Finally Got Civ 4; First Thoughts

[jtwood]

I made sure to read the War Academy articles here before I started, so I had an idea about the change in opening game philosophy. Still, it was quite a shock at first when I saw a civ that was way ahead of me in techs with half as many cities as me. Here's another "correct me if I'm wrong" moment, but it hit me then that the most important aspect of city management seems to be balancing the happiness/health ratios in your city to your growth. You want to grow quickly, but not faster than your city can handle.

 

[Willem]

Here's another "correct me if I'm wrong" moment, but it hit me then that the most important aspect of city management seems to be balancing the happiness/health ratios in your city to your growth. You want to grow quickly, but not faster than your city can handle.

Well that's part of it, but more importantly is to strike a good balance with your tile usage. Early in the game you want to try to have each city support itself financially, which means building as many Cottages as you can. Later on you can specialize more and devote some cities strictly to production, while others focus on commerce and science. If I have a city with a happy cap of 4 in the early game, I try to have one tile producing food, one for hammers and the other two working Cottages. If you look at what the AI does with their BFCs you'll notice that they tend to spam Cottages everywhere. It's a good policy to try and do the same.

You also need to focus more on city specialization. In previous Civs you generally ended up with cookie cutter cities that all had more or less the same types of buildings. Civ 4 is different, you need to have some cities that focus only on production, others that specialize in commerce and still more that deal with science. But that doesn't really start to shape up until about the middle of the game.

 

[jtwood]

Well that's part of it, but more importantly is to strike a good balance with your tile usage. Early in the game you want to try to have each city support itself financially, which means building as many Cottages as you can. Later on you can specialize more and devote some cities strictly to production, while others focus on commerce and science. If I have a city with a happy cap of 4 in the early game, I try to have one tile producing food, one for hammers and the other two working Cottages. If you look at what the AI does with their BFCs you'll notice that they tend to spam Cottages everywhere. It's a good policy to try and do the same.

This is one area where I am still sorely lacking. I have not figured out the economics of the game at all yet.

 

[Willem]

This is one area where I am still sorely lacking. I have not figured out the economics of the game at all yet.

Simple, build lots of Cottages. Other than that it's pretty much the same as Civ 3. Except now you have an additional Grocer building you can build, and the Wall Street National Wonder.

 

[Honorable_Pawn]

After years of not having a computer that could play Civ 4 (I'm a big cheapskate), I finally got a real computer about a week ago. One of my first moves was to buy the whole Civ 4 BTS package. I played the mess out of Civ 3 for years, and I have to say that I really like a lot of the changes in Civ 4. I really love the upgradable units, religion is a nifty touch, the new tech tree is awesome, and you can't beat the graphics difference, of course.

However, I can't shake one overriding feeling: I'm bored.

I played Civ 3 on Diety for the last 2 years, and I've started with Civ 4 playing on Monarch. I don't want to say I'm running through the game. Sometimes I'm a little behind, sometimes I'm a little ahead. I do feel like I'm picking up on the game quickly, and I generally don't feel pressured by my neighbors. But none of that is why I feel bored.

What's getting me so far is that the early game feels very slow and lonely. I spend a lot of time building up my capital, developing some resources, popping out a few cities, and generally ignoring my neighbors. I usually don't say word one to them until at least Writing, and even then, I rarely want to enter into an Open Borders agreement.

Am I missing something, or is this normal for the game? Does it pick up as things move along?

I'm not going to quit by any means. Just curious if I'm looking at this the wrong way.

Make sure you have the most recent UNofficial patch. Make sure Agressive AI is checked (Better Wars) and make sure raging barbarians is on. I always add one extra civ above the default.

 

[jtwood]

Unofficial patch?

 

[DigitalBoy]

What's getting me so far is that the early game feels very slow and lonely. I spend a lot of time building up my capital, developing some resources, popping out a few cities, and generally ignoring my neighbors. I usually don't say word one to them until at least Writing, and even then, I rarely want to enter into an Open Borders agreement.

I actually have the reverse problem. The game starts off interesting but then I lose interest halfway through and start a new one.

 

[Willem]

Make sure you have the most recent UNofficial patch.

No, you do not want to use that anymore. Most of what it contained is now in the offical 3.19 patch. The unofficial patch is obsolete, at least until someone comes up with a new. But somehow I don't think that's going to happen.

 

[Willem]

Unofficial patch?

Disregard what he mentioned, the unofficial patch was made obsolete with patch 3.19. You don't want to use it.