I Define A New Level Of Bad; I Need Some Tips

[JapaneseSnow]

Well. I'm bad. Not the sort of 'I can't beat noble' bad. A really bad bad. I usually play as Ghandi, becuase of Spiritual and Industrious, and also the advantage of the fast worker. I'm terrible at Civ, even though I've been playing for a good while. I can't even beat flipping cheiftan I'm so bad! I usually spend my games sulking around on settler. I don't have any expansion packs, I found some other games to fill the void where BtS and Warlords should be. Ok... Just to put it simply: I can't play Civ4, at all. I need tips to help me... I rarely fight with other nations, and if I do, it is becuase they are pressing against my borders and are so technologically behind, even if they do survive, another nation will just be a vulture and kill them anyway... Is that where my problem lies? Please, I want to know. I've been fine with settler for a while, but now I've decided that I'm going to get better. Hopefully. Thanks in advance... I really appreciate this.

 

[KMadCandy]

well i don't know enough about the specifics to really help you, even if i was a good player and not a permanoob.

your registration date isn't recent, you may have already seen the war academy but i'll link it anyway.

you mention gandhi and spi/ind. maybe you're hooked on wonders a bit too much?

 

[Hackapell]

Screenies and save please!
If you want help, moaning abot how much you suck isn't getting you any closer to improving, right?

 

[JapaneseSnow]

well i don't know enough about the specifics to really help you, even if i was a good player and not a permanoob.

your registration date isn't recent, you may have already seen the war academy but i'll link it anyway.

you mention gandhi and spi/ind. maybe you're hooked on wonders a bit too much?

Yup, wonders are one of my weak points. Whenever I don't build Stonehenge, it's becuase I forgot and make it later, or I forget and someone builds it before me... Even though my register date isn't recent, I only spent a few weeks here and then left for a long time. I've just recently come back, and I was too stupid to realise the other difficulties were there for a reason. I'll check the war academy.

 

[KMadCandy]

the other difficulties were there for a reason. I'll check the war academy.

well exactly! that way you can learn at your own pace, while having fun and not getting too frustrated. my rule #1 is it's a game, if i start to yell at the computer screen, then i'm probably not having fun and should go do something else *giggle*. and then when you do get better and you're consistently beating your old level, you can move up and still have a challenge without being bored . so, welcome back to CFC and i hope that the link helps! there's a LOT of info there, don't try to absorb it all at once

 

[Silence101]

If you're hooked on wonders, try playing a game where you don't build any. Try playing strategies that you haven't used before. Play leader traits that you're not used to - and try and identify strategies to go along with those traits. (You're missing out on some good ones if you only play SPI / IND.) Mix things up a bit - you may not always be successful, but you'll learn a lot by trying different tactics.

 

[JapaneseSnow]

Screenies and save please!
If you want help, moaning abot how much you suck isn't getting you any closer to improving, right?

Well... Before I head off to the academy, I want to clear this up. It isn't a particular game, just all of them as a whole. The reason I play as Ghandi is mostly becuase of Fast Workers... I'd play as Monty or Isabella if they had Fast Workers(I also HAVE to have Spiritual. The second attribute doesn't matter with me in some cases...) Just to clear it up.

 

[Admiral Kutzov]

play rome, burn to iron and go kill ai. post a save a la aelf.

 

[JapaneseSnow]

I'll edit this if it doesn't appear the first time, don't worry. I'll get the save later. Well, I'm off too a bad start. I lost both of the starter relegions, I have copper but no iron, and monty is already ahead. I hope I'll be able to take him out soon, he's my first target... How do I post saves?

Red Circle-Bronze

Blue Circle-Gold

 

[Hackapell]

You don't look too bad, and you don't Know where Iron is because you haven't researched IW.
You must explore more. Why are you building walls in Rome? You're going to be attacking, not defending.
Settle the copper gold city to fund research.
To upload a save, Click Go advanced, hit manage attachments, and pick your file. wait for it to upload, and when you next post, it'll be attached for all to see.
Find Iron and enemies ASAP. Build Preats. Win.

 

[JapaneseSnow]

Well, here is the save. I'll just keep playing until 1 AD, and then I'll post again. I'll just keep playing...

 

[Elrohir]

Just from that screenshot....build a Monument in Antium (I think its called an Obelisk in Vanilla. The thing that produces culture that you can build after you research Mysticism. Y'know. The thingy. ) That will allow Antium's borders to pop, so you can build chariots. You'll need a settler and a protective unit to found a city to claim the copper. Build a warrior or archer or chariot or whatever and explore that area first, so we can help you decide where to place your third city to claim the copper. From what I can see, 1N of the Copper would be good, but explore all around it first and post another screenshot so we can see the situation more clearly.

What techs have you researched so far? Before you research a tech, you should have an overall game plan - where are you going? Do you need the Wheel to hook up copper? Are you going for Alphabet to trade? Etc.

And why are you building walls in Rome? If you get attacked right now, it'll either be by a single warrior which isn't a threat, or a couple of Axemen, in which case you're screwed. Either way, the walls probably won't help too much, and you have better things to build in the meantime.

 

[Admiral Kutzov]

upload a save

agreed

working off the screenie, without the resource icons, and yes, I'm pretty idiotic, here's my take.

research shoulda been bronze then iron. farms on the flood plains shoulda gone for cottages. cash equals research.

