How not to draw the short straw all the time? (Ultimate noob guide!)

[silvor]

Hi guys and gals!

I have a lot of questions for CIV4BTS (I sum it up at the bottom, so if you want to cut the talk, just scroll there).

I want to have the ultimate CIV guide for noobs thread here, so if you CIV gods out there want to help, it would be very nice. Thanks in advance!

For about 2 months now I've been an addict (I won't go to a CA meeting since that is for quitters!) and I've come to a standstill.

On noble it's relativly easy and I mostly come out winning the game.
On Monarch it's a different story.
I've won a game playing Americans and when I came to Navy Seals the deal was pretty much sealed for me...

After that it was downhill for me.
I think I just got lucky with my resources that time and accidentally built the right buildings.

Every time I get to about 1600AD I get declared upon and I am screwed.
Either my cities are underdeveloped or my
I read about specialist cities like Cultural, Economical, Production etc.
But I don't know how to build it and what resources to push for what town.

1. What should I build in what town?
a. How should I pick the type of city according to resources?
What resources do I need to do what?
b. How many cities do I need?

2. Wonders, which wonders should I build?
a. What Great wonders to build
b. What National wonder combo's are the best?
c. Where to build them (both WW and NW)
d. What effect does it have for Culture points and Great people spawning?
e. When to build wonders?

3. Great persons
a. Which ones to focus on or not at all?
b. How to use them (Bubble, Integrate, Golden age) and when?

4. Super specialists
a. When to use them?
b. Where to use them?

5. Resources
a. What are the most valuable resources?
b. What choices to make if you have to choose (Gold, Stone, Marble,
Horses etc.) if you have competition for 2 spots and only 1 settler?

6. When to build a Settler/Worker?
a. When to build (at how much pop).
b. How to choose between getting resources with a worker or grow further?
c. When to expand using a settler?

7. How to beat expenditures and keep a healthy economy and good beakers?
a. How to keep expenditures on a low level?
b. How to maximize the amount of beakers you get in without hampering
army/growth?

8. How do you best keep your cities healthy and happy?
a. How to make sure you are one step ahead of unhappiness or
unhealthiness from happening?
b. What resources and techs to focus on to keep a healthy growth?

9. When to beeline?

Well, that is enough for now... I hope you can answer at least 1 of the questions and get some useful tips in for me and the other CIV noobs

 

[Polobo]

Are there specific points in the war academy guides found on this site that are unclear. Many if not all of the questions you have raised are covered in those articles.

A lot of the "what to build" and "when to build" questions are highly situational. Once you better understand what the buildings can do to contribute to your empire you can then evaluate your situation and decide (e.g., I need more science output and I have a city with lots of food, why not build a library and assign 2 scientists).

In determining strategy you need three things:

Knowledge of your current situation, including the tools available
Understanding of how those tools can work individually and together to change the situation.
Vision to know where you want to end up.

The guides are really good for the second part but evaluation of the current situation and the vision of the future are both components that really cannot be put on paper but come about through experience. A good source of experience is watching actual games being played online and following along, trying to understand why something was done in the particular situation presented.

 

[bestje]

polobo is right and most of your questions are answered in the war academy

I just want to add that its sounds like you want to decide early on which way you want to win the game and then work specifically on that strategy

the AI tends to declare on you when they see you as being too weak to put up a fight