Civ V questions- how can I win on prince?

[caketastydelish]

I have a lot of questions. I keep trying to win on prince and almost never do. Winning on any earlier difficulty setting is rather easy for me, but I can't seem toe advance from prince. I know many of you play on deity.

I am a warmonger and always go with honor. I am probably best with Germany and the huns. The huns are invincible with me in the early game, but Germany is solid throughout the game. Even without the panzer I do well with germany just because their unique pikeman is so cheap and you can spam it, and the reduced cost of gold maintenance to keep them. Barb units joining your side only make it better.

Of course, even with Germany I can not always win. Usually I don't.

Question 1: How do I make a specialist in a city?

Question 2: I have heard that tiles more than three spaces away from your city do it no good unless it's a luxury or strategic resource. Is this true? If so what is the point of buying the extra tiles?

Question 3: How do you all have so much gold, happiness, and production? I can never seem to have near as much of these things as many of you.

Even when I establish trade routes it seems to only do my currency more bad than good much of the time.

This last game I played I could not win because other civs were always ganging up on me. It seems Monglia's unique ability is useless (I was playing as them). I had defeated two city states, and then five civs at the same time decided I was being a "war mongering menace" and they all declared war against me. I was able to hold out (barely) but by the time they made peace much of the game had passed and I had failed to advance. Then I declared war on the last city state within my vicinity and that was alright. Then I got my troops ready to declare war on China (my only neighbor and she was also very weak with backward techs, a small army, and few cities). Then just as I was about to declare war on China, America and Sweden declared war on me.

I just quit the game, realizing I'd never be able to advance- some of those five would always be at war with me periodically. They will never leave me alone so I can slowly advance.

In addition, I was not even sure that my Khan (Mongolia's replacement for great general) was actually healing the units in the adjacent tiles like it was supposed to.

Finally one more question. I always annex city. Never do I make a puppet, I annex 100% of the time. Is there a time when it would be better to make a puppet? Personally I do not see the point.

 

[TheMarshmallowBear]

Q1 - Certian buildings allow for "specialists", which produce I think additional culture/gold/production, but mostly Great People points.

Q2 - You can;t buy tiles outside of your "city limit", they are acquired because of expanding culture.

Q3 - Gold, Happiness and Production often depend on what's around you. Gold is produced by Trading Posts, Happiness by loads of luxury resources and production with appropriate buildings and surrounding areas (hills for example). Not to mention Gold, Science, Production, Faith and Culture can be increased by Great People tiles.

 

[Aaron90495]

I have a lot of questions. I keep trying to win on prince and almost never do. Winning on any earlier difficulty setting is rather easy for me, but I can't seem toe advance from prince. I know many of you play on deity.

I am a warmonger and always go with honor. I am probably best with Germany and the huns. The huns are invincible with me in the early game, but Germany is solid throughout the game. Even without the panzer I do well with germany just because their unique pikeman is so cheap and you can spam it, and the reduced cost of gold maintenance to keep them. Barb units joining your side only make it better.

Of course, even with Germany I can not always win. Usually I don't.

Question 1: How do I make a specialist in a city?

Question 2: I have heard that tiles more than three spaces away from your city do it no good unless it's a luxury or strategic resource. Is this true? If so what is the point of buying the extra tiles?

Question 3: How do you all have so much gold, happiness, and production? I can never seem to have near as much of these things as many of you.

Even when I establish trade routes it seems to only do my currency more bad than good much of the time.

This last game I played I could not win because other civs were always ganging up on me. It seems Monglia's unique ability is useless (I was playing as them). I had defeated two city states, and then five civs at the same time decided I was being a "war mongering menace" and they all declared war against me. I was able to hold out (barely) but by the time they made peace much of the game had passed and I had failed to advance. Then I declared war on the last city state within my vicinity and that was alright. Then I got my troops ready to declare war on China (my only neighbor and she was also very weak with backward techs, a small army, and few cities). Then just as I was about to declare war on China, America and Sweden declared war on me.

