Noob Help

[shadowdrummer46]

Firstly, Im new here, so hello to everyone.

Ok, so I have civ IV and the expansions, but im having trouble. My cities seem to grow too fast. Also, I dont know what to do with the empty plots of lands(with only food) after I clear the forests. Im sure a thread like this gets posted all the time but if someone could help me with this or link me to some articles that would be amazing.

Thanks in advance

 

[slobberinbear]

Where to start?

The first thing you should do is go to the strategy articles sub-forum and read Sisiutil's guide for beginners.

Growing too fast:

* have your citizens work mines instead of food, slowing down growth
* click the "prevent growth" button in the city screen
* adopt the slavery civic and slave away your extra citizens for more production

Empty plots of land:

* learn the pottery technology and build cottages on grasslands, especially riverside grasslands.
* wait for a forest to regrow and chop again. This works best with other nearby forests.
* don't chop in the first place ... a plains forest tile is usually better than a plains tile, for most of the early game anyway.

 

[lymond]

Yep, Sisiutil's article will really help you starting out. I improved my game dramatically after trying the strategies. Play around with that for a few games and then read some of the more advanced articles on specializing cities, economies, and warfare.

Make sure you have enough workers to improve land. At least 1.5 per city. It's a general rule of thumb to build a worker first or work boat if you are coastal and have the tech. The Slavery civic is important early in the game so grabbing Bronze Working early is key. Whipping will keep your cities manageable while getting key building and units out early. Try to focus on specializing your cities. Get a production city and a commerce city running (besides your cap) as soon as possible. Once key buildings (only) - like granaries/barracks - are up, the prod city should build units only for protection or your first battle and the commerce city should work cottages only - other than enough food to support them. (note: gold, gems and some plantation resources are great in a commerce city too so settle near them if you can - otherwise make sure you are near rivers for the extra commerce). Commerce cities will help you tech faster which is arguably the most important thing early in the game.

I also advise to play financial leaders when new to the game. FIN leaders can make things easier with the extra commerce to boost tech or wealth.

 

[Zavior]

The most important thing i can think of is build enough workers and ALWAYS work only improved tiles!

 

[McThomas]

Hey

if you have a city with many food resources, use them for building settlers and workers... and if you have enough og them, assign the citizens as specialists