Might as well ask for help...

[Jaaboo]

So I've recently jumped from Chieftan to Warlord (I know, so sad) and I think I'm doing okay, I'm getting wins under Warlord, but I think they're sloppy at best and I'd like to get some more direct feedback on my games. I figured it can't hurt to ask for a little help. I've attached a save game, it's Warlords, hope that isn't a problem, I don't have BtS yet.

Basically any tips might be helpful. This is a game in which I, as Isabella, decided to kinda half-approach as a 'roleplaying' scenario and will attempt to convert the world by sword. I have no idea how that's going to play out for victory, though, so I settled for founding every religion and now I'm not sure of how I want to approach victory.

Some notes: Madrid was founded where a goody hut popped a settler on my first turn. I decided to go with that as opposed to the generated location which was on the grass hill 2W. Barcelona was settled before I saw iron, but meant as a production location, and the others were more or less close locations with access to coast or resources or just (in the case of Cardoba) blocking the way.

Thanks!

 

[cabert]

well, role playing is fun, but it's not a strategy is it?

There is no religious victory in the normal game.
(Some mods have such a thing).

I didn't look at the save (nor download it), but it sounds as if you're lacking a plan .

 

[DaveMcW]

attempt to convert the world by sword

You have it backwards.

Don't found the religions, capture the holy cities!

 

[Daedal]

Congrats on the jump to warlord! It's always scary moving up a level. I haven't looked at the save (they won't let me install civ at work ), but hopefully I can give a few useful tips.

#1. Read some beginners guides. Sulla and Sisiutil both have great guides in the Civ4 Strategy Articles subforum. The other articles there are all very useful, but they might get a bit too in-depth for right now.
#2. Read some game walkthroughs posted in this forum. Sisiutil's ALC (All Leaders Challenge) pops to mind, but there are others. These will all be played at a higher difficulty level than you (or I) am at right now, but the strategies are usually equally applicable at lower levels and most often easier to apply because the AI is slower.
#3. Try to emulate what you see in the beginners guides and the walkthroughs. You'll be surprised how fast your gameplay improves to the point where you need a new challenge.

 

[Jaaboo]

I think I'm doing okay on Warlord, this is my third game, and I've won my previous two (one cultural w/ Saladin that was, frankly, boring) and another a domination win as Augustus? Genghis? They weren't too bad. With Issy, you're right, I really don't have a plan in this game. Part of the reason I ended up founding every religion was that it was low hanging fruit - I got a seriously ridiculous amount of free techs from goody huts, so all the monasteries have made it easy to research, especially with all my cottages.

I played a bit more and it's now close to 1400 AD and I am building trebs and conquistadors, really with no good target in sight. Everyone on my continent has converted to Christianity, so now I'm getting my sights on the Incans who have refused to convert. I might just send some missionaries over there, but maybe just to have something to do, I should send the Armada. (Seriously, it's one big love-fest on my continent, BOOOOOOOORRRRRING.)

I guess my real question is, am I ready to jump even higher?

 

[Zanttu]

I had a quick look at your save, and I don't see any big problems. You seem to know the game pretty well, and I'm sure you would be able to win constantly on noble/prince. You are leading in tech, you are doing all-right power wise and your diplomacy seems really good. But here's few things I would like to point out:

1. Not enough workers. Or actually your workers are in wrong place, some of them doing wrong things. Why you have 2 workers building cottages around Seville, while it already has 9 unworked cottages? At the same time, you have only 2 workers around Cordoba, while it only has unimproved tiles? Cordoba is already at size 3, and nothing improved yet? Get that gold mine online ASAP.

2. Expand more. Land is power, and your economy is in good shape for more expansion. While you can run a positive cash flow at 80% research and only have 5 cities, it's really time to get some more especially since you have so much good land near you.

3. City specialization. Not every city needs to run cottages. Barcelona seems to be your best production city, due the amount of hills in it's BFC.

4. Military. Yeah, you are doing OK in the power graph, but your border cities are defended with just warriors. On higher levels, this is like an invitation for the AI to attack. You don't need to have so many units in your capital, since it's in the middle of your empire and for that reason is easier to defend.

