Welcome to CivFanatics, Ndynslvr
CCRunner said:
1) The longer speeds are imbalanced in favor of war and therefore, the human player. I agree that marathon takes to long- I prefer epic.
Yes, it favours war but not necessarily the human player in that respect.
Tough I believe it to favour the human player as he is able to specialise and MM more efficiently than the AI. More turns = more MM and better yields possible.
2) Yep, generally all effects but culture go away.
True. Just don't be confused when you still see the building/wonder in the main screen
3) Nothing. I automate a few workers but only on the "build trade route" setting and I make sure that "automated workers leave old improvements" is checked. this is only out of laziness though; a human can make a better decision than the AI every time because the AI doesn't know your plan
Agree again. Generally don't automate anything. But I agree, I also occasionally set a few workers on "automate trade network" later in the game.
Ndynslvr, take your time and carefully think about what to improve when. When you become good at improving the right land early, you'll have a big advantage over the AI earlygame which you can turn into a secure victory.
Finally, what are good strategies for exploring maps? Usually I make one explorer and put him on automate but he doesn't find the other civilizations fast enough for me to see where I am in the game and I miss out a number of turns where I could have developed a relationship with the AI.
I generally scout either along the coast or rivers as this land often is good. I never scout anymore land than I could be able to snatch from the AI but have that land mapped out properly (till there are no black tiles left) and use my scouts as "fogbusters"; units placed on (forested) hills which help against barbs (as barbs only apper in "dark tiles").
Then, the other (non-bordering) civs usually find me...
Generally about city placement: Try to seal off some land. The AI doesn't like settling their cities behind yours. If you manage to seal off a strip of land you don't have to rush to backfill this land. This strategy is far superior to settling cities close to the capital early.
I played a few games on settler and chieftain, managed to pull off cultural victory once and a few conquest/space victories. I am struggling a bit on noble since I can only pull off a time victory. =(
First, congratulations on your victories
![Party [party] [party]](/images/smilies/partytime.gif)
I see you persue different types of victories; this is good. The more different games you play, the more you get to know the different aspects of the game and the better you become.
I generally find time victories the most difficult to achieve, as the AI usually wins some other kind of victory before 2050AD (tough I play on the higher difficulties...).
I would advise you to play on a difficulty level that is hard for you with a strong leader (huayna capac, elisabeth, willem, etc), until you win regularly. Then pick "weaker" leaders. Then raise the difficulty level. Repeat.