How hard is this game, really.

[Swift-N-Deadly]

I bought this game about a month ago and have played a good 12-15 games so far.

I started it on prince, since it was the middle option from noob and diety. I ended up beating it within a couple games using incas (conquest/domination or whatever its called). Beat it one more time and then started playing monarch, played about 5 games on prince and about 8-10 games on monarch. I beat monarch once on space victory and once on time. The space victory, i wasnt really going for till the last minuteand only cuz i already knew i had the game beat at this point and wanted to try it out.

But i know im still a noob at this game and dont really know alot of the stuff, yet, im able to beat it at monarch level, so far i've logged 3 time victories, 1 space and 1 conquest out of 12-15 games.

I dont really know any strats, except to build cottages and farms and to mine up my minerals/luxary.

Yet as im reading the forum, alot of ppl are talking about monarch level as if it was actually a hard level and i know these guys have alot more playing time then i do, since i've only had the game for slightly over a month and im not exactly thrilled by its lack of in-battle element u see in other games.

So my question to u is, how hard is this game really and what was ur expereince learnign/playing the game. It seems like there is alot of techincal stuff to this game, and alot of strats, but i dont use any of these stuff nor know about them, except to build alot of cottages, get copper/iron/horse, and then i just turn on beocracy the whole game through once i've researched it.(i try emancipation a cuople times, not sure if it really makes a diff).

Im not sure if u can call this a strat, but my usual thing that i do in this game is to go for early war w/ my quechas or do a quecha axeman rush. Tech to aphabet, get mathmatic from someone and all thje other techs i've missed. Get catapults, go to war again then just start spamming **** load of cottages and farms.

I bee line for beuaracry and turn it on whole game, couple games i try emancipation once i get ahead. Then at this point either go for conquest or i just raid whoever is ahead or slightly below me. if im number 1, i raid number 2, if im number 2 then i go after number 1 and kill his land w/out conquering.

But i guess the bad part is that i've only won 2 actual victories (conquest/space), the other wins i got are all from time victories, which isnt exactly how i would want to win it.

 

[Andy_Candy]

Have you tried playing monarch with 18 civs on large or standard map, with raging barbs and aggressive AI? Thats how I play single games.

By the way, you are welcome to join in on multiplayergames! Try it out, it's an awesome lot of fun

 

[bds]

By the way, you are welcome to join in on multiplayergames! Try it out, it's an awesome lot of fun

I havent ever played multi of a turn based game... i dont think people would like to sit around with how long i take to take a turn.

Do people who play multi have any rules they like to play by, such as automated workers only & stuff like that?

 

[bonafide11]

Trust me, the higher levels get much tougher...

Also, if you are looking for a challenge, I recommend not playing as the Incas, as they are one of the better overall leaders (at least in Warlords, I suppose they were pretty good in Vanilla too, if I remember correctly). Playing as a non-financial leader also requires a bit more strategy than the cottage spamming... Financial is the most powerful trait by far, so I think you may want to play as someone else.

 

[Swift-N-Deadly]

Trust me, the higher levels get much tougher...

Also, if you are looking for a challenge, I recommend not playing as the Incas, as they are one of the better overall leaders (at least in Warlords, I suppose they were pretty good in Vanilla too, if I remember correctly). Playing as a non-financial leader also requires a bit more strategy than the cottage spamming... Financial is the most powerful trait by far, so I think you may want to play as someone else.

i dont no what verison im playing, but its the original civ 4. Also can u beat this game on higher levels w/out learning all the techincal stuff and just beat the game militarily.

So far, i only know the begining techs and what they do, but once we get past theatre/math/etc. I dont no half the techs im researching, except for emancipation and biology (i just recently learned that bio will give u more food).

Also my city management isnt good, i just have my works on auto, once i get past 6 cities. I also have problems getting my cities up to max pop and also beign a great city.

Most cities i hold end up being around 8-12 and the cities i actually plan which area also cities in very good areas into a size 15 max so far.

I dont get how the comp can have size 18 or whatever cities and still be able to produce gold/units/buildings.

Cuz any city i have over 12, i end up hjaving to farm it up, so my size 14 city is not comparable to a comps size 14 city, except for a few. But those are cities i just get lucky in, not cuz i know what im diogn.

