pointers for current game

[dorkus_malorkus]

Would appreciate pointers on current game...playing Germany but I feel like I may have built too many things to increase culture. I have had a few culture flips. I want to attack England for the land soon but I am trying to increase my income so I can support troops. I was thinking of dropping science to zero and building up massive troops. Still kind of a newbie...

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads4/Bismarck_of_the_Germans,_1285_AD.SAV

 

[amirsan]

Im at my aunts house but when I get home Ill check it out... I love to do this stuff !!!
hehe

 

[Shillen]

Yes, you did build too many culture improvements. That's one common mistakes I see a lot of chieftain players making. They feel they need to be building every wonder as soon as it comes available. In actuality you're hurting yourself by devoting all of your production to wonders when you could be building more useful things.

But your biggest problem is the lack of tile improvements. You should make sure you have enough workers to keep up with tile improvements as your cities grow. At least in your core cities (the first ring of cities around your capital). These cities account for 90% of all your commerce and production.

You're building wealth in several cities when they still have improvements to build. You'd be better off building marketplaces or workers if you're trying to increase your income. In general you have a severe lack of marketplaces.

You haven't built your Forbidden Palace yet. Your FP will double both your commerce and production assuming you have enough cities and you build it far enough from your capital. I would suggest building your FP in Nuremberg immediately. Then you will have 2 rings of core cities. Make sure both of them are fully improved by workers.

On chieftain you want to do all research yourself, so libraries and universities are very important. Next most important is a marketplace. Marketplace will both increase your income and your happiness. You need to actively trade for or capture luxuries. Luxuries + marketplaces will take you much farther than a colosseum or cathedral will. Colosseums in general are far too expensive and not worth building. Cathedrals can be worthwhile, but they are still expensive and should be delayed until you absolutely need them. Only build courthouses in cities that are corrupt enough to need them. IE don't build them in your core cities. They don't need them.

Don't be afraid to try Republic. It's a much superior government to Monarchy. War weariness is tricky though. I hated to wage war in Republic when I first started playing. But if you learn how to wage quick, decisive wars, and understand how to use the luxury slider effectively, then you can even win games by conquest or domination while in Republic the entire game. Your research will be much faster and you will make a lot more money while in Republic compared to Monarchy.

You have a LOT of regular (3hp) units. Early in the game it's alright to build some regular units for basic defense. But after that you want to build all your military in cities with barracks. It's not worth the production to produce regular units when you could be producing veterans. In general you have too many units in each of your cities. You really only need one defensive unit in each city. Put all your attack units towards your front lines, or anywhere you feel you might be attacked. Maybe put a second defensive unit in your frontier cities too if it makes you feel more secure.

I'd finish researching military tradition. In the meantime get marketplaces in your cities and build more workers. Disband all your warriors/archers. Build lots of cavalry and upgrade your spearmen. I'd remind you to build barracks first, but you built Sun Tzu already so you're all set there now. Your cavalry will run over the English cities very easily since they only have pikemen (3 defense) units to defend with while your cavalry have 6 attack, 3 movement, and can retreat. Make sure you have several of them each time you attack a city. Watch for defensive bonuses units get like attacking across a river or a unit on a mountain. Try to end your own units' turns on defensive terrain.

Well this is long, but I hope some of it helps you.

 

[dorkus_malorkus]

Yeah, I am at that point again. I build this for this reason and that for that reason and by the middle of the game I have built almost everything. (Ooh I need that...and that one... and definitely this) Just a matter of figuring out what is "important" I guess. Plus the fact that I don't get to play as often as I would like doesn't help. That's why I posted my save to get some help from the masters.

I usually build units in cities to help keep the citizens happy as well as defense. I also tried Republic a time or two, but it looked like my entire empire collapsed. Everything went into disorder and the no free unit support really hurt. I never really figured out how to compensate for that so I figured I would concentrate on monarchy for now and then maybe move on after a few games.

Thanks!!

