Civ 1 Noob question.

[Dracul JOSHI]

Where do I best start? I don't really know how to use the Big Cross effectively or what the exact yield of these tiles are... a bit spoiled.


If you're wondering, this is the EARTH map of the SNES version. Japan start. Exact starting locating is right of the mountain

 

[tupi]

I'm not familiar enough with the SNES version, but the main idea is to have at least 2 shields at the start (1 in your center square and 1 in your first cultivated square), so you can produce your first militia and settler twice as fast. You should not search for 'very best' place, because you wasting your time this way and you better simply found new cities in some good places later. 2-3 good squares around your first city is enough. Also it's preferable to found your cities on plains, because you get free irrigation this way. Especially if with horses.

But if you are in Japan, normal strategy of city spamming can be not possible (if there's no any 'bridge' to the main land - in SNES version such 'bridges' happen sometimes). So it's more like One City Challenge for some time, so you should select the best possible place for your first city.

Also 'instant advice' is pretty good for this purpose for novice (though I have no idea if this option has the same name or even exists in the SNES version). It's ON by default on chieftain, but you can toggle it ON on any difficulty. It basically recommends you to found your cities in places where AI would found them.

EDIT: I did look at your picture. I myself would found my first city on the plain tile to the south of the game forest. This way you have enough food and 3 shields at the start and later you can irrigate horses for +2 food and +2 shields from here.

 

[Dracul JOSHI]

I'm not familiar enough with the SNES version, but the main idea is to have at least 2 shields at the start (1 in your center square and 1 in your first cultivated square), so you can produce your first militia and settler twice as fast. You should not search for 'very best' place, because you wasting your time this way and you better simply found new cities in some good places later. 2-3 good squares around your first city is enough. Also it's preferable to found your cities on plains, because you get free irrigation this way. Especially if with horses.

But if you are in Japan, normal strategy of city spamming can be not possible (if there's no any 'bridge' to the main land - in SNES version such 'bridges' happen sometimes). So it's more like One City Challenge for some time, so you should select the best possible place for your first city.

Also 'instant advice' is pretty good for this purpose for novice (though I have no idea if this option has the same name or even exists in the SNES version). It's ON by default on chieftain, but you can toggle it ON on any difficulty. It basically recommends you to found your cities in places where AI would found them.

EDIT: I did look at your picture. I myself would found my first city on the plain tile to the south of the game forest. This way you have enough food and 3 shields at the start and later you can irrigate horses for +2 food and +2 shields from here.

Alright, going to try that, younds good. The picture is from the SNES earth map, so you can actually go from the mainland to japan without any ships... not sure why, but I guess they didn't want an england situation XD

I was hoping to settle around that part since it meant I could take those first cavalry horses on my way when I come across the horses.

I still struggle with a couple of the concepts like shileds and arrows as resources. what provides them and what they are good for.

 

[Dracul JOSHI]

I still struggle seeing which places might be worthwhile to settle, what buildings to build or how trade works in this game.

Also, apparently mining removes features? This is very counterintuitive.

 

[tupi]

Also, apparently mining removes features? This is very counterintuitive.

Mining adds shields (production, like "hammers" in later Civ games or Col). It never removes anything, except if irrigation already was built in hills/desert before. You cannot have both irrigation and mine on same tile at the same time.

Keep in mind that food production from mines is low (or even zero in desert/mountains), so it's not a good idea to build/use them early in the game. You need food to grow your cities.

Also, maybe it's a good idea to set "Instant advice" on. Game will not only recommend you best places for cities, but also places to build roads, irrigation and mines - and in help text you can read why you need them.

what buildings to build

Honestly, none of them as long as you under Despotism. Remember: you should pay a maintenance cost every turn for every building, except for your Palace and Barracks (barracks have a maintenance cost only after gunpowder or on highter difficulties). So if you play on Chieftain or Warlord difficulty, you can build barracks everywhere, because they will cost you nothing. Build/buy a temple if city in disorder or its size is already pretty big (so disorders will start soon). Build a marketplace only if it will generate more bonus coins than it consumes with its maitenance cost (-1$/turn). Similar logic for library: it should generate more bonus bulbs than its maintenance.

 

[Dracul JOSHI]

Thanks for the help.

I could swear building a mine reduced the output of my oil field though.

 

[Mize]

That's because mining swamp turns it into forest. Swamp with oil will become forest with game. Which can be irrigated to get plains with horses. Mines can be built on desert, mountain and hill squares. Mining grassland, plains and swamp turns the tile into forest. Forest can be irrigated to become plains. Arctic and tundra cannot be mined or irrigated.

 

[tupi]

Yes, my bad about mining. But in SNES version command name in menu for such cases is "Forest", not "Mine", so I thought you can't mix them up. Well, letter next to settler when it's performing the task is still "M" (and technically it's the same command, and in PC version you use same "M" hotkey for both).