Going from Civ V to Civ IV

[JustinianIV]

Hello. Civ V is the only Civ game I have ever played. I've played almost 500 hours of it, however I am interested in trying out Civ IV. I've heard so many times over how much better it is than Civ V.

I have tried to play a whole game of Civ IV but each time I get discouraged and stop after less than 50 turns. Basically I get overwhelmed by how different it is and have almost no idea what to do.

1) Has anyone here ever successfully gone from starting with Civ V to Civ IV? I must say, the graphics are difficult to get used to after the new Civ. But I want to look past that.

2) Can someone please recommend a guide or a video for me to start with. I am
determined to learn how to play it.

3) How much does my experience of Civ V carry over? I feel like I have to throw everything out the window and start from scratch.

Thanks a lot!

 

[AdamCrock]

1) Yeah ! I think so ... graphics ?
2) Make Yourself, start Yourself, be Yourself
3) You wont regret it !

 

[AdamCrock]

Aaaaaaand welcome to CFC !!!!!!!!!!! YAAAY prepare to be omg prepare to be .... just

 

[TheMulattoMaker]

Well, my Civ experience has been the complete opposite of yours- I started way back with Civ1 and have never played V. So I can't be much help in the way of "what's the same/what's different" advice between V and IV. However... I'm glad you asked for a guide. Sisiutil's got you covered. Also, maybe check out Sulla's Walkthrough, even though it's a bit outdated, the concepts are mostly the same. You can find both of these, and a bunch of other helpful stuff, in the Intro section of the War Academy. Happy Civving!

EDIT: Couple more things...

You asked about videos- I've never really watched any of them, but go to YouTube and look up "Let's Play Civ4" or somesuch. It's my understanding that there's quite a few, I know TMIT has done some. They may be more geared toward becoming an expert, but there's probably some that are meant for new players.

Also- use the n00b questions thread. Extensively. As you start playing, you'll run into issues or things that are confusing or whatever. Whether it's a strategy question, something about how the game is supposed to work, or whathaveyou, just drop it in that thread. You'll usually get an answer within an hour or two unless it's the middle of the night (sometimes then too ). Only thing is, if you come up with three or four questions in a row (and you probably will) just edit them onto the end of your first post. Mods no likey double/triple-posting.

Other than that- say goodbye to free time, sleep, and any social life you may have once had, and if you live with family members, explain to them that you may be unavailable for a few years. Civ4 is... um... all-consuming.

 

[drewisfat]

Brave to travel backwards through the games. I'm afraid civ V experience really does not help you play civ IV that much as they are radically different games. The general concept is the same, but outside of that it's really different.

Without getting too much into the forum wars, civ IV is no doubt a deeper game where you will have to make more difficult decisions and many more of them. If you think you will embrace micromanagement and consider yourself more of a "serious" player who wants a challenge, civ iv will be a more enjoyable game. If you're a more softcore player that finds economic management tedious, then you probably won't enjoy it as much.

There are mods that can make the game more graphically appealing and that improve the UI.

Worker improvements more significantly affect tiles, and so the choice of improvements is more important. It's equally important to choose which tiles your city is working, and adjust that as your situation changes.
Diplomatically, tech trades are extremely powerful ( unlike research agreements ), and their attitude towards you matters more as far as them going to war with you. Their diplomatic stance relations are explained numerically, so you can read those to get an idea of what makes them happy or upset.

Culture works completely differently, and is crucial to how the borders of your empire form (and for cultural victory) but don't serve a point outside of that.

Roads don't have maintenance and are important for linking resources, trade routes and troop movements. In civ IV you will eventually have roads spammed everywhere, the cost to building them is an opportunity cost, same with buildings.

Fortunately for a game as complicated as it is, many questions can be answered with the civilopedia.

 

[Funky]

The best way to improve is usually to make screenshots of your game every 20 turns or so and post them in the strategy section. This helps others to give advice and point out possible mistakes.

