Gameplay tips?

[stebbinsd]

I was told, in a previous thread, to upload screenshots of about every twenty turns, and ask for tips on how to proceed.

I'm playing on Noble difficulty and with Elizabeth, on a huge Pangea map w/ temperate climate and random sea level and shore line. I'm planning on getting a culture victory, and a diplomatic victory if I can't get a culture victory. This means I'll need lots of commerce for building culture, as well as lots of gold to gift to neighbors for diplomatic purposes.

Here's the first screenshot I've got after I regenerated the map to give myself plenty of resources for my capital (including a gold mine next to a river! With Elizabeth's "Financial" trait, that'll give me nine commerce right off the bat, without any need to work the cottages!).

http://s2.postimg.org/nmocpjo7t/Screenshot_1.png

My plan, right now, is thus:

First, build a work boat while the other warrior goes off exploring on auto-pilot. But first, I'll send him off to the North for the first couple of turns; that way, he won't go for the goodie hut, and I can be guaranteed something good when I get the goodie hut from the first borders expansion.

The work boat is designed so I can gain a few population before having to create a worker. When the worker is finished, he goes STRAIGHT for the gold mine to give myself a head start on commerce, and then followed by the corn.

Once the worker is created, then I'll create a warrior to start off.

First tech: Agriculture, followed by bronze working, so I can have slavery and the ability to chop wood for extra hammers. Then hunting (so the worker can work the squirrel) and then sailing (that way, all these resources will be connected to the capital with no need for roads, and I can also build a galley to protect my clam from barbarians, and another one to explore the coast).

That's my plan initially. Thoughts?

I'll make a hard save, so if you guys give me any suggestions I haven't thought of, I can go back and correct my mistakes.

 

[Lennier]

1) Use the tag to embed the screenshot in your post.

2) Upload the save (use the "Go Advanced" button, there's a "manage attachments" or some such button under there.)

3) Don't put your warrior on auto-pilot. I'd move him 1N or 1NW before settling, but SIP looks like a good move. You look to be very far south (lots of tundra around.) As long as you didn't actually spawn in the ice, it should be OK. After confirming that SIP is best, you want to move your warrior in somewhat of a spiral pattern to see where the best city spots around are.

4) Learning games are best done without huts and events. The results can cover for bad decisions (or blow up good decisions).

5) It's not a squirrel, it's a beaver. It will provide a luxury resource, but not urgent to improve after corn. Before committing to early hunting, you need to see what else is in the neighborhood (although it might be a good idea anyways.)

 

[Pangaea]

Admittedly I don't like coastal starts because they are slower, so am no expert on them, but think I'd start with a worker here since you have access to corn, rather than workboat. You want a worker anyway so you can improve the gold, so you may as well do it now. Corn is a better food resource than clams anyway.

SIP looks like a good choice here, but move the warrior first just in case he reveals something important. Always do that before settling. Usually I like moving him onto a hill if possible, but that doesn't really help all that much here, it's better to reveal tiles further west. Therefore it's probably best to move him NW. There is a hill 2N of where he is now, which will hinder many revealed tiles by moving 1N. Can't tell if that is the case with NW too, but it looks like the best bet.

For threads like this it's a good idea to post the starting save, so people can help you out more. If you didn't save manually, it should be in the save folder. ...\saves\single\auto. Then attach it to the post when going "Go Advanced" or "Post Reply".

 

[Seraiel]

Start indeed looks a lot like SIP. 1W would be an option, but it's very unlikely that it's better. I'd move the warrior 1E on the hill, just in case something great gets revealed (if so, then you should stop) .

You also should start with a Worker, because Workers multiply their usefulness through their actions, so by time. Workboats are 1-shot-units. Additionally, the Corn is 50% stronger than the Seafood initially, because every citizen consumes 2 , so the Seafood is +4, the Corn is +5.

Always improve the Food first, don't be greedy for the Gold, it won't help you, if your city cannot work it or cannot grow while working it.

Tech-choice is obvious with Agriculture first. I'd skip BW, Hunting and Sailing, and go directly for Alphabet. Once you got that, you can trade for all you missed. BW is a very nice tech, but one can do without it very early in the game, Hunting gives the Beavers, yes, but that's a Tundra-tile, so not good, and Sailing would only be an option if you wanted to build the GLH. Rivers connect your resources and cities also before Sailing, if they're without your culture's borders. Skipping techs to then trade for them is an important high-level-play tactic, basically you (almost) can get Alpha for everything you wanted to research, so why not tech Alpha and get the others for free?

I wonder what mapscript that is, with Tundra tiles in the BFC. Definately not Pangaea.

P.S.: For culture-victory, read Jesusin's culture "bible" or Replay #7 (my signature) .

 

[dutchfire]

huh, why do the coast tiles have hammers?

 

[stebbinsd]

huh, why do the coast tiles have hammers?

A mod. I made it myself, so the coastal starts won't be as slow as Poster #2 complains about. You like it? I can upload it here if you're interested!

Anyway, what's SIP? Self-Improved Penises?

 

[Pangaea]

If you're going to post threads about learning how to play the game better, you need to play the game the way it was intended and not use mods.

The slowness of coastal starts isn't really about lack of hammers on coast tiles, but that you need workboats to get food, and that's a great deal slower than for instance farming resources, and unlike the worker, the workboat can only be used once to improve a resource. On the other hand, the worker will stay with you for the entire game (unless the AI kills him), improving maybe 100 tiles along the way.

 

[Seraiel]

Coastal tiles already give , they slow down a start quite a bit, but they definately don't need any further bonuses.

The Tundra tiles are also not normal with giving 2 .

If you want others to help you, you need to post a savegame and stick to the unmodified version of CIV, otherwise, comparison is impossible and tactics that are proven to work will either work differently or will not work at all.