Condensed tips for beginners?

[Tanktunker]

If you can, build a string of cities that traps a peninsula and expend outwards of that at first, then, when you can support both cities and some units, fill the empty space.
You can get a huge advantage if you do this correctly on small maps, up to two thirds of the world.

 

[bouche928]

just bought the game i am a really big fan of the series and have spent wayy to many sleepless nights playing (thats the srategy i want-how not to get addicted) just checking you all out and thanks for the help when i get off i'll definitly go try some of these strategies

 

[Godwynn]

just bought the game i am a really big fan of the series and have spent wayy to many sleepless nights playing (thats the srategy i want-how not to get addicted) just checking you all out and thanks for the help when i get off i'll definitly go try some of these strategies

You can't. Give in to the power of it!

 

[Terrance888]

use chariots and horse archers for scouting!

 

[Sisiutil]

use chariots and horse archers for scouting!

Not a bad idea. If you promote them, give them Flanking I and then Sentry to increase their viewing range. They also make excellent fog-busters.

 

[MrCynical]

use chariots and horse archers for scouting!

Not bad for open terrain certainly. Woodsman promoted warriors/archers/etc I find preferable though if there's a reasonable amount of forest. They can then move almost as fast, and are better at dealing with barbs thanks to defensive bonuses.

 

[Hersches]

Good day citizens.

I'm new to the forum and have a tiny lil question: I tend to dislike the automatic cycling thru inactive units that happens every time a new turn begins and so turn the option off...with the (i guess, expected) result that i tend to overlook some idle workers/units for which i had pre-planned movements. My question therefore: is there a hot key which when hit takes u to the nearest (non-fortified) idle unit when automatic cycling is turned off?

 

[Terrance888]

Comeon! take a setteler with you if you are finding a good spot to citize. Just remember to tale 2 chariots and an archer behind as fog buster and flank protecter.

 

[kingRamesses]

Try to build cities on hills b/c of the archer bonus, just a general tip for anybody reading

 

[GenocideBringer]

Don't reload saves when you lose something like a battle, and turn off cheating/modified assets when you play. If you get pounded by the AI, accept it and try to make the best of it. Reloading/cheating when you lose takes the spice out of the game.

Building a city on a resource may give you the resource, but it also denies you the ability to work an improved version of that tile.

For example, I could build a city on iron to get it, assuring that my enemy will never get it and I don't need to improve the square to get it. However, a mine built on a normal Iron deposit gives you a crapload extra hammers, so you may want to build away from the iron so you can exploit that.

 

[Topaz]

I'm just learning the game and have a question concerning development of specialists in a city.

I never seem to have two extra food in a city so that I can assign a person as a specialist without causing hunger.

Should I overlook this and make a specialist anyway? Or should I choose to "Limit Population Growth" and wait until I have surplus food.

I want to build my research capacity to its maximum, and the only way I've been able to do this is by playing a leader with "Philosophical" and then assigning all great scientists and engineers as super specialists. And also building wonders that increment the GP add/turn.

Is it worth building a lot of wonders that aren't very beneficial to you just to increase the chance of creating GP?

 

[Sisiutil]

I'm just learning the game and have a question concerning development of specialists in a city.

I never seem to have two extra food in a city so that I can assign a person as a specialist without causing hunger.

Should I overlook this and make a specialist anyway? Or should I choose to "Limit Population Growth" and wait until I have surplus food.

I want to build my research capacity to its maximum, and the only way I've been able to do this is by playing a leader with "Philosophical" and then assigning all great scientists and engineers as super specialists. And also building wonders that increment the GP add/turn.

What you need is a food surplus. You need to reevaluate how you're improving some of your tiles; if you want more specialists, you'll need more farms. If you're improving tiles that could be farmed in other ways, consider farming a couple of them instead. Then assign citizens to them and this should give you the food surplus you need.

Also consider how you're selecting your city sites. Are you ensuring that you have at least one food source in the city's fat cross? If you want to run a lot of specialists, you'll want to select a site with several food-rich tiles surrounding it. This, plus the farms, will give you a huge food surplus allowing you to run many, many specialists. Devoting a city in this way is often referred to as a "Great Person Farm" or "GP Farm". Look around the forum for more information regarding specializing a city in this way.

Is it worth building a lot of wonders that aren't very beneficial to you just to increase the chance of creating GP?

Generally, no.

As you rise up through the difficulty levels, hammers become more precious. Production spent on a wonder is thereby not spent on something that could, in fact, help you win the game. Like military units to ensure your safety.

Pick the wonders you want carefully to ensure they fit with your strategy. Wonders are costly, and you shouldn't build them just for their own sake, but so that you exploit them to their fullest.

Oh, and welcome to CFC!

 

[GenocideBringer]

How does retreat chance work?

I think that

1) You have to be attacking

2) You have to have an extra movement point left after attacking.

Is this correct? It seems like Horse Archers kick ass if you get Flanking 2 and maximize that retreat ability.

 

[JujuLautre]

flanking is easy: if the unit with flanking attacks and would take a final blow which would kill it, it makes a dice roll suceeded with its flanking probability. If it suceeds, it escapes the combat just before it takes the final blow.

 

[GenocideBringer]

So..it works regardless of movement points, while attacking or defending?

