I've played Civ4 for many years but I'm still pretty bad

[FoolFromHell]

I actually thought I was decent (Even though I play on Warlord) because in my group of friends, I'm usually #1 or #2 in the 5-6 person FFA matches or 6 person 2v2s. I then saw a guide for emperor that assumed that Liberalism will be researched by 500AD and I only get it by 1650AD or so when I'm only on Warlord. My confidence and pride was shattered immediately.

What do I do to get better?

I've been reading the guides but they seem to be too general or too much oriented towards higher difficulties.

 

[Ghpstage]

That guide must be for Vanilla Civ 4 where AIs had much bigger bonuses, so if your playing Beyond the Sword (BTS) ignore it. On Emperor BTS Liberalism can be won as late as 1200AD quite often.

Unfortunately its unlikely things said without specific knowledge from a saved game or screenshots will be a great help, but I will give some general points;

• Don't work unimproved tiles, this is by far the biggest mistake low level players make and is almost always caused by not having enough workers and managing the ones they have poorly.
• Improve better tiles first, resource tiles are going to be your best tiles in just about every city. Use your workers to farm Corn, pasuture pigs etdc before going to weaker tiles. To see a tiles normal yield on the map press cntrl+y, cntrl+r is also very useful as it makes resources very visible. Some people give weightings to tile yields, 10 per , 6 per and 4 per as a way of assigning a value to a tile.
• Cntrl+y and cnrtl+r are very useful in choosing new city sites, is your most important yield, every city needs some and placiung cities near at least 1 food resource is a good condition till you learn more about why your doing it. Try to avoid settling 1 off the coast if possible, without a Lighthouse Coast tiles are junk.
• Manage your and levels, once your city has more than you get useless citizens, do everything you can do avoid them and when you do get them they are usually better off whipped for using Slavery. Getting an early tech to raise you cap a lot is very important, Monarchy for the Hereditary Rule civic is popular and easy to use for this job.

When you start a new game;

• In your capital Worker first is best 9 times out of 10
• Research the techs you need toi improve your strongest tiles first, typically this means Agriculture, Animal Husbandry or Fishing.
• Bronze Working is a key tech that often comes next, you can't improve forest tiles without it, the from chopping are very powerful as is Slavery, and it lets you see where Copper is.
• Pottery and Writing are the two most important economic techs next, if you crash your economy without getting at least one of these you may aswell start over.
• Around this time you want raisers, if you don't have a lot of resources go for Monarchy.
• Avoid trying to found early religions, they are rarely worth it.
• Don't worry too much about the slider, 20% of 100 is the same as 100% of 20.
• If you can get Copper or Horses you don't need Archery

 

[cdcuase]

I'm sort've in the same boat. I've been playing civ4 on and off since it came out but I seem to be stuck at Prince. Meanwhile, others who started playing after me have skyrocketed past in difficulty and can handle the game at Immortal.

However, I believe my main reason for having plateaued is because I've reached the point where I find it tedious to micro manage things anymore than I already am and to pay attention to every diplomatic detail in the world around me. The game, for me, is all about having fun and if that means being stuck at Prince than so be it.

 

[robbyextreme]

Having fun for me means stomping 10 Deity AI all point nukes at me.

 

[FoolFromHell]

I play BtS (since all my friends play Bts). The games usually end around Astronomy anyway because someone gets bored and leaves and there isnt enough consensus for continuing the game.

One thing I have noticed is that if I aggressively expand, I do well but my science goes bad.

I have no frame of reference though. How do I know if my 50% science with a final output of say 50 is actually better than what I would have had if I didnt get so many cities.

What strategy should I use to expand?

 

[Higher Game]

I play BtS (since all my friends play Bts). The games usually end around Astronomy anyway because someone gets bored and leaves and there isnt enough consensus for continuing the game.

One thing I have noticed is that if I aggressively expand, I do well but my science goes bad.

I have no frame of reference though. How do I know if my 50% science with a final output of say 50 is actually better than what I would have had if I didnt get so many cities.

What strategy should I use to expand?

Currency and code of laws are the two notable techs for early expansion. Markets don't sound like much, but when you're at just 20% science, they matter a lot. Courthouses carry more weight on higher difficulty when it comes to reducing maintenance, so it depends on where you play.

The most notable traits to help you expand properly are organized and financial. Keep in mind Darius can also pull off a mean immortal rush.

 

[FoolFromHell]

How is non-Industrious ever viable? You get beaten to every wonder if you dont have that +50% Wonder Production...

 

[Ghpstage]

How is non-Industrious ever viable? You get beaten to every wonder if you dont have that +50% Wonder Production...

By being ahead in tech, or having the resource to give you +100%, or being at war with competitors for a given wonder and pillaging their best cities .
You don't need wonders to win anyway, unless you know how to use them your probably only hurting yourself trying to get them.