So i guess my question is, can i just warmonger through all the levels w/out learning all the techincal stuff such as city/land management, tech knowledge, and the different other strats such as diplomacy/space/culture.

it seems that if u can win early to mid game, and then settle back while raiding heavily, u can win. (one of the reasons why i dont no the later techs, cuz i focus on the early game mostly and then mid game w/ catapults) and later raiding w/ calvary.

I also havnet built any wonders so far except for couple, but i didnt really know what kinda impact it would have or have a strategy for how to use them.

I built the oracle couple times, but it actualy seems to slow me down, cuz i cant engage in my early warfare as fast as i want to.

i sometimes go for hanging garden but only if i have the marble or stone that make it double the production, cuz otherwise i got beat by comps by copule turns or up to aobut 10 turns.

 

[Julian Delphiki]

Have you updated your game? I think there is quite big difference between original vanilla civ <> updated vanilla <> warlords 2.08. Or maybe you are just good player, then just go up for a level or try different leaders until you find comfortable difficulty setting.

Oh, and try BetterAI mod.

Download for BetterAI here

 

[nstutt]

I dont play the game to win but to enjoy it. I dont see any point in unit rushes or any other game beating strategies. Everyone to their own I suppose.

 

[Newbunkle]

Same here nstutt. I don't bother to micro, or use "rushes". Its almost as if I RP the role of leader, lol. But I enjoy playing that way.

 

[bds]

Same here nstutt. I don't bother to micro, or use "rushes". Its almost as if I RP the role of leader, lol. But I enjoy playing that way.

Same here too, i make great cities... but crap civs. My capitol is always up top & my score down low.

 

[DaveR]

Some maps are much harder than others. Curently playing a Europe map. If I play as Louis or Frederik I win easy, but if I switch to Mehmed II or Hannibal its very difficult, the land has a huge affect.

 

[bds]

the land has a huge affect.

Also low tides means more barbarians + earlier settler rush.

 

[civvver]

The difference between deity and prince is probably like 50 times the difference between settler and prince. Ok maybe I'm exaggerating a bit but the difficulties scale upwards. But no, the game is not extremely hard if you hone your strategies.

Obviously multiplayer is a completely different game since you're playing humans (either more unpredictable or predictably better!)

Tbh I don't have nearly as much experience with civ4 as I did with civ2, loved that game. With civ2 it was actually difficult not to win, even on the hardest setting. But it was still incredibly enjoyable because the challenge was now, how high can I get my score or how large a population can I make? I think as you begin to master civ4 it becomes less of a, how can I squeak out a win, thing and more of a, how badly can I dominate this game, thing.

 

[anima36]

try deity raging barbs. my firend tried this for a laugh and one of his cities culture flipped to the barbs before they destroyed his longbowmen with riflemen.

 

[Chose]

yeah i would have to say. if you are playing on a small map is 1000 times easier than larger map. and barbs can make a big difference also if you have them a raging. Also you gotta try different civs as others have said Financial is the best trait. anyway i saw a fourm about someone who won on monarch without building military units, just workers and settlers.

 

[utberguy]

I bought this game about a month ago and have played a good 12-15 games so far.

I started it on prince, since it was the middle option from noob and diety. I ended up beating it within a couple games using incas (conquest/domination or whatever its called). Beat it one more time and then started playing monarch, played about 5 games on prince and about 8-10 games on monarch. I beat monarch once on space victory and once on time. The space victory, i wasnt really going for till the last minuteand only cuz i already knew i had the game beat at this point and wanted to try it out.

But i know im still a noob at this game and dont really know alot of the stuff, yet, im able to beat it at monarch level, so far i've logged 3 time victories, 1 space and 1 conquest out of 12-15 games.

I dont really know any strats, except to build cottages and farms and to mine up my minerals/luxary.

Yet as im reading the forum, alot of ppl are talking about monarch level as if it was actually a hard level and i know these guys have alot more playing time then i do, since i've only had the game for slightly over a month and im not exactly thrilled by its lack of in-battle element u see in other games.

So my question to u is, how hard is this game really and what was ur expereince learnign/playing the game. It seems like there is alot of techincal stuff to this game, and alot of strats, but i dont use any of these stuff nor know about them, except to build alot of cottages, get copper/iron/horse, and then i just turn on beocracy the whole game through once i've researched it.(i try emancipation a cuople times, not sure if it really makes a diff).

Im not sure if u can call this a strat, but my usual thing that i do in this game is to go for early war w/ my quechas or do a quecha axeman rush. Tech to aphabet, get mathmatic from someone and all thje other techs i've missed. Get catapults, go to war again then just start spamming **** load of cottages and farms.