 

[amirsan]

I guess I'm kinda late there... darn. lol

 

[dorkus_malorkus]

feel free to add...you know I posted another one of these "help me's" on a previous game and I figured out I am making the same mistakes on my current game. It was awhile back and I had forgotten a couple of strategies that I had learned from the time before. I guess that it is true...those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it! It's also said that the definition of insanity is repeating the same action and expecting a different outcome...

 

[Belisar]

I have not looked at the save, but read something about
"lack of tile improvements"
If you develop the land, then republic will
add an additional gold to every tile already
producing at least one (mainly from roads).
This will result in a huge amount of gpt
and you can afford a much larger military than
in monarchy.
Also don't be afraid to raise the lux slider
in republic to deal with unhappiness (and don't forget:
luxuries + marketplaces are your friends).
Your income will be high enough
to keep the research ongoing, too.

 

[kidd546]

Dorkus, did you ever go to the diabloii.net forums?? I think i remeber you from there. Anyway, i'd read the articles in the war academy and some succession games from the succession game forum, those helped me get better at civ.

 

[dorkus_malorkus]

No I have not been to the Diabloii forums. I have Diablo but not ii. I never beat it because I get to the middle of the game and always get stuck by all the enemies firing magic at me and I get killed all the time. Really cool game though. Anyway, I don't have alot of free time to sit and read the articles and I get impatient doing it sometimes. It's time I could be playing. I wanted to post and interact with a few of the board members and get a couple of specific hints. Just kind of fun.

 

[Hygro]

Before I start: what patch are you using? If you are not using 1.29f then my numbers (mainly in corruption) will be slightly off.

Ok, first thing I did was go into a random city of yours, and click the city square, then I hit the left arrow and kept hitting all the city squares to let the governer decide were to place you citizens, which I found helped you just a bit.

Anyway, now for the important stuff:

Rome has a luxery, which they are willing to trade you. You could, for example, trade them iron for their luxery and 19 gold+ a world map. This will greatly increase happiness. Alternatively, you could offer them both your surplus luxeries.

Currently, you make a total of 268 commerce (gold more or less), with 80 of it lost to corruption. Therefore no forbidden palace at this point would double your money. Period.

I would suggest added anywhere from 8 to 24 workers (hinged on 16), which you can easily build in your wealth producing cities.

Speaking of wealth, DON'T 'build' it. Unless you are in a VERY special situation, wealth is BAD. It takes away from your precious production.

Next, go into the REPUBLIC. If you are having money problems lower science. Happiness problems, raise luxeries. Since you bought spices from Rome, it shouldn't be as big a deal.

Heidelburg should stop working on a temple, and get a harbor instead.

For me, anarchy to a republic will be 6 turns (actually the first time I loaded up, it was 5, but I seemed to do things differantly, so whatever).

Anarchy, of course, will through things into civil disorder, so you'll need ot hire entertainers in your cities.

After the disorder, here's your new income:

422 commerce with 124 lost to corruption.

Taking into account 44 more corruption, 24 gold spent on entertainment (I added 10% to your luxeries to prevent disorder), a new 54 gold unit cost, made it so you earn 112 commerce more than your uncorrupted gold in monarcy, which is about a 50% increase.

By allowing once again the computer to decide your citizen placement, I was able to get a 3 gold per turn (gpt) surplus, while getting military tradition in 10 turns running science at 50%. This is a good deal better. When you get your new workers and add more roads, then you'll get more money.

That's all I have time for tonight, but I hope this helps.

 

[dorkus_malorkus]

Playing 1.29f...I did take over England and rather easily. Strange but one of their cities had 1 defender and about 10 workers fortified in the city so I put them to work after the regime change. I guess they were trying to defend them but didn't work. My first civilization conquer, Hazaa!! I switched to republic now that everything has settled down and, making no changes, I am making almost the same amount of gold per turn. Thanks for the help, I am doing a great deal better that I would have been without the help.

 

[dorkus_malorkus]

Double Post. Server appeared busy.

 

[Hygro]

Glad to be of service