Can never get too far in a game...

[Tempto]

Hey. I started playing Civ 5 earlier this year, and I absolutely love it. It is my first Civ game. But I'm struggling playing anything past Warlord. I haven't played a full game in months; nowadays, I can never get past the first hundred or so turns without being in a horrible state, so bad that I just abandon the game. It seems that if I focus on any aspect, I do utterly horrible in the rest. If I do my best to expand, my military is horrendous and I get attacked. If I focus on my military, I'll have the smallest territory in game. No matter what I do, I just keep hitting a roadblock...

So far, all of my victories have been Science, and none achieved over the Warlord level. But now Warlord is too easy for me, whereas Prince is too hard, and I don't know what exactly to do. It's really frustrating, because I WANT to enjoy this game but I'm hardly playing it anymore because I can never get past early game. And the worst part is, I don't even know what exactly I'm doing wrong.

Input and advice from you more experienced Civvers would be great. Help me enjoy the game. Thanks!

 

[Heerlo]

Well, I'm definitely not the best player in the world, but I'll try to help.

For one thing, it might just be good to expand according to however much happiness that you have.Don't over expand a bunch of cities too quickly and get into unhappiness, as that will probably cause you to have a bunch of low population cities when you could have a few large cities.I usually try to keep at least one worker for each of my early cities, and that usually works pretty well for king difficulty.And if you have any extra luxury resources sell them to the AI, since extra ones don't give you extra happiness.

And think about just getting only the military that you have to have, and not overloading yourself with maintenance costs.Say if you're isolated somewhere and not in much danger you don't have to focus on military.On the other hand, if you start close to another civ, or even anywhere close to a warmonger like Monty or Suleiman, you should keep up a pretty good military.Maybe not quite as powerful as theirs(as sometimes you can fend them off even if they have more units than you due to bad tatical AI), but still a pretty good one.

Going into the mid game just calculate what the best social policy trees would be to follow.IF you're having economy problems, consider taking Commerce.If you're behind in tech, consider Rationalism.Research agreements also help with tech and are good to have.

I don't have G&K, so if you have it I can't really help that much with religion and such.Hope this was helpful, though.

Maybe you should read some in the War Academy too.

 

[Petiscator]

For a better analysis we would need a bit more information, as what do you tech/build first, the policies you choose, etc

If you are looking for a succesful strategy, try the 4 Cities Tradition Openning, by Tabarnak. It is a really awesome strategy and works almost every time!

 

[Genghis.Khan]

One great tip to drastically improve your Gameplay: Sell your excess luxuries to the AI for 240 (Standart)

 

[Tempto]

KoreanPresident & Genghis.Khan - I had no idea about that luxury resources thing. I was always hesitant to trade away extras, because I didn't want to lose happiness. I underestimate RA's too... Great stuff! I'll definitely check out the War Academy.

Petiscator - My first few techs depend on where I spawn. When spawning near jungles, for example, I prioritize mining and bronze working first so that I can be able to construct improvements. If I've got lots of animals nearby, I'll go for husbandry. If I've got lots of special plants, I'll go for calendar, etc. But after the main prioritized techs have been researched, I almost always go for writing and go down that tree a bit to get the Great Library asap (I usually go for Science victories).

What I build first is something I can never really decide on. Sometimes I build a worker first, sometimes a warrior, sometimes a monument, it's never really consistent... maybe I should work on this? As for my policies, most of of the time I open with Liberty for early expansion, but I may take Honor if there are too many barbarians nearby. I ignore Tradition. I haven't heard of that yet but I will check it out too, would be interesting trying something new for a change and may give me more insight!

 

[Heerlo]

I almost always build a monument the first thing.Not sure if that's the best thing to do, but I like being able to get the free settler and worker from liberty pretty quick.

 

[Petiscator]

I prefer to start with the good old Scout. Helps to discover CSs and get money, to find a reasonable amount of ruins (thus getting population, culture, an archer, faith - on the best scenario, a map or something helpful). The monument first is also interesting, and was part of my strategy a few weeks ago. Another Warrior is not really necessary that early, your starting one is enough for that time period. The Worker first is something I dislike to do, as it would be unable to improve anything but farms.

 

[Smokeybear]

There are a number of good youtube 'lets play CiV' videos that you can search for and watch, I'm sure the folks here could suggest some of the better ones, as I don't have any bookmarked myself.

 

[Jelster]

Whenever I have gone up a level I take a larger map than usual, but cut down the number of Civ's. This allows you to have space to expand and deal with the barbs without having to focus on defending yourself. It does mean that you have less Civ's to sell your lux's to, but I find it gives me a bit of breathing space until I get caught up in the politics of the game.