I bee line for beuaracry and turn it on whole game, couple games i try emancipation once i get ahead. Then at this point either go for conquest or i just raid whoever is ahead or slightly below me. if im number 1, i raid number 2, if im number 2 then i go after number 1 and kill his land w/out conquering.

But i guess the bad part is that i've only won 2 actual victories (conquest/space), the other wins i got are all from time victories, which isnt exactly how i would want to win it.

a big part of the game is trying to Adapt the leader traits.
using a single leader to win over and over ain't that impressive at all

 

[MarkM]

You never said if you updated to 1.61 from the shipped 1.0 that's a major variable in evaluating difficulty

I also had not much problem in frequently winning at monarch, and I was less advantaged than you -- I bumped up to Monarch for maybe my 3rd-4th game, and always had my civ and map type randomly assigned, instead of cherry-picking one of the easiest such as the Incas. But I just went ahead to a higher level past monarch, instead of playing a dozen more Monarch games & sitting there wondering how hard everything past it was. I got my arse handed to me, repeatedly, at first. Monarch is the level that anyone who has a fairly good sense of strategy and general knowledge of the game mechanics/paths can win at a reasonable % of the time, without too much effort/thinking (assuming a reasonable starting location)

I guess I can only answer your question with a question, then -- you've already played 10 straight games at Monarch, so why don't you just play another game and try the next level, instead of asking?

 

[UnspokenRequest]

I'm sorry to say this because it may not be the case, but your post seems to be more about bragging than about actually trying to enjoy the game. At least, that is how your posts sounded to me when I read them. It sounded like you want to show off how good you are. That is how I (and other people, I'm sure, considering the slightly annoyed reactions I've seen) read your posts. If that is not the case, then my appology and welcome to civfanatics!!!

The main answers to your question have already been given:
1) Yes, you'll have to learn the game more thoroughly if you move up a level.
2) Updating your game should be your priority.
3) Turn on raging barbarians and agressive AIs, it'll be much harder
4) Chose huge maps with plenty of civs
5) Chose different leaders everytime you play. (Avoid the financial trait if you want harder games; I suggest using financial when you just moved up a level. It'll be easier to adapt)
6) Change other settings as often as you can. Archipelago map aren't exactly played the same way as pangea, etc. It'll force you to use all the game's vast potentials.
7) Try multiplayer...
8) Try the one city challenge (you only can control one city, while the AIs can control many...)
9) etc.
10) etc.
11) etc. (replayability is one of civ4's greatest appeal)

Once you do this, come back and tell us what you think of the game and of its difficulty. I hope your opinion of the game will have improved.

(Congratulation, btw, many people take much more time to learn the game's basic mecanisms )

 

[Codeman]

^^^what he said...

 

[Vizzini]

Also my city management isnt good, i just have my works on auto, once i get past 6 cities. I also have problems getting my cities up to max pop and also beign a great city.

Most cities i hold end up being around 8-12 and the cities i actually plan which area also cities in very good areas into a size 15 max so far.

I dont get how the comp can have size 18 or whatever cities and still be able to produce gold/units/buildings.

It can do so because those cities are size 18

A well placed and properly managed city can be taken from size 1 to size 15 somewhere around ~80 turns. To put this into perspective an improperly placed and poorly managed city can take 36 turns just to go from size 2 to size 3.

Cuz any city i have over 12, i end up hjaving to farm it up, so my size 14 city is not comparable to a comps size 14 city, except for a few. But those are cities i just get lucky in, not cuz i know what im diogn.

With the poor city growth I find it very difficult to believe that you're able to keep pace with the AIs on Monarch and above. The only way that seems possible to me would be if you're playing on relatively small maps or with very few AI opponents (or both)

So i guess my question is, can i just warmonger through all the levels w/out learning all the techincal stuff such as city/land management, tech knowledge, and the different other strats such as diplomacy/space/culture.

While you can certainly warmonger your way to victory at all difficulty levels, your current play style suggests that your winning streak will come to a screeching halt when you turn the difficulty up another notch (or perhaps simply increase the map size and number of AI Civs)

With a huge map and lots of civs, lots of water/oceans... well by the time you bump into your first AI you're going to realize the horror of seeing AIs with Infantry and Cavalry while you're still building Macemen.