Condensed tips for beginners?

[mtr12]

Tbh, I just wish Charlemagne could be IMP/ORG, then he would be amazing rather than a leader that is terrible except for his UB.

As it stands, the best reason to pick Charlemagne is so the AI doesn't get him, since AI Charlie is the most annoying leader in the game.

 

[GGracchus]

Yeah, but you're Charlemagne, the Rauthaus halves your maintenance from that of a Courthouse anyways. Using SP at that point would be redundant since most of your empire costs will be from your army, civics, and inflation. And you would lose out on the chance to take advantage of reduced-price Corps.

I agree that SP would still be decent, you're just missing out on fully exploiting Charles.

Corps+rathaus are nice, especially on maps where corp maintenance is high(lots of resources). However, I don't think it's best to say not to run SP at all, at it really should be decided on a case by case basis.

 

[steveg700]

Just cut over from V to IV BtS. Lots of little differences. There's suppsoedly a tutorial in IV, but I guess with BtS thats not present anymore. Questions:

1) Is culture good for anything besides border expansion?

2) How far from your city will citizens work? Is it two or three tiles?

3) Cities don't defend themselves at all, right? So, how full should I stuff my cities with defending units? Is one archer okay in the early game?

4) It seem like production can be queued, but if I click a unit, it automatically goes to the top. I can't drag and drop and there are no "move up" and "move down" arrows. Is there a convenient way to manage it?

5) I automated some workers, but they completely ignored improving the iron near my cities, so I had to manually send them over to mine it. Is there a known reason for this hesitation?

 

[Gudinsdiv]

Just cut over from V to IV BtS. Lots of little differences. There's suppsoedly a tutorial in IV, but I guess with BtS thats not present anymore. Questions:

1) Is culture good for anything besides border expansion?
Yes. There is a cultural defense rating that aids in the cities defence. Also, the cumulative culture of your civ adds to your overall score.

2) How far from your city will citizens work? Is it two or three tiles?
It is a Big Fat Cross(or Plus) extending two tiles out in each of four directions. Note that this excludes the second tiles diagonal from your city itself.

3) Cities don't defend themselves at all, right? So, how full should I stuff my cities with defending units? Is one archer okay in the early game?
I try to have at least three archers early game as defense and then add or subtract depending on how much barbarian attention you get and whether the city itself is already a "second line" city(That is, not a front line city)

4) It seem like production can be queued, but if I click a unit, it automatically goes to the top. I can't drag and drop and there are no "move up" and "move down" arrows. Is there a convenient way to manage it?
There is a specific key combo to do this that you can find under "shortcuts" in the Civilopedia.
5) I automated some workers, but they completely ignored improving the iron near my cities, so I had to manually send them over to mine it. Is there a known reason for this hesitation?

It is best not to automate your workers. They tend to change mines into windmills and do other sorts of stuff that doesn't gel with your plans. The flexibility of controlling your workers, stacking them, stopping them suddenly to rebuild an improvement destroyed by an enemy, is inestimably beneficial as opposed to letting the cvomputer do it for you. If the computer knew any better, it wouldn't be so easy to beat! Don't be so quick to surrender your intellectual edge.

 

[Whiskey_Lord]

Despite playing this game for many years, I only recently learned that amphibious invasions are far more efficient than land wars from the Renaissance onward (on hemispheres/islands/any map with a reasonable amount of water). Use frigates to take down the cultural defense and drafting through Nationhood to replenish forces quickly. Nationhood also allows for more acceptable losses because of how quickly you can gain numerical advantage with it. Have your coastal cities building navy while the inland cities draft and train units for your army. This is so much faster than having to land troops. Usually you can get your victim to capitulate quickly because of how fast you can capture cities like this, especially if most of them are coastal.

 

[johnnyhawtcakes]

I always build the Academy and use the rest of them to bulb my way to Liberalism. On the other hand, if you build the Great Library and settle a couple Great Scientists there, then add University and Oxford, you have the best science city on the planet. It is not clear that is always a bad way to use the Scientists rather than immediately bulb stuff with them, especially if your strategy calls for heavy-duty researching to the end of the game (i.e., not playing for Cultural or military strategy). I don't do that, but I am not sure it is always wrong.

I always have the problem of deciding between joining the city as a great scientist, building an academy or bulbing. Which one is the best? I would think that in the long run its better to make your cities more science oriented than just one tech? Also which cities should you build an academy or join? Isn't any city good? A city with more culture? Or is there a multiplier effect in cities that already have a lot of science?

 

[Sisiutil]

I always have the problem of deciding between joining the city as a great scientist, building an academy or bulbing. Which one is the best? I would think that in the long run its better to make your cities more science oriented than just one tech? Also which cities should you build an academy or join? Isn't any city good? A city with more culture? Or is there a multiplier effect in cities that already have a lot of science?

