I always go bankrupt when I start early wars

[val13]

#3. You are not specializing your cities. Jack-of-all-trade cities are highly inefficient.

a. Early in the game, you only need one super science city in an optimal site to do all of your research and keep up. (Food + Library + academy + scientist specialists) Scientific progress is by beaker count, not by that percentage number. What is better? 100% of 10 raw beakers or 50% of 30 raw beakers?

b. Set up one or two high production cities (food + forge + hills + forests) to provide your unit needs, and the rest can be money (food + market + merchants) or science sites. Large numbers of mediocre cities will kill your science rate. Build only units in high production cities, science in your science cities, and money in your money cities... Units can move. Building a unit where you are getting massive science multipliers is a waste of resources.

That's all I got.

Ok... but all cities must have enough food to work tiles. So, production cities that use mine's, must have the food resources to have those mines worked; commerce cities must have food to have the cottages worked.

But what about the science city? What factors are used in the science city????

 

[Cam_H]

A Science City is typically a commerce oriented city with science buildings and science specialists.

In a perfect world, that means a city centre with a few commerce-oriented resources such as Gold or Gem mines amongst grassland and floodplains along a winding river.

From Sisiutil's Strategy Guide for Beginners:

4.6.1 COMMERCE CITY

• Because commerce is converted into either wealth or research (and, later, culture), a city that produces a large amount of commerce can further specialize into one of two city specialization sub-categories: science or wealth, which are explained below.

• Keep in mind, however, that a city that produces a great deal of commerce will benefit from both the science and the commerce-multiplying buildings; it will often make sense to build not only banks and markets, but also libraries and universities (and so on) in these cities.

• Tiles: Grasslands, Flood Plains, tiles with fresh water for food and commerce

• Tile Improvements to build: cottages and farms—a balanced mix for commerce and growth

• Resources: wealth/luxury (gold, silver, gems, silk, fur, incense, dye; also spices, sugar, marble, cows, whale, wine)

• Avoid building the following in these cities: factory, barracks, drydock—anything that does not increase population or commerce output. You may still have to build happiness and health-increasing buildings, however.

4.6.1.1 Science City

• Main Buildings: Library, Observatory, University, Laboratory, Monastery

• Wonders: Great Library, Oxford University

• Academy special building (requires a Great Scientist to build it)

• Use surplus food to support Science Specialists, who contribute 3 research points (commonly called “beakers” or “flasks”) each, rather than having citizens work unproductive tiles

• After the Academy is built, “merge” subsequent Great Scientists into the city as Super Specialists (6 beakers each, 9 if you run representation!)

• The overall goal for the science city: have it produce over 400 or even over 500 beakers per turn!

Warlords throws in a few extras Wonders that can further push the city's beaker count. I would also note that opting for Super Science Specialists may not always be the best move, and is (like everything!) situation dependant.

 

[val13]

A Science City is typically a commerce oriented city with science buildings and science specialists.

In a perfect world, that means a city centre with a few commerce-oriented resources such as Gold or Gem mines amongst grassland and floodplains along a winding river.

From Sisiutil's Strategy Guide for Beginners:

Warlords throws in a few extras Wonders that can further push the city's beaker count. I would also note that opting for Super Science Specialists may not always be the best move, and is (like everything!) situation dependant.

That's the thing... I build markets in EVERY city... libraries in EVERY city... courthouses in EVERY city...

I'm just now deciding to have a "science" city where I farm science specialist's and settle them...

My entire strategy has revolved around war... building up stacks, attacking, wiping out a civ... recovering my commerce and research... upgrade... declare war/attack another civ... repeat as necessary until I win.

The problem is this:

- On Settler or Chieftain level's, I have Stealth Bomber's attacking cities with Longbowmen. On Warlord level, I get behind in tech'ing, attacked, and over-run by, usually, 2 civ's... because I attack 1 civ, and the minute I get weakened, another declares war on me and I now fight on two fronts.

 

[sylvanllewelyn]

There are so many opinions on this thread that are just plain <censored>.

Wars are always best early, before your enemy is well prepared. Because of the lack of roads, in the ancient era, it's easier to attack than to defend, much true to history (in real history, a quarter of your nation's able-bodied man might be massacred before news even reaches the court, and another quarter of what's left gone before you are even done mustering an army to intercept the enemy).

Before you attack, it's important to understand your purpose of attacking though. In multiplayer or lower difficulties, your purpose is to gain more quality cities, which usually means razing weak, far-away cities or simply cities that aren't optimal.

In higher difficulties, raze everything but capitals, strategic resources or wonder-cities (obviously, not the oracle though). Remember, razing a city does not mean "achieving nothing". You weaken an opponant, created space for you settlers, and allows you to extort techs once you've beaten them down enough. The gold you get is partial compensation for your unit upkeep, but of course it's never something you can make a profit for.

Code of laws is great if you have it, are organzied and can take down cities that are big enough for you to whip them out immediately after they come out of resistance, BUT, the best time for war is always before courthouses.

As a rule of thumb, I would not recommand ever having more than 6 cities before CoL.

 

[cabert]

As a rule of thumb, I would not recommand ever having more than 6 cities before CoL.

good advice!
Even 6 cities is a lot if they have no "bonus" to offer (like happiness/ health resource).
I often :
- build a second city
- attack my neighbour
- keep capital + holy city
- raze the rest or sue for peace (yes, I'll take those techs you have while my units rest)
Which brings me to 4 cities and already enough $problems before currency.

 

[home_office]

Thanks to all who responded in this thread...and keep 'em comin'. Seems we've branched off into lots of good Civ issues.

Anyway, over the weekend I used your tips and won an easy Domination victory (Noble standard). I used Augustus and beelined to Iron Working, declared war on my nearest foe as soon as my exploring Warrior found his capital, built a second city to get the iron, started building Praetorians...my key to avoiding bankruptcy was good ol' cottage spamming. No worker or city management automation, and I left forests alone, built cottages and mines, and treated capital and second city as production centers while making sure they weren't stagnant. Built farms only to access food resources. Also didn't automate promotions, so used units more efficiently to capture cities more quickly with fewer units. And I kept every city I captured until it was down to me and 2 other civs. Took me until about 1650 and my score was about 45,000...so I suppose better players can do it faster and run up a higher score...but I'm now ready to try random leaders and see if I'm smart enough to leverage other civ/leader traits (Noble standard) in my early war strategy.

Thanks again, everyone, and I'm looking forward to more great tips.

 

[cabert]

Thanks to all who responded in this thread...and keep 'em comin'. Seems we've branched off into lots of good Civ issues.

Anyway, over the weekend I used your tips and won an easy Domination victory (Noble standard). I used Augustus and beelined to Iron Working, declared war on my nearest foe as soon as my exploring Warrior found his capital, built a second city to get the iron, started building Praetorians...my key to avoiding bankruptcy was good ol' cottage spamming. No worker or city management automation, and I left forests alone, built cottages and mines, and treated capital and second city as production centers while making sure they weren't stagnant. Built farms only to access food resources. Also didn't automate promotions, so used units more efficiently to capture cities more quickly with fewer units. And I kept every city I captured until it was down to me and 2 other civs. Took me until about 1650 and my score was about 45,000...so I suppose better players can do it faster and run up a higher score...but I'm now ready to try random leaders and see if I'm smart enough to leverage other civ/leader traits (Noble standard) in my early war strategy.

Thanks again, everyone, and I'm looking forward to more great tips.

If you want to compare your strat with others, WotM 4 is Augustus at Marathon speed. You may see headspinning scores, but remember it's a competitive event.