I restarted playing Civ4 recently and got the BTS extension. I totally lost now. I'll try to enumerate what's going wrong, but I'm not sure I understand it really.
I've played a few games, I'm using standard map (continents), standard game from the play now menu, on Noble difficulty. I've tried several civs and I think I like Augustus Caesar more (although I'm not averse to using somebody else if it fits my style better). I like him because of the Industrious/Imperialistic traits, and the Praetorians.
Okay, now, what's going wrong:
- I can expand my civ to 6 cities if I rush a little, meaning at the expense of building early wonders (no Stonehenge, no Oracle).
- But, I end up with the upkeep killing me. I need to put 10% in espionage just to avoid the AI ruining my empire with it. My science % dive quickly to 40-50% at best. I try to develop my cities (building cottages to get my economy going), but it doesn't seem to help at all.
- So, by the 1200, I'm behind the AI 4-5 tech. They don't like me because I don't have any religion, or worse, a different religion (since I don't found any, I get whatever my neighbours get).
- Quickly, one of my neighbours asks for tribute and then invades. As my tech is lagging, I can contain them, but I can't counter-attack (and my other neighbour is waiting at the border anyway). I get stuck is a stalemate that only makes me lag even more (war is expensive)
On the other end of the spectrum:
-I develop my empire more instead of rushing to 6 cities. I get quickly surrounded by the AI and I'm stuck with a small territory and 4 cities. My economy is still weak and my science/production output cannot match the one of my neighbours.
-They ask for tribute and then invades...
Rinse and repeat.
Things I'm baffled with is how the AI can expand quickly, yet still have a productive empire and build wonders and an army. I can two of those things, but not all four. Is it possible to see what the AI is doing and take notes? I just don't understand how it can do it (and even less how players in this forum can easily beat the game at higher difficulty level). I've read a lot of the articles and I've tried to use the advices I've read, but to no avail.
So, to conclude, how do I balance growth, development, military and still build some wonders? I feel I'm grossly misunderstanding the game, but I can't find how. Please help, I use to like the game, but I'm getting so frustrated that I'm about to give up.
I've played a few games, I'm using standard map (continents), standard game from the play now menu, on Noble difficulty. I've tried several civs and I think I like Augustus Caesar more (although I'm not averse to using somebody else if it fits my style better). I like him because of the Industrious/Imperialistic traits, and the Praetorians.
Okay, now, what's going wrong:
- I can expand my civ to 6 cities if I rush a little, meaning at the expense of building early wonders (no Stonehenge, no Oracle).
- But, I end up with the upkeep killing me. I need to put 10% in espionage just to avoid the AI ruining my empire with it. My science % dive quickly to 40-50% at best. I try to develop my cities (building cottages to get my economy going), but it doesn't seem to help at all.
- So, by the 1200, I'm behind the AI 4-5 tech. They don't like me because I don't have any religion, or worse, a different religion (since I don't found any, I get whatever my neighbours get).
- Quickly, one of my neighbours asks for tribute and then invades. As my tech is lagging, I can contain them, but I can't counter-attack (and my other neighbour is waiting at the border anyway). I get stuck is a stalemate that only makes me lag even more (war is expensive)
On the other end of the spectrum:
-I develop my empire more instead of rushing to 6 cities. I get quickly surrounded by the AI and I'm stuck with a small territory and 4 cities. My economy is still weak and my science/production output cannot match the one of my neighbours.
-They ask for tribute and then invades...
Rinse and repeat.
Things I'm baffled with is how the AI can expand quickly, yet still have a productive empire and build wonders and an army. I can two of those things, but not all four. Is it possible to see what the AI is doing and take notes? I just don't understand how it can do it (and even less how players in this forum can easily beat the game at higher difficulty level). I've read a lot of the articles and I've tried to use the advices I've read, but to no avail.
So, to conclude, how do I balance growth, development, military and still build some wonders? I feel I'm grossly misunderstanding the game, but I can't find how. Please help, I use to like the game, but I'm getting so frustrated that I'm about to give up.