I can't wage war... Any tips?

[Snefru7]

I'm not going to be shy, I'm useless at this game. I played the original Civilization, and was useless then. My main problem is that I have some sort of fixation on wonders and buildings. However, this always leaves me with a small civilization, with practically no military, a few cities and, despite leading the way in the early game, I'm always far behind in technology. Obviously, very rarely can I survive to the late game. On the rare occasion that I can, I have no chance at victory unless I have somehow become part of an alliance.

Can anyone suggest anything that will help me actually win this game properly?
(I never play for Time victories, since I don't consider it a victory, so I disable it).

Thanks in advance.

BTW - I haven't got either expansion yet.

 

[Merkill]

Try playing one game where you build 0 wonders in the entire game yeah i know its hard not to and you will be tempted.

But if you do play one entire game without building any wonders you will find that you have lots and lots of resources and build time to make armies.

And only build those buildings that you need or that gives you something you want many buildings are not needed in all towns.

 

[oyzar]

try building a worker first then grow to size 2-3 then building a settler in every city. ofc this will only actually work at the very low levels(which i assume you are playing) however it would let you expand, even with not focusing on cottages or specialists it is easy to overpower the AI this way. Basically there are some things you need to learn in this game, learn to expand(peacfully), learn to build an economy, learn to micromanage workers and slavery + some other tricks and learning to war. Each of them can in itself be enough to dominate at the lower levels and by mastering all of the skills you can come very very far. If you are obsessed with wonders you should look at obsoletes walkthrough. There are more to it than just building wonders but it works somehow... Learn to micro your workers and your economy would be that part, it is easily enough to win fairly easy on monarch and under. At emproer and imortal you have to master some of the other skills, i find that it is more fun for me to improve all skills at once instead of focusing on just one.

 

[VoiceOfUnreason]

Can anyone suggest anything that will help me actually win this game properly?

Try the Ironman Challenge.

 

[skallben]

Given that there is diplo, cultural and space victories you don't really need to wage war on a large scale anymore. Try to improve your early expansion. Also, most importantly specialize your cities. A city with crappy commerce and you run on 80% science rate...Don't waste time on building a uni or observatory - take the opportunity to build some military.

Also, if you tech fast you allways got the chance to have a more modern army than your opponent - I have had games where a few Mechanized Infantry have held off literally past 100 cavalries. That is an extreme case but you get the picture.

Learn to master diplomacy to get alliances later in the game. Maybe try founding a early religion and spamming it so they all love you

 

[The Bowman]

It is said, that getting a bunch of axemen very early, counts as a very valuable wonder in itself.