 

[thegingerninja]

Hey. I started playing Civ 5 earlier this year, and I absolutely love it. It is my first Civ game. But I'm struggling playing anything past Warlord. I haven't played a full game in months; nowadays, I can never get past the first hundred or so turns without being in a horrible state, so bad that I just abandon the game. It seems that if I focus on any aspect, I do utterly horrible in the rest. If I do my best to expand, my military is horrendous and I get attacked. If I focus on my military, I'll have the smallest territory in game. No matter what I do, I just keep hitting a roadblock...

So far, all of my victories have been Science, and none achieved over the Warlord level. But now Warlord is too easy for me, whereas Prince is too hard, and I don't know what exactly to do. It's really frustrating, because I WANT to enjoy this game but I'm hardly playing it anymore because I can never get past early game. And the worst part is, I don't even know what exactly I'm doing wrong.

Input and advice from you more experienced Civvers would be great. Help me enjoy the game. Thanks!

The expansion/military thing happened to me in Civ IV but never in Civ V
Trust science. It is the key to all life and victory in CiV V. Build science buildings, play dido on archipelago if you have G&K and try to keep a strong economy

 

[Tempto]

Much thanks for the input everyone. I'm going to try all sorts of different openers and watch some LPs. Jelster - that's a rather clever method of climbing up the difficulty ladder, will incorporate that. thegingerninja - that is my usual motto too! Though, I do sacrifice quite a lot, well, too much, of my early game to getting the Great Library. Do you think this is an essential, or would it not hurt much to skip?

 

[Smokeybear]

Whenever I have gone up a level I take a larger map than usual, but cut down the number of Civ's. This allows you to have space to expand and deal with the barbs without having to focus on defending yourself. It does mean that you have less Civ's to sell your lux's to, but I find it gives me a bit of breathing space until I get caught up in the politics of the game.

Unfortunately, it also all too often gives one or more civs the chance to ICS like nuts, and go runaway in record time. At least it sure will now.

 

[Seabastian Civ]

Much thanks for the input everyone. I'm going to try all sorts of different openers and watch some LPs. Jelster - that's a rather clever method of climbing up the difficulty ladder, will incorporate that. thegingerninja - that is my usual motto too! Though, I do sacrifice quite a lot, well, too much, of my early game to getting the Great Library. Do you think this is an essential, or would it not hurt much to skip?

I'd skip Great Library. It isn't that great of a wonder.

Try this tradition start (you will be taking the tradition policies):

Build: Scout-Monument-Worker

Then build a granary, archer, library, archers, etc. until you have 3 or 4 archers. These will provide you with enough defense to survive early attacks from the AI. Make sure you place them wisely though: on top of hills, across rivers from your attackers, etc.

At this point, look for a second city location. When you've found a good place, sell your resources to the computer and buy a settler. Once you have two cities, focus on making money and population. Always explore as much as possible, and try to make friends. ALWAYS SELL EXCESS LUXURY GOODS!! Build another worker.

When you can buy another settler, do so and settle a third city. Now is a good time to start building roads, too. By only buying your second and third settlers, you will slow down your expansion and avoid problems. Make sure you keep only 2-3 archers for every city you own. Build another worker, too. One worker per city should be a good rule of thumb.

You should be close to finishing tradition. So build a fourth settler and settle him. You now have 4 cities, hopefully all close enough to one another that you can build roads and connect them. You've got a good core, and a strong army. You should be well on your way to a long, successful game. Good luck!

 

[Tempto]

I'd skip Great Library. It isn't that great of a wonder.

Try this tradition start (you will be taking the tradition policies):

Build: Scout-Monument-Worker

Then build a granary, archer, library, archers, etc. until you have 3 or 4 archers. These will provide you with enough defense to survive early attacks from the AI. Make sure you place them wisely though: on top of hills, across rivers from your attackers, etc.

At this point, look for a second city location. When you've found a good place, sell your resources to the computer and buy a settler. Once you have two cities, focus on making money and population. Always explore as much as possible, and try to make friends. ALWAYS SELL EXCESS LUXURY GOODS!! Build another worker.

When you can buy another settler, do so and settle a third city. Now is a good time to start building roads, too. By only buying your second and third settlers, you will slow down your expansion and avoid problems. Make sure you keep only 2-3 archers for every city you own. Build another worker, too. One worker per city should be a good rule of thumb.

You should be close to finishing tradition. So build a fourth settler and settle him. You now have 4 cities, hopefully all close enough to one another that you can build roads and connect them. You've got a good core, and a strong army. You should be well on your way to a long, successful game. Good luck!

