Help required.

[Mozzington]

Alright all,

I have to admit I am a fairly less than average quality CIV player. Only started playing the series at CIV3 and loved it none the less.

Anyway my problem is I just seem so poor at it on anything other than Noble. Although I usually get an early points lead on my opponents and I tend to get a few wonders I can never, and I mean never win a war fairly without having to resort to the World Builder after seeing my armies crushed while invading an enemies city.

I'm alright at defending it is just attacking I seem to be lacking at. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Also any advice on my starting tactics would be a great help too.

I build my first city, tend to build a few of the basics like granary and barracks and then I usually build Stonehenge (is this wonder worth nearly 100 turns?).

I also go straight for Polytheism for Hundu religion - worth while or Buddishm better?

While stonehenge is building I then research animal husbandry, pottery, basically everything my first work needs to capture the nearby resources.

I then build my first worker after stonehenge and begin capturing resources. I tend to go straight for writing at this point and knock out the occasional warrior/archers.

Where am I going wrong?

Cheers.

 

[G Julius Caesar]

Hello!

I think this needs to be in the strategy section, certainly you'd get more help there.

Re wars, go to the War Academy section for some great articles. They really do point you in the right direction. Actually this is good for loads of articles on most aspects of the game.

I understand at higher than noble levels, building wonders is less important (you steal them when you capture cities). Why is it taking you 100 turns to build stonehenge?

War academy is here:

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

 

[ParadigmShifter]

It sounds like you are playing on marathon speed if stonehenge is taking 100 turns to build.

How do you build a granary before stonehenge if you research pottery while it is building!

It sounds like you wait until you have all worker techs before building a worker. This is not a good plan. Build a worker as early as possible (i.e., worker will finish when you will have finished teching something to build an improvement). Build food improvements first to grow the city after building the worker.

You don't mention bronze working in your tech list - it's probably the most important early tech to get.

As for war, pre-construction it sounds like you aren't building enough axemen. Don't attack cities with 40% culture or ones on hills until you have city raider promotions for them. Practice fighting against barbarians.

It also sounds like you are attacking with troops in dribs and drabs rather than a big gang of bad boys. This is suicide because you will damage the defender, he will get experience, promote and heal, and be harder to damage next time. Try and finish off the city in one or two turns, or kill most of the defenders, damage some others, and use a medic to heal the attackers while reinforcements are on the way. After construction, build lots of catapults. Don't take on protective civs too early, especially if they have a city on a hill with archers.

I hardly ever build stonehenge unless I know I am going for a domination win from the first turn. But it is a useful wonder, unless you are creative when don't bother.

I always go for polytheism instead of meditation because it is a pre-req for literature and I nearly always build the Great Library, and also allows building the Parthenon and Temple of Artemis. I pick up meditation later on (through a trade normally) so I can lightbulb philosophy with my first or second Great Scientist.

 

[Mozzington]

Thanks mate, that will help me out a bit. Going to start a new game tonight. You are right about the axemen though - I never build them. Always go straight for archers and then am usually in a position to get swordsmen not long after.

Yes, I do play on Marathon. Prefer early game to modern day.

Regarding pottery etc. cant remember the exact way things are built I'm afraid. It was just an example.

 

[ParadigmShifter]

Archers are only really good for defence, and if you don't start with hunting you have to research 2 mediocre techs (hunting/archery) to get them. It's a last resort if you have no copper or horses for me, while I go for iron working. Normally I can put off iron working if I have copper, and go writing/alphabet/literature/Great Library instead (note: this is warlords I am playing, not BtS, which has different techs required for Great Lib).

If your opponent has horses you can't pillage you do need hunting though so you can build spears.

Swordsmen come a bit late to be useful early on, and they can't really beat axemen (not that the AI seems to build many of those). Axes are cheaper than swords too. My attack force is mainly axes with a couple of swords thrown in. Axes can attack and defend effectively. If you are playing as Rome, ignore all that and go for iron working ASAP.

 

[nullspace]

I don't like your early build order. A worker should be one of the very first things you build. Improving a strong tile, like a resource, will increase your city's production quickly. Try building a worker first while researching the techs you need to improve your good tiles. If you really want a religion first, then you can build a warrior or scout, then your worker so that the tech for the improvement is done before the worker. Definitely build a worker before the barracks, granary, or stonehenge. This will make your city much more productive, much earlier.

 

[KMadCandy]

I'm alright at defending it is just attacking I seem to be lacking at. Any advice would be much appreciated.

I also go straight for Polytheism for Hundu religion - worth while or Buddishm better?

thoughts from a non-warmonger who likes to play political mind-games with the AI:

there isn't a "better" as far as religion. according to blake (the guy who wrote Better AI), the AI isn't more likely to go for one than the other. but, having a state religion at all has a big impact on diplomacy, as i'm sure you've seen. you're alright at defending but you might need to defend less if you pay close attention to diplomacy/religion. i often found a religion but don't adopt it as my state religion right away. in some cases it's worth it to me, just to smooth things over diplomatically.

that can also help you with attacking, sort of. civs that like you because of good diplomacy (whether religion-based or not) are easier to bribe into the war if you want to do that.

good luck and have fun