Condensed tips for beginners?

Save, and save often : for me is not the aim.
You always improved by analysis your error!
saving and reloading your game is not allowed in the GOTM series.
Or If you want to see your opening moves: I usualy start a new game, save it and try different strategies by taking notes (number of building, cities, units, ....) in order to compare the differents strategies used.

LeSphinx
 
I had missed religionship at my first game. I took the best of this situation.

Here is the strat:

Let the other create religion.
Let the other work on the religion.
Focus on production and science output while other focus on religion.

At some time, 2 civ will have the same religion. It is the time to be of this religion. To work it, simply put a town near the foundator of the religion. Put a road to his empire and wait. The religion will spraid eventually. Accept to convert at this religion.

So, you will be 3 civ with this religion... it is time to work for the religion, spot other civs without religion and send them missionnary. Send some settler near the civ you want to convert, create a town and put your religion in it. Create temple and the monk place and see what happen... your religion will spread.


I always play on the HUGE setting, always play with no more than 8 civs to be sure that we will have large empire.

And it had always paid to be in the clan of the brothers in faith.

Yes, the holy city can pay (about 20 to 50 gold a turn) but having a lot of brothers and sisters in faith is always better when they are next to your empire.

More of it, to have a holy building, you will need a great prophet, to have them you will need a religious wonder to raise the prophet chances. And prophet are not the best Great Poeple.... religion wonders are not the best wonder... for me the best are Engeneer, they boost your wonder production.

By the way, civ4 can be played with any mind set. The most important thing, is to have fun.

Enjoy!

Jourdelune
 
qaturn said:
most important rule for newcomers
Save, and save often

Unless you experience CTD I do not suggest this. The best way to learn is by mistakes. My first game was in Noble and I made so many mistakes I was barely able to eek out a points victory. I am in my second game (17-something AD) and I can basically pick my victory condition.

PS Reloading is cheating anyways.
 
sorry I wasnt clear
not saying reload often

I am implying the CTD's issue

or when your power goes out
due to animal or act of nature.
 
Ok strategies for beginners.

Aggro whomp strat go romas get iron and 4-5 cities pump out preatorians whomp your neighbours if you are slow get catapults.

Peaceful tech strat.
1: financial is very good in later part of game when you got loads of cottages in many cities.
2: other traits are all ok so doesnt matter, starting techs and unique units are as important.

I like quinof china a lot industrious and financial on prince and below u get wounders and a superb endgame.

Go for 4 cities early on, one or two more on hughe one less on tiny, stop there and get up defence and workers. get up cottages on many squares and one or two irrigation per city. connect your resuorces, watch what you need in terms of happiness and health. Get more if you need to.
Tech, get mysticism and then get polyteism, then get masonry and monotheism, and bronze working. Revolt in slavery and organized religion. Get state religion of the one that is most important.
Go for the resource techs escpecially pottery -> cottages.
Go for currency and when you are halfway through teching currency go for more settlers if you got terrain to cover and aim for music in tech. Then go for printing press and after that democracy after that it doesnt matter much get what u need. Just keep in mind the maintanance after 9 cities it gets though without courthouses which takes time to build map dependent.
Pull in a bunch of great peeps and go for the victoy u want.
 
Brota said:
Make friends early in the game. Use your neibghors as buffer zones. :mischief:

How do you "make" friends, other than by free trade early on?
 
Don't neglect military, ever.

In my last Prince game I was going for culture victory, but I had already been hemmed in so I only had two cities besides my cultural ones. Hence my military production was well below par. I was completly swamped by enemies when Cathrine decided she didn't like me starting to flip her border cities. I gave up and quit when about 12 Cossacks swarmed into London, and there were no sign of her being willing to negotiate.
 
Roland Ehnström said:
Their awesome (overpowered?) collateral damage ability

I wouldn't be opposed to the collateral damage having a CHANCE of occurring, rather than being a guarantee. The "barrage" promotions could improve the chances in addition to increasing the damage inflicted.
 
It helps to learn to use the F4 button and the resource and technology tab. The info there gives you a good pic of where you stand in a tech race, and helps you map out what techs the AIs have (so you can trade for them later) and what you should research on your own. also makes it easier to figure out how to get the most techs from everyone with the few you have for trade.
 
1) Start your game.
2) Save your game.
3) Explore the game around you.
4) Get bronze working to know where copper is.
5) With all this info, load the save you made before, then play to end without reloading.

Early exploration helps you to know quickly what kind of game you want to play without investing too much of your time.
 
anton_z1 said:
1) Start your game.
2) Save your game.
3) Explore the game around you.
4) Get bronze working to know where copper is.
5) With all this info, load the save you made before, then play to end without reloading.

