Help a noob please!

Matt1010

Chieftain
Joined
Sep 11, 2007
Messages
5
I'm new to the turn based game types, I've played the game multiple times and I've had multiple problems.

So far all I do is send out setlers, make towns, make workers, automate workers, spread my country and thats about it, I honestly do not know anything about using my population or converting people into spies and stuff, I try to play the game without religion which might be one of my mistakes.

What things should I know about to help me get into the game more? I want to play a semi-conquering game. So I want to establish a powerful economy while still waging war with one or two AI.

I also don't understand how to properly manage anything.

Any hints or tips would be mucho apreciated.
 
Spam cottages, specialize your cities, spam cottages, keep an eye on the power graph, spam cottages, trade technologies... did I mention spamming cottages?

Occasionally you may hear some blasphemers muttering something about farms and specialists, but they're out of their minds, don't listen to them ;).
 
Spam cottages, specialize your cities, spam cottages, keep an eye on the power graph, spam cottages, trade technologies... did I mention spamming cottages?

Occasionally you may hear some blasphemers muttering something about farms and specialists, but they're out of their minds, don't listen to them ;).

Thanks but I'm not sure what specializing my city means and also whats the power graph? And what is the best way to spread cottages? Research the tech for it and send workers out?
 
*mutter* build farms *mutter* use specialists *mutter* win cultural victory *mutter*
 
Check out the "War Academy" part of this site for some nice articles on various elements of game strategy from beginner to advanced. Do be aware that much of what's there is less important on lower difficulty levels - I can go for all generalist cities and do fine on Warlord, for example.

The power graph is one of the graphs you can see when you click the "graphs" button in the upper-right corner toolbox. "Power" shows just total military unit strength, "Population" shows pop, "Score" shows score, etc. It's a good way to get an idea of how you are competing in different areas.

One thing you may find very different from any RTS I've ever tried (though the Rise of Nations games were more civ-like and had more of it than most) is the need for a longer-term game strategy. While some leaders and civilizations are suited for an RTS-style rush to take out one or two competitors early and secure land on which to build an economy bigger than your opponents, in the longer term it's how well you build that economy that will determine overall victory.
 
Hi, welcome to the forum :)

Firstly, build cities next to a river whenever you get the opportunity. You get health from fresh water, more money from riverside tiles, and later you can build a levee.


Specialising your cities - don't try to build everything everywhere, early in the game.

A city with high production (lots of hills where you can build mines) might be good for military - so build a barracks then start training archers for defense and axemen for attack. Or it might be good for wonders - pick one that sounds good and go for it. Later you can build a forge to increase production even more.

A city with lots of food is great for building more settlers and workers.

A city with resources that give extra income like gold or ivory is a good place to build things that give a % bonus to science like a library or (if you get a religion) a monastery. Then later you can add cottages nearby for even more income.
 
Welcome,and don't panic..in the forums you'll find a lot of help.
Anyway it is a complicated game so you'll need some time to learn every aspect.
Religion is very important,so try to found one,or at least accept the state religion of another state.By doing this you practically start your diplomacy,and that happens because religion is the first possitive or negative affect towards your opponents.
Don't build a lot of cities very fast,the maintenance cost at the beginning is too hight,so 2-3 cities are good number to start your empire,and try to build them near resources,also a primary aspect of this game,without them you can't build units and can't maintain happiness or health,plus you can't earn gold from traiding.
Build an army and wait until AI establish a city or cities near you,then take them over instead of building new ones.
 
Thanks for all the info. I've played a few games and I still keep messing up.

Could anyone list a good start for me? How to build my first three cities and how to specialize them properly. Also what techs to take on?

I tried even the faqs and I still suck so far. I really REALLY want to get into the game.
 
I try to play the game without religion which might be one of my mistakes.

What things should I know about to help me get into the game more? I want to play a semi-conquering game. So I want to establish a powerful economy while still waging war with one or two AI.


Playing the game without religion is your biggest mistake. Even if you don't found a religion you want to switch to one asap. This allows you to switch to organized religion and build monasteries/temples. These gives each city a production boost while you are on organized religion, as long as the city has the required religion. Monotheism enables organized religion (the Jewish tech sporting the star of David). Right from the start you are selling yourself short.

As for spys use them to switch the other players civics and generally be a nuisance. Excellent for causing a revolution too so that you don't even need catapults to take a city.

