Can't check save right now, but:
1. Generally speaking, make sure you've got a good mix of attackers and siege (too few attackers and you can't take cities, too few siege units and bombarding takes forever/top defenders don't get weakened enough), try to attack wherever your enemy is most vulnerable (out in the open, or if you've got tons of City Raider, you can
let an AI reinforce a weakened city just to pick off units when they're getting little to no defensive bonus and you're getting a strong offensive bonus), and don't wait too long for the perfect moment to attack.
2. Quick explanation: A Great General is a special type of unit that you generate as your military units gain xp in battle (although fights against Barbarian units don't count IIRC). They have three uses, one of which isn't unlocked until around halfway through the tech tree: First, they can be attached to one or more units, which evenly spreads 20xp across the entire group, and gives one of those units (your choice) the "lead by Warlord" promotion. These Warlord units gets access to special promotions, can be upgraded for free, and will print a global message when they die in combat. Second, you can settle them in a city as a permanent specialist, which gives every military unit build in that city an extra +2xp. Note that this effect stacks if you settle multiple GG in a single city, but this isn't necessarily optimal in terms of improving your military. Could be, but not necessarily. Third, with the Military Science tech, you can have them construct a Military Academy in a city, which gives that city a +100%
(IIRC?) bonus when building military units. This third option, like I said, won't be available for a
long while, and you can easily win games before ever getting the tech that unlocks them, so don't worry about that one for right now. Also don't worry about saving a Great General for that purpose - better to use the units now than to get a better use out of them 100+ turns from now.
Usually the best use of a GG unit is to attach it to a
single (ideally 2
) unit, to give it the full +20xp boost, and make it into a Great Medic. Give this unit Combat 1 -> Medic 1 -> Medic 2 -> Medic 3 -> Morale (+1
) if it's available. This gives you a unit which will
significantly increase the speed at which other units within the same/adjacent tiles as the GG medic will heal, allowing you to resume your offensive campaign that much faster. Other common uses include attaching them to a number of Siege units such that you can upgrade them a level for another level of City Raider or the improved bombardment promotion (Accuracy?), settling them in a city so that the city can pump out level 3 units with only a Barracks, or attaching them to a boat or two to get Navigation on water transports.
Personally I
highly recommend creating a Great Medic as your first Great General use, as they are
extremely useful units.
3. A Great Prophet is a Great Person, a type of unit that you generate with Great People Points, which the game denotes with the
icon. There's like a half-dozen different kinds of Great People (the Great General, for reference, is
technically not a Great Person, though they share some similarities) which all have different uses/effects, and there's a
lot to say about them regarding how they can be used to "lightbulb" (or just "bulb", for short) technologies based on what technologies you already possess due to each Great Person's individual priority table.
For now I wouldn't worry too much about them. They're a key aspect of higher level gameplay, but if you're still in the middle of warring right now I'd suggest you maintain your focus on that and take a closer look at great people later. If you do eventually end up with a Great Prophet I would recommend moving him over to Izzy's Holy City and using the GP to build a Shrine, which for Christianity is the Church of Nativity (IIRC). Shrines, in short, a special religious buildings that
only a Great Prophet can construct, and
only in a holy city. They're great to
take, as they can be very powerful and lucrative buildings if properly invested into, but for the same reason they're not great to construct yourself because, as I said, it takes a great deal of investment to get the most out of them.
4. Don't bother with Warriors in newly captured cities, they should focus on rebuilding their infrastructure ASAP so they can start to contribute to your empire. Speaking of which, Granary -> Library is a very solid choice for what to build in them.
5. Trading is a part of diplomacy, and honestly one of the biggest parts of one of the biggest aspects of the game. General rules are to trade for what you need in return for what the AIs won't get much use out of, ideally. In terms of resources, same deal: Get what you need, give away what people don't benefit from (as much).
6. Religion becomes a factor once other AIs start adopting religions and religious blocks begin to form. If there's a large block of one particular religion, yes, go ahead and adopt that religion. Sharing a religion makes AIs better disposed towards you, gives a bit of happiness to cities that have that religion in them, and allows you to make use of the various Religious civics (most of which requires you to be running a state religion to get the most out of it). Conversely, if there's a religious divide on the board than
don't adopt a religion, and
especially do not adopt a religion that no one else is following! Being a heathen makes AIs dislike you, straight-up hate you in some cases, and the bonuses of running religious civics and getting some extra happy is not worth having two-third of the world hate your guts. That's not to say there aren't situations where running minority religions or even running your own self-founded religion isn't worth the risk, but generally speaking, don't paint a target on your back if you can help it.
, they can't fight. If they're attacked by a military unit they will be automatically captured by that unit (and converted into a Worker, if you captured a Settler). There is a reason why AIs prefer to keep a military unit or two assigned to their workers, it's so that they can't get sniped right from the borders.
.
face and the whip counter increases by 10. So it's not ideal to whip for 1 population point. You reduce the pop by 1, but also increase the anger by 1. Especially when the city has a low happy cap, this is bad, because you'll quickly regrow into unhappiness. Therefore it's better to whip 2-3 pops, and then you have more time to regrow before going into unhappiness again. And after 10 turns, the counter has been reset (assuming the city didn't already have some beforehand).