 

[JujuLautre]

only on attacks, and the number of move points remaining doesn't matter. Only, if you attack with a unit with flanking and 2 moves, you can retreat it after the first move if necessary

 

[the_brainiac91]

I'm just starting out and I'm not very good at this. Got a couple questions:

- How do I survive barbarians? I play on Noble (I think) and around 1000-500 BC it seems I get swarmed by axmen and archers. Do I need more military? What do I do?

- How many cities should I get in the early game? Sometimes I rush to get 3 or 4 but that doesn't seem like the right thing to do anymore

- My cities seem to grow really slow. I'll build lots of improvements but have no use for them cause my city is stuck at 1 or 2, when I'm not building workers or settlers.

- How do I actually make money? Seems every game I have to move my research bar down cause I'm losing money by the turn. Shouldn't the coins from the tiles contribute?

Thanks in advance. Oh and I'm also looking for the games I hear about on this site with commentary. Can anyone point me in the direction of those?

 

[Sisiutil]

I'm just starting out and I'm not very good at this. Got a couple questions:

- How do I survive barbarians? I play on Noble (I think) and around 1000-500 BC it seems I get swarmed by axmen and archers. Do I need more military? What do I do?

One of your earliest priorities should be researching a tech (Bronze Working, Animal Husbandry, Iron Working) that reveals a strategic resource (Copper, Horses, Iron) so you can build strong units to defend your territory and improvements. Your second city should, ideally, claim the strategic resource if it doesn't show up in the capital's fat cross. Then build a few protective units. Bronze Working will let your Workers chop forests to hurry the units along, the Slavery civic will let you whip away population to do the same thing.

I usually base my decision on which strategic tech to go for on my starting techs and the UU. When I play as Persia or Egypt, for example, I research AH for horses right away. For most other civs I go after Bronze Working. For Rome, I research BW - The Wheel - IW to get Praetorians ASAP--often in time for the first wave of barbs.

- How many cities should I get in the early game? Sometimes I rush to get 3 or 4 but that doesn't seem like the right thing to do anymore

No, that sounds fine, so long as they're good city locations and not too far from the capital.

- My cities seem to grow really slow. I'll build lots of improvements but have no use for them cause my city is stuck at 1 or 2, when I'm not building workers or settlers.

First off, each city should have at least one food resource, if not more, in its fat cross. This will provide you with the food surplus you need to grow the city and work other low-food tiles, like mines. Second, you need to research the required techs (Agriculture, Fishing, Animal Husbandry) so you can work those high-food tiles. Finally, make sure you assign citizens in the city screen to work the high-food tiles so the city grows.

- How do I actually make money? Seems every game I have to move my research bar down cause I'm losing money by the turn. Shouldn't the coins from the tiles contribute?

They do, but not much. Cottage improvements are vital, but they take time to grow, and your citizens have to work them. A city with flood plains is terrific here, because you can usually cottage the flood plains, which will each still provide a +2 food surplus.

Also look for a high-commerce tile to include in a city's fat cross. Claiming gold, gems, or silver early in the game is huge. They boost your research and lift the happiness cap in all your cities.

Thanks in advance. Oh and I'm also looking for the games I hear about on this site with commentary. Can anyone point me in the direction of those?

Links in my sig to my own. Also look for aelf's threads of that nature--the Emperor Masters' Challenges.

 

[GenocideBringer]

- How do I survive barbarians? I play on Noble (I think) and around 1000-500 BC it seems I get swarmed by axmen and archers. Do I need more military? What do I do?

Firstly, I'd do a Custom Game. The amount of barbs is determined by how much extra, unexplored space there is, and frankly Play Now leaves a lot of it. I prefer the larger amount of civs and more options, and more civs = less unexplored land = fewer barbs.

Other than that, you need a bigger military. Consider getting walls in your territory, horses for chariots or copper/iron for axes is important. Alternatively, you can get the Great Wall (if you have Warlords/Beyond the Sword) to permanently remove barbs from your territory.

- How many cities should I get in the early game? Sometimes I rush to get 3 or 4 but that doesn't seem like the right thing to do anymore

Depends on the situation, map size, etc. Some people like to "rex", which is expand hugely early on, and try to get Code of Laws for early courthouses to help deal with the cost. Others don't. Basically, expand when you think the extra city will be a good addition to your empire, and don't expand when you can't really think of why you need another city.

- My cities seem to grow really slow. I'll build lots of improvements but have no use for them cause my city is stuck at 1 or 2, when I'm not building workers or settlers.

Focus more on food. Develop food resources in the area (clams, fish, rice, etc..). Build farms in the area if you need more food in the city area itself. If you have no fresh water in the area, go for Civil Service (for the ability to irrigate) or Biology (for the ability to slap farms anywhere). BUILD LIGHTHOUSES in coastal cities!

- How do I actually make money? Seems every game I have to move my research bar down cause I'm losing money by the turn. Shouldn't the coins from the tiles contribute?

What you get from the tiles is "commerce". Commerce is divided up between science, gold, culture, and (if you have BtS), Espionage. If you have 10 commerce, for example, and a 50% science slider, you'll be making 5 gold per turn and the rest of the commerce will go towards science. Buildings that modify this (e.g. banks for 50% more gold per turn) modify that value, not the total commerce. So, in our little example, 10 commerce at 50% science 50% gold, a bank would send you from 5 to 7.5 gold per turn.

Thanks in advance. Oh and I'm also looking for the games I hear about on this site with commentary. Can anyone point me in the direction of those?

http://forums.civfanatics.com/forumdisplay.php?f=167

 

[the_brainiac91]

Thanks for the help guys, appreciate it