Help for a Civ noob

[icydawgfish]

I recently bought this game off of steam, the complete version, and I've fooled around with it for a few hours, played the tutorial, etc. and I've come to realize that I have no idea what I'm doing. I don't know what to build, what's useful and what's not, etc or how to manage my economy. I'm no stranger to complex games, I've mastered Europa Universalis 3 and Hearts of Iron II (for those who don't know, those games from Paradox have an intense learning curve) and I've played Galactic Civilizations II which kind of reminds me if Civ in space. But this game is going completely over my head. Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[Popvox]

Hi, welcome to the forums

I would reccomend you read the guide for new players in the war academy section. It is clearly worded and provides excellent information about basic game mechanics, some strategies to try etc. It also explains about resources, production and commerce. If you are still struggling I would say post again telling us which aspect of the game you are most struggling with.

 

[lymond]

Here's a link to the War Academy. It's can be found under the Civ4 menu at the top.

http://www.civfanatics.com/civ4/strategy/

Also, a link to the recommended beginner article found in the academy:

http://www.civfanatics.com/civ4/strategy/sisiutil.php

Besides that, just note that Civ can be frustrating for many starting out. The best thing to do besides reading up is just to play. You will fail before succeeding but soon will get the hang of it.

Also, just note that some of the less sexy items like Workers, Food, Cottages Granaries are actually highly important. Build lots of workers and make sure you work improved tiles. Build a Worker first at the start. Granaries help your cities grow fast which lets them work more tiles and recover from slavery civic(whipping). Build cottages as soon as possible in new cities - river tiles are the best - and keep them growing to build commerce. Commerce feeds your sliders allowing you to generate more research (beakers) or gold, culture, espionage points.

Start playing on the lowest level. After dominating that level - maybe even after a couple of games - move up.

Get a few practice games under your belt and then run a shadow game here. Post a start save and at intervals. Folks will follow along and provide advice.

 

[Jman5]

Load up Civ 4 Vanilla (non expansion) and you will see an option to play the tutorial. I know that helped me when I was first starting out.