I just quit the game, realizing I'd never be able to advance- some of those five would always be at war with me periodically. They will never leave me alone so I can slowly advance.

In addition, I was not even sure that my Khan (Mongolia's replacement for great general) was actually healing the units in the adjacent tiles like it was supposed to.

Finally one more question. I always annex city. Never do I make a puppet, I annex 100% of the time. Is there a time when it would be better to make a puppet? Personally I do not see the point.

Actually, Tradition is often better for warmongering, depending on when you attack. Huns do well with Honor, but the Germans are actually better suited for Tradition.

1. Go to the city screen, and click the "slot" next to the building you want a specialist in. Most buildings Medieval Era and later have at least one specialist slot.

2. Yes, tiles more than 3 away from the city don't produce hammers, gold, etc. for the city. However, a luxury outside that range will still give you happiness, and you can use a strategic resource outside that range (or sell it). You CAN'T buy tiles more than 3 tiles from the city.

3. The key to high gold, production, and science is big cities, which means lots of food. It isn't as important in domination games, but it's still important.

Roads cost 1 gold per tile, so only connect trade routes if the city's population is at least as many tiles as the road would need to be.

Generally, you need good science for domination games. Having better units than your enemies will help you tremendously.

The Khan only heals adjacent units when they would ordinarily heal.

There are very few times you SHOULD annex - only annex when either the city has a high population (at least 6, unless it's really early in the game), is a former capital, has a potential for high production (lots of hills), or you need to be able to buy units in the city. When it doesn't do many of those things or you can't afford the happiness hit, raze it. When it can produce lots of gold (rivers and a decent population), puppet it.

In domination games, your happiness in peace time should be 10 or more. In war time, generally you can dip into negative happiness for a short time, but avoid hitting -10 happiness at all costs. That'll get you in major trouble. And finally, warring against city-states is nearly pointless, even as Mongolia. Unless their location is incredibly good, don't bother fighting them.

 

[Seabastian Civ]

I think I can give you a few pointers to get you up to King (at least).

First, I would explore another civ. Germany is pretty underwhelming. If you want to be a warmonger, try China or Aztecs. China has superior generals and crossbowmen, and the Aztecs are a lot of fun and Jaguars, if you can keep them alive, make excellent riflemen and infantry.

Second, try this build order when you first start the game. (1) scout, (2) monument, (3) worker. If you choose Aztecs, build a jaguar instead of a scout.

Third, don't expand too fast! If you want a fun game, try going Aztecs and not making more than 4 cities. If you find that your treasury is low, go take some cities with your army!

Lastly, always puppet. You cannot use the city for several turns after conquering it anyway, and you can annex later in the game.

Finally, try to keep your soldiers alive as long as possible. If they are taking damage, withdraw them and retreat a few tiles. Sometimes the enemy will come after you, leaving him vulnerable.

Good Luck.

 

[caketastydelish]

You guys are certainly right about city states. This last game as Germany I was doing better (I always do better with them). I bullied and captured ONE city state and that permanently pissed off Catherine (who was huge) and Austria (who was very close to me). I had to constantly split my forces between the two of them, spreading me too thin to actually beat either one of them.

Then, Ghandi(who had the highest score in the game) declared war on me as well... That was simply more than I could handle. No way I could hold out against all three of them at the same time. From now on I won't bother with city states until all the other civs on the continent have been wiped out. I could have beat any one of those civilizations (or at least gained some cities from them). Especially Catherine, who everybody else hated.

 

[civ54lyfe]

I'll most definitely annex any city with aluminum/uranium if my empire is starved of either one. But that's about the only case. Oh, also I'll annex if the city "smells" like it'll have either one of the those resources in the future + the city is also at a totally badass chokepoint or something else freaky about it.

 

[Aaron90495]

I'll most definitely annex any city with aluminum/uranium if my empire is starved of either one. But that's about the only case. Oh, also I'll annex if the city "smells" like it'll have either one of the those resources in the future + the city is also at a totally badass chokepoint or something else freaky about it.

