Know well what leads you forward and what holds you back

[Wombleburger]

I've been playing Civ since the original, but am far from mastery of Civ IV. I've only just kicked the reloading habit and am now working my way honestly up through the difficulty levels. I can win at Monarch without reloading , and it was learning several key concepts from this forum that got me there. Now I'm looking for the key concepts I still need to understand to lead me forward to Emperor, Immortal and Diety.

The following are the things that led me forward (vs. held me back) so far, in no particular order:

(1) Specializing my cities (vs. the builder's instinct to get every building in every city).
(2) Tech trading with the AI (vs. the hoarder's instinct not to share techs with "my enemies").
(3) Learning to be diplomatic and pick sides (vs. the "scr*w you" instinct to automatically refuse every AI demand).
(4) Axe-rushing (vs. the peacemonger's instinct to only fight defensive wars)
(5) Whipping and chopping (vs. the moral instinct not to kill my own population or decimate the local woodland).
(6) Choosing a victory to shoot for relatively early in the game (vs. the "I'll just see what happens" instinct).

So, my question for the higher-level players here is, what other concepts do I still need to learn? Lead me forward!

 

[Ignorant Teacher]

The following are the things that led me forward (vs. held me back) so far, in no particular order:
(4) Axe-rushing (vs. the peacemonger's instinct to only fight defensive wars)

It depends a lot on the map.

(6) Choosing a victory to shoot for relatively early in the game (vs. the "I'll just see what happens" instinct).

I don't know about the other guys, but I tend to only choose a vc around the Renaissance (and sometimes later). That sure makes me finish my games later than most, but I'm having fun and I can usually win.

 

[Windsor]

7) Build worker first
8) "CFC-rules" is merely guidelines, not actually rules

The real key is to always have a reason for what your doing.

 

[Babibo]

Hi, soon-to-be-a-deity-player,

I think theses 7 principles are pretty nice. I'd change the number 6 just to : "Focus ! Choose a long-term feasible objective, and do whatever it takes to get it. Don't just : "Oh, I could build the Parthenon, that could fit well in my appartment" or "Oh ! I could get the free great artist from Music", and deviate from your long term objective of getting democracy, Biology, or State Property as soon as possible, or annihilating Montezuma before he attacks you, etc...

Another important point : as you reach higher levels, you'll see that many tricks you used to do won't work anymore. Rushing your nearest opponent seems impossible, you don't get the Pyramids anymore, etc... Overall, the start of the game will become more and more frustrating since you won't be able to have an edge over the AIs before quite a long time. You'll have to be patient and rely more on your overall empire management than on specific tricks.

Enjoy

 

[Wombleburger]

Thanks for the feedback! I should've added this extra idea to the originals:

(7) Playing the map/AIs/your chosen leader (vs. trying to apply a default style or tactic to every game).

I suppose I was just looking for the tools that advanced players can turn to if the map/AIs/their chosen leader call for it. So, the axe rush, for example, seems to me to be a useful tool that can sometimes, but not always, be usefully applied (depending on which AIs start next to you, and how close they are). Are there others?

(For instance, the Specialist Economy? I've never really attempted this - the most I ever do with specialists is to use them for a Great Person farm and run a few scientists in my early libraries, to help me out when I've tanked my economy through early expansion - Should I learn the SE for success on the higher difficulty levels?)

 

[KeloGBites]

Try playing a Boreal Map to learn to use a Specialist Economy. Personally I can't do a Trade Economy for the life of me, nowadays I only use Cottages with Financial leaders. Otherwise, Specialists are amazing.

 

[Lansky]

Much easier to give tips and advice based on a sample game then just in general. In general an axe rush is a bad idea at deity. In general means very little if you pop a map that says it is a good idea. It's really the decision making process at the higher levels that influences a lot of the game.

As for economies, set up cities so that they make the most of the tiles you are given. Don't focus on X or Y economy. Until later game civics that enhance certain improvement types (hence why 'Mids for Rep is popular - a later game civic enhancing specialists, but hardly required) you do not need a wide spread economic type, just a good mix of workers and growth. Personally I tend to cottage the capital and farm/mine outlying cities as a standard protocol early to get up infrastructure.