Condensed tips for beginners?

[Sisiutil]

Sounds like you have things well in hand. Monty is really only dangerous very early in the game, when you're weak and he's built up a large force. As the game goes on, he focuses too much on military and falls behind in technology. He'll usually have more units, but they'll be older and less effective.

 

[ProfessorK]

I know I'm not going to make the same mistake that I did in an earlier game and take just a defensive stance and allow myself to become involved in a long war of attrition where I just set back and defend while my opponent produces more units to throw at me and I produce more defensive units. It ended up being the downfall of both civs because he (Alexander) stubbornly refused my peace overtures and couldn't see that the war was weakening both of us to the point where we would become prey for other civs.

 

[Shigga]

Sounds like you have things well in hand. Monty is really only dangerous very early in the game, when you're weak and he's built up a large force. As the game goes on, he focuses too much on military and falls behind in technology. He'll usually have more units, but they'll be older and less effective.

I love it how AI's really seem to have their own personalities. What other games are there where you talk about AI adversaries like they are real persons? ^^

Of course, could be just another sign of a bad case of One-More-Turn-Syndrome

And to add sth useful: It is always wise to try and finish a war asap, bc it is expensive in numerous ways. Not only you have to neglect the building of city infrastructure, but you also have to bear the unit upkeep and in higher difficulties war weariness is a real bugger. So try to finish him off as fast as possible. Also, I always try to have several great persons at the ready to start a golden age right after a war (especially a prolonged one!) and after the last former enemy city resistance is pulled down so you can start building infrastructure. This way, your homeland will catch up fast on what had to be neglected and your new cities will match your home cities faster in terms of development.

 

[GaliBardi]

Hi there!
I didn't want to open a new thread for my question:
What's better? Capture the opponent's last city on the map, thus destroying them completely or just let us have a paece treaty for tech + gold, and destroy them after 10 turns?
In my case: I'm just about to destroy Alexander's civ, but I see he has some gold + Calendar that I don't have yet. If I destroy him, will I get that tech anyway?

 

[Shigga]

You probably won't, but I always destroy the last city. When a civ is completely destroyed, the pop in the captured cities will instantly go up to 100% of yours. If you let the last city be, the pop percentage of your enemy in the captured cities will last a long time. Especially if your civ's ppl are below 50% it adds to the danger of a captured city revolting back to Alex, even more so for that latest captures which are normally nearest to the opponents last city which becomes his capital. Bc the nearer a captured city is to the enemys remaining capital, the more "We yearn to join our motherland" happiness penalty you will get!
Calendar is usually not a very high priority in my games, you can always get it yourself or trade it with another AI.
So, kill him!

 

[ProfessorK]

I agree that it is best to finish off an opponent civ and I don't understand why you would logically want to raze a city (emotionally, I can understand it if you are really angry).

I have an unrelated question regarding trading: If you have a trade route with another civ and and you offer a resource or tech for trade and have open borders, but there is nothing apparently available from their list to click on to suggest for trade, does that mean that they won't trade or that they have nothing that they can trade? I'm a little confused because the opponent civ does clearly have two gold mines so he should have surplus gold available to trade and the mines are connected to the trade network. He also have other tradeable commodities, such as spice. I would think that he would want to trade for many much needed resources he doesn't have, like my iron and horses. The lack of techs available to trade I can better understand because he likely has no tech to offer which I don't alredy possess. I would rather trade with him than go to war, but I'm becoming frustrated with the inability to trade with him. Please advise.

 

[cabert]

I agree that it is best to finish off an opponent civ and I don't understand why you would logically want to raze a city (emotionally, I can understand it if you are really angry).

some cities cost you more than they bring!
remember that there is a "number of cities" part of maintenance.
More cities = more maintenance = less research.
Try a game at the immortal level, and you'll understand very clearly that this 4th city was just one too many.

I have an unrelated question regarding trading: If you have a trade route with another civ and and you offer a resource or tech for trade, but there is nothing apparently available from their list to click on to suggest for trade, does that mean that they won't trade or that they have nothing that they can trade? I'm a little confused because the opponent civ does clearly have two gold mines so he should have surplus gold available to trade and the mines are connected to the trade network. The lack of techs available to trade I can better understand because he likely has no tech to offer which I don't alredy possess. I would rather trade with him than go to war, but I'm becoming frustrated with the inability to trade with him. Please advise.

to trade ressources with a neighbour he needs to have a spare ressource and a trade network to your capital.
Build a road towards his cities, and you'll be able to trade.

 

[ProfessorK]

I'm pretty sure that I have a complete trade route between our capitals, but I will check again. Where is the easiest place to check to see if a complete trade route exists?

 

[cabert]

I'm pretty sure that I have a complete trade route between our capitals, but I will check again. Where is the easiest place to check to see if a complete trade route exists?

if you have open borders, you should have his cities as trade routes in the city screens, check for the city with gold mines.
It's also possible that he already traded away his spare gold.

 

[frankcor]

I also will have gunpower tech in five turns, which will give me French musketeers, also mobile units. Any ideas are welcome.

I really hate to brag, (NOT) but you can find some excellent use of the Musketeer in The 'Teers 02: The Man in the Iron Mask. It's a Succession Game with a set of variants to require optimal use of the French UU.

