Condensed tips for beginners?

[mystyfly]

With "overbuilding trick" you probably mean this.

 

[Öjevind Lång]

You can't only consider production!
Chopping is almost always best for a few reasons:

In short, early advantages in civ 4 snowball very quickly
There are some reasons to keep forests, primarily due to . But I routinely chop 95% of any forests in my territory.

You drastically underestimate the advantages of keeping a couple of forests in the fat cross; usually it's quite easy to do so, particularly since chopping will not help you materially in getting the middle and late Wonders. One can generally do much of the cholpping for the early Wonders in tiles outside the fat cross. Also, being dependent on heath from foreign trade can always be risky. And, finally, it is important not to get too fixated on acquiring Wonders. Unless you are running for a cultural victory, think carefully before going for one.

 

[DMOC]

The thing with chops, though, is that I use them for mostly workers and settlers, not wonders. This in turn leads to faster empire development, in which I can grab more health resources.

 

[Öjevind Lång]

The thing with chops, though, is that I use them for mostly workers and settlers, not wonders. This in turn leads to faster empire development, in which I can grab more health resources.

I maintain that keeping at least a couple of forest tiles in the fat cross is very advantageous for several reasons.

 

[yanner39]

I was looking at the demographs screen and noticed that my approval rating wasn not that good (6th out of 8th) and I can't understand why. My cities are always healthy and happy. Was causes this? It probably has no impact on the game itself but I was just curious.

 

[CCRunner]

Approval rating= (Happy Citizens)/(Happy Citizens + Unhappy Citizens)

So ideally, you want to be as close to 50 as possible because it means you're hitting the happy cap of your cities

 

[LordValuna]

I was just wondering if there is a list of the years and turn #.
It was very important to leep track of in civ 2. not so much in civ 4
still would be nice to now how far into the game you are till the max 2050 end

 

[Arakhor]

You can press F8 to tell you how many turns remain in the game. You can also download BUG for BtS 3.17, which will also help you in that (and many other) regard.

 

[LordValuna]

You can press F8 to tell you how many turns remain in the game. You can also download BUG for BtS 3.17, which will also help you in that (and many other) regard.

F8 is very good, but I still would like to know how the turns work for planning, and I don't have BTS

 

[Arakhor]

What do you mean, how do they work? Could you clarify please?

 

[LordValuna]

for example in civ 2, turns are every 20 years to starts, and towards the end are every year for a turn. Below is a chart which shows every 4 turns, (which is when the gov't changes. ) obviously you dont need such detail, but to know when the number of years per turn changes would be useful
http://www.civfanatics.com/files/oedo_year_charting.pdfl

I found this elsewhere on the site which answers my question about # of turns:
Benchmarks to keep in mind. The below shows years per turn until certain years, and the amount of turns that go by at that years per turn pace.

40 years/turn till 1000BC (75 total)
25 till 500AD (60)
20 till 1000AD (25)
10 till 1500AD (50)
5 till 1800 AD (60)
2 till 1920AD (60)
1 till 2050 (130)

 

[Warmessiah]

Most important tip: Just play, whether you win or lose, just keep playing. You'll develop your own playstyle which his just as good as everyone else's eventually. My play style is totally different from the tips yet I do very well with it.

Btw, My style is city rush after your city has about 6 pop (thus itll probably train setellers in 4 or 5 turns at worst, have lots of units, conquer small empires occasionally but not too much then specialise on gold so you can make up for the lost cash. On some maps with AI I use one 'slave-civ' who is pleased/friendly with me who hasn't got a lot of cities but good techs. I then use this 'slave-civ' to trade techs with me but it doesn't matter what I give that civ as my empire is 10x bigger than theirs.

