I need to unlearn how to play Civ

[Larkas]

Hello there, guys! So, I'm a long time Civ player, been around since Civ II first came out. The thing is... While I do have a blast playing the games, I'm really terrible at them. In previous games, I'd mostly achieve Diplomatic, Cultural or Space victories (or play as Gaians and become one with the planet in Alpha Centauri ), and mostly at lower levels of difficulty. I don't know how to build an army at all, except to defend my two to four cities. I keep building structures, and I never know which units to build, nor when. Put me up against some massive opposition the likes of Civ II's WWII or Civ V's Fall of Rome scenarios, and I'll have the floor wiped with my face in no time at all. I can't properly set strategies to defend large territories, much less go on the offensive (short of "pile everything against that city").

So, I need to unlearn how to play Civ to let go of all the bad habits and learn how to play the game properly. Do you guys have any good advice? Think of me as a newbie, and one not very good at strategy games at that!


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[Ritzy Cat]

Look at some of the strategies in this forum section and try them out. There are a few general rules you want to follow about fighting that can make you do well against AI most of the time.

 

[slowcar]

you could watch let's play videos on youtube, there are several that explain things nicely.
I am a big fan of LightCleric, not so much for his flawless execution but for his "Hey Mr. Knight"-comments which always get me laughing.

 

[Ornen]

If you want to get better, try as many different strategies as possible. Not used to war? Go for a domination victory. This guide is a good one: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=503931

I would consider starting with China--they're a strong military civ with a unique ranged unit, which makes them pretty close to typical military play (which, early-mid game, tends to revolve around bow units). After that, keep ramping up the difficulty while trying new things. It never hurts to at least look at some effective builds/strategies around these forums.

 

[klaskeren]

play multiplayer duels, you will learn fighting

 

[phillipwyllie]

I'm going to assume you are planning on warmongering on BNW.

First thing try to war without the mongering part(actually capturing cities), when the AI's defensive army is down to zero and you are marching on his capital with a huge army he'll capitulate and give you almost anything(cites got in peace deal=no warmonger score).
The idea is to get a cities HP down to zero by using ranged units then the moving in with a melee unit. All ranged units don't have indirect fire(except Artillery/Rocket artillery, and Battleships). You can't fire over hills, nor through jungle/forest, but a cities ranged attack can.
Pillaging improved tiles heals your unit by 25hp, combine this with a worker that can repair instantly it's possible to heal your unit by 50hp. You'll need the Pyramids wonder and the Citizenship social policy unlocked, and of course a worker in enemy territory.
Warmonger score(which leads to a negative diplo modifier refereed to as warmonger hate) is a complicated issue and can leave you with only enemies. In short try to bribe as many civs to DOW your target first, and DONT take his last city. Eliminating too many civs gets you a permanent warmonger score. Lastly on warmongering DONT ever capture a CS.

Lastly kill Alex, Hiawatha, or Rammy.........

 

[direblade99]

Just play outside your comfort zone for a bit, build a few more cities than you should so you force yourself to invest in an army to defend it. Try declaring war on a neighbour early (on lower difficulties probs not so early) to steal their workers and harass them with range fire while trying to keep as many units alive as possible.

 

[Larkas]

Thanks a lot for all the advice, guys! I think I'll try taking a look at those "let's play" videos first. I kind of get the strategy laid out in a few guides, but I'm kinda lost on what to do outside of those "key moments" laid out in them. I specially liked the Liberty Warmonger guide linked above, but I'm still a little lost. When I get home, I'll try what direblade99 proposed too: play on a slightly higher difficulty, doing things slightly differently. Hope I can at least learn a thing or two

 

[Arachnofiend]

you could watch let's play videos on youtube, there are several that explain things nicely.
I am a big fan of LightCleric, not so much for his flawless execution but for his "Hey Mr. Knight"-comments which always get me laughing.

The players that goof off a bit are better for learning from anyways, you get to see what to do when things start to go wrong. MadDjinn's Venice game is like a how-to guide on salvaging a mediocre start (which for Venice is a bad start).