Antium's a good city once you cottage it up.

Do you understand whipping?

forget the walls and change them to warrior. you need to explore more than you need defense

 

[JapaneseSnow]

While you guys were posting, I was playing. It's not so good, I'm spread out. I launched an attack on Japan instead of Monty, and it's making my empire really spread out. I played until 200 AD, I don't think I'm doing too good.

 

[Whitefire]

On Chieftan, you can grab 7 cities before you need to focus on economy builds. Also, by then you should have Currency, CoL, or both.

Comments:

-Neapolis should have been settled 1S
-There's no need for Antium to have 8 pop, whip it down.
-Why are you building a settler while at war? Whip a temple instead and start running a Priest specialist for the shrine. Also spread Buddhism there for a second temple and specialist.
-I would change the research path to Alphabet--->Currency. You can do without Construction since Praets don't need to batter down defenses. Also, tech trading will allow to to make a specialized run to a certain tech (in our case Liberalism).
-Switch to Buddhism for the diplo bonuses and to pop Kyoto's borders for the Iron ASAP.
-Build more Granaries! It's 200 AD and you have 0 granaries. Whipping population is the best way to grow your empire pre-Drama.

Here's a save at 900AD after I enacted the changes listed.

 

[Nevordan]

Well. I'm bad. Not the sort of 'I can't beat noble' bad. A really bad bad.

Yeah, I'm with you. I've been at this for a while and can get off to a (sometimes) decent start, but then I get swamped with all the garbage that's going on and fall apart like I'm the only employee at a Wal-Mart on a Saturday afternoon. Overwhelmed beyond hope. Welcome to the hell that is Civilization IV. A game that makes me so angry I want to smash my own face, yet I keep coming back to play it. A love-hate relationship if ever there was one.

 

[Bast]

Maybe you're playing as the wrong leader. When you find a leader that you enjoy playing as read up on all possible strategies for that leader and exploits for their traits, UB and UU and play a few games as them. That's all I can suggest.

Don't be scared to be losing. I think that's the mistake I first did.

 

[DaveMcW]

Ctrl + R

Memorize this command, focus on claiming 1 of every resource you see, and chieftain will be easy.

 

[Molon Labe]

You have gotten some good replies here. That first save of Rome doesn't look bad at all. Gold and bronze should be your next city, and ditch the walls. City placement isn't optimal, but the more you play the better you'll get at that.

You mention doing bad because you don't get the early religions. That's not bad. They can be good to have, but especially when you're playing Rome, you can just take those holy cities later. Don't focus too much on religions or you can handicap your game. If you're starting w/ mysticism it might be worth going for and it might not. If you don't start w/ mysticism it is almost never worth trying to get them.

You might have a builder hangup, so it's good to stop going for all the wonders. Other things, like walls, can be almost entirely skipped. I hardly ever have built walls in my games.

Go to the strategy articles section and look at Sisiutil's guide for beginners. That was one of the first things I read and it helped me greatly.

edit: I haven't looked at the save. In the second screen you have science at 80% and making a profit, that means you should have more cities. You're at war with Toku who looks to be your nearest neighbour, so that is one way to expand. Hopefully you had more in your stack then a horse archer and a spearman and his archer is the last. You definitely need to expand more or you will be out teched and out produced.

 

[xanadux]

Some things I've noticed from your comments and the screen shots, I haven't looked at the save.

1. You mentioned you missed out on the first 2 religions. This implies that you tried for them, researching 3 unecessary techs that put you way behind to start your game. When planning to war with Rome, getting a religion yourself is the last thing you want to try. If you want a shrine, let someone else found it and take it from them. Tech should be Bronze Working, 1 or 2 worker techs to develop capital, then Iron Working. Then you either settle next to iron, or take it from AI with axes. Build Praetorians, beat up AIs. After researching IW, get pottery if you plan to build cottages, or use the whip a lot (granaries), then tech to alphabet to trade for the techs you passed by.

2. As mentioned before, there is no need for walls. In fact you shouldn't even be able to build them because researching masonry has nothing to do with your goal ... hooking up iron, building Praetorians, and sacking your enemies.

3. I see a horse archer outside osaka. You had copper, so could build axes, and I see iron there, so you should have been able to build praetorians. Did you research Horseback Riding and Archery yourself? Again, a waste, as these techs have nothing to do with the goal.

Overall, it seems your biggest trouble is having a plan and choosing your techs and builds appropriately. With all the extra unecessary techs you researched, you could probably have Currency and CoL already and not have to worry so much about being spread out. My advice to improve:

Make a specific moderately long term plan (say the next 50-100 turns). Whenever you choose a tech, or build something in a city, or have a worker make an improvement, ask yourself 1 question: How does this help accomplish my goals, and is there a better option?

An example:

Goal for first 100 turns: Find iron, connect it to my empire, and build an army of praetorians.

So when you decide what to tech, and you are thinking of choosing mysticism, you ask yourself how that is going to help, and realize, hey, that's not going to help ... I need bronze working so I can get to iron working and find out where the iron is at. If I need to conquer the iron, I should have copper and be able to take it with axemen. Also, BW will help me develop my empire by chopping wood and using slavery. I really don't need mysticism, because getting an early religion is not going to help me find iron, and that's the most important thing I need to accomplish.