 

[ProfessorK]

Hey Frankcor:

Against Montezuma I've found that a combination of catapults and musketeers has easily done the trick in reducing city fortifications and taking them with minimal casualties.

To anyone out there, I did have a couple of quick questions:

1) what are the requirements to establish a trade route between two continents separated by an ocean?

2) What are your recommendations for the best possible combination of civics if one is pursuing a cultural victory?

I'm thinking that once I take care of Montezuma, I can pretty much coast to a cultural victory if I have the right set of civics in place.

Thanks.

 

[frankcor]

2) What are your recommendations for the best possible combination of civics if one is pursuing a cultural victory?

I'm thinking that once I take care of Montezuma, I can pretty much coast to a cultural victory if I have the right set of civics in place.

Thanks.

To maximize the ability to harvest lots of Great Artists, I'd end up with:

Government - Representation: +3 science per specialist
Legal - Free Speech: +100% culture in all cities
Labor - Caste System: Unlimited artist, scientist, merchant
Economy - +1 free specialist per city
Religion - +100% great person birth rate in cities with state religion

However, along the way you might use Organized Religion to build missionaries without monasteries. Of course, you'll want to build every monastery of every religion in your three culture cities anyways.

 

[GaliBardi]

Hey Frankcor:

1) what are the requirements to establish a trade route between two continents separated by an ocean?

Thanks.

I think Astronomy the answer here..

 

[Narnian]

Can someone please be so kind as to explain the mechanics for "dot maping"? Or point me to the appropriate thread?
Ta
n

 

[Sisiutil]

Can someone please be so kind as to explain the mechanics for "dot maping"? Or point me to the appropriate thread?
Ta
n

My beginner's guide (link in my sig) contains an introduction to it.

 

[sercer88]

I am just baffled. How the heck do people play in even Monarch or higher?? I have slowly been moving up on the difficulty level, as I'm up to the level of Noble, but the next level up seems just so difficult. I tried one game in Monarch, and I was so behind in tech just a little in the game, I just quit! Tips, PLEASE, from all you Princes, Emperors, Deities!!!

 

[Sisiutil]

I am just baffled. How the heck do people play in even Monarch or higher?? I have slowly been moving up on the difficulty level, as I'm up to the level of Noble, but the next level up seems just so difficult. I tried one game in Monarch, and I was so behind in tech just a little in the game, I just quit! Tips, PLEASE, from all you Princes, Emperors, Deities!!!

If you jumped from Noble to Monarch, you skipped Prince level. No wonder you found it difficult.

Try the War Academy: http://www.civfanatics.com/civ4/strategy/

And this guide to getting your first win on Prince: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=153105

And this one for Monarch: http://www.civfanatics.com/civ4/strategy/monarch_condensed.php

Aside from that, browse the forums. There's a wealth of knowledge here.

 

[sercer88]

Oh, well, I don't know the difficulty levels very well for Civ 4. OK, I meant I can't get anything done in Prince.

 

[ProfessorK]

Do the level difficulties increase more dramatically between levels as you go up. I breezed through Settler and am breezing through Chieftian, both on my first time through. When am I likely to "hit the wall", so to speak and have more of a struggle. I understand what happens in skipping a level, as I tried going from Settler to Noble and promptly got my butt kicked by the AI. I am finding on Chieftian level I am way ahead in the tech race with the AI (modern v. medieval units), although I have to admit it is a kick to attack longbowmen with tanks, fighters and gunships, but it isn't much of a challenge. The other disdvantage from such a tech discrepency is that it pretty much takes trading out of the game because there is really nothing that anyone else has to offer that I might need, except for money, and it rarely is enough to mess with. It almost seems that if you are the first to get to gunpowder, it's game over for the rest of the civs.

Maybe there is something to be said for those who are arguing in other threads about having the game in some modified form "reset" itself for all the civs between historical periods. Based on your score, a certain percentage of your units being upgraded and a percentage of techs for that historical period achieved. Something of that nature. But that is for a different thread. Sorry about the wandering.

 

[cabert]

Do the level difficulties increase more dramatically between levels as you go up. I breezed through Settler and am breezing through Chieftian, both on my first time through. When am I likely to "hit the wall", so to speak and have more of a struggle. I understand what happens in skipping a level, as I tried going from Settler to Noble and promptly got my butt kicked by the AI. I am finding on Chieftian level I am way ahead in the tech race with the AI (modern v. medieval units), although I have to admit it is a kick to attack longbowmen with tanks, fighters and gunships, but it isn't much of a challenge. The other disdvantage from such a tech discrepency is that it pretty much takes trading out of the game because there is really nothing that anyone else has to offer that I might need, except for money, and it rarely is enough to mess with. It almost seems that if you are the first to get to gunpowder, it's game over for the rest of the civs.

the turning point is noble
below noble you have a bonus
above noble the AIs have a bonus, while you have to overcome a handicap

What makes it difficult to climb?
You have to change all your way of playing when you cross that line :
- under noble, you always have a tech advantage and tech trading is working against you, since you cannot benefit much from those ignorant AIs
- above noble, tech trading is a tool you need to use well.

Same things for diplomacy : under noble, you don't need to beware much. An AI attacks you? One less AI.
Above noble, if an AI attacks you it's very likely others will dogpile on you if you don't use good diplomacy.
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