• Academy: These should be reserved for cities that are producing a significant amount of science on their own. If the research production in the city is small--say, 10 or less--then the benefit of the Academy will be minimal.
• Settling: Once again, this should be reserved for cities with science will the the priority. You will want to prioritize a library, university, observatory, etc. in order to get the most out of a settled scientist. A settled GS is best done early in the game; in the late game, you may not be playing long enough to see the same return on investment as you would from bulbing.
• Lightbulbing: While as you said, it might seem to make sense to make a long-term investment, often a free tech can provide multiple benefits. For example, if you're lagging behind in tech, scoring a free one few other civs have could give you what you need to start trading and catching up. In addition, many of the early-mid-game techs (Philosophy, Paper, Education) that can be bulbed (partially, in the case of Education) can give you a considerable lead in the Liberalism race. Post-Liberalism you can be choosier; if the tech the GS will help you with is not of immediate benefit, an Academy or settling may be more attractive options.

 

[Zx Zero Zx]

Tbh, I just wish Charlemagne could be IMP/ORG, then he would be amazing rather than a leader that is terrible except for his UB.

As it stands, the best reason to pick Charlemagne is so the AI doesn't get him, since AI Charlie is the most annoying leader in the game.

I can name a few much worse, Zara. Besides Burger King isn't bad, if you bulb to Eng with him you have a strong army to attack with.

 

[Silv Something]

It is best not to automate your workers. They tend to change mines into windmills and do other sorts of stuff that doesn't gel with your plans. The flexibility of controlling your workers, stacking them, stopping them suddenly to rebuild an improvement destroyed by an enemy, is inestimably beneficial as opposed to letting the cvomputer do it for you. If the computer knew any better, it wouldn't be so easy to beat! Don't be so quick to surrender your intellectual edge.

Although with certain options you can set workers to leave old improvements and/or leave forests when automated.
It's still better to issue them orders directly, though. Learn to use the hotkeys so it doesn't take so long to tell them what to do.

 

[ChaosSlayer]

Hello

Could some one post a little guide (or point me to one) that gives hints of individual traits (not on actual leaders). Which are good traits and why, and which are not really significant

thank you!

 

[duckstab]

Well, this hardly qualifies as "little", but Sisiutil's guide is very good:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=215506

 

[Kallikrates]

Are there standard strategies for "catching up" either in game score or tech to an opponent you cannot hurt directly (or are to weak). Say, Mansa on a different continent is 300-500 score points ahead, about equal in tech, when you make contact in 1400s or so, but astronomy is still away and he is too powerful anyway. In a current game (Warlords, Monarch, Standard map, standard speed) I am Wang. I took out Djengis Khan a while ago (took too long, I still suck in warfare), leading on my continent, before Ragnar, Napoleon and Frederic (vassal to Ragnar). Quin Huang became vassal to Mansa shortly after we made contact, so he is even further ahead. I will neither be able to invade nor beat Mansa in the space race. So the idea was to slowly conquer my own continent and hope that it will be enough for domination. I took out Napoleon in the 1600s. Now Mansa has a lead of about 1100 points! and 2-3 techs... I guess I lost as now of course Ragnar and his vassal come at me and I am not powerful enough. But I wonder if going back to the save from about first contact with Mansa/Wang I could do something different to try closing the gap. I got liberalism shortly after contact and then a GA with the Taj, didn't help at all.

 

[GGracchus]

@the above: tech as fast as you can to fission/rocketry, build manhattan, mass nukes, and hope he doesn't hit you back. Or you could get fighters+carriers and marines+transports+escorts, and hit him with that. In warlords you don't have tac nukes so it's slightly less efficient. With enough fighters and marines, you can beat any city, and just raze all his coastal cities to cripple/cap him.

 

[ChaosSlayer]

Well, this hardly qualifies as "little", but Sisiutil's guide is very good:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=215506

thank you for the guide! it was very interesting read, and discovered things for myself I haven't yet realized

one more question - I am looking again for some guide to explanation of combat mechanics - how does 2 units beating on each other works internally.

thank you

 

[Danil]

are there any most common research paths strategies? like sometimes you go for literature, music, etc. and sometimes you go into metal casting-machinery stuff

 

[Sisiutil]

are there any most common research paths strategies? like sometimes you go for literature, music, etc. and sometimes you go into metal casting-machinery stuff

Pursuing Aesthetics then Literature to build the Great Library then pop Great Scientists to lightbulb the techs leading to Liberalism (Philosophy, Paper, Education) is a pretty common strategy (and one of my favourites). The AI often neglects Aesthetics, so it can be a very handy trading tech, as can the liberalism prerequisites, though you want to be careful about trading them away too soon lest you get beat to the big L.