Brilliant! I'm going to try this in a couple of hours (probably) when I play my next Civ game, and I'll post the results here.

 

[thegingerninja]

Much thanks for the input everyone. I'm going to try all sorts of different openers and watch some LPs. Jelster - that's a rather clever method of climbing up the difficulty ladder, will incorporate that. thegingerninja - that is my usual motto too! Though, I do sacrifice quite a lot, well, too much, of my early game to getting the Great Library. Do you think this is an essential, or would it not hurt much to skip?

I try to get it too but it doesn't hurt me to much. The free library and +1 GS are definitely good and a free technology is always nice. I also hate it when the AI gets it. If playing archipelago the great lighthouse gives you an edge

 

[thegingerninja]

In real life i am not very cultured so that reflects on what i do in the game. I kill people and burn their cities to the ground

 

[Smokeybear]

In real life i am not very cultured so that reflects on what i do in the game. I kill people and burn their cities to the ground

Ingame, or IRL?

 

[Matthew.]

You shouldn't need to worry about research agreements on anything below Emperor. Take them when they are convenient, but far from a necessity.

Also take a look at the low priority buildings thread that is currently in the strategy sub-forum. You can actually do more harm than good by building many of the buildings/wonders. It is very easy to do on lower levels, since wonders don't get picked up by AI's quickly, and they look so tempting in the menu. Consider that the 30+ turns spent on building low level wonders, you could have built an army of composite bows and puppeted your neighbors entire empire.

Three tall cities is, in my opinion, the easiest empire to play with. Three guarantees you won't run into happiness isues while still offering a decent population/science base.

 

[seancolorado]

Honestly the best thing I ever did was stick around this website through thick and through thin. Before I signed up I was a big-time lurker and I can't count the amount of times I learned something 'game-changing' just by reading these threads. These people really know what they are talking about.

Don't be afraid to look up the specific type of gameplay you want to on these threads. E.g. Look up how to play the Aztecs, or a cultural victory guide. Or both. But just make sure this: You can use the guides you find even as a step-by-step at first but it's not something to take step-by-step all the time. As you learn the best methods for certain victories and certain civs you'll be comfortable enough experimenting on your own and you want to do that. Not doing so results in some bad habits that will keep you stuck on 'difficulty level x' forever.
tl;dr Use CivFanatics for a base, but don't always play the same just because it worked

 

[Tempto]

Okay guys, quick report-in of my game. I played as Suleiman on a Europe map with TSL. Prince, large, normal speed.

I followed Seabastian's opener. I did have some trouble with buying the first settler, because all the civs I wanted to trade with were broke themselves and thus couldn't buy my luxuries. Also had slight barbarian issues, but all was solved and I founded my second city at around the 80th turn, a bit late I know. I went to war with Theodora, because the 2 cities she had next to me were ripe and ready to be taken! Her army was pretty weak. She offered me Adrianople in return for peace, I accepted and prepared myself for a siege on Constantinople after the treaty expires.

After founding another city or two with bought settlers, I went for Constantinople. But I shortly found out Greece was warring with Theodora too, and was very close to taking Constantinople. Alexander managed to capture it before me, so I declared war on him and captured it myself shortly thereafter. Its location was perfect and it had an academy which was going to help me in my goal of achieving [yet another] science victory. After a short period of uneventful skirmishes near the city, Alexander and I made peace. Theodora offered me another one of her cities for peace again, and I gladly accepted. At this point I had 6 cities.

With a bit of time, I was able acquire nearly the highest ranked literacy, land area, population, and military. Nobody dared to DoW me, although I did get some denouncements and taunts from Harun, Alexander, and Theo (who had now had only a single city founded in the desert near Harun, muhahahahah).

I did have significant troubles with restoring the former Byzantine cities to a decent state; Antioch remained hopeless though. After a rather uneventful few dozen turns, I had discovered some other civs, the most influencial of which was Austria. Maria was rising as a world power, and was able to even surpass me in land and military, but she was friendly towards me at first. She asked me to DoW Alexander, which led to the eventual surrendering of one of his cities to me. At this point, I'd had a settler for quite a while but hadn't founded a city because of happiness problems. And this is where everything collapses; I experienced severe happiness problems. I finally saved and stopped when I had -20 happiness. I don't know if I'm going to continue the game, or if I can somehow salvage it, but I think the situation is hopeless. Either way, I learned some things, the most important of which is to NOT NEGLECT HAPPINESS AT ANY POINT if I aim for going wide. Here are some screenshots.Note I did not take much near the end, I may post some more later.


















Any advice you can give me through analysis of my gameplay would also be much appreciated. Thanks!