is this mod ok to play if your new to civ 4?

[dalamb]

I am struggling to learn to play at Noble in regular Civ, so for a break decided to try Warlord with FfH and am struggling with it -- with no special options checked to make things harder, it seems like there are always lots of barbarians showing up very soon, and there are never as many food resources on my Erebus maps as I usually see on the regular ones.

Are there any "strategy guides for beginners" for FfH? I've seen the tutorial in the manual, and a few articles in the links in the first post, but the first one I found seemed pretty advanced (the one that recommended beelining Writing for faster teching).

 

[cabbagemeister]

Three strategies I use to keep barbarians at bay in the early game:

1) Build lots of warriors. You need a LOT more defense in FFH than in normal BTS. You should have 5-6 warriors before you build your first settler. That 5-6 number should NOT include any units you have out exploring--because animals are so dangerous in FFH, you should consider those units as sacrificial, and any huts they pop or maps they reveal are just the benefits you get from that hammer investment before they get killed.

2) Good warrior placement. Aside from ~2 warriors in each city, warriors should only go in two places: 1. On ancient towers to reveal lots of map and stop barb spawning, and 2. on chokepoints. The barb AI WILL NOT make an effort to attack you if it cannot see a clear path to your cities--it won't even go after the chokepoint defender. Erebus is chock full of such chokepoints; you can easily seal off your entire home area from barb incursions.

3) Tech choice. On high difficulty levels its necessary to shoot for archery or BW to get stronger defenders. On Warlord, all you really need is to get to Education for the Apprenticeship civic, which gives you Combat I for free. Remember that promotions are far more powerful in FFH; a Combat I warrior defending a hill against a barb warrior has 90%+ odds of victory. And unlike the beelines for Archery or BW, Education is a good economic tech too, giving access to cottages and being on the path to Code of Laws. It's really a very strong tech choice overall.

 

[JFSebastian]

Be aggressive with barbarians when possible. Defending against an attack might get you 1-2 XP, but if you take a chance and attack instead, you may gain 3-5 XP or even more depending on how low your odds of success were. This is another good reason to have extra warriors or even scouts. If one fails, the other can mop up with a much higher chance of success. Taking large risks with your unpromoted units is a good way to get a lot of well promoted units. Try to avoid taking risks with your highly promoted units, keep them supplied with lots of unpromoted units to take risks for them.

 

[dalamb]

Thanks! Those few pieces of advice should make a difference. Is that sort of thing gathered together anywhere?

 

[civ_king]

for that start I recommend Calendar and tech rapidly to FotL