I hadn't really taken the multiplayer thing into account, in multiplayer games your tech rate will be much slower as early wars are much more likely and with humans cottages are less useful as pillaging is a more likely tactic. In MP military is a very high priority, unless your playing some unwritten rules where you aren't allowed to be a sociopath killing everyone

 

[Higher Game]

How is non-Industrious ever viable? You get beaten to every wonder if you dont have that +50% Wonder Production...

How is a wonderless game not viable?

 

[FoolFromHell]

Typically our games turn into wonder-races with one guy making an army when nobody's looking and then pillaging everyone else. There's a 100-turn rule where we cant attack anyone else in the first 100 turns. I've gotten decent at scouting so I can counter any attack but the game ends anyway because when one person dies, everyone decides to quit.

 

[Olfart]

As a seemingly eternal Noble player with occasional wins at Prince I can sympathize. I haven't progressed far in difficulty level, but my games have become more consistent in that I usually find myself well in the lead, but not overwhelming opponents in the late game. If it looks like I'm only going to get a time victory, I quit and start a new game. I have benefited enormously from following games posted by strong players and learning from them. I have also posted a couple of games and received loads of helpful advice. Hang in there. For me, moving higher in difficulty matters less than enjoying the game, regardless of the level.

 

[Higher Game]

Losing at a high level is more fun than winning low.

 

[Ghpstage]

Typically our games turn into wonder-races with one guy making an army when nobody's looking and then pillaging everyone else. There's a 100-turn rule where we cant attack anyone else in the first 100 turns. I've gotten decent at scouting so I can counter any attack but the game ends anyway because when one person dies, everyone decides to quit.

The usefulness of Wonders are highly variable, remember that each has a cost and most are only useful in very specific circumstances. Great Lighthouse sucks if you don't build loads of coast cities, Pyramids is an epic waste if you don't swap to Representation and use lots of specialists, Ankore Wat is great.... IF you use Priests. The only wonder that seems consistant is Chichen Itza.... in that it always sucks horribly .

You have to weigh up whether that wonder is actually worth building. The Pyramids are easily the single biggest newbie trap in the game, even with Industrious the huge 500 cost is very difficult to justify, unless you know how to use them. Those would likely be better spent on more cities, more workers or more military.... 500 would likely build enough military to take the Pyramids from the person dull enough to build 'em!

 

[Higher Game]

The pyramids, a forge, and hagia sophia all help give you early great engineers. Philosophical and pacifism help, too. It's a long way to factories...

 

[jabberwalkee_]

Read Sisiutil's guide for beginners

It will get you to noble no trouble. Pay special attention to the city specialisation and economies sections.

 

[Chakram Bearer]

If you can get Copper or Horses you don't need Archery

Why? Don't you need Archers as defense units? However, since this is not the first time I read about skipping Archery, I'm sure there must be a very good reason for this... Sorry if it's been asked a million times.

 

[vicawoo]

Multiplayer is different from single player.

And in single player if you're falling into the same rut each game, your early game could use changing up. Your automatic early game decisions are probably inefficient, and your later game prowess can only get you so far from such a weak position.

 

[diegovelasco45]

Skipping archery can save you important beakers, and it also helps so you don't get the "we fear you are becoming too advance" message.

If you can hook copper, axemen can be a lot better than archers because they can attack barbarians who want to raze improvements. Horses work that way too.

I only do archers if the leader gives them extra promotion, like the chinese ones.

 

[Betonov]

It's actually quite fun to be a bit bad at it. When you're not the top dog on the field you relly more on diplomacy and your own wits than sheer power and oponents fear.
I finished a game not so long ago, the first I played on noble [BtS]. Was at the bottom of the scoreboard, fought a couple of defensive wars, lost 5 cities. But eventually I gained 2 allies (celt and dutch) which were the superpowers. This ensured peace and I started working on my score and I finished third (just after the celts and dutch). No victory though.
For a non-warmonger like me the use of politics like this made for an experience I never had before and I have CIV IV since it came out.

P.S. I regained those 5 cities and took an entire island with 7 cities from the french and indians, using the war my allies actually started against them. Sneaky little bast... illegitemate son, am I

 

[jabberwalkee_]

Why? Don't you need Archers as defense units? However, since this is not the first time I read about skipping Archery, I'm sure there must be a very good reason for this... Sorry if it's been asked a million times.

If all things go well you should never be defending inside your cities. If you stay inside your cities your improvements will be pillaged (and later on you suffer the horrible death of seige attacks). The best defense is offense. Keeping units in your borders good at attacking enemy stacks is the best way to defend. Early on Axes, Chariots and spears (particularly in combination) are good for that.