O YEAH ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT TIPS THO:
I only learned this recently, but GOLD TILES IN CITIES DO NOT GIVE YOU MORE ADDED PROFIT. So farm lots of gold, but remember that once you have a - to profit you can never go back on 100% without losing money. Use the gold tiles in your cities for more 'research points' this will determine how much research points the city generates e.g. if you have 20 gold from tiles in a city and 50% research, then you will receive 10 gold (profit) each turn and that city will contribute 10 research points to the research bar. However, if you put research on 100% you will get no gold, just have all of that gold converted into research points for techs. So, if you want a high research rate farm gold, if you want to keep the same research rate but get profit then use things like merchants (the gold that these make never go into a cities' research points). If you have any spare cities with nothing you want them to build, do not build units, just make them get gold once you get banking or something. This is amazingly helpful with large empires who don't like conquering but can't expand anymore.

 

[henrebotha]

Most important tip: Just play, whether you win or lose, just keep playing. You'll develop your own playstyle which his just as good as everyone else's eventually. My play style is totally different from the tips yet I do very well with it.

Btw, My style is city rush after your city has about 6 pop (thus itll probably train setellers in 4 or 5 turns at worst, have lots of units, conquer small empires occasionally but not too much then specialise on gold so you can make up for the lost cash. On some maps with AI I use one 'slave-civ' who is pleased/friendly with me who hasn't got a lot of cities but good techs. I then use this 'slave-civ' to trade techs with me but it doesn't matter what I give that civ as my empire is 10x bigger than theirs.

O YEAH ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT TIPS THO:
I only learned this recently, but GOLD TILES IN CITIES DO NOT GIVE YOU MORE ADDED PROFIT. So farm lots of gold, but remember that once you have a - to profit you can never go back on 100% without losing money. Use the gold tiles in your cities for more 'research points' this will determine how much research points the city generates e.g. if you have 20 gold from tiles in a city and 50% research, then you will receive 10 gold (profit) each turn and that city will contribute 10 research points to the research bar. However, if you put research on 100% you will get no gold, just have all of that gold converted into research points for techs. So, if you want a high research rate farm gold, if you want to keep the same research rate but get profit then use things like merchants (the gold that these make never go into a cities' research points). If you have any spare cities with nothing you want them to build, do not build units, just make them get gold once you get banking or something. This is amazingly helpful with large empires who don't like conquering but can't expand anymore.

It's very possible to make a profit at 100% .

Furthermore, I think (though I'm not absolutely sure about this) that in most situations, building is more -efficient than running Merchants. Where Merchants shine is when you are geared towards the use of specialists anyway (for instance, if you are running the Representation civic), and then pretty much only in cities that have a vast excess of .

Anyway, there really is no need for you to be running at 100% . You'll find that running somewhere around 20%-70% is often a nice balancing point, and provides you with enough and to take over the world.

And I agree with you: just play. You're not going to improve if you don't play.

Also, WELCOME TO CIVFANATICS!

 

[Ghpstage]

O YEAH ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT TIPS THO:
I only learned this recently, but GOLD TILES IN CITIES DO NOT GIVE YOU MORE ADDED PROFIT. So farm lots of gold, but remember that once you have a - to profit you can never go back on 100% without losing money. Use the gold tiles in your cities for more 'research points' this will determine how much research points the city generates e.g. if you have 20 gold from tiles in a city and 50% research, then you will receive 10 gold (profit) each turn and that city will contribute 10 research points to the research bar. However, if you put research on 100% you will get no gold, just have all of that gold converted into research points for techs. So, if you want a high research rate farm gold, if you want to keep the same research rate but get profit then use things like merchants (the gold that these make never go into a cities' research points). If you have any spare cities with nothing you want them to build, do not build units, just make them get gold once you get banking or something. This is amazingly helpful with large empires who don't like conquering but can't expand anymore.

The "gold" on tiles you work is not gold, it is commerce which is shown by . Gold is shown by
is what gets run through your slider to produce , , or in BTS
Commerce is not the only thing that can generate , Specialists, Shrines and Spiral Minaret temples/monastaries can all produce that doesn't depend on the slider. You can also gain gold from research or espionage indirectly by selling techs, or stealing it.

