Best YouTube playthroughs?

[tobiasn]

Hey guys, I'm sick and bored and can't even focus enough to play Civ. Could you recommend your favorite playthroughs for Civ4? And tell me why they're good?

I've watched a few of AbsoluteZero's, this one just now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j45rrZtu1Ks, and some of TMIT's too. Anyway, I'm open and grateful for suggestions.

 

[Robert FIN]

I really like TMIT's videos because of nice commentary. Its easy to follow. I'm not english but I understand what he is saying because TMIT has really clear voice.

 

[Smilingrogue]

AZ and TMIT are the most well-known around these parts for Civ playthroughs.
Other play-throughs I enjoy are from Grimith (Profanity warning, though it doesn't bother me, obviously).
Tachywaxon has a couple playlists here.
There's Sulla.
Lymond has a few videos. (Check his signature).
Tanoy Sinha has a few videos here.

I am sure there are more I am not recalling right now. There are others from the CFC community like Cam and Vranasm who have videos online but I am not sure they count as play-throughs.

 

[tobiasn]

@Robert FIN: yeah, I like his videos too. His speed of play is really something.

@Smilingrouge: Thanks for these links man. Any of them you'd recommend in particular?

 

[dmd175]

For me I think the best first set was Tinoy Sinha (tks2103) to learn the fundamentals of the first 100 turns. He has three sets of videos but afaik stopped (unless anyone knows his CFC nick?). They have completely helped me buff up my opening and are excellent, though some find them verbose.

I have also watched TMIT and AZ--they make it look easy and I think "hey I can okay deity"...

Lymond I've been meaning to check the links in your sig too.

 

[UK_Brad]

Greatest thread ever! Watching AbsZero vids taught me how to whip mercilessly for world domination.

 

[Timo33]

There is also Kaf (his username on Civ forums is Caf). Here is the link of his youtube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/KaF1987/videos?view=0&flow=grid
He's a very good player (plays on immortal most of the time, also posted at least one diety game if i recall correctly), and plays unrestricted leader, making it even more educational and interesting to watch.
He seems to have stopped posting games though

 

[klonoklown]

Greatest thread ever! Watching AbsZero vids taught me how to whip mercilessly for world domination.

I second this comment. I didn't really whip much at all, that is until I started watching AZ's video's and see what a powerful civic it is.

 

[Dubioza]

Yep these are all worth watching!

One more I mentioned when I joined here is quill18. He does a lot of strategy (and more!) games but you can find some
Civ4 & C2C & Civ5 as well; with great commentary!

Thanks Smilingrogue for Tachywaxon's link, will check it out!

Edit: Also a list of good write-ups would be nice! I saw some in ppl's sigs, but can't find a lot of them any more.

Like: I hope it's ok to link to (some of) your public profiles guys, if not, I'll just list you Sigs are in "About me" tab;

Seraiel
kossin
snaaty

 

[Smilingrogue]

@Smilingrouge: Thanks for these links man. Any of them you'd recommend in particular?

I enjoy watching Grmith's play-throughs. He's obviously having fun playing the game and that makes it fun for me to watch. Though his style's not for everyone. I can recommend his Noble play through as Hatshepsut where he explains a lot of things for the benefit of new players and absolutely crushes the map with Wheeled Cheese War Chariots.

The problem I have found with Civ IV videos online is that they are either too high a level like AZ or TMIT for new/casual players to follow, or those that do play at Emperor or below don't talk much or don't play well. All the videos I linked to, I have watched myself and can recommend, though tastes vary.

 

[DanielTorrence]

The problem I have found with Civ IV videos online is that they are either too high a level like AZ or TMIT for new/casual players to follow, or those that do play at Emperor or below don't talk much or don't play well.

There are some of the older vids from TMIT where he says something like "stepping down to monarch should do the trick", so he did his first vids on lower levels. But the resolution really hurts, no HD...I wish AZ would do an immortal vid for a change, since I cant get myself to play (=loose) on deity and he does really fun stuff on the lower levels like Tanks around 1500 or so...

 

[lymond]

AZ has done some IMM videos before. I can't think off the top of my head which leaders, but I know he's done at least a couple for fun. Check his playlist - it should denote if the game is IMM or not.

 

[teakbois]

I enjoy watching Grmith's play-throughs. He's obviously having fun playing the game and that makes it fun for me to watch. Though his style's not for everyone. I can recommend his Noble play through as Hatshepsut where he explains a lot of things for the benefit of new players and absolutely crushes the map with Wheeled Cheese War Chariots.

The problem I have found with Civ IV videos online is that they are either too high a level like AZ or TMIT for new/casual players to follow, or those that do play at Emperor or below don't talk much or don't play well. All the videos I linked to, I have watched myself and can recommend, though tastes vary.

I was watching Grmith's Saladin playthrough a bit last night and he had me in stitches. Informative and very entertaining.

 

[blunderwonder]

Does anyone know if they any of the games they listed were IU or other games like that? ive looked through some of az's vidoes, but its hours of watching and sort of boring compared to playing , my issue is i never get past where they elepult or take the first few cities, because theyre always like 10 hour games . But it would be worth watching definetely if i could play the same map, and see what differences there are

 

[tobiasn]

I'm not anywhere near Deity yet, but what I get out of these games (well, AZ's and TMIT's, as those are the ones I've used time on so far) is mainly how they approach the early game. Also stuff like city specialization, build order and war strategy is great, but that initial setup tactic is really inspiring. Because of how it snowballs. To, say, how they can conjure an army of a zillion units in no turns from like 8 cities. It does seem like black magic sometimes.

 

[klonoklown]

Does anyone know if they any of the games they listed were IU or other games like that? ive looked through some of az's vidoes, but its hours of watching and sort of boring compared to playing , my issue is i never get past where they elepult or take the first few cities, because theyre always like 10 hour games . But it would be worth watching definetely if i could play the same map, and see what differences there are

AZ posted the NC De Gaulle game and just recently IU 94 - Alexander, check them out.

 

[UK_Brad]

how they can conjure an army of a zillion units in no turns from like 8 cities. It does seem like black magic sometimes.

Well said. You are watching and suddenly there is a massive army. I'm like 'How the hell did he do that?!' The sheer numbers are impressive.

 

[tobiasn]

Hehe. Thanks for the tip, @Smilingrouge! Watching Grmith's Saladin run now. Funny stuff.

 

[Sun_TzU154]

You guys are say that you learned how to whip from watching AZ. Are there any of his vids that you can recommend for learning howto whip?

 

[lymond]

You guys are say that you learned how to whip from watching AZ. Are there any of his vids that you can recommend for learning howto whip?

Pretty much any AZ vid he uses a lot of the whip. From a technical perspective, I don't think his vids are great for "learning how to whip". He does not go into detail on the mechanics. I think what people learned from AZ is how powerful the whip can be and to use it more liberally.

"Learning how to whip" is a more involved endeavor. It takes time and practice to get a feel for it. I wrote up a few demonstrations that I occasional link newer players to when they ask about it. It mainly focuses on the very basic mechanics of using whip overflow. He's a link to a post with further links where I discuss it:

whip whip whip

However, it is important to keep in mind that using the slavery/whip is more than just about focusing on max overflow. Sometimes its simply just about getting stuff out quickly like a large army, which is mainly what AZ does. He whips large armies fast and whips in buildings quickly early on with not much mind to OF.

edit: Note that one of the best/optimal ways of turning food into hammers early game when hammers are generally low is to 2 or 3 pop workers and settlers.