Mandatory Retirement

[Explorer]

Okay, I admit it--I'm a newbie to Civilization. However, I seem to be having difficulty achieving any significant achievements before reaching 2050. When I first started, I figured that 6050 years was plenty of time--then I saw how fast the timeline moves. I never even got out of the Middle Ages!

I seem to be doing everything wrong. I was constantly being attacked by my neighbors--despite being the most benevolent faction in the game. Any good armies I could produce were prevented because I couldn't get the resources I needed. I had a good army, but for some reason, I could never take an enemy city--what gives? I finished in last place. Now, I'm not saying that I am a pro, but I played SMAC and beat it on the fourth level, but here I can't even do anything on the chieftan (first) level.

Any strategies for a newbie? Do I have to conquer other factions in order to win? About how many equal-sized armies does one need to lay siege to a city? Is it possible to get a cultural/scientific/diplomatic victory before 2050? This game seems very complex and interesting--yet extremely frustrating at the same time. Thanks for any help in advance.

 

[NY Hoya]

check out these threads from the strategies and tips forum:

general tips

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=10018

war strategy

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=10256

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=13290

science broker strategy

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8381

 

[NY Hoya]

in addition to the above threads, it may take you a game or two to get up to speed on this game. On Chieftan, I could generally get to the modern age sometime around 1750 give or take and achieve victory at the same time. As you increase difficulty levels, the ages go by even more quickly.

The science/tech broker strategy is simply that you need to trade techs with the AI often. If you are behind the AI, try to get a tech from one of them that the others do not have. Then re-sell this tech to the AI Civs that don't yet have it for gold/turn. This strategy leads to lots of cash on hand, and then you can set your research rate up to 90-100% and still make money due to your trades with the AI. Eventually, you will get the tech lead and can selectively choose which techs to sell to the AI.

Make sure that when you do sell a tech or your world/territory map to the AI that you do so on your own turn and to all of the AI civs that can offer something reasonable for it. The AI will trade extensively amongst the various AI civs, so you need to do this or lose out on potential revenue.

Combat can be a bit tricky. The best bet when you are first learning is to attack with overwhelming force, using a mixture of fast units (like horsemen, knights, etc) to soften up the defenses, offensive units (archers, swordsmen) to take out defenders, and defensive units (spearmen) to protect your stacks of units.