Condensed tips for beginners?

[arcane assasin]

Early in a new game I have two viable cities already, and a few nice sites around for more. I'm playing as Alex, and planning to do some early axe-rush warmongering. There is a copper resource in the area, but not close enough to any of the city sights. The land around the copper is very bad with no food resources, and no fresh water. There are 3 or 4 grassland tiles, but cannot be farmed until bio. Also there are 4 or 5 sea tiles for food but not for food surplus. I'm considering settling a city just for the copper since it is so crucial to my overall strategy. I would just hook up the resource, connect it to my cap, and then let the city stagnate until further into the game. Is this a viable plan, and if there are any downsides I am not noticing, what are they?

 

[CCRunner]

Definitely settle the city, but at least try to make it halfway decent.

 

[dalamb]

I agree you may have to settle the copper city -- but if that spot is really bad, check how long it would be before a nearby city's cultural border expands to cover it. Nobody has to work the copper for it to be usable. In fact if a resource is completely outside any BFC but within your borders, it may be a good idea to build a fort on it instead of a mine (or whatever) so you can protect it better.

 

[arcane assasin]

I am trying to get some early axe-rush going, but have found myself up against Saladin with those promoted archers, and am taking heavy casualties. My next opponent is Qin (only other civ on my continent,) and he will no doubt have chokonus at some point, which will be causing me more trouble. What is an effective way to tactically face these tough archery units.

 

[CCRunner]

Bring some cavalry units to fight the cho-ko-nus because they aren't effected by first strikes and the co-ko-nus get a bonus vs. melee units. In cities you'll just have to bring a lot of catapults. Luckily for you though, the AI doesn't seem to build a ton of crossbowmen.

 

[arcane assasin]

When you say "cavalry," do you mean the actual cavaley units (still a long way off,) or any mounted units? I have access to HA's now,and could beeline Knights if necessary.

 

[CCRunner]

I meant mounted units. Obviously you wouldn't use the unit cavalry against crossbowmen. HA's and knights would do perfectly.

 

[arcane assasin]

I meant mounted units. Obviously you wouldn't use the unit cavalry against crossbowmen. HA's and knights would do perfectly.

OK, sorry if ? came across silly, just trying to clarify. Anyway, my current enemy, Saladin also started producing swords after I captured his first few cities. My initial stacks suffered against them, partly because half of my axes had cover instead of shock to counter numerous archers. As I fell back a bit my own defensive units came into play, and I saw some good outcomes with longbows against those swords. Is this usually the case, or just a few lucky battles?

EDIT: more specific: I know longbows are good defensive units, but I was using them to attack swords in this case.

 

[CCRunner]

No no, sorry if I sounded rude. I swear I didn't mean it that way.

A longbow in a city almost always beats a sword. That's why it's so hard sometimes to fight an offensive renaissance era war.

 

[arcane assasin]

Thanks for the feedback. I will be continuing this game in about 15 mins. I'll try to post later, and update on my military improvement.

 

[mystyfly]

When you are rushing (like you stated in post 1064, arcane assasin), the your axes should be sufficient. Keep in mind that nearly all of your early resources should be used for axes so you're able to "flood" your enemies' cities with 'em. Bring at least twice as many axes as there are defenders. Pick "easy targets" which means: Avoid protective civs, avoid civs with lots of cities on hills, and avoid civs with early UUs (not talking of Inca this time ) like skirmishers, Dog soldiers... SB is a royal pain to rush. Also I'd favour attacking fast-expanding civs for 1) you can get lots of cities, 2) their forces are spread and thus mostly weak in certain cities 3) you get more to pillage and raze (tough you need to find the moment to stop; just BEFORE your eco crushes ).

About dealing with Archers, Longbows and Chokos:
Archers are no real obstacle if you manage to get phants. Also cats do great against archers. Taking a city with 40% culture without either of these but only with swords usually leads to huge losses. Avoid that scenario.
Longbows are tough. I'd either use cats and phants to wear them down (meaning 1-2 suicide cats and finish off with phants) or, if you don't have phants (they are GREAT), pillage and choke the AI until you get maces.
Chokos (and XBows) don't make that great defenders if you adjust your offensive force. XBows don't do so well against cats (as lbows do) so bring some more of them. Mounted units are also a good idea but I'd only use a stack of them if the enemy has few cultural % and hill-cities (so there's no real need for siege) so you can have a 2MP-only-stack. The problem is that mounted units are rather costly (which is the reason I use them so rarely). But again, if you have phants, use them. They don't obsolete until your enemies get pikes. Lowering the defences of core cities with spies is a great idea.

About your current game, I can't give you advice as I know too little about your situation.

 

[JTMacc99]

Short advice on early rushes (more of what mystyfly said):

If you are just facing archers, even protective archers, just bring MORE axes. Also, promote them up the city raider line. Make at least one them Shock, just to protect the stack from counter attacks. If the other civ has axes, immediately pillage the source of copper. If you've gotten to a point in the game where the other civ has iron units, lots of archers, and other troublesome things, bring lots of catapults and city raider swords with your axes.

If you're facing crossbows... leave the swords in the back of the ranks until your trebs have smashed the city defenders all the way down to nothing. Then you can let them clean up and get up to the next XP level and upgrade them to maces.

 

[Skallagrimson]

Short advice on early rushes (more of what mystyfly said):

If you are just facing archers, even protective archers, just bring MORE axes. Also, promote them up the city raider line. Make at least one them Shock, just to protect the stack from counter attacks.

And a spear in case they bring chariots.

 

[CCRunner]

And a spear in case they bring chariots.

Or tanks

 

[Ndynslvr]

Hi I am new... Just got this game for the holidays, Civ 4 WarLords.

I have a few questions:

What are the strategy differences when playing at different speeds? Marathon just takes too damn long and I heard quick removes abilities to react/plan

What does it mean when a technology/building becomes obsolete? Does it mean they lose their effects?

What should be automated?

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 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. =(

 

[CCRunner]

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.

2) Yep, generally all effects but culture go away.

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

4) I tend to either let the AI find me and just scout around my area for good city sites or send out scouts specifically looking the the nearest neighbor to axerush. When I'm looking for an AI, I usually control it/them manually but several turns in advance and choose hills and corners specifically.

 

[mystyfly]

Welcome to CivFanatics, Ndynslvr

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
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.

 

[Supr49er]

Hi I am new... Just got this game for the holidays, Civ 4 WarLords.

I have a few questions:

Welcome to the Forums.

What are the strategy differences when playing at different speeds? Marathon just takes too damn long and I heard quick removes abilities to react/plan

If you like ancient wars, play marathon.
Otherwise, Epic is a good choice.

What does it mean when a technology/building becomes obsolete? Does it mean they lose their effects?

For those who discover it. The other players still get to use them.

What should be automated?

Nothing. Well, maybe the Specialists via the City Governors.

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 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. =(

Send your original Warrior/Scout in a spiral pattern around your city while building a Warrior.

 

[jollycynic]

at what point in building up a new city should you get the granary done, and does pop rushing change the priority of it?

 

[CCRunner]

Very very soon. Often times first at the latest third. Pop rushing makes you need it even more.