 

[gps]

If you're a more softcore player that finds economic management tedious, then you probably won't enjoy it as much.
...
Fortunately for a game as complicated as it is, many questions can be answered with the civilopedia.

So many times I read statements similar to yours, but I can't agree fully. The fact that IV offers much more gameplay depth does not mean you have to fully understand and make use of all that depth and strategic choices to enjoy the game. Playing IV Vanilla, playing at a lower level, automating your workers, etc. for sure makes IV at least as "casual", enjoyable and newbie-friendly as V - if not even more. For example diplomacy in IV is much more intuitive than what you get in V. While in V you have to deal with moody and autistic maniacs (or have to have a pretty clear understanding of the gameplay mechanics to avoid unintentional negative diplomatic impact: don't declare friendship or everybody hates you, don't attack city states or everybody hates you, don't capture capitals or everybody hates you) in IV you get a pretty clear feedback on how the other AI players feel treated by you or why they love or hate you. The only differenc is: while IV adds more and more complex gameplay layers the longer you play and the more you learn about the game, V does not. So it should be a no-brainer which game has more gameplay value...

 

[TheMeInTeam]

You asked about videos- I've never really watched any of them, but go to YouTube and look up "Let's Play Civ4" or somesuch. It's my understanding that there's quite a few, I know TMIT has done some. They may be more geared toward becoming an expert, but there's probably some that are meant for new players.

AbsoluteZero is a bit better than me and regularly runs deity videos. While I've beaten the game on deity quite a bit, the focus it takes is more than I often have patience to do and I've only put up one video ever on deity (though tons on immortal).

Basically, he has more high-end fine micro while my videos are a lot faster-paced and I tend to speak more often (mileage may vary as to how much and how specific commentary you want - I don't focus on direct strategy nearly as much and can wind up on some odd tangents at times). Ultimately, watching anybody else play and picking up on what they're doing/why they're doing it will improve a player, so in the end its preference as to which videos are more enjoyable.

On diplo: Note that for those who haven't played civ V in the past half-year or more, that diplo changed quite a bit since vanilla release. AI in all civ games is quite terrible; I'm not sure which is more awful but regardless you'll never get any challenge out of it as a serious player unless you give it large bonuses in any of the civ titles.

Civ IV and V AI both routinely throw the game via not expanding much, or doing things that protect or boost runaway civs nearing victory at random. Neither AI consistently follows a strong winning plan in either title. If you want something out of the AI without letting it play a different game in terms of the silly #bonuses, you're going to need to play mods in either game...and still give it at least some bonuses .

 

[JustinianIV]

Thank you everyone for responding. It's a shame that my Civ 5 "skills" don't really apply, but then again, one of the reasons Civ IV has my interest is because it is different.

I have just less than a month before Brave New World comes out, so this seems like a good time to get accustomed to the mechanics of Civ IV.

 

[Thorite]

Well I wouldn't jump right into a Deity video. It somewhat ruins the joy of discovery. Still you'll need some tips and Sulla's walkthrough is pretty good for getting a sense of how to start.

Compared to Civ5 you'll have to drop a few notches in difficulty and it'll take a lot longer to progress. But I think that that's part of the fun. I really enjoyed roleplaying the leader of an empire early on. To be very good, (which I'm not) you'd need to get serious and play to win.

 

[urborror]

I've played a few games in 5, and I'm still playing Civ 4 years later. Lots of things are better in Civ 4 to offset the graphics, even incidental things like the music and Leonard Nimoy. I've heard that people of the same trade seldom get together, even for merriment or diversion, but the conversation end in a conspiracy against the public.

I recommend Sullla's walkthrough as well, there's something very readable about the way Sullla writes. Also: Sullla has some new Civ 4 "let's plays" up.

If you find the war complicated or weird, you can always just knight rush or cavalry rush almost up to "monarch" and just ignore siege entirely.