Need a little help

[therealmadbone]

I have played Civilization all the way back to Civ I and know sufficient to easily win on Warlord and probably also on Noble with a little more trouble.

The problem is I am used to strategies that probably where most efficient for Civ1-3.

I am usually the peaceful type who likes to expand fairly quick and build all buildings in my cities for maximum culture and to gain income (at least it used to be that way).

I also pick industrious and go for almost all wonders with no particular order in my 3 first cities.

GP are used so that a Great Scientist is send to join my biggest research city, Great Merchant to my biggest income city and so on.

As explained this works fairly well but I have a feeling I am not playing optimally.

First of all I have read the strategies on city specialisation. Does it really make that big a difference compared to what I do now ? It feels odd not building all buildings in my cities

Secondly, how can I benefit more from my wonder building instead of just having the first available of my major cities going for the next wonder ? I must admit I dont have much clue about how to pair them.

And could I use my GPs more wisely than I do ?

Thanks a lot for your help

 

[Birdman6]

Welcome to the forums! You've diagnosed yourself correctly...you can't play Civ4 the way you did older versions.

Example 1: in Civ2 you could build a b*ttload of caravans to rush wonder-building, get Great Library, Leonardo's Workshop, Adam Smith's Trading Co and totally dominate the game with little effort. In Civ4 you're actually better off skipping many wonders, especially on the higher difficulties. The production cost is too high to miss out on all the other things you could have built.

Stop constructing so many buildings and focus more on units, particularly settlers and workers. If you have 10 and 6 then you don't need that temple right now...build a worker and get the temple when you have 10 . If your city only produces 3 then a library won't do you any good, come back to it later. Also, don't be afraid to build wealth and research in your cities. Your addiction to buildings is common among newbs and you must get past it to improve.

City specialization makes more difference than you can imagine! This is probably the #1 thing holding you back. Start a new game and try it...what do you have to lose?

GPs can be used in many creative ways and I'm not expert enough to write on that, but I do know the earlier you get GPs the better. The minute your game begins, start looking for suitable land to found your GP farm.

Learn to use slavery and granaries often, and use forest-chopping to your advantage. These are early-game strategies that can rocket you past the AI.

Overall, you must learn to prioritize much more intensively in Civ4. Unlike past versions, you simply can't get everything you want and you'll gradually realize that many of the things you're giving up really weren't that great anyway.

 

[Charonicus]

You don't need all wonders. Sure if you're in the middle of the jungle with no fresh water the Hanging Garden's health bonus is appealing, but if you don't need it, don't build it. Likewise on a Pangea map the Colossus and Great Lighthouse are practically worthless. The Great Library however, with its two free scientists is extremely appealing at all times. As you improve you'll find you can capture most of the other wonders directly from the AI anyway.

 

[therealmadbone]

Very nice. Guess I have to get out of my Medieval playing style. Just feels odd when having been used to it never fails for 10+ years

Thanks again - look forward to trying out the strategies.

 

[Patak]

Playing peacifuly is tough.

 

[Kierkegaard]

Maybe a list with what wonders are alaways appealing might be handy.

These I strongly advice:
The Great Library
The Piramids
The great wall (if raging barbarians -> watch your nieghbours struggle )
the oracle (+/-)

These I just advice:
The parthenon (works great with Phi and the national epic)
Apostolic Palace
Shwedagon Paya
Stonehenge (if you aren't Cre)
The Eiffel Tower (if you're going for a cultural victory)
The Sistine Chapel (if you're going for a cultural victory)
The Space Elevator (+/- space victory)
The Statue of Liberty (always handy)
The Statue of Zeus (if you're non violent)
The United Nations (you don't need it if you have the biggest population)
The Three Gorges Dam (power for every city on the continent without and without you have to build a coal/... plant in every single city)


Of course this is debatable and depends on the situation. Personnally I like building wonders (I won cultural yesterday on monarch ), but you have to keep focus with the other parts and aspects of the game like strong defense/military and espionage.