs but it may not when civs are more 'sparse'.

On larger maps I often find myself not warring at all until 500AD or later, simply because it isn't practical. The capital city placement algorithm tends to be more... frivolous as map size increases, sometimes leaving enough room for 4-5 cities (or more!) interspaced between my own capital and that of my closest neighbour. Attacking early is far more trouble then it's worth then as any conquered city would kill the economy from the offset...

 

[Defiant47]

This is the way I do it:

The leader's traits define whether I'll use CE or SE. If philosophical (duh), industrious (duh), or spiritual (easily switch between slavery - war production, and caste system - economy and science), I use SE hands down. If financial (duh), I use CE hands down. If none of those, it depends on the situation, though I'll prefer SE.

With that problem solved, I now turn to expanding and becoming more powerful. I first acknowledge that the AI will expand faster than me and I can't do anything about it. I research a military tech (AH or BW), preferring bronze working*. By the time I have the tech AND the resource hooked up, I probably have around three cities. I then start massing axemen at the earliest opportunity, until I have around 7 or 8 (just to make sure). I march to the neighbour that is most delicious (deliciousness depends on: closeness, holy city, wonders, aggressiveness - likelihood to attack me in the future) and end up with a competitive number of cities (but not taking each and every one to flounder my economy). Of course get alphabet and hold a monopoly, it will help you very much.

The second war should be happening sometime after you've got Code of Laws and even Currency so that you can support a larger empire, probably around the time you get catapults, although sometimes if I'm too busy improving my economy I might wait until macemen.

* - I really prefer axemen to chariots, although if there's no copper in sight, go with chariots. If you have neither copper nor horse, you're in a very difficult situation, and I'd probably go for iron working and attack the neighbour after iron is hooked up (although at this point, I'm significantly farther back than I would be if I had copper). Remember that iron working isn't that useful to you if you've got copper, unless you really want some jungles chopped.

That's how I do it, hope it helps!

 

[Jerrymander]

Explore. Always explore. Build more scouts if you have hunting, or research hunting and build scouts. Knowing the lay of the land will lessen your anxiety, as it will show both where to place cities and what economy to use (fishing, cottage, production based, etc).
For the cities, try to place them in chokepoints or against enemy city's borders (but not too close) so that you can stop or slow down the AI land grabs.

Or.. play Inca and Quecha rush the daylights out of everyone.

 

[futurehermit]

A word of caution here: this strategy works well on standard size maps with standard number of civs but it may not when civs are more 'sparse'.

On larger maps I often find myself not warring at all until 500AD or later, simply because it isn't practical. The capital city placement algorithm tends to be more... frivolous as map size increases, sometimes leaving enough room for 4-5 cities (or more!) interspaced between my own capital and that of my closest neighbour. Attacking early is far more trouble then it's worth then as any conquered city would kill the economy from the offset...

if you have copper and a close neighbour...

 

[JoeBlade]

if you have copper and a close neighbour...

Sorry fh, my comments weren't aimed at you in particular.

Some players chant the 'early rush' mantra a bit too often to my tastes, as though it were the very foundation of any cIV game. I merely wanted to warn to the OP to take such recommendations with a pinch of salt.


Anyway, back on topic: I've forgotten to include my usual advice, which is to look into Sisiutil's ALC games and Aelf's Emperor/Immortal challenge ones, as well as the succession games forum.
There's no better source of hands-on cIV gameplay info IMO. Those should give you more than enough ideas on the possibilities at the start of a game.