Building research is a great ability that can pull you out of a mess at 0% science once you reach alphabet, when you get currency then wealth to raise the slider is almost always more efficient. However, I would only use them a lot to recover, after which I'll be looking to expand more so more units is a must
The main preoblem with building lots of wealth later on is it takes up a lot you could be using for other things and stopping military growth could quickly make you easy pickings for Shaka

I would also be wary of using Merchants, the pop point could be more efficiently used by working a cottage. You also need to build expensive markets to use them, if your using Caste System however, then Library boosted Scientists are more powerful.

Btw, My style is city rush after your city has about 6 pop (thus itll probably train setellers in 4 or 5 turns at worst, have lots of units, conquer small empires occasionally but not too much then specialise on gold so you can make up for the lost cash.

6 pop!? Thats only plausible below Noble . But your (assumedly) using the 'grow to the happy cap' strategy which is a popular start up, just follow it up with a lot of expansion and you will go far . More land always pays off in the long run, as long as getting it doesn't get you killed in the short term.

Furthermore, I think (though I'm not absolutely sure about this) that in most situations, building is more -efficient than running Merchants. Where Merchants shine is when you are geared towards the use of specialists anyway (for instance, if you are running the Representation civic), and then pretty much only in cities that have a vast excess of .

I rarely use Merchants till I want a G.Merchant or in my WallStreet city.
Scientists by themselves are just as effective, and come earlier, with a cheaper and much more important early building which also boosts their output, Scientists also work better with Representation and GS' are generally more useful than GMs.

On wealth vs merchants, both have drawbacks, merchants slow or prevent growth and wealth blocks other builds. Usually allowing growth to work more cottages creating a long term fix is more important than building an axeman at 2 hammers/turn

 

[yanner39]

6 pop!? Thats only plausible below Noble . But your (assumedly) using the 'grow to the happy cap' strategy which is a popular start up, just follow it up with a lot of expansion and you will go far . More land always pays off in the long run, as long as getting it doesn't get you killed in the short term.

Is there another strategy? I am fairly new at Civ and still learning the game, but as far as I was concern, I would always try and grow until I reach the happy cap, stop growing, find a way to increase the happy cap,and then resume growing.

Is there a better strategy?

 

[Dragonxander PR]

Is there another strategy? I am fairly new at Civ and still learning the game, but as far as I was concern, I would always try and grow until I reach the happy cap, stop growing, find a way to increase the happy cap,and then resume growing.

Is there a better strategy?

You may resort to whipping (slavery, which requires Bronze Working) the population while building things that require the optimum population sacrifice number (with a city size 6, the ideal whipping sacrifice would be of 3 population points, in a city size 5, you're limited to 2 population points). That way, you can maximize your production & minimize the unhappiness penalty slavery brings.

Another one uses the warmonger's approach: take advantage of Hereditary Rule (comes with Monarchy, early enough if researching or trading techs properly), spam military units with slavery & at the same time conquer weak enemies.

A third approach would be playing with a Charismatic leader. That kind of leader provides +1 per city, +1 with a monument; & quite later in-game, +1 with a broadcast tower. With this method, you'll have up to 2 extra per cities in the early game.

 

[yanner39]

You may resort to whipping (slavery, which requires Bronze Working) the population while building things that require the optimum population sacrifice number (with a city size 6, the ideal whipping sacrifice would be of 3 population points, in a city size 5, you're limited to 2 population points). That way, you can maximize your production & minimize the unhappiness penalty slavery brings.

Another one uses the warmonger's approach: take advantage of Hereditary Rule (comes with Monarchy, early enough if researching or trading techs properly), spam military units with slavery & at the same time conquer weak enemies.

A third approach would be playing with a Charismatic leader. That kind of leader provides +1 per city, +1 with a monument; & quite later in-game, +1 with a broadcast tower. With this method, you'll have up to 2 extra per cities in the early game.

Thank you. Good info. A few followup up questions:

By whipping, aren't you slowing down growth to a point where you have less population points to work the tiles in the BFC that could generate food and commerce?