Actually, you'll get the resource even if you puppet it.

Also, OP, I still don't know why you're attacking CSs at all. It's not like you need to capture them to win. If you just want to wipe everyone out, then that's fine, but if you want to win, as you say you do, all capturing them is gonna do is sink your happiness levels.

 

[civ54lyfe]

Never said otherwise, did I? I annex those b/c often times I have the money to plop a courthouse and/or have control in some situations of crucial time production.

 

[manu-fan]

Never straight out Annex a city. NEVER.

Puppet it, and when it's out of resistance, then annex it if you want. Usually buying a Courthouse immediately.

What I do is leave every captured city as a puppet, except the former Capitals, which I annex. These are usually the best cities, and I can get the right buildings, and buy religious ones, in them. For the puppets, don't forget to Trading Post nearly every tile. Puppets can be great little income generators.

I'm a Prince player myself, and I must admit that early on, there's a very delicate balance between Happiness, Money, and Expansion.

Good luck.

Cheers.

 

[civ54lyfe]

You're right. And happiness is actually the only metric that I do look at before annexing (immediately) a uranium/8+ aluminum city if I actually need it. I could puppet and try to remember best time to take it over or whatever but usually I'd forget about it because other stuff came up.

Also, if an accquired city is pretty badass in general (and could get to 25+ with crazy production as well), and I'm not starving in the streets and it's at most 1800AD, I'm just annexing it to begin my pet project. Can't help it

 

[michaeljhuman]

I love playing German domination victory. It's a bit swingy, whether you get unit from barbs. And there is a downside to too many early units - you don't have the gold to support many of them.

It's hard to know what you are doing wrong, so I can only offer general advice.

If you are playing too fast, slow down. I play on standard/quick so games don't take too long - this means you can spend more time on turns and finish in a weekend.

Think about every decision a bit. Especially what you build, how you spend money, and when to launch attacks and against whom.

Learn from your mistakes. Don't repeat the same decisions expecting a different outcome

Early game, your decisions are critical. Leave your workers and scouts defended. If you are the type to use saves, use autosave, with no more than 2 turns interval. That way, if you really mess up, you can quickly fix the problem. I like to go scout, monument, worker, settler with maybe a warrior before settler if Liberty. If Tradition, I skip monument.

Make sure you plan out your techs to improve luxury resources to ensure happiness for growth. Use Social Policies for happiness. With Gods and Kings, Happiness is easier through religion.

To attack, make sure you have 3 siege weapons. Make sure you have a 5+ soldier types. And maybe 3 archers. The exact mix depends on the city - use your scouts to ensure you know what you will face for defenses. Learn the combat bonuses. Attack from hills, don't attack over rivers. Try not to lose your most experienced (promoted) troops.

Don't automate workers, if you are doing so. Not until you have a lot of cities and things are going well. You will better understand what's going on with a city that way. Take time to see what citizens are assigned to what. Consider changing the city focus to better support your plans.

Gold is amazing. And you will need a fair amount to support an army. Build markets, and trading posts at least.

Learn to work with city states well. They grant units. I HEART Maritime CSs, and try to save up the 1000 gold needed to long term ally them. They make a big improvement in city growth.

Have a long term plan. Try to balance getting a good starting infrastructure with 3 to 4 cities before going to war, IMO. It's amazing how much better tech you can have than most of the AI divs that way. They are not good at it when the playing field is level, like on Prince.

Definitely spend time thinking about the Social Policies you use and why. If something does not seem to work, try something else.

In general, try different things. See what works.

I know this is all basic stuff. But that's how I improved. Slow down, think, try things.

Also, there's a ton of info online if you get bored. Let's play videos, such as the excellent one's from Mad Djinn. Strategy guides, etc.

 

[patsfan454]

from my experience you are either good at civ or not. moving up in difficulty is trivial once you get the hang of the game. so consistently beating prince is basically like beating deity if that makes any sense

the point is dont get discouraged


a wise man once told me that if you are in any way on the defensive you are playing civ the wrong way

 

[Irkalla]

a wise man once told me that if you are in any way on the defensive you are playing civ the wrong way

Not at all. I tend to play on the defensive for the first half of the game, and focus on building badass cities.