Anyway, that's my own favourite, as I said; I'm sure other people around here have alternative tech path strategies.

 

[Kallikrates]

What if one misses the Great Library?
After all it is very expensive (w/o Marble or IND leader). With a financial or philosophical leader one can probably have a pretty good sience city around that time, even without the additional boost of two free scientist. But without these traits? Running Caste only for one city, when one "needs" slavery for war or building all those forges, courthouse does not seem a great option.

My biggest problem on Monarch (Warlords) now is that I have a really hard time to follow any of the standard strategies in a consequential way.
Usually my land is way below average in the first place (seeafood capital without fishing as starting tech, big deserts where the second or third cities should be etc.). Then I always have to do some warring, whether I like it or not etc. So I miss some wonders or I need some military tech first to survive and often the AI is very loath to exchange techs etc.

I apparently lack the flexibility to adapt myself well enough to the map. My very first (vanilla) monarch game was still the easiest. I played Catherine on a Pangaea (fractial, it turned out like that) with stone in the second city or so (Pyramids -> gave me an engineer in the early ADs who built the library) and with Strength 18 Cossacks mostly against Samurais, Longbows I finished domination in the 1700s, earlier than any of my noble or prince games.

 

[Danil]

Pursuing Aesthetics then Literature to build the Great Library then pop Great Scientists to lightbulb the techs leading to Liberalism (Philosophy, Paper, Education) is a pretty common strategy (and one of my favourites). The AI often neglects Aesthetics, so it can be a very handy trading tech, as can the liberalism prerequisites, though you want to be careful about trading them away too soon lest you get beat to the big L.

Anyway, that's my own favourite, as I said; I'm sure other people around here have alternative tech path strategies.

yeah, that's pretty much what i do in my games
i was just wondering if there were different strategies

 

[Sisiutil]

What if one misses the Great Library?
After all it is very expensive (w/o Marble or IND leader). With a financial or philosophical leader one can probably have a pretty good sience city around that time, even without the additional boost of two free scientist. But without these traits? Running Caste only for one city, when one "needs" slavery for war or building all those forges, courthouse does not seem a great option.

My biggest problem on Monarch (Warlords) now is that I have a really hard time to follow any of the standard strategies in a consequential way.
Usually my land is way below average in the first place (seeafood capital without fishing as starting tech, big deserts where the second or third cities should be etc.). Then I always have to do some warring, whether I like it or not etc. So I miss some wonders or I need some military tech first to survive and often the AI is very loath to exchange techs etc.

I apparently lack the flexibility to adapt myself well enough to the map. My very first (vanilla) monarch game was still the easiest. I played Catherine on a Pangaea (fractial, it turned out like that) with stone in the second city or so (Pyramids -> gave me an engineer in the early ADs who built the library) and with Strength 18 Cossacks mostly against Samurais, Longbows I finished domination in the 1700s, earlier than any of my noble or prince games.

I usually manage to build the GL even without marble and while playing as a non-IND leader on Immortal level. Save the forests around your GP farm--pre-chop them, however--try to obtain Mathematics and Monotheism, get your state religion into the GP farm, switch to OR if you haven't already... then start chopping. Also whip the previous build before starting the GL for its overflow (save a build at the right point for this if you have to), pull any specialists you're running in the GP farm and assign them to high-hammer tiles, and let the city build its population past the happiness cap and then whip them away on other quickie builds (military units, usually) so the overflow goes into the wonder.

If you still miss the GL then you definitely need to adjust your strategy. Yes, Caste System is an option, but if you're going to run it then you need to use it for more than just one city. You might consider running it in conjunction with Pacifism for the additional GP boost. That would dictate a more peaceful game--maybe running unlimited artist specialists in three cities and going for a cultural win? Or you could turn warmonger. Maybe you'll even wrench the GL from the cold, dead hands of its builder.

I find that the best use for sub-par land is usually production. Plains, hills, and deserts are lousy for specialists or cottages, but usually okay for hammers, especially early in the game when the city will be small anyway. Your best option may be an early rush; research a key military tech (BW, the Wheel/AH, IW), found your second city to claim it, then pump units and go take cities in good territory from some undeserving churl.

 

[Vaya]

Hello I got a question. How can I move a unit right at the moment when new turn begins? This can make a life or death difference in multiplayer games and there are players who obviously know how to set a unit to move it/attack exactly at the moment when one turn ends and another begins(before Im able to do anything)..
I Got my ass kicked this way a few times and despite the fact that Ive been playing this game(and dozens of modes) for years I still don't know how they do it