Mixed Q's

[kgkia33]

These aree a bunch of questions I've been wanting/needing to ask, most likely needing since I still haven't won a game on Cheiftain and I'm very familiar with Civ3..

1) In the beginning of the game, my treasury steadily built up to about 650, then, maintenance began to strain my treasury. Trying to balance the loss, I ended up with my tech research to 0%. And damn was I f*cked. The way I see it, technology is just about the biggest thing in terms of waging a war. The bottom line was that my legionaries and longbowman could not match the Greek cavalry, not even 5 against 1. How do I keep my gold supplies breaking at least even but still do above average speed research? Probably not build so many maintenance-requiring wonders, but anything else?

2) Wow I forgot my others Q's, maybe I'll remember 'em later. Sorry.

 

[Chieftess]

Well, here's some tips:

1. Turn governors off. They don't know how to use your tiles.
2. Always micromanage your cities. You might need an extra shield or two. Or, if you're going to waste a sheild (i.e., you have 5 and only need 4 to complete a unit), see if you can move it to a gold-producing or food-producing tile.
3. Put the wait at end of turn on. It helps to make last minute checks.
4. Don't irragate in despotism and communism. you don't get the extra effects. Exception - plains, floodplains, and deserts. You can irrage or mine bonus food tiles, depending on what you need.
5. A basic rule of thumb is: a couple of warriors, settler, warrior/worker, settler... Plus a granary to make the city grow.
6. Don't try to build wonders everywhere. Pyramids are great with more than 7 cities. If you have fewer (i.e., on a small island), granaries are more cose effective.
7. Some like to have 1 city for growth, 1 for war. Try that.

 

[kgkia33]

I don't understand #2.

 

[civ_steve]

Here, micromanage means open the city display and change the tiles that the citizens are working. In the example given, the city is producing excess shields. By changing the tiles being worked, you can still complete the production, but might be able to generate extra commerce or food. On the next turn, you'd move the citizens again, if needed.

Micromanage also applies to other aspects of the game, such as worker control. You can automate your workers, but they're pretty stupid about what they decide to do.

 

[WillJ]

Originally posted by Chieftess
4. Don't irragate in despotism and communism. you don't get the extra effects. Exception - plains, floodplains, and deserts. You can irrage or mine bonus food tiles, depending on what you need.
5. A basic rule of thumb is: a couple of warriors, settler, warrior/worker, settler... Plus a granary to make the city grow.

#4-You only get the "one less if there's more than two" penalty while in despotism. In communism there is no penalty. #5-I like to stress building quite a few workers early on. For awhile pretty much all I build are workers and settlers and one unit to defend each settler/city (building the defenders while I wait for the city to grow so that I can build more workers and settlers).

Originally posted by kgkia33
Probably not build so many maintenance-requiring wonders, but anything else?

You mean improvements? No great or small wonders require any maintainence.

 

[Yzman]

I think you are not building enough roads and marketplaces/banks. Do you build these?

 

[Gen]

Also, if you have legionaries and longbowmen fighting enemy cavalry, thats... horrible ! However, almost every war against the AI can be won. Some tips:
1. Always try to be attacker, your chances will be much higher (3:3 or 4:3 resprectively for legion/longbow, ignoring defence bonuses). If you allow enemy hit your units with fast-moving cavs he has much greater advantage (6:3 or 6:1).
2. Protect your longbows with defensive units(pikemen/musketmen).
3. Use artillery both for atack and defence fire support.
4. If enemy cavalry retreated from fight, attack it immediately. Do not allow them heal!
5. Bring fast units into battle ASAP if you have the resources. Research, buy or steal Military Tradition or at least Chivalry.

 

[Yndy]

Originally posted by Yzman
I think you are not building enough roads and marketplaces/banks. Do you build these?

This must be the key question. Even with governors you should be able to maintain a decent treasury. But you MUST road all of the tiles around your cities (given time). roads are not only to link cities, they provide commerce which gives money/research.
If you don't have roads you will have less money and in the same time less research.

 

[billindenver]

Why do you horde up 650 gold? Are you saving up for Christmas?

I know a lot of players don't do science research, save up gold, and spend it buying techs from the AI's, but I've never played it that way.

My Sci is almost always set to the absolute maximum that I can set it to, and still make money. Early game, it's 80%, slowly dropping down to 40-50% as I build city improvements. If I ever accumulate a lot of extra gold (through trading, goody huts, etc), I'll set my science even higher to drain the treasury and gets techs faster, or spend the money on upgrades or rushing improvements.

I never bother keeping any gold around until I build Wall Street.

It sounds to me like you are seriously behind on science if the AI has cavalry and you are still in the Ancient Age.

#2, what govt are you in? Despotism sucks for gold and science. Get out of it ASAP into Republic, if possible. In Republic, you should be able to spend 40-50% on science, and still make a few gold per turn.

#3, in addition to MM, do an F1. Make sure you don't have a whole bunch of entertainers/taxmen/scientists that could be more production working the land. If you've been just clicking 'Give them some entertainment' when cities go into disorder, but have since changed govts or increased the luxury sliders, you may have a bunch of unproductive citizens laying around.

#4, go into F1 and tell us what the stats in the upper left corner shows. How much are you spending on military? How much is lost to corruption (have you built the Forbidden Palace yet?)?

 

[Alric]

DRAIN MONEY FROM OTHER CIVS!!! trade world/territory map for $$$ trade your luxuries for $$$ and trade your strategic resources for $$$ (be careful who you trade your strategic resources with!!!) So, take other civ's money but other things all the other guys have said.

and yes if you are planning that civ to be your friend and that he is not friends with the enemy then you should trade SR with them and trade tech and $$$.

 

[kgkia33]

Whenever I attempt to move work to a different tile at the city control window it turns them into an entertainer, taxman, etc. WTH?

 

[billindenver]

Originally posted by kgkia33
Whenever I attempt to move work to a different tile at the city control window it turns them into an entertainer, taxman, etc. WTH?

If you click on him once, it removes him. Just put the mouse on the empty tile where you want him to work, and click again.