5. Decide your goal. At this point you can really win any way you want, you are so much ahead. If you want to win militarily, start building an army and invande someone. Cultural victory should be possible also, since you founded all the religions. Diplomatic should be easy, because everyone loves you. You are running away in techs, so no problem in Space Race. Just pick your preferred victory type and go for it.

 

[Zanttu]

I guess my real question is, am I ready to jump even higher?

Seems like you are. Just check out those points I stated.

 

[Jaaboo]

That's awesome to hear. I think I'll bang out this game - like I said, I've played past this save some, I started to expand into the west and I'll continue to expand to the north west and get nice and cozy with Saladin, who will become a great target. Good point about the border defense, this is something that I am constantly bad at as I typically only escort settlers with a single warrior/swordsman and leave it at that. Right now I am building trebs and conquistadors, so I think I'm on the right track.

I guess my next game will be Noble then! Thanks for the feedback and affirmation.

 

[Jaaboo]

And just to promote a bit more understanding;

1. Not enough workers. Or actually your workers are in wrong place, some of them doing wrong things.

That was one of my big goals when I played last night. By 1400, Cordoba is size 7 and growing with its land fully developed.

2. Expand more. Land is power, and your economy is in good shape for more expansion.

I founded two more cites - one to the south west of Tolusa on the southern coast by the wheat and one on the plains hill to the west. Not coastal, but I will send another settler or two to claim a port and shore up my borders for a move north.

3. City specialization. Not every city needs to run cottages. Barcelona seems to be your best production city, due the amount of hills in it's BFC.

This is something I am REALLY bad at - deciding how to specialize cities outside of REALLY general terms. Barcelona actually became my capital, as it not only passed a bureaucracy powered Madrid in terms of production, but also in commerce. Moving the government to Barcelona cemented it as a major powerhouse city. I don't really have a GP farm though, but I don't think I need one in this game (but I need to get a lot better at making them - my Saladin game was a test in a SE with Mecca pumping out GE/GP's, but I really wanted Medina to pump out GAs for the culture bomb win, see, I need work).

 

[Zanttu]

About city specialization, you should really check out these articles:

http://www.civfanatics.com/civ4/strategy/specialization.php
http://www.civfanatics.com/civ4/strategy/city_specialization.php

 

[Jaaboo]

Well the game did not go as expected. I got cold feet regarding an invasion - everyone on my continent converted and it became one big hippy Christain love fest. Ragnar on the other continent looked like a good choice for an attack, but by the time I had a navy large enough to take on the Viking, everyone was defensive pact'd out the ass. Diplomacy became a nightmare. I tried building the UN, but lost the vote almost unanimously to the Incans. A space ship win might be still in the cards, but I feel like this game just fell through my fingers. I suck at diplomacy, seems like the AI is just look for an excuse to hate on me - turns out religion was the only thing keeping me in favor, once Liberalism got around, everyone dropped me and I was left with a tiny little America as an ally.

Maybe it's time to just go all out military, but taking on the world sounds like too much work at this point so I am probably not going to finish this game.

 

[Revenant27]

sometimes one big religious war is just what the world needs

 

[Jaaboo]

Fair enough. Not the most enjoyable sometimes, but I think I could probably do it one day when I feel like being a conquerer.

 

[solistus]

The trick to diplomacy is trade, and lots of it. If you really need a diplomatic boost, accepting a demand/plea/civic or religious conversion can do the trick, but only do this if it won't slow you down more than one more bad diplomatic relationship would. If you're having trouble with diplomacy, try focusing on improving just a couple relationships. That way, you have good choices for wars (the Cautious/Annoyed civs) as well as potential allies in those wars.

 

[Jaaboo]

Yeah, this one is tough since there is a big defensive pact circle jerk. Nobody wants to be the bad guy, not even Ragnar, and I did try to piss him off. So I think maybe I'll have to be the bad guy. I couldn't even get any wars started, which was the only thing that came to mind on how to break up the defensive pact web.