CivIV vs CivV, help I'm a perma newb

[PutCashIn]

Okay.

So what *really* helped with CivIV was susitals and *the other guys* 'why you suck at CivIV after playing Civ3' posts.

Truly helpful things like 'build a worker first, not a settler' and, heavens forbid, 'cottages.'

So what are the useful tidbits of info for moving from CivIV to CivV?

And if anyone says 'ICS' I will ragequit and run off to load Civ2, where I's'lt spamm settlers unitll I meet Ghengis. So there.

 

[DaveMcW]

Get 6 military units and keep them up to date. Use them in groups for flanking bonuses.

Always puppet conquered cities.

Sell surplus resources to AIs, buy missing resources from city states.

Build mines and trading posts, get your food from Maritime city states.

Libraries and scientists double your research rate.

Colosseums double your happiness.

Eventually you will have libraries and colosseums everywhere. Then you have to choose between inefficient buildings or cramming in more cities.

 

[Slowpoke]

ICS (sorry)

 

[CBPE]

Then you have to choose between inefficient buildings or cramming in more cities.

I'm very sorry, my english is so poor...

can you explain me this in other words, please?

 

[Nunya]

I'm very sorry, my english is so poor...

can you explain me this in other words, please?

Library is the most effective science building. Coliseum is the most effective happiness building.

When you have Library and Coliseum in every city and you want to improve your science or happiness you can do one of two things:
1) You can make new cities and then you build Library and Coliseum in them.
2) You can build less effective science and happiness buildings in the cities you already have.

 

[wurstburst]

General tips for non-ICS/puppet type empire.

Build 2-6 cities.

Focus on either horsemen or foot soldiers (warrior/swords/etc.) and build up a good number of those (6 or so to start). Go to war with your closest neighbor as soon as possible. Eventually you'll want a couple of catapults to support your troops but you won't need them right at the beginning. 4 horsemen is generally enough to go on an extended war (probably more after they get nerfed in the next patch) and can stay effective for a good while. If you go warriors, at least 6 to take a city and you need to beeline to swordsmen to be effective in the early game.

Puppet everything you conquer. If you get into a situation where conquering will kill your happiness, conquer anyway and just raze the city. Never annex a city (exception would be if you are playing on a non-pangea map and need a base to rush buy new units).

Trade as often as possible with the other civs. Always take cash now in return for your open borders and luxuries. Don't take back open borders or luxuries except in extreme circumstances (relying on other civs for luxuries is a particularly bad idea, as they will go to war with you and put you in -10 unhappiness at the same time - very bad). Oly take back gold per turn from the other civs after you have take all their gold now. Gold now rules.

Cripple as many civs as you can. Given the choice of attacking a weak enemy civ for a second time and going after a civ that is more powerful than you and your friend, always go after the powerful friend. Never let a civ go into runaway mode - they will grow uncontrolled and eventually stomp you.

Get at least 2 libraries up and running in a reasonable time (buy if you have to), and fill at least 1 specialist slot, so you can get 2 great scientists later on.

Mid-game, be prepared for the remaining civs to gang up on you and stomp you all at once. By that time, you should have some reserve forces positioned in parts of your empire that are likely to be invasion fronts.

Get as many pacts of secrecy and pacts of cooperation early as you can. Good relations won't last if you play aggressively as outlined above, but if you don't get on the good side with some civs, you can get ganged up on in the early game, and that can be "game over man, game over".

If you are playing on a bigger map, leave each civ with a city or two after a war. These backwards civs will happily keep producing new cities that you can eventually conquer and puppet to backfill those big empty spaces in your empire (it can be annoying though when they plop a city down over a key road and cut off your trade routes - I usually DoW them immediately when they do that).

In war, make good use of promotions, flanking and great generals to win battles. Whenever possible, do not leave a unit exposed to counterattack on open terrain (the killing fields). A single scout with +1 visibility range can help a lot in seeing what's going on in a battle - if you can keep one alive from the early game.

Make sure you have the tech to build colliseums when you need it. There will come a point that you will need more happy to keep puppeting. If you haven't gotten the tech by that point, your conquest streak will stall and you can be set back a lot in the game. Having enough cash on hand to rush buy a colliseum can also be important to keeping the military engine rolling along.

 

[Nunya]

Diplomacy has changed. There is no such things as a best friend forever anymore. The AI is focused more on winning than on roleplaying. It also sucks at winning.

 

[pi-r8]

Library is the most effective science building. Coliseum is the most effective happiness building.

When you have Library and Coliseum in every city and you want to improve your science or happiness you can do one of two things:
1) You can make new cities and then you build Library and Coliseum in them.
2) You can build less effective science and happiness buildings in the cities you already have.

What you and Dave said is true, but it's worth noting that universities are also very powerful, maybe more so than libraries.

