Help me get my Civ4 on!

[Jawz II]

Hello Civ4 strategy!

This is my first post here but hopefully not last. I installed the game about a month ago (Civ4 and Warlords) but only played it about an hour or 2.

I have played many hours of Civilization (long time ago), Civilization 2 and Civilization 3, so I am very familiar with the games basic.

Since manuals usually arent half as informative as people, and also being something of a lazy ass, this thread is where I will ask my noob questions!

1. Is there any good article out there on civ 4 strategy that is written for people who have played the earlier civ games?

2. What do you do for money early on? when I played I was on one of the easiest levels, and yet my money kept running out and my troops were disbanded.

3. Why wont the other civs ever trade science with me? am I so far ahead they have nothing to give or am I too far behind?

 

[svv]

1. I played Civ 2, but found the Civ 4 tutorial pretty helpful, and I was ready to play right after that without further reading.

2. Very early on you shouldn't need much money. If you're finding that you need more money than you have, your expanding too fast. Use the 60 percent rule. If you have to move your slider to 60 percent or less science (and the rest money), stop expanding and build up a bit. It helps to get the currency tech, as this gives you trade routes (extra commerce) in your cities.

3. If you go to the screen with the other ruler, and it shows techs on your side that you can trade, they're not too far ahead of you. However, the AI generally will not agree to equal exchanges - you have to give them techs worth more beakers than the ones they give you. It still makes sense to trade. Prioritize getting Alphabet early so you can be a participant in the first tech trades.

 

[Sisiutil]

1. Check the War Academy on this site.

2. What svv said. In addition, improve some tiles with cottages and assign citizens to work them. These will grow as they're worked and gradually increase the revenue you've got coming in. Roads no longer provide commerce; cottages do.

3. If you only played for an hour or two, you probably hadn't researched Alphabet. That tech is the one that enables tech trading.

 

[Jawz II]

thanks alot both of you, I will be back with more dumb questions, no doubt.

1. Check the War Academy on this site.

no yeah, i know about the war academy, but if the civ 4 section is anything like the civ 3 one, there will be a jungle of articles, and i wanted someone to point me to a good one that is specifically written for players who have played the previous games.

 

[thelibra]

Oi, Jawz, welcome m8.

Okay, I hear what you're saying, and being new to both Civ4 and CFF, I can say that these specific articles are a good starting point to read and undertstand before getting too much game on.

This guide is geared towards people who hate Civ4, who played previous versions, but in all honesty, it's a good "list of differences" about strategies you can no longer use effectively in Civ4, and why that's a good thing: http://www.civfanatics.com/civ4/strategy/civ4_haters.php


This guide is great for understanding about city specializations, and also about how commerce vs. gold works. I found that to be a CRUCIAL difference, and this guide has streamlined my gameplay a lot: http://www.civfanatics.com/civ4/strategy/city_specialization.php


This guide is critical. It's the best one I've seen yet that describes not only what each of the Leader Traits does in detail, but some great insights on how to synergize those traits with your goals, development style, etc: http://www.civfanatics.com/civ4/strategy/synergy.php


Lastly, for the total beginner, this guide is great for understanding what the hell all the civics are about, and why you shouldn't switch to a new civic right away or even possibly ever, until you actually have a use for it, and when that use is warranted: http://www.civfanatics.com/civ4/strategy/civics_guide.php


I hope this helps. To be perfectly honest, I spent most of my time between calls at work browsing the War Academy because ALL the articles in there are extremely valuable towards increasing your gameplay.

Civ4 is probably one of the deepest empire management games ever that still remains enormous fun. I walked into it thinking I was just going to be playing a prettier version of Civ3. What I found instead is one of the most complex, balanced, and well thought-out games out there. But to really appreciate it, you have to know what the hell you're doing first. I'm by no means in the same league as players like dh_epic and Excl. Hell, I just now started winning on Prince. But from what I understand there's people who've been playing this game since it came out, daily, and they're STILL learning something new.

God Bless Sid.

Oh, and the manual is actually pretty helpful, and it's a quick read, since most of it is in big print on little pages, and over half those pages are just quick reference charts.

Anyway, game on, sir, game on. Oi.

 

[carl corey]

Sisiutil's too modest again. Check out his own articles in the War Academy (there are links to them at the bottom of his signature). You'll probably only want to look at the first one for now.

Also check out his "All Leaders Challenge" games for concrete examples of best use of leader traits and unique units.

And don't forget aelf's "Emperor Masters Challenge" games. While they're all on Emperor difficulty you'll see some excellent uses of diplomacy and how you can survive when you're less powerful then your adversaries.

 

[thelibra]

Oh! Yeah, how could I have forgotten Sisiutil's guides... those are invaluable as well. Good call, Carl.

 

[Jawz II]

Thank you very very much thelibra and carl corey and also svv and Sisiutil.
Much appreciated!

Looks like Ill be doing some reading before I can start some serious Civ fouring.
Talk to you later when Im done reading and started playing.