For those without the game, this is for you

[Zany]

Judaism spreads to London (when I took the screenie, the message saying "Judaism has spread to London" dissapeared just a millisecond earlier). As you can see, the French are moving in on me. I hope by building a city just a little south of there (on top of horse) and building lots of cultural improvements, I can engulf the city. It might become unhappy and flip over to me (I am not certain if culture flipping is still in, but I know a leader can just trade you a troublesome city that wants to join your civilization).

 

[KrikkitTwo]

I don't have a state religion yet, 'cause I don't have the tech.

What Tech do you need for state religion?

And what tech/building do you need to build a missionary?

 

[Zany]

General English update: 925 BC, 1 turn away from researching Priesthood (and then I can start building missionaries and possibly convert the new French city Lyons), and I just founded the city of Nottingham.

So far I don't have a military at all, just one warrior still scouting and defending warriors in all cities. I am open for attacks, I better start building archers in each city and a couple chariots. Oh, and also, I just entered the Classical Era (sorry, forgot to take a screenie of the intro to it, but it's nothing special).

 

[Zany]

Krikkitone, you need a temple to build a missionary and I actual already had the tech for organized religion, just forgot to change. Now I just started a revolution. Any other questions, I'd be happy to answer.

 

[Zany]

I just signed open borders with France to convert Lyons, then I will cancel that worthless alliance in a few turns, so that when I block them in it will actually matter. But first, London is unhealthy for some reason. I still don't really have a feel for the health system, but like all features in the game they seem foreign at first but you can catch on to them quickly.

 

[Zany]

Here, I have spread Judaism to Lyons on the very same turn Nottingham's cultural borders expand. Pretty soon Lyons will flip over to my side, and France is already pretty weak. I will retain my strategy to ally with Kublai Khan and conquer Napoleon in the near future (maybe around the time of the Redcoats, because I will be strong enough and the French will already have lost the Musketeers).

 

[Corbeau]

On health, I'm guessing that you just need to find more health resources. If there aren't any unclaimed at this point, maybe there are some you could trade for? Though eventually, I expect that there's nothing more you can do on the health issue.

 

[Zany]

It's already under control.

Meanwhile, in London the Great Prophet Moses has appeared. I could either use it to discover Theology (but that would unlock Christianity, which, because I already have Judaism, would not be a wise choice) or build the Jewish Shrine in York. I, of course, will build the Jewish Shrine in York, so it can expand out even more and finally claim the eastern coast. Then I will have officially blocked off everyone (I will cancel friendly borders with France soon enough) and be free to expand an empire peacefully while building up an army to eventually invade France.

 

[Corbeau]

Looking up!

Nappy, beware!

 

[Zany]

I just founded the city of Hastings on the east coast. It is currently undefended, but it will produce an archer in 9 turns, and there are no barbs or Mongols (I still don't know where Kublai is ) nearby.

 

[Zany]

Most advanced civilizations on earth:

1: Zany the Glorious
2: Unknown Civilization
3: Kublai Khan the Fine
4: Unknown Civilization
5: Unknown Civilization
6: Napoleon the Pathetic

Napoleon is doomed, however, I still have a barbarian problem. I sent out an archer to intercept them (I didn't want my mines pillaged), but it was destroyed. Then the barb axemen (those things are scary to see when you are stuck in the stone age, military-wise) attacked my city, and I barely survived.

Here is my current agenda:

1: Rebuild defenses, archers in all cities.
2: Build horse archers, search out the barbs, but I'm not sure if they even have barb camps any more.
3: Focus on barbarians and city defenses firstly, but prepare an invasion force of France.
4: Conquer the French.
5: Form some kind of alliance with Kublai Khan (still don't know much about Civ IV diplomacy).

 

[Zany]

So I just complete The Oracle in London, and that gives you a free tech. I choose to get Horseback Riding, and set London right on a Horse Archer. I will use my first specifically offensive unit to scout out down south, and patrol for barbarians. So #1 and #2 on my agenda are not in any specific order.

I think I'm going to stop soon. Well, maybe not.

 

[Zany]

Okay, I'm done for the night. The White Sox just won the World Series, just as I found Canterbury. Take a look, Nappy is doomed.

 

[lebowski]

Great stuff. Can't wait to read more tomorrow.


If only I could get mine to work!!! grrr

 

[Truronian]

Much appreciated Zany

Any chance of a zoomed out screenshot?

 

[TreeFoot]

hope to see more, deperatly waiting for more before i get civ4!

 

[Fried Egg]

Very interesting...Can you take a screen shot of your position in the tech tree?

 

[Jorunkun]

Great thread, many thanks for your efforts!

Don´t remember what level you are playing on, but aren´t you expanding a bit too fast? Haven´t played the game yet but from what I´ve read so far I would expect that ...

a) your empire will run out of cash or fall behind on tech soon and

b) some of your neighbors might wake up to the fact that your army is too small to defend all those cities.

Fingers crossed for you ...

 

[Sinedia]

Loved this... makes the waiting a lot less bitter...
Please continue tomorrow...

 

[Zany]

Okay good people, I've got the day off! Nothing need to be done! I'm free to play Civ IV all day! You know, I cleared my schedule on the 24th an 25th expecting the game to be released, but now I get a day off at what turns out to be just the right time.

Next I will get a screenie of my empire zoomed out as far as it can go, without going into globe view yet, and then I'll take a screenie of the known world, maybe with the resource filter on. I was just about to take a screenie of my position in the tech tree, as I have been covering my technological research very poorly. Now, I have been expanding conservatively, focusing more on culture expanding my borders rather than building cities. I have just secured a few possible city sites from foreign settlement, so now I can finally settle at will and at just the right time. And I am on Warlord difficult. Noble difficulty gives no advantages or disadvantages, the human and the AI are equal. However, I am brand new to Civ IV so I am playing one level below that, Warlord.

Once I capture those screenies I'll get right back into the game. I still need to defend my cities against barbarians and keep the pressure on Napoleon. I need to get at least one city from culture and unrest, not force, before a war begins. Cities are MUCH more valuable in Civ IV, almost like they represent provinces more than actual cities.