Could someone take a look at this noble save please?

[civili]

Ive read the intire guide made by sulla and decided to try it myself. Its around year 1800, and im leading by score, but this is only noble, and i should have acomplished soo much more by now.

Ive head research on 100% throughout most of the game, 4 cities around year 0 and good relationships with most of ai. I think my main problem is that i fail the see the mechanics of cities. Whats this whole deal with food vs cottages? Is focus on food producing more research somehow, because of the increased population? Alsp, if i produce more food than i need, i should train specialists ( that decreases the shield production )

I also think my cities are kinda crappy, all except 3-4 well developed ones. Things take ages to build

Im quite confused, even after all guides ive read. If somebody had an "simple" explenation of the city mechanics, i would be very greateful.

Regards
Civili

 

[Winston Hughes]

I had a quick look at the save, and you're not doing too badly at all (the game is definitely winnable from this position). You clearly have a grasp of most of the fundamentals. A couple of obvious things I noticed, though:

A) In several cases you've built windmills where I would've built mines for better production.

B) You're running a couple of citizen specialists where there are much better options (probably scientists or merchants, or, alternatively, workshops for extra hammers).

Most importantly, though, you seem to have gone wonder mad, building stuff like the Chichen Itza (sp?), when more troops would've been a better choice. By the looks of things you could've gone to war much earlier in the game and carved yourself out a larger empire (eg. Saladin could've been conquered wholesale).

The answers to some of the following questions should help to explain why you've not got the game wrapped up already:

1) What plan did you adopt after your initial exploration and expansion?

2) How did you work your way through the tech tree in the early- to mid-game? What short- or medium-term goals did you set yourself?

3) How did you plan your economy/city specialisation (esp. early on)? I notice you've got farms in most cities, and cottages in a couple - how did you seek to maximise your research and production through this 'hybrid'-style development? And how did you plan the use of the Great People you got?

4) Did you make extensive use of the whip (slavery) earlier on in the game?

5) How have you utilised the benefits given by the wonders (both national and world) and buildings in your cities?

6) Did you consider conducting a war of conquest in the early game? If so, what stopped you from doing so? And, later on, how did the wars you fought actually pan out? What did you gain from them?

7) At what point (if any) did you start to think about which victory condition to aim for? What plan did you come up with to further that goal?

 

[civili]

Thanks for your tips. I tend to autamate my workers, hence the windmills. Ill work on that one in the furure.

As for points 1-7, that may have been my biggest mistake now that i think of it. I didnt really plan that much, i just build stuff i thought were good to have. Same for tech tree, thats probobly the reason why im not ahead military-unit wise?

I never even used slavery, thought of that as kinda cruel to my people^^Thats a big no no i civilization right? I didnt start a war early on, i waited to long and lost to much land to my competitors

As for great people, i used them for expanding borders, traderouts and finisking wonders. I got a load of them early on in the game.

Ill try to work on these things in my next game, if there are more suggestions ill be happy to hear it thanks dude!

 

[Winston Hughes]

Thanks for your tips.

Just paying it forward.

I tend to autamate my workers, hence the windmills. Ill work on that one in the furure.

Definitely do so. Choosing your worker jobs manually is possibly the most effective way to improve your game. It not only allows you to better specialise and develop your economy, but also forces you to think much more carefully about what exactly your cities are for, and helps you to understand the game mechanics much better.

As for points 1-7, that may have been my biggest mistake now that i think of it. I didnt really plan that much, i just build stuff i thought were good to have. Same for tech tree, thats probobly the reason why im not ahead military-unit wise?

Indeed. There are so many different elements to cIV that you can't hope to do everything. Deliberate city and tech planning, along with setting goals for yourself, is the only reliable way to advance through the difficulty levels. In each case, ask yourself 'how does this build or tech choice fit into my overall plan?'

One of the most compelling elements of the game comes from the synergy between different wonders, buildings, civics, improvements and strategies. For example, if you build the Pyramids, you can switch to Representation very early in the game, giving you +3 per specialist. In this case, it's usually smart to use a lot of specialists, which means that farms, The Parthenon, Caste System (etc. etc.) can work together in a coherent and powerful strategy.

Once you start to grasp which elements work well together (and why), you'll find that there are almost infinite different combinations which can be put together to create new, interesting, and effective strategies.

I never even used slavery, thought of that as kinda cruel to my people^^Thats a big no no i civilization right?

Yep. Especially early on, Slavery is the most powerful civic by a massive distance. Whether it's infrastructure, workers/settlers, or troops you're after, you can get them faster (and in many cases much cheaper) using the whip.

I'd suggest reading (at least part of) VoU's guide to the whip, if you have time:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=193659

I didnt start a war early on, i waited to long and lost to much land to my competitors

It's not as bad as you might think. You're still in a strong position thanks to later warring. But, as you rise to higher levels, the value of early conquest increases dramatically (because the AI has so many bonuses).

The trick is learning to pace your conquests so that maintenance costs (which can be vicious on higher levels) don't cripple your research - you need an economy capable of supporting more cities before you expand.

Ill try to work on these things in my next game, if there are more suggestions ill be happy to hear it

One thing I forgot to mention is the use of your leader traits and your civ's unique unit and building.

At least one of your traits should always play a major role in your choice of strategy. UUs and UBs can also be leveraged to great effect (though not always - it's rarely worth sacrificing an effective strategy just to get some use from a UU or UB).

When choosing a leader, look at their traits/UU/UB, and think about how these might be put to good use (in a similar way to that when choosing builds or civics).

Reading the early part of one or two of Sisiutil's ALC threads is a great way to get a grasp on how some of these elements can be used, and on how to approach the massively important early choices (and they're highly entertaining to boot).

Good luck!

Edit: This thread has links to all of Sisiutil's previous ALC games:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?p=5320091

Games 13 and 14 might be the best ones to look at - two very different leaders/strategies.

 

[civili]

Wow, thats alot of info. I certainly feel i understand the game mechanic better now, after couple days of playing and reading ( after a longer break ). The idea was to fresh up my skill before BTS comes out Ill be without internet for couple of weeks, so ill save what you wrote aswell as the site you linked to. Again, thaks for all you help.

I see now that the key to sucess is city/worker management, ill work more on this from now on. As far as the traits go, ive always had them in consideration before choosing my civ, maybe not very effectivly but still.

The wipping, or lack of it in my case, is probobly the main reason why ai gets more well developed cities in the beginning.I will definetely do this in my next game.

Good thing ill be without internet for a while, that will give me some time to figure things out on my own. All info on this site tends to be quite confusing at times... When im stuck though, ill come running back^^

Cheers!