You are unlikely to establish a powerful economy while waging a war. You want wars to be quick. Set them up so that you capture the key points on the map you want, and then end it. 10 turns later you can try again if you want more, but prolonging war will result in a weak economy and anger the other civs. Especially if they all have that religion. In fact if they are all one religion and you aren't then you declare war, good luck with that! Avoid too many coastal cities too because if someone declares war and pulls up with ships you better have defense, and you probably can't afford to defend 10 cities at once while mounting an offensive of your own. Instead build some of them near the coast instead.

Could anyone list a good start for me? How to build my first three cities and how to specialize them properly. Also what techs to take on?

You want the pyramids, and it is always good to get the oracle too. Turn out wonders with your first city. Pump out archers with your second until you can defend yourself, then go back to expanding when you can afford another city. Not before!

As for your third city, that's up to you. I'll usually use that to pump out workers/settlers then I will focus on it's economy.
 
well if you playeda few games within a few hours thats your problem.. Go until your dead.

Start on settler difficulty.

As soon as you start on the map, put your settler down form the city, then, build a worker. Once workers built build a warrior or scout, and then vice versa, after that Settler. Once you have the second City have the capital build a wonder, have the secodn city build a worker, warrior, then improvement, then settler then wonder, and from there what ever. Always keep strong culture and military, and stay at pace or ahead in techs. I don't go threw and specialize cities, hell I'm guessing thats fooling with the citizens and increasign preists and such, i dont bother with that take otu my fun lol. Make sure you build atleast 2 farms for cities that are going to be larger(so your first 5) gain all resources around them, and then spam cottages. Cottages make lots of money. More money you got the easier it is to play the game, however the more money you got the mroe demands other nations make. Sometimes when I'm not as strong as I'd like to be, and I have neighbors I push more into culture, science, or espionage rather than make the little extra money, so they can't demand it. Until I build my forces up to a good level, then. I don't care if i make alot of money, they demand, I deny, they declare, I destroy. Usually when I do this, my economy rebounds anyway, and I end up making a similar amount of money as i did before I raised the scale up. Sometimes a downward economy comes back stronger. I played as brennus before, and I was making 100+ gold per a turn, then for some reason my economy crashed and i was at -200 per a turn. Bu I believe this was because I had deals with other countries 30 or 50 gold per a turn for cow and suddenly they canceled the deal because they were making 5 gold less than what our agreement was for. So I fell into a downward spiral, because they wouldnt share their wealth lol. So. I changed the Civics to my favorite ones(I went communist :) ) and my economy rebounded to 100+gold, but I had lowered scale, I decided to raise the scale til I was breaking even again, then I started trading with the other nations again, gaining insane gold for crappy resources lol, Eventually I was at 100% making 500+per a turn with 400 from trade. I knew If I lost the trades I'd hit recession again, So instead, I took over my neighbor. My economy lowered to 300+ per turn, then after the war, I pumped the conquered side up with workers, built infrastructure and improvements, built lots of Courthouses and Malls(Brennus of America :) ) with banks. By the time the reconstruction period ended, I was making 1250 Gold per a turn with 60% science, 20% Culture and 10% espionage. I was only playing I think Warlord or Nobel, so it wasn't that bad. But When economy rebounds it's good :) some games I had to go completely bankrupt before I could make money again, some I had 30,000 gold, and went through a 0% free fall until I hit 0. Then, Economy started growing at first slow, but then it sped up and I'd end up with 40k to 70k saved up.
 
Specializing cities isn't just messing with priests and stuff. Specializing a city is different than using specialists. Terrain improvements and city buildings are the key.

Remember you only get one terrain improvement per tile. Mixing terrain improvements will dilute your specialization. Why?

Buildings generally increase a percentage... and percentages are only strong when you start with a high number. For example, a library gets you +25% science :science:. 3 :science: plus 25% is 3.75, when 24 :science: plus 25% is 30. 6 Cottages developed into towns can get you that 24 :science: to start with, making that library worth 6 extra beakers instead of 0.75 extra in a city with no cottages.

Mines help forges and cottages help libraries and markets. Mines don't help libraries, and cottages don't help forges. Pick one specialization per city for your terrain and your buildings together. Add your specialists afterwards (priests and stuff) only if you have the food to support them.

edit - Specialization can unlock the higher levels for you, so you can ignore it for now. Once you get the basics of the game, use it to power up! The magic of Civ 4 is that you can win a game many ways, with diplomacy, with war, with production, with religion. It's a really rich strategy game, far deeper than it looks at first glance.
 
Yeah, keep an eye on that Power Graph so Elisabeth won't stab you in the back. She just loves that stuff... I had to learn that the hard way.
 
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