early-mid game help

[leroyparnelly]

Hello all. I'm a newbie and have only been playing for a few weeks (totally new to the civ series and am playing CIV). This game is awesome but I find myself getting lost in the early-mid game. I get about 5 cities and loose track of what I'm doing where. There are so many things to consider in the game. Does anyone hae tips on what buildings MUST be in all cities and what are your thought on the city automation buttons? Do they work well with city specilization? Is it too soon for me to worry about specialization??

Thanks!!!!!!

 

[nanomage]

it's never too soon to worry about specialization.
Personally i never rely on automate buttons, preferring to manage everything myself. But, generally, "emphasize food" button is always worth pressing =).
EDIT: except for tundra cities!
You shuold post a save and/or a efw screenshots in order to have more detailed and useful help.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

I wouldn't normally emphasize food if it puts one over the early cap...play with them and try to get them to do what you'd do manually. If that doesn't work, I suggest crying. Works for me.

 

[nanomage]

There's always a nice way to bring your population back under the happy cap, with some positive side effects!

 

[henrebotha]

It can get quite confusing, yeah.

To answer your questions: Granary, a culture-producing building (Monument/Obelisk, Library, Theatre...), happiness buildings (Colosseum, Theatre...), and health buildings (Aqueduct, Grocer...) are musts for every city. Beyond that, you should choose a function for every city and only build things that support that function. So build Forges and Factories in your production cities; build Markets, Banks, and Grocers in your wealth cities; build Libraries, Laborotories, and Universities in your science cities. That kind of thing.

Generally, when I settle a new city, I build a Granary first, and a culture-producing building second (unless I'm playing with a Creative leader, in which case I can generally skip that step, or postpone it). When I capture a city in enemy territory, I build a Theatre first (or a Library if Theatres are not available yet) and then evaluate the situation to see what is needed - more culture?

 

[erikthecelt]

Go to the Acedemy and read the guides. Play through a few games while reading. Visit HOF and GOTM.

If warring below Monarch, the only building you need is a barracks and sometimes you don't even need that.

Everything, and I really mean everything in Civ is situational.

 

[leroyparnelly]

Thanks everyone. I have another question regarding rushing. What is it and how do I do it. I think it's using slavery. Is that right? Thanks again.

 

[Ghpstage]

The term rushing is just a name given to early attacks, the most popular being axe rush, tech bronze working after a food tech then start mass producing axemen.

Slavery obviously helps a great deal in getting troops out fast, BUT don't overdo it because you can land yourself in a right mess with the you generate, another effective way to build troops (and other things) fast is to use workers to chop forests near your cities.
A typical axe rush involves a stack of about 6-10 axes at around 1600BC and can be used all the way up to at least Emperor difficulty.

 

[Amao]

Thanks everyone. I have another question regarding rushing. What is it and how do I do it. I think it's using slavery. Is that right? Thanks again.

Yes. You need Bronze Working to enable slavery civic option. Then change civic (F3) to slavery. Then in the city window, you'll have hurry product available (the up arrow) when you meet the requirement (i.e enough population to die). Enjoy your