hi usually win on chieftan but get beat on warlord

[Moses7]

hi not played civ for a few years , bought new laptop so dug out my copy of civ4. i usually win a time victory on chieftan with the leadership quality of either warren g hardy or ethelred . but on warlord i ffind im bottom of list usually get to medieval era and reload or return to salve my ego on chieftan. how do i win on warlord?

Me too. In Settler I crash all the civilizations
In Chieftain I conquer many of their cities
After that things get difficult

 

[damerell]

hi not played civ for a few years , bought new laptop so dug out my copy of civ4. i usually win a time victory on chieftan with the leadership quality of either warren g hardy or ethelred . but on warlord i ffind im bottom of list usually get to medieval era and reload or return to salve my ego on chieftan. how do i win on warlord?

Chop early and chop everything. Worker techs first; don't try and found early religions. Don't build an early wonder that isn't the Oracle (yes, I know this is an oversimplification). Concentrate on research that lets you do more research, like Writing.

 

[Antilogic]

Two most important opening techs for me are Bronze Working and Writing (with Pottery and other key worker techs along the way). Mysticism if I really need monuments to expand/push back culture borders early on. Then, I get Alphabet and trade for what I missed.

 

[Redcoat1]

Another point: If Bronze Working doesn't expose a Copper site within reach, you will need to really consider going for Iron Working early. All situational of course, but fighting axes with clubs is not a winning strategy.

 

[Antilogic]

Another point: If Bronze Working doesn't expose a Copper site within reach, you will need to really consider going for Iron Working early. All situational of course, but fighting axes with clubs is not a winning strategy.

I'll do that too.

There's another way around the lack of copper; if you have horses, then you might try to make due with chariots (and maybe chariot rush instead, but if you are discovering your lack of copper after Bronze Working and don't already have pastures, then you might have missed the window) while rushing for Alphabet and then Iron Working afterwards.

 

[gps]

After that things get difficult

One of the most common newbe mistakes is not building enough workers. Make sure you have at least one worker per city constantly improving all availabe land tiles. And this might also be a no brainer for most of us: make sure you put your first cities close to food ressources, so they can grow fast and produce more settler and worker. Also make sure you research the required techs to improve the ressources asap. It's not very clever to settle near a cow or a pig if you don't build pastures and it's not very clever to settle near corn or rice if you don't build a farm. There's also stuff like bananas or spices that need a plantation and are not that useful until Calendar, which is a much later tech. So it should not be your highest priority to settle these if other places are available.
Btw. regarding workes, I know I'll be stoned to death for telling you this - but: it's perfectly possible to win the game even on noble with automated workers. It's maybe not the most efficient way of playing the game - but it's possible. At least as long as you're completely clueless of how to use your workers properly automated workers do an OK job. It's not perfect, but it's OK (just make sure you keep them away from enemy troops, the are quite careless). And as long as you can't win on Warlords I'd say you're doing something much more fundamentally wrong than automating your workers. Most important thing is you actually build them.