Feeling really new

[Gump]

I used to play civ III all the time and I got IV about a month ago and have put down 5 games so far and won 3 of them on warlord. After spending about the last two days reading around here I feel like I should wear a helmet and bib when playing.

Usually how the game goes down is I build a city and get started usually on a settler while the warrior explores. after I finish the settler city two goes up and city one works on a worker and the new city starts producing a settler. I do this till I have about 4 cities and after reading some of your posts seems like a HUGE waste of turns. After that I start punching out upgrades to the cities while I have my workers on auto.

I try to control as much land as possible and I think most of my score comes from having a large landmass and high population since I still haven’t gotten the grasp of the specialists and usually don't have any unless the city assigns them from me building a wonder.

With military usually I have one unit per city unless I think there is a hostile border but then I put two scan: ) and for some reason I guess I get lucky and never have to fight much till around when oil comes in to play and ill usually destroy one nation before the end of the game.

So now that I’ve told everyone that I seem to put as much planning into the game as a 3 year old id like to know if there is somewhere I can read more about setting up cities and a better grasp of more involved elements of the game so I can move up from warlord.

Thanks guys really enjoying the site so far.

 

[futurehermit]

Well, I in particular am not going to give you a hard time about trying to secure a lot of land

But you have to be smart about it, like I think you're sensing. Workers/settlers stop your cities from growing while they're building. This is bad news that you want to minimize. There are two main ways to minimize this:

1) Chop/whip them out

2) Try to avoid building them

Option two means you are taking cities and workers by force instead of building them yourself. If you have a relatively close neighbour and access to copper or iron, or even horses especially if you play Egypt/Persia, then build yourself some troops and go take a couple cities and workers.

Option 1 means build your first worker, but then chop your 2nd worker and 1st settler. You should have 2 workers before a settler so that one worker can develop tiles and chop in your 2nd city.

But definitely try and war early--without overexpanding. Take a capital and couple other cities. Raze any that seem too far from your capital. Then fill in the gaps with settlers as you can afford it. Rinse and repeat as your economy develops.

Don't forget many cottages to pay for your increasing costs.

 

[uncarved block]

Gump, don't worry-- everyone has to learn some time.

I think I played a grand total of two games on Warlord before moving up to Noble, due to hubris rather than skill, really. (The first time I tried fighting Cavalry with Axemen opened my eyes as to how much things had changed-- no more Longbowmen taking out those marauders!) Having played Civ3 for years, let me conjecture that there's a whole lot you're going to have to unlearn from that game to succeed in Civ4. War is fairly easy to pick up, and city management is only a little different-- what's really changed is managing a large and/or expanding empire. Learning the right techs (Code of Laws, Currency) that help with this is a tougher balancing act, as is handling the larger military that you're going to need to keep the AI off your back. (Oh, and the rule I think everyone learns early is "Monty dies first if he's your neighbor".) The complexity in Civ4 just blow Civ3 away-- you've just scratched the surface, it sounds like, and you have a lot of hours of fun ahead of you picking up all the wrinkles.

 

[futurehermit]

What surprised me the most when going into the late game was the sheer number of units. If I had 20 units in the industrial-modern era I thought I had a gigantic army.

Now I have 60+ units and I am already calculating for reinforcements...

 

[Cam_H]

After spending about the last two days reading around here I feel like I should wear a helmet and bib when playing.

Doesn't everybody?

After that I start punching out upgrades to the cities while I have my workers on auto.

- Gump, you are not the first, and you won't be the last, but if you want to improve your levels then do not do this. I see so many frustrated low-level players' games that can't work out why things aren't going better, and then you see what automated Workers have done to their cities. Stagnated on 5 population points because automated Workers have covered every Plains tile with a Cottage that will never be able to be worked because there's no food. 'Yes' it's easier to automate them. 'Yes' it's less dumb to tweak the settings so they don't knock over existing improvements and/or build trade networks. Just don't do it.

I still haven’t gotten the grasp of the specialists and usually don't have any unless the city assigns them from me building a wonder.

This one is a 'can of worms' issue, but running specialists in the right environment can be an effective tool (commonly referred to as the 'Specialist Economy' or a minor variant; the 'Farm Economy'). The mini version is that running specialists helps boost your points in a city, and you therefore are likely to pop more Great People. Once you get into the middling-levels the option of 'lightbulbing' technology becomes more appealing than some of the other options for Great People. I'd suggest keep reading these forums, and playing, and it will start to sink in.

So now that I’ve told everyone that I seem to put as much planning into the game as a 3 year old id like to know if there is somewhere I can read more about setting up cities and a better grasp of more involved elements of the game so I can move up from warlord.

Sisiutil's Strategy Guide for Beginners is a great start. Most of the articles in The War Academy are worthwhile too.

Thanks guys really enjoying the site so far.

Pleased to hear it. It's not a game for everyone, but I was addicted to CivII, quite enjoyed CivIII Conquests, but I find that CivIV is the most engaging. ... now, where did I put my bib and helmet? ...

 

[vicawoo]

Try worker first (even two) before settler. Improving a good tile and chopping forests speed things up a lot. Other big things for me to learn is the great person farm, specializing cities, and managing city upkeep.

 

[Morgrad]

I strongly (strongly) recommend reading the ALC games inbetween your games. The link to all of them can be found here:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=216961

They are entertaining and extremely informative - you'll see arguements for pros and cons of certain things that I guarantee you've never thought about thinking about yet. (Well, at least I didn't........)

 

[Gump]

Thanks a lot guys for the words and links. With my long work hours and commute id die if i tried to play during the week but this weekend ill have to try some of my new info/strategy. Hopefully tomorrow is slow at work and ill check out some of the articles and ALC games.

O yeah.... why the hell is Dan Quayle in this game at all and further more im getting really tired of my game playing skills being in the same ballpark/city as this guy...

 

[Florian]

Gump,

Your build order sounds like the same build order I used in every previous Civ game. And no, it doesn't work on Civ 4. But that doesn't make you inexperienced, just experienced with the wrong games. All that past experience will still pay dividends once you've figured out the differences, and this site is a good place to figure them out.

 

[Gump]

Sisiutil's Strategy Guide for Beginners is a great read and very helpful.

 

[OldDays]

Try worker first (even two) before settler. Improving a good tile and chopping forests speed things up a lot. Other big things for me to learn is the great person farm, specializing cities, and managing city upkeep.

This is VERY true!!! Early worker(s) then chop or whip settlers like hell to get the next good spots (bronze or horses are vital). Remember that every city will cost you one more gold (for example your first city costs 1 gold, your second city 2 gold and your 10th 10 gold) PLUS!!! 0.5 gold for every tile distance to your capital. Get Codes of law and currency tech before expanding beyond 6 cities or so.

Specialize your cities!!! Think about the advatages of every city site and work the tiles around it with your NON AUTOMATED!!! workers. You know better how to do this than the AI. (Food is the most important in the early game and of course hammers!!!

For the longterm you shoud think about your economy. Getting a gold, silver, or gem mine early on will boost your economy (your commerce divides into culture, money and beakers) and for the later game cottages are the most powerfull when they have grown into FAT CASH COWS formerly known as "towns"

All Warmongers also enjoy the nice plunder money they get

 

[InFlux5]

Don't worry about specialists for now. Focus on effective use of Slavery and chopping (both opened up by Bronze Working) as well as micromanagement of your Workers. These are the key components to early game strategy; you could almost say the game is won or lost in the Ancient Era. Almost.

Also, begin to think early about cottaging squares that have 2 food or more. Grasslands next to rivers are ideal. You should never stop growing your economy, and that means cottages (or specialists, but that will come later.)