I have been playing CivIV for a little while(several months). I am having problems with my initial strategy(well actually the whole game) but specifically the beginning. When I try to build settlers the AI has twice as many soldiers. When I try to keep up militarily the AI has over double the cities I do. When I try to Build wonders, I fall behind in everything else. How do I balance this out? I have printed every one of the strategy articles off of the war academy and studied them(my wife thinks I am going over the deep end) but I am missing something. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks. By the way this is my first post on the forum.
need help
- Thread starter bkrice
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Moderator Action: Moved to Civ4 General discussions .
Welcome to CFC!
I suggest you browse thist (general discussions) forum, as well as the Strategy & Tips forum.
Welcome to CFC!
I suggest you browse thist (general discussions) forum, as well as the Strategy & Tips forum.
You normally can't beat the AI in all aspects of the game (culture, technology, wonders, military, etc.). Instead, you want to focus on a few areas of the game and maximize their effect. If you focus on going for a culture win, give in to demands, don't worry about having a massive standing army or warring often. If you want to play as a warmonger, don't waste hammers building wonders -- instead, build more units and go conquering!
In short, specialize. You can't be the best in everything (well, you can, but only on the lower difficulty levels), so play to your civilization and lands' strengths (aggressive trait means warfare is especially useful, stone and marble nearby can help with wonders, etc.). Don't approach every game with the same plan of "I need to do X, followed by Y, and then Z." Be fluid.
Other than that, posting a save game (use the Manage Attachments button after clicking Post Reply) is very helpful.
In short, specialize. You can't be the best in everything (well, you can, but only on the lower difficulty levels), so play to your civilization and lands' strengths (aggressive trait means warfare is especially useful, stone and marble nearby can help with wonders, etc.). Don't approach every game with the same plan of "I need to do X, followed by Y, and then Z." Be fluid.
Other than that, posting a save game (use the Manage Attachments button after clicking Post Reply) is very helpful.
Sisiutil
All Leader Challenger
As an addendum to GA's excellent advice, also keep in mind that even if you do focus on one particular area, in the early game you can still expect to lag behind the AI. Just remember that in Civ as in many other things, it's often quality more than quantity that matters.
Militarily, for example, the AI's early power rating often consists mostly of Archers, walls, and mounted units; the former two are defensive, the latter easily countered. You yourself can focus on swords, axes, and catapults--all very efficient at capturing cities.
Militarily, for example, the AI's early power rating often consists mostly of Archers, walls, and mounted units; the former two are defensive, the latter easily countered. You yourself can focus on swords, axes, and catapults--all very efficient at capturing cities.
Feanor01
Chieftain
There are two general thoughts I follow when i am trying to expand and they depend on my general strategy for winning. If I am going to try and win a cultural or space race victory I rarely war early. Instead I try and build my own cities. If I am trying for a domination victory I will sometimes onyl build 4 cities. Of course this depends on the size of the map and number of players.
If you are going for a conquest/domination victory pop out three cities fairly quickly and accompanying workers. Then build units like crazy. Keep what cities you want. The plus side to this is you don't "waste" hammers building settlers, you simply take the AIs cities. The down side is the cities can be poorly positioned or too far away.
If you are going for a cultural victory or you don't want to war, then you need to get a second city down quickly. If your capital has a lot of food, settle a city that is high in production. If your capital has a lot of production, settle one high in food. The second city will complement your capital and either product settlers/workers or units (food or production respectively). With these cities you shoudl be able to expand your empire relatively quickly.
I must note that you can decrease the size of each civ by adding more civs. As well, often the AI will have fairly useless cities. I think it has a target number of cities per map size. Or it will settle a city just to gain a resourse. You will often see cities of pop 2-4 with 2 units just to get a food resource or marble/stone. These cities cannot really be contributing much, but have to be a huge drain on the country.
If you feel you are really falling behind in the land race build nothing but axes/swords with CR and help yourself to the opponents land! I find it helpful to plan a war out ~20-30 turns ahead. This means with 4 cities making a unit once every 4 turns I can have 20-30 units: 5 axes, 10 swords, 5 cats, 5 archers (to protect new city), 3 horse archers, 2 spears! This should do the trick!
If you are going for a conquest/domination victory pop out three cities fairly quickly and accompanying workers. Then build units like crazy. Keep what cities you want. The plus side to this is you don't "waste" hammers building settlers, you simply take the AIs cities. The down side is the cities can be poorly positioned or too far away.
If you are going for a cultural victory or you don't want to war, then you need to get a second city down quickly. If your capital has a lot of food, settle a city that is high in production. If your capital has a lot of production, settle one high in food. The second city will complement your capital and either product settlers/workers or units (food or production respectively). With these cities you shoudl be able to expand your empire relatively quickly.
I must note that you can decrease the size of each civ by adding more civs. As well, often the AI will have fairly useless cities. I think it has a target number of cities per map size. Or it will settle a city just to gain a resourse. You will often see cities of pop 2-4 with 2 units just to get a food resource or marble/stone. These cities cannot really be contributing much, but have to be a huge drain on the country.
If you feel you are really falling behind in the land race build nothing but axes/swords with CR and help yourself to the opponents land! I find it helpful to plan a war out ~20-30 turns ahead. This means with 4 cities making a unit once every 4 turns I can have 20-30 units: 5 axes, 10 swords, 5 cats, 5 archers (to protect new city), 3 horse archers, 2 spears! This should do the trick!