 

[Larkas]

Just watched MadDjinn's game. That was fun. Strange thing is, both he and LC do stuff I always did too, only more efficiently and more aggressively o.O I think all I need to do is get out of my comfort zone and play on a higher difficulty!

 

[Smote]

Building too many buildings? Challenge yourself. Win a game without building a single building.

Then allow yourself just granaries and libraries. Figure out a minimalistic approach.

 

[Larkas]

WHOA. Is that even possible?

 

[Arachnofiend]

Building too many buildings? Challenge yourself. Win a game without building a single building.

Then allow yourself just granaries and libraries. Figure out a minimalistic approach.

Whoa there friend I think you need to slow down

Completely ignoring infrastructure is definitely a bad thing to do. I don't think it would even be possible to do something like this unless you're playing the Huns and get very lucky. The similar but better advise is to play games where you don't build any wonders. Wonders are very nice and some of them can even be relied on (the Oracle!!!) but they act as a crutch and they're thing you build when you could be building other things, like units, trade routes, basic infrastructure, etc. etc. It's good to set yourself up where you know how to win without building them at all; then you won't look for the wonders you need, you'll look for the wonders you want. Make strategies that can be complimented by wonders if convenient, not strategies that rely on them.

 

[Laurwin]

Whoa there friend I think you need to slow down

Completely ignoring infrastructure is definitely a bad thing to do. I don't think it would even be possible to do something like this unless you're playing the Huns and get very lucky. The similar but better advise is to play games where you don't build any wonders. Wonders are very nice and some of them can even be relied on (the Oracle!!!) but they act as a crutch and they're thing you build when you could be building other things, like units, trade routes, basic infrastructure, etc. etc. It's good to set yourself up where you know how to win without building them at all; then you won't look for the wonders you need, you'll look for the wonders you want. Make strategies that can be complimented by wonders if convenient, not strategies that rely on them.

I like to build Great Wall (just simply to troll the AIs)

In order to prevent them from using the Great Wall, and arbitrarily having the AIs avoid dynamite tech simply in order to make ME the player win slower domination victory.

I feel the same way slightly about himeji castle, and red fort actually. It is within my power, to prevent the AI from defending himself with extra advantage, by building these wonders.

 

[slowcar]

Great Wall, and arbitrarily having the AIs avoid dynamite

The player who owns the wall has to invent dynamite to render it ineffective. The AIs don't avoid the tech because somebody else owns the wall.

 

[direblade99]

Building too many buildings? Challenge yourself. Win a game without building a single building.

Then allow yourself just granaries and libraries. Figure out a minimalistic approach.

Pardon me, but what?!?!?! Is this even possible when not going dom victory on warlord?

 

[Moputah]

Completely ignoring infrastructure is definitely a bad thing to do. I don't think it would even be possible to do something like this unless you're playing the Huns and get very lucky. The similar but better advise is to play games where you don't build any wonders. Wonders are very nice and some of them can even be relied on (the Oracle!!!) but they act as a crutch and they're thing you build when you could be building other things, like units, trade routes, basic infrastructure, etc. etc. It's good to set yourself up where you know how to win without building them at all; then you won't look for the wonders you need, you'll look for the wonders you want. Make strategies that can be complimented by wonders if convenient, not strategies that rely on them.

This. Probably the most game improving advice I've found here when I first started lurking several months ago is to be more lax on Wonder building. I was playing level 4 difficulty (Price, I believe) and was doing okay there, but once I stopped hoarding Wonders I was winning far too easily and moving up in difficulty levels while learning how to better prioritize buildings and armies.

I'm not sure if OP is building many Wonders, but if so, try to build far fewer, and even play on a difficulty one or two above what you're currently playing on to where you better learn the value of a strong early army, rather than playing on low difficulty levels where you will be enabled into not building a decent opening army (due to low aggressiveness of neighbors). I started by throwing three or four Archers earlier into my build order between various buildings and then learned to better prioritize my armies from there.