Excuse me, cheating in a single player game?!? :eek: Now where's the fun in that??? :confused:

And why not just use the World Builder? And why stop there; why not give yourself a few Modern Armor to start with - no more problems with Barbarians! :rolleyes:

-- Roland
 
LAnkou said:
i found there is two way of playing your own traits (with some exception):
A)maximise their effect or B) let them fill the gap...

A) spiritual: changing civics often
Organized: don't hesitate to take the most expensive civics, play great empires
financial: cottages powerhouse, rush build with money while you're on universal suffrage
industrious: focused on wonders
philosophical: lots of specialists
creative: early culture war, for land grab
aggressive: early war, allways war
expansive: put city on jungle and such disavantageous spot

B) limited to some traits, some HAVE to be max out
Creative: don't bother with culture, it grows by itself
financial: don't bother with money, focuse on production food
aggressive: don't bother with XP civics, take beakers-prod one
expansive: don't bother with aqueduct, you're healthy
industrious: don't bother focuseing on stone and marble
philosophical: don't bother with specialists

i think spiritual and organized need to be played, and you need to focus on those traits

It's true too that some traits are much powerfull depending on difficulty level (organized and expansive, the higher, the better), maps (financial on a archipelago map = great danger, creative on a pangea one = danger) and other things like that

my 2 cents

brilliant, "dont bother" with money and focus on food?

dont bother getting stone or marble on industrious?

Tip #1, not everything you read here are tips.
 
Roland Ehnström said:
Excuse me, cheating in a single player game?!? :eek: Now where's the fun in that??? :confused:

And why not just use the World Builder? And why stop there; why not give yourself a few Modern Armor to start with - no more problems with Barbarians! :rolleyes:

-- Roland

I dont like to spend half and hour and then realize that i have no chance to win. Emperor/Immortal are pretty hard already. Hoverwer, Monarch and less are too easy. If i could only get the level in between :cry: .
 
Node said:
brilliant, "dont bother" with money and focus on food?

dont bother getting stone or marble on industrious?

Tip #1, not everything you read here are tips.


I assume what i wrote:
you can focus and money and/or production with financial, you still get more money and you get more food, so your cities are bigger, etc, etc...
You can forget stone and marble when you are industrious and focuse on other strat ressources like copper or Iron and still win the wonderrace (if you do it at the right time)

These are tips for beginners, i assume that at deity, you need stone or marble to build wonders...but at deity you have to play your traits!!
 
Very stupid question: I cannot locate knob to rush production. Also can wonders be rushed? Is here any ways to direct were harvestd forest will go (seems roads influence it, but not confirmed 100% yet).
 
Roland Ehnström said:
Excuse me, cheating in a single player game?!? :eek: Now where's the fun in that??? :confused:

And why not just use the World Builder? And why stop there; why not give yourself a few Modern Armor to start with - no more problems with Barbarians! :rolleyes:

-- Roland

Before you put someone down for cheating, ask them two questions: (1) Did you purchase the game, instead of pirating it? (2) Are you cheating in single player, and never in multiplayer?

If they answer "yes" to both of those questions, it's none of your business how they play the game, and trying to drive fellow purchasing gamers away from a game you love is self-defeating.

They may not be as good as you at the game, but dagnabbit, their purchase makes it possible for the manufacturer to produce the game, and gives the manufacturer reason to produce expansion packs and sequels.
 
dan14444 said:
Very stupid question: I cannot locate knob to rush production. Also can wonders be rushed? Is here any ways to direct were harvestd forest will go (seems roads influence it, but not confirmed 100% yet).
Basically when you build something in a city (this includes people as well, like Archers, Settlers etc) it takes a certain amount of 'hammers' to create them. You get a certain number of these each turn, which I think is down to things which produce 'hammers'. Sorry this is a really bad explanation:p. Anyway, after chopping down a forest (you need Iron Working) it will say something like "30 [hammer symbol] created in [your town] for chopping down a forest. This is then instantly used in that city for whatever it is making, which boosts the production of whatever that city is making.
 
You can "pop rush" production only when you have the "slavery" civic operational. Go to the City screen (double click on the city) and look at the bottom just above where you can emphasise production/gold/food etc.
There are 2 larger buttons that look like a big hammer, the one on the left is the "pop rush" button.
For those who are unaware of the terminology, pop rushing is where you sacrifice citizens to build an improvement/unit a bit faster. It causes increased unhappiness for 10 turns after.

You can cash rush production when you are using the "universal suffrage" civic (think you need to research democracy first). Just click the other big hammer button and if you've got enough cash the item will be finished next turn.

Unlike Civ3 you can now rush wonders with cash and by forest chopping. Great Engineers are also great for wonder rushing (but not space ship parts)
 
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