Condensed tips for beginners?

[Mike Hussey]

Yea, I get it now. I've just discovered the power of specialist economies and great leaders. They can pretty much research techs by themselves and then your great leader rate is increased greatly. But now a few questions about them

Does creating specialists influence the type of great person produced? (Like if you ran heaps of scientists would you get a great scientist? If so how could you increase your chances of getting a great leader or is that purely generated on XP basis? If so does anyone have the numbers for that?)

And for one city does the amount of GPP required increase for each successive person produced and if so by how much?

Much thanks

 

[Sisiutil]

Yea, I get it now. I've just discovered the power of specialist economies and great leaders. They can pretty much research techs by themselves and then your great leader rate is increased greatly. But now a few questions about them

Does creating specialists influence the type of great person produced? (Like if you ran heaps of scientists would you get a great scientist? If so how could you increase your chances of getting a great leader or is that purely generated on XP basis? If so does anyone have the numbers for that?)

And for one city does the amount of GPP required increase for each successive person produced and if so by how much?

Much thanks

First off, by "great leader" I assume you mean "great general".

Yes, the types of specialists you're running do indeed influence the type of Great Person produced. Someone else may want to go into more detail, but the simple version is that by running one type of specialist exclusively, and more of them, you increase your chance of producing a GP based on that specialist type. Remember that wonders (both national and world) also contribute Great Person Points (GPP) and can therefore also affect the outcome. And there is a certain randomness involved if you produce more than one type of Great Person Point, so you can end up with a Great Artist, say, even though you had a 88% chance of a Great Scientist.

Basically, if you want a certain type of Great Person, only build wonders and run specialists that contribute GPP towards that type of Great Person in the city in question.

Great Generals are, as you surmised, only generated through XPs earned in battles with other civilizations (not against barbarians). Wonders and specialists do not help you generate them faster (with the sole exception of the Great Wall, and only for battles fought within your own cultural borders).

The number of GPP required for each successive Great Person increases for your civilization as a whole--not just for each city, but for all of them. Each successive Great Person "costs" more GPP. Sorry, I don't have the exact numbers, but I'm sure someone else will post them.

 

[MrCynical]

The number of GPP required for each successive Great Person increases for your civilization as a whole--not just for each city, but for all of them. Each successive Great Person "costs" more GPP. Sorry, I don't have the exact numbers, but I'm sure someone else will post them.

At normal speed the first great person costs 100GP, the second 200GP, the third 300GP, and so on up the the 10th at 1000GP. For the next ten it goes up in steps of 200 (so cost 1200, 1400, 1600 etc). For the next ten is goes up in 300s, and so on.

All these are scaled to match the different game speeds - all numbers are multiplied by 3 on Marathon for instance.

 

[Geoffroy]

Hi all! Just a specific question:
What are the effects of settling on a resource? Will I get the health/happiness bonus or only the hammers/commerce? and can I use the resource (like if I settle on a copper source, can I then produce axemen)?
When would you recommend doing that?


I'm playing Vanilla btw.

 

[MrCynical]

What are the effects of settling on a resource? Will I get the health/happiness bonus or only the hammers/commerce? and can I use the resource (like if I settle on a copper source, can I then produce axemen)?

You get the normal happiness/health/ability to build units bonus when you found a city on a resource. You don't however get most (or in some cases any of) the food/hammer/commerce bonus that building the normal improvement on the tile would have.

 

[Geoffroy]

You get the normal happiness/health/ability to build units bonus when you found a city on a resource. You don't however get most (or in some cases any of) the food/hammer/commerce bonus that building the normal improvement on the tile would have.

Cool thanks for the lightning fast answer!

 

[warded]

Hi, I've been lurking these forums for a while and I enjoy reading the walkthoughs especially.

However it seems like all the walkthroughs are SE/SSE/WE/FE etc, with maybe one cottaged city for Bureaucracy. CE's are mentioned in passing but I haven't seen a walkthrough for this strategy. Can someone point me to a good CE walkthough?

And yes I've tried using the search feature for this, but it hasn't helped. ;(

TIA!

 

[MGee]

I'd learn such a guide for newbs to CE - like me. In my CE-wise economy I play as a financial leader, create enough food sources to create a 20pop city (or as much as possible) then cottage every tile I can, except resources. However, I usually don't cottage hills post-democracy, but let mines there or build windies. Is it OK or what should I improve?

Which is the best type of map and the best leader for an axe-rush? I like playing on Hemispheres map (not ideal for early rush I guess.... you have 1-2 rivals on your continent) and my favourite rushers are Ragnar and Hannibal. I raze all the cities, but leave the well situated capitols and holy cities. Do you raze 'em all? After you have eliminated all your rivals on your continent do you do a rapid expansion or just in normal pace?

Written questions in bold, hope you can help me out! Also, sorry for my bad English!

 

[MrCynical]

I'd learn such a guide for newbs to CE - like me. In my CE-wise economy I play as a financial leader, create enough food sources to create a 20pop city (or as much as possible) then cottage every tile I can, except resources. However, I usually don't cottage hills post-democracy, but let mines there or build windies. Is it OK or what should I improve?

This is perfectly sound for commerce cities. You can only cottage grassland hills, not the other types, but if you have the food it can be worth doing. I do have a tendency to mine them so it's easier to get the infrastructure in place though.