Around mid game, someone somewhere is going to eventually get tired of my poop, and that's when I come out of nowhere and conquer their empire in a defensive war, then promptly backstab anyone who so much as bats an eyebrow or captures something that I want.

Playing defensive is fine as long as you carefully manage your potential. That, and properly executing your transition from potential to kinetic.

 

[Aaron90495]

Not at all. I tend to play on the defensive for the first half of the game, and focus on building badass cities.

Around mid game, someone somewhere is going to eventually get tired of my poop, and that's when I come out of nowhere and conquer their empire in a defensive war, then promptly backstab anyone who so much as bats an eyebrow or captures something that I want.

Playing defensive is fine as long as you carefully manage your potential. That, and properly executing your transition from potential to kinetic.

This. Playing defensively early can be an incredibly powerful strategy. It lets you get a really solid economy going.

 

[Matthew.]

Question 1: How do I make a specialist in a city?

The game should automatically place specialists when there is enough surplus and no desirable tiles on the map. I wouldn't worry much about specialists until you get used to playing the game. They are useful for faster wins which help out on higher difficulties, but they are not needed on Prince/King.

But to answer your question, it is a window that appears below the city-management window after clicking on a city. There should be the name of a building that gives a slot (e.g., amphitheater) and a spot next to it. The default will automate the system, otherwise you can manually click the boxes to set which slots you want worked.

The reason I say to ignore them for now is they work exactly like map tiles in that they use up one of your citizens. If you don't know what you are doing you can end up stifling growth and production, which results in a weaker overall empire.

Question 3: How do you all have so much gold, happiness, and production? I can never seem to have near as much of these things as many of you.

I suggest starting out next to large rivers without too much forest/jungles. Heavy coastal and jungle starts are slower and, generally, more difficult to get an empire up and running quickly. All tiles next to rivers have gold attached to it, so money is much easier to handle on heavy river starts.

 

[Matthew.]

Actually, Tradition is often better for warmongering, depending on when you attack. Huns do well with Honor, but the Germans are actually better suited for Tradition.

IMO, Tradition opener, then Honor opener (preferably with raging barbarians), Oligarchy, then complete Honor tree. Oligarchy makes keeping military garrisoned in all cities a non-issue and borders expand way too slow without Tradition opener.

 

[civ54lyfe]

I would disregard the "avoid starting near too much Forest" advice. Forest specifically, chops my way to very crucial buildings and units in very many games.

 

[Matthew.]

We are talking about Prince difficulty, i.e., the basics. Yes, chopping down forests to get crucial buildings out is a good strategy, but not really relevant to the discussion.

The point is less about avoiding forests and more about making sure to learn on a map that is easily accessible. Getting one of those terrible starts covered in hills/jungles/forests with luxuries out of the way on the tech tree is going to be more difficult to learn on than a map with plenty of floodplains, river tiles, cattle, wheat, etc. The OP is looking for advice on how to survive Prince. Trying to clear 13 turn jungle tiles with no production/gold while the AI is rushing you isn't going to help.

 

[OwlRaider]

I think you should try a different play style than warmongering. On Prince difficulty all the other victory conditions are awfully easy to achieve as the AI doesn't get close to being able to win even at turn 400 or so. Try a solid combo of civilization and victory such as India+culture, Korea/Babylon+science, Greece+diplomacy, etc, read some strategies in here regarding that specific civilization and victory condition and continue from there. You don't have to follow them exactly, with the complex timings and whatnot but try to stay in their ballpark so you learn new things and new approaches in the game, which will also help you with warmongering later on if you will still prefer that over the other options.

 

[civ54lyfe]

Well I'm just saying that if the area has a lot of forest tiles, and, you personally enjoy building the Pyramids, then you want those forest tiles- bad. If you need to squeeze off a horseman or a library - thankyou forest.