Just to clarify the bolded part, are you saying that by whipping 3 unhappy citizens (for example) and getting rid of them result in +1 unhappy citizen for 10 turns, therefore the net effect is losing 2 unhappy citizens?

 

[yanner39]

What is the purpose of the World Builder? I discovered this last night and it seems that Fireaxis gave Civ players an option to cheat? Is this accurate? Why would this even be available.

Just curious.

 

[henrebotha]

Is there another strategy? I am fairly new at Civ and still learning the game, but as far as I was concern, I would always try and grow until I reach the happy cap, stop growing, find a way to increase the happy cap,and then resume growing.

Is there a better strategy?

I used to grow to happy cap, then proceed to expand. However, lately, I prefer to get my second city online as fast as possible, for several reasons (though mostly for warfare; I've grown quite dependent on an early-game conquest to expand my empire). To achieve this, I usually build a Worker first (because no matter what you do, Worker or Work Boat first will give you the greatest total yield; growing to pop 2 first will actually result in a net delay in getting your tiles improved, and working unimproved tiles is very inefficient), followed by Warrior/Scout (Warrior if I started with a Scout, and vice versa), Warrior, Settler. The latter Warrior escorts the Settler to where he needs to be. This gets a second city online somewhere around 2600BCE-2000BCE. From there, I start maximizing my cities' productivity (ie growing to happy cap and improving tiles).

It's not necessarily a better strategy, just one that works better for me when I plan an early war, and otherwise about as good as growing to happy cap then expanding. It has the added benefit of being able to claim Copper/Horses/Iron for warfare, or Marble/Stone for wonder-building.

Thank you. Good info. A few followup up questions:

By whipping, aren't you slowing down growth to a point where you have less population points to work the tiles in the BFC that could generate food and commerce?

Just to clarify the bolded part, are you saying that by whipping 3 unhappy citizens (for example) and getting rid of them result in +1 unhappy citizen for 10 turns, therefore the net effect is losing 2 unhappy citizens?

Remember that every citizen consumes 2 per turn. This is why growth actually slows down the bigger your cities get: you usually have very few tiles that yield more than 2 total, so at low pop, you have a big excess of food if you're working those tiles; but the bigger your city gets, the more it consumes and the fewer high- tiles are left to work, meaning growth decelerates.

So yes, if you whip, you can work fewer tiles; but by reducing the requirements of your city, you're actually accelerating growth. (You basically whip away the guys working 2-or-less tiles.) And yes, your commerce will suffer; but luckily, in the early game, you usually have some cash from huts to act as a buffer (and maintenance costs etc aren't that high yet anyway). Plus, population costs money in maintenance, so whipping people away does give you a tiny bit of per turn (though not enough to offset the loss of that beautiful riverside grassland Gems tile).

You understand the bold bit correctly: whipping more than 1 pop at a time leaves you with a net decrease in unhappiness. Though I must say, I disagree with what seems to be the common wisdom around these parts: 1-pop whips can be very advantageous, especially if you have non- tiles you want to work (like a Gems/Gold/Silver mine, for instance). Even when you're at happy cap, you can whip away one citizen to get a Worker out a few turns sooner (or whatever), then make sure you work tiles that will only allow the city to grow again after the unhappiness period (10 turns on Normal, 15 on Epic...).

 

[henrebotha]

What is the purpose of the World Builder? I discovered this last night and it seems that Fireaxis gave Civ players an option to cheat? Is this accurate? Why would this even be available.

Just curious.

Loads of games give players an option to cheat: Age of Empires, Warcraft, Quake...

Anyway, the World Builder isn't available in multiplayer. And yes, you can use it to cheat; but you can also use it to create your own scenarios, custom maps, to play little roleplaying challenges (for instance "The gods take pity on your civilization and bless you with the riches of the heavens!", spawning Gold and Gems everywhere), etc.

The game is highly moddable, and I presume the World Builder was included to facilitate that.