Which is the best type of map and the best leader for an axe-rush?

Maps which have a high chance of starting you alone on your land mass (archipelago, tiny islands) should obviously be avoided. other than that there isn't much in it. As for leaders, aggressive or charismatic leaders have an obvious edge (go for Boudica if you want both).

I raze all the cities, but leave the well situated capitols and holy cities. Do you raze 'em all? After you have eliminated all your rivals on your continent do you do a rapid expansion or just in normal pace?

I generally don't raze cities unless they're in a blatantly wrong location - e.g. one tile from the coast or in completely junk terrain. Unless there's some clear advantage to moving the city, I'll work my dotmap round it, and save on settler costs.

 

[mystyfly]

I'd learn such a guide for newbs to CE - like me. In my CE-wise economy I play as a financial leader, create enough food sources to create a 20pop city (or as much as possible) then cottage every tile I can, except resources. However, I usually don't cottage hills post-democracy, but let mines there or build windies. Is it OK or what should I improve?

Sounds good to me. I'd only let some of those windmills as they are. as for leaving ressources uncottaged: if you have enoght food, you can cottage whine and the sort. if you have other sources, you can also cottage dyes and silk (not sure, keep mixing it up w/ sugar ). however, don't cottage food and usually hammer ressources.

Which is the best type of map and the best leader for an axe-rush? I like playing on Hemispheres map (not ideal for early rush I guess.... you have 1-2 rivals on your continent) and my favourite rushers are Ragnar and Hannibal. I raze all the cities, but leave the well situated capitols and holy cities. Do you raze 'em all? After you have eliminated all your rivals on your continent do you do a rapid expansion or just in normal pace?

For axerush, use a civ who starts with mining. aggressive isn't such a boost while charismatic really is (happy for ww, quick promos -> healing). For a rush, as the name suggests, is speed (therefore start with mining). Nice traits for rushing (as well as REXing) are financial and organized. they should keep you teching while getting as much terretory as possible (remember: organized halves courthouses cost - might consider CoL sling when starting with marble and/or you have some forests left (however, don't waste too many turns - having some more axes usually is rather a good thing.
I'd only keep capitals (note spelling please!). If in the end of a war (of the last early war), you can keep another border city or two as they safe you hammers and make sure you get that land as the AIs in BtS shouldnt settle behind your borders.

hth

 

[EdPrem]

Can someone please tell me how I move something up in the build queue on the city screen (Lower Left). I keep deleting the item I click on no matter what I do. I do not want to lose the progress I have on the current build but I want to move up something else. Thanks

 

[mystyfly]

klick on the build (to remove it from the queue) and [ctrl] + klick on it. now it is on top of the queue.

 

[readit]

if i have already founded a religion, is it detremetal to found another if i can? i guess i can only have one state religion, so won't having another around just lead to problems? i'm new to the game, so thanks in advance!

 

[mystyfly]

Having founded another religion you have the ability to build another shrine. In fact it leads away from trouble, I think. Because you can choose which religion to spread to your rivals and so pick your friends. A rival who founded another religion is going to be disliked.
Religion is a very powerful diplomatic tool!

 

[readit]

Having founded another religion you have the ability to build another shrine. In fact it leads away from trouble, I think. Because you can choose which religion to spread to your rivals and so pick your friends. A rival who founded another religion is going to be disliked.
Religion is a very powerful diplomatic tool!

many thanks for the reply.

so, if i have founded more than one religion, i can choose which is the state religion, right? however, if i have two religions, and i have the civic which entitles me to gold for other cities with my state religion, there is a disadvantage as my 'non-state religion' will also spread, perhaps instead of the state one, hence leaving me with a lower return? i hope that makes sense.

 

[mystyfly]

You get 1 gold from every city with that religion from a SHRINE. A shrine can only be built by a Great Prophet and is a World Wonder.

You can spread your religion to those civs you want to befriend and your other religion to civs that you don't like. Every civ with your religion will dislike this civ and probabely even declare war. You can always switch your state religion in the religious advisor (F7).

 

[readit]

You get 1 gold from every city with that religion from a SHRINE. A shrine can only be built by a Great Prophet and is a World Wonder.

of course, it's the shrine, not the civic. so i could found two religions, build two shrines and spread both religions to benefit financially?

once again, thank you for your help.

 

[mystyfly]

Yes you can. However this costs a lot of hammers for Missionaries. Make sure you can afford it (you're not too weak militarily). Also you should put Wall Street in this city

 

[The BRO]

I have been a lurker for a while but been recently got addicted to CIV 4 again. I was wondering what was the best expansion pack to get, Warlords or BTS? or both. read earlier in the thread BTS contains everything Warlords except for some scenarios. Can I install BTS by itself or do I new the Warlords expansion kit as well?

2. How hard is BTS. I am currently playing at the Noble level, working my way up. It i worth getting BTS or should I wait until I am winning at Monarch level

3. Many thanks to all who post tips here . helped my game considerably

 

[mystyfly]

1. BtS doesn't require Warlords

2. In BtS there is Settler, Chieftain, Warlord level, in case BtS-Noble is too hard. No need to get better in vanilla if you like to play BtS.