Post short tips here!

[PersianImmortal]

When at war with your neighbor (which i'm always) attack with a settler shielded with some defenders and a good attack unit... plop down a city the moment u find a convenient spot inside enemy borders (much harder than it appears); preferrably further away from your border and in the same turn sell it to an advanced civ (preferrably on another continent) for loads of tech and money.. (AI's overrate cities.. even crappy ones).

In a few turns the city goes back to u're enemy .. u've lost two citizens but have made the necessary tech advances u couldn't make due to being in war (or mobilized for war).

Repeat.

 

[Lynx]

THE WORLD IS MINE!!!!

 

[dayfax]

On _small_ islands, where you have one or two cities at most, plant a unit -- any unit -- on each coastal square. This will prevent any AI civ from landing anything on that island.

This works until the advent of the Marines/Paratrooper unit (although I have yet to see the AI use Marines as anything else but a convential ground unit). Even then, if those blocking units are tanks or Mech Inf, you shouldn't have any problems.

 

[FutbolