Micromanagment & Macromanagment HOW TO...

[Chieftess]

Anyone wanna tell a semi-newbie like myself how to micro and macromanage?

I know about shifting resources around to get more shields, food, gold, etc., but what's the whole micromanaging picture?

Same for macromanagment.

(Maybe those are the reason I'm stuck on Chieftain-Warlord levels)

Yes, Chieftain can be a challenge for me, after 11 years of playing!
(pathetic, isn't it? Not to mention, I can't get a score higher than 1640 on Civ2, and 150 on Civ3. It's been too long to remember Civ1).

 

[cosyCloud]

The only way I shuffle resources in the city level are to make entertainers. Of course I also play on the "easier" levels.

Perhaps on the more difficult levels you "need" to shuffle resources.

I usually put my focus on protecting my cities, making nice with the other nations and expanding my "territory".

I guess the benifit of moving things around within the city would be to complete wonders quickers by looking for a placement within where you can get the most shields.

Is this correct people?

 

[Shaitan]

First step, turn off the city governors. Go to a city view and press "G". Turn off governers for all cities.

Every turn, use the domestic advisor (F1) to check all cities' happiness. You need to keep as many happy people as unhappy people. If a city is on the borderline (same amount of happy and unhappy) create an entertainer.

For production, look at how many shields are being produced and how many are needed for the project. If you're building a warrior that costs 10 and your city is putting out 8 shields then 3 are going to waste. Reconfigure the tiles being worked on to bring production up to 10 or down to 5. You'll often be in a position where you need to switch tiles each turn. One turn at 10, pump out a warrior but losing food. Next two turns at 5, pump out another warrior and creating surplus food.

Some cities will only ever produce 1 shield. Extra population in these cities should be put on taxes or science.

Use the military police! Despotism will keep two people from being unhappy if you have two military units garrisoned in the city. Pump out cheap warriors to fill this duty. Other governments differ. Only republic and democracy don't have military police.

Develop 1 city tile for each population, plus 2 more to give you flexibility in switching them around.

Use taxmen, scientists and entertainers liberally. If you are wasting 2 shields a turn in a city you might as well put a pop on research or income. These add up quickly. An entertainer is much cheaper than a turn of rioting.

You need to reevaluate what your population is doing when any of the following happens:
City growth (either population or city borders)
Change of science rate
Change of luxury rate
New tech being researched
Gain or loss of luxury item
Completion of tile improvement in city radius

That's all I can think of at the moment but it should keep you busy for a little while

Proper micromanagement generally increases your production by 25%, income by at least 10% and research by at least 10%.

 

[BillChin]

Actually, I think if a player is struggling on the lower difficulties, the governors will do a better job than the player. Also makes for faster game play. Usually micromanagement can squeeze a few extra shields out of a city, but if a player is struggling, they are probably doing a poor job.

I like to turn on the governors, have them manage happiness and maximize shields. When I have few cities or see a bad choice, I may click off the governor and change their choice. I also turn off wonder building, and on Preferences have repeat last unit built turned on. Using the governors make the game play go a lot faster allowing more games to be played. Time is important when a single game can take 30+ hours.

There are a ton of articles and tips on how to play a better game. My emphasis is on the first age. A fast start gives a player many options. A good start is critical on Regent level and higher. I suggest that a struggling player read a few strategy tips, practice the early game on Regent level, retire after the first age. After a few game starts a player will hopefully get a feel for what is effective and what is a waste of time. A player can do about 20 or 30 first age starts in the time it takes to play a single complete game. Practice makes perfect.

 

[Beam]

Apart from the early stages I hardly do any micromanagement. Reason: it is to time consuming when you have a lot of cities with lots of units to manage. The governor does a reasonable, yet not a perfect job, but I can live with that.

In the early stages and for the wonder building cities it is different. Early on you want to make sure a city is optimally fulfilling its role (often production!) and that there is a good road network. And when railroads are available to have a solid railroad across the empire asap! Wonder building cities (usually 2 or 3) should be specifically developed and managed for just that: shield production! Apart from these examples my workers go Shift-A, and are sometimes corrected if they forget to improve a specific city. Since the impact of pollution is not that heavy on an overall scale the 2 automated workers the comp sends for cleaning are fine with me, apart from wonder building cities.

On macromanagement fast early expansion / conquest is key, so build (offensive) units first, pick up on city improvements later. Acquiring leaders is key as well in order to rushbuild wonders. Opinions on tech trading differ somewhat and on the lower diff. levels you should be able to outperform the AI quite soon.

Good luck!