Noob needs guidance

[Picstr]

Hey all, been addicted to C3 for several weeks now and have yet to win a single match. I go on binges game wise where for a short span I live and breathe it, but this is bugging me, how can I move on to the next game when C3 makes me look like a complete tool?
C1 was a fantastic game and was a bit hard but don't remember haveing
problems with winning scenarios.
I've been trying to win space race on the easiest level but the closest I got was I believe 9 components at 2025 and then realizing I didn't have any rubber.yeah that sucked.
Anyway I have done alot of research and am starting to recognize alot of things a bit better, but C3 is kind of like a golf swing to me, if you don't do about a 1000 things correctly you're going to have a tough time keeping the ball in the fairway. Anyway I know all this is pretty vague but I guess either my build/research order is incorrect or I am a tool.
My current game is set to 1000 turns, (I thought I just needed more time) it is going pretty good since I had a pretty good start, but it just seems it's already to late in the game to win space race (around 1500ad.)
Once again I do realize I've given all you pros absolutely nothing to comment upon. I guess after this current game I'll post a save game and see what you guys think. Thanks for letting me babble.
Picstr

 

[T-Money]

LOL, you did exactly the same thing I do. I always set my games to 1000 turns 'coz it just feels less rushed. Awaiting your save...

 

[Picstr]

I'm sure this save will be very enlightening for me.

 

[T-Money]

Ok...I'm not a very experienced player myself, but this is what I saw straight off.

1) Your cities are incredibly far apart. This is ok I guess if that's how you like it, but you're wasting a LOT of space.

2) You haven't traded for a world map yet. I called up the Incas and traded for WM right away, then established embassies and checked out all known opponents.

3) you haven't attacked anyone yet. Even in a space race game, power is everything. I picked the Iriqouis because they're closest and weakest. (At first i chose Inca because I hate pink but I checked out their capitol with my embassy and they have craploads of ACs.) I would suggest that by this time in the game, you should be controlling all the Iriqous territorry and possibly America too. By Cavalry, it's a good idea to have a large portion of the land area so that when the other nations hit their industrial revolution, you don't get shunted sideways in the power department.

And that's all I saw at first glance. Like I said, I'm not very good at civ either, but those are the glaring things that hit me.

 

[Picstr]

Once again foiled by a missing resource. I first noticed (I think) that I was in trouble around like 2024. I got Rocketry and nervously glanced around the map for AL but nothing. I later found 4 other countries had it but none available for trade, I went to 2050 just to see if any would show up but it looks as if this will be another lost cause. If I do continue it'll have to be warmonger mode and that won't happen under Democracy, plus I'll probably lose to a UN victory soon anyway.
I actually thought I had a good shot this time with all the shields my core citys were putting out. Oh well looks like I'll have to go with warmonger first then research, although I wish I could do it ON THE EASIEST LEVEL without war, but say laa vee.
Thanks much for the response T. From now on I'll start getting my cities closer to each other and see how that goes, chow.
Picstr

 

[vmxa]

First get contacts with the remain 3 civs asap. Always explore the map at least until you get all contacts.

Second use CxxC spacing, no more CxxxC spacing.

Third do not use a worker to make a colony, especially in your own land. Found a city to claim it. It is so rare to need to make a colony, that it should never happen in std games below demi. Workers are to important to lost that way.

Fourth I see that every tile of the 21 in the capitol has been either mined or irrigate. That is a lot of lots worker turns. You cannot work all those tiles until you get a hospital or Shakes. Be effiencent, only improve tiles that are going to be worked by a citizen. Ok, you may need to irrigate to get water to other cities, but be wise.

Don't make spears until you actually need them and only make enough to handle a specific task. It will be a long time before they become useful.

If your cities were closer together you could leave some empty in Republic as the AI is not going to invade at this level with enough trops to bother you. As it is you have no fast movers to cover the cities and all most have is a spear. A spear will be a waste in the case of an invasion.

The AI will send knights or calvs and they will slice them up. MedInf will as well. But the worse part to me is that even if they send weak stuff, you cannot attack those units with spears. So they will cause trouble with the citizens and maybe even do some pillaging.

What could you do if one of the civs you have not met is a power house and sends a few ships to drop off 4 knights, 3 MedInf and maybe even a few muskets? You have two knights and they may be far away from the landing as the AI knows your troop disposition.

 

[DBear]

Picstr, it is VERY difficult to win a space race on Chieftain. The AI is SO crippled that they have nothing to trade and you have to research everything yourself. In a way, Warlord and Regent are actually easier because the AI civs will be able to trade with you, thus helping your research.

 

[Grogs]

Ok, let's start with a few things you've done alright on:

1) You're in Republic. This is a good, solid all-around government
2) You've got enough workers (for an industrious civ like Persia, 1 per town is adequate)
3) You've managed to build a decent sized empire (about the same as the AI civs.)

Now, the not-so-good news:

1) You've managed to put 12 towns in an empire that could hold 24. I count 8 tiles between Bactra and Persepolis for example.

2) (Related to 1) Not only have you irrigated/mined tiles that your cities aren't using, you've irrigated tiles that no city can reach.

3) Most of your cities are producing wealth. In general, producing wealth is a losing proposition. The only time you should ever end up with a large number of cities producing wealth would be at the end of a game (once no other civ in the world is a threat.)

4) Your unit support costs are *killing* you. You're paying 84 gold per turn for unit support. This is why (one reason) even with every city on your empire on wealth you can't research above 50% without losing gold. You can reduce this by either getting more cities or getting rid of outdated units.

5) You haven't built a single aqueduct. As a result, 9 of your 12 cities are stuck at size 6. In republic, a size 1-6 town supports (i.e. you don't pay for) 1 unit. A size 7-12 city supports 3 units. If you had 24 cities in your empire and they were all size 7+, you could support 72 units for free, which is larger than your entire military right now.

I'm not going to list anything else out, just some general advice. Look carefully at what your cities are building. If you're not sure what an improvement does, look it up in the civilopedia. The *most* important thing to do in the early part of the game is expand. You want to build as many cities as you can. Population is power! More cities = more tiles worked = more money coming into your treasury = faster research = Spaceship victory!

Places to find help:

-The War Academy (you'll find a link from the Civ Fanatics homepage): Lots of articles on empire management, city placement, general strategy, etc.

-The SGOTM Forums (you'll find this under the Game Of the Month forum): You can watch groups of experienced players play through a game here and learn how and why they make decisions about their games.

 

[Tomoyo]

Also, check the regular Succession Games Forum. It has many more types of games than the SGOTM. Besides, in a non-competitive environment, you can see many more strategies, not just milking.

 

[Picstr]

Just wanted to thank everyone for the great advice, I see that I'm not completely lost in some areas.
Concerning the city spacing: I had some problems during a game where a city that was to close to a larger city was starving because its tiles were overlapping, I thought I'd space them out a bit more.
Once again thanks to all for the input. I'll keep trying.
Regards,Picstr.

 

[vmxa]

No reason to starve even with CxxC. If you have to irrigate tiles to grow, then do it. If you have to take a tile from the other city to give to the starving city, then go ahead. You can get to metros with that spacing and not starve, even with several mountians in the radius.