Size 4 city, no buildings: 4 science
Size 4 city, library + 2 scientists: 12 science
Size 4 city, library + university + 3 scientists: 22.5 science

That's a bigger improvement than the library. They do cost more, though.

 

[iggymnrr]

Sound advice all around. Maybe Persia can go circus/market (instead of coliseums) if horse units are chosen and there is plenty horse/ivory around. Coliseums/Satraps being next in line.

 

[PutCashIn]

Awsome guys, thanks very much.

The return of buying buildings to the early game is a bit of a shock!

 

[alpaca]

Awsome guys, thanks very much.

The return of buying buildings to the early game is a bit of a shock!

It's fine in the early game because it's expensive compared to building. Where the shock will really settle is when you notice that late buildings are so expensive that you can only build them in your best production cities, where you don't want most of them, and instead have to buy them where you need them most.

A good tip is not neglecting trading posts. Money is flexible and instantly gives you units and buildings. This makes it important. Also, the higher the hammer cost of something is the better your gold/hammer ratio when you buy it.

Make sure you don't disregard city states, either, which is a mistake probably everyone does who's coming from Civ4. Maritime and Cultural city states are very powerful: The former provide food in each of your cities, allowing you to go without farms for a smaller city (and thus use your happiness better), and the latter allow you to get Social Policies without having to build cultural buildings too much (or at all, in some cases).

 

[Gazurtoid]

Is there a rule of thumb with regards to farms and trading posts - like how many you should have of each in a city? Also, what tiles should I build trading posts on? Sometimes the game will suggest building a post on land that looks like it would be more suitable for a farm.

 

[alpaca]

Is there a rule of thumb with regards to farms and trading posts - like how many you should have of each in a city? Also, what tiles should I build trading posts on? Sometimes the game will suggest building a post on land that looks like it would be more suitable for a farm.

This depends on your strategy, the city specialisation you aim for and number of maritime city states you have available. Below are some guides about food-improved farms (after Civil Service or Fertilizer)

If you go for ICS and you're looking at one of your pop-neutral cities, you will end up with 0 farms and probably 1-2 trade posts, too, because you want to run mines as long as you need the production, then switch to scientists.

For a big money city, it depends on the terrain. If you have 2 tiles, you can go with trade-posts only if you have one or two maritimes, maybe an additional farm and one or two mines. If you are on plains, you need about as many farms as trade posts to keep growth going, or cap growth at some desired threshold by replacing the farms you had with trade posts or switching the citizens.

For a science city without the Rationalism bonus you want no trade posts, only farms, if you can afford the happiness. Otherwise, go for trade posts or mines.

For a production city, you want some mix of farms and mines, depending on terrain and maritime access again. If you are on grass, 1-2 mines per farms. On plains, 0.5-1 mine per farm.

I don't think it makes much sense to work a vanilla 3 tile unless you're looking at a science or specialist city (which is typically the same). So steer away from farms on grassland without a river if you can. Working plains makes more sense because that one hammer is doubled by a golden age.

 

[CBPE]

Library is the most effective science building. Coliseum is the most effective happiness building.

When you have Library and Coliseum in every city and you want to improve your science or happiness you can do one of two things:
1) You can make new cities and then you build Library and Coliseum in them.
2) You can build less effective science and happiness buildings in the cities you already have.

Thank you very much, but I don't understand very well...

If I already have X cities and builded a Coliseum in every one, and now I'm going unhappy, it seems me that I'll force to build somewhere a circus or a theatre or some other kind of less efficient happiness' building, 'cause if I settle a new city to build a Coliseum, the initial bonus will be burn quickly:
+4 but the settled city provides (2+1) +3
When it'll reach size 2 the gain will be 0.....

... where am I wrong??

 

[Slowpoke]

You need meritocracy, and then forbidden palace Also, cap all your cities at 5 or 6 and your luxuries will keep you afloat.

 

[alpaca]

Thank you very much, but I don't understand very well...

If I already have X cities and builded a Coliseum in every one, and now I'm going unhappy, it seems me that I'll force to build somewhere a circus or a theatre or some other kind of less efficient happiness' building, 'cause if I settle a new city to build a Coliseum, the initial bonus will be burn quickly:
+4 but the settled city provides (2+1) +3
When it'll reach size 2 the gain will be 0.....

... where am I wrong??

Correct, but you will then have a city providing 9 science and something like 1 gold (trade route at 3.5 - 1 for library - 1.5 for roads) for no cost except for waiting for the colosseum and the library to come online. If you add Meritocracy, the Forbidden Palace or Planned Economy, each of these adds another pop point, providing for example +2 gold each. The primary advantage is the science, though. And once you settle your available space you can switch to vertical growth and start building/buying theatres and the like.