Please help can't win!!!

[Dark_Ownage]

I got just plain ol' civ 4 and ive been playing small continents maps with ai and i have difficulty on default and I CANT WIN!? I have been playing a couple days strait and I just constantly get my noob ass pwnzered no matter what I do i make sure my citys are happy and healthy but stupid focking(from meet the fockers) russian paul or whatever the hell his name is keeps building near me forces me to give him things and then I give him everything he wants and he declares war with me I kick his ass using the last demo to use gold to buy a bunch of spear dudes an catapults but it seems like a neverending war fought him for 5 hours bak n forth bak n forth and all the other players got laser beems and nuclear rocket launchers the size of toothpiks and I just discovered sliced bread! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD why do you hate me!!!
even in the begining of the game civs are way ore advanced then me and I cant watch a replay to try to duplicate what there doing... Is there a video anywhere showing a whole game so I have something to base my strategy off of because ron pauls strategy and george w bushs strategy dont work....
Thank you fellow civ goers

 

[Rockinfrog]

Take haert, YES you CAN win. If my 11 year old daughter can win, so can you! Most of the advice from the seasoned players is good, but to someone new to Civ like me it can get by you. So I will tell you what I told my daughter when she wanted to play the game. Civ IV is a complex game, there is a lot to it. Don't think you have to get it all at the beginning. At the settler level the computer recomendations are a help to you, follow them. They will tell you what to build and what to improve. Just remember to build for the military. Make every other build a military unit. For example if you build a forge make your next build an archer. Then build a theater followed by a spearman ect. This will keep you strong enough that you will not be picked on by the other civs. You will win a time victory and get familiar with the game. READ the forums and War Achadamy and try to improve ONE thing in your next game. Then READ some more. After a few games you will be better able to grasp some of the finner points that the "Old Pros" talk about. I have been playing for about 6 weeks and have progressed up to Warlord. Just recently I purchased Beond the Sword and am exploring that. I never played Civ before and I love it. And I can win. So shall you. Keep at it and let us know how you are doing. From one noob to another.

 

[DMOC]

Didn't you just post a thread on the other strategy/tips forum? It would help if you only posted in one forum...makes giving advice easier.

Screenshots are much appreciated, as well as detailed explanations of your game play.

 

[homeyg]

It may also help if you take it a little more seriously..

 

[OctavianFlu]

It is not a matter of winning or loosing,
its a matter of how you play the game ~lol

I'd suggest playing at a lower difficulty level like settler first, then build your way up, but thats just me. I would also suggest, as previously mentioned, the war academy, and read on all the things that you should or should not do. Having a war dragged out for 5 hours is sorta excessive, and is probably the reason why you are loosing. Typically I wage war very early on in order to obtain key land, or eliminate my nearby neighour, but very rarely will I wage war until either I need to in order to obtain a resource, or have to for good relations.

You may want to also change your maps up so it makes life more interesting. But really , its not the final score that matters, its what you do during the game that matters. I oculdn't care less if I won or not, but if I had a good time doing it -- thats what the game is about.