JavalTigar
Overlord of the West
if you have the war academy article about early growth, follow that religiously.
in 40 turns you will have 2 cities, 2 workers and well on the way to defenders in each city.
city placement can be tricky, but the first two should be among your strongest. One a producer and one a growth/science city.
then sum up your area, depending on which civ & leader you chose, play to those strengths. No sense in haveing the Roman UU if you are not going to go forth and crush your neighbors. Don't play financial and not build cottages.
You can go on forever but this is really like trying to "briefly explain, in detail, the nature of the universe as it applies to Civ".
This is why we love the game, every time you boot it up, it's a whole different ball game. So just get in there and play.
For some more light reading, look at these walkthrus from Sirian and Sullla a couple of the beta testers / contribitors to the game. they are full af great ideas about using a civs strengths, getting the most out of civics and which tech path & why.
http://sirian.warpcore.org/civ4/
http://garath.net/Sullla/civ4.html
in 40 turns you will have 2 cities, 2 workers and well on the way to defenders in each city.
city placement can be tricky, but the first two should be among your strongest. One a producer and one a growth/science city.
then sum up your area, depending on which civ & leader you chose, play to those strengths. No sense in haveing the Roman UU if you are not going to go forth and crush your neighbors. Don't play financial and not build cottages.
You can go on forever but this is really like trying to "briefly explain, in detail, the nature of the universe as it applies to Civ".
This is why we love the game, every time you boot it up, it's a whole different ball game. So just get in there and play.
For some more light reading, look at these walkthrus from Sirian and Sullla a couple of the beta testers / contribitors to the game. they are full af great ideas about using a civs strengths, getting the most out of civics and which tech path & why.
http://sirian.warpcore.org/civ4/
http://garath.net/Sullla/civ4.html
Thanks for the advice. I guess I am trying to dominate every aspect of the game, which may not be possible. It just seems overwhelming when the AI has 9 cities to my 3(I cant research as fast) or they have me doubled up in soldier numbers. But the fact that those numbers may be mostly defensive helps a lot. Any more advice is very appreciated.Thanks
Feanor01
Chieftain
What difficulty are you playing on?
Feanor01
Chieftain
Can I suggest an unorthodox approach? When I bought Civ4 warlords and played on Noble it was significantly harder then reg Civ 4. I actually cheated the first time or so to help me out. I used the world builder to add one settler and one worker to my first city. I found this helpful because it allowed me to keep up with teh AI and still enjoy the game. As a tip, don't settle the settler immediately, look for a good spot first and wait until your capital is about 3-4 in size. This shoudl help make the transition up in difficulty easier. As you get better, don't cheap but the added experience will make you able to play better.
Sisiutil
All Leader Challenger
Rather than looking at the demographics display for this, look at the graph--in particular, the power graph. Check how you're doing relative to other civs, especially those who are not friendly with you. In addition, focus your forces in your border and coastal cities.
All the demographics are explained in this article. For the power graph, the ranking takes into account city population, number of units, military technologies researched, and various city improvements and wonders built.
The Power graph is much more important at determining your overall strength than the number of soldiers in your demographic screen. That's what the AI looks at as well when it determines whether it's going to attack you or not. Well, except for maybe Monty. If you're in the top third, chances are they'll leave you alone and not declare war on you. If you're at the very top then only Monty will be foolish enough to attack you. Well, maybe Shaka too. If you're towards the bottom, expect a few "visits". And even Ghandi will be tempted have a go if you're at the very bottom of the graph.
I see now! I just panic when I am outnumbered but on the grand scale it doesn't matter that much. Also, when attacking, how do you know how many troops to send? I tend to send huge stacks but the guys posting the walkthrough games do it with a lot less. Thanks.
That's kind of a tough one to judge really, it all depends on how well your enemy is defended. In real life most military commanders won't attack unless they have three to one odds against an opponent. That rule of thumb works well in the game as well. But alot depends on the make up of your troops. If you have lots of Catapults or other bombard units in your stack, that increases your chances quite a bit. You should try to scout out your opponent beforehand and take it from there. Just keep in mind that he may have brought in reinforcements in the time it takes to get your stack up to the city you're attacking.
Feanor01
Chieftain
I usually have the following in my cities and it does just fine:
2 archers, 1 axe; then:
3 longs, 1 mace; then:
4 rifle, 1 granader; then:
5 infantry.
This seems to do just fine for me and I am rarely attacked. When I declare war the enemy will counter attack. The axe, mace, grenadere help mitigate this attack.
As far as attacking, I try and take a somewhat asymetric stack. I have 5 swords, 5 axes, 2 chariots, 2 spears, and some archers to protect the new cities. Add catapolts when you get them!
2 archers, 1 axe; then:
3 longs, 1 mace; then:
4 rifle, 1 granader; then:
5 infantry.
This seems to do just fine for me and I am rarely attacked. When I declare war the enemy will counter attack. The axe, mace, grenadere help mitigate this attack.
As far as attacking, I try and take a somewhat asymetric stack. I have 5 swords, 5 axes, 2 chariots, 2 spears, and some archers to protect the new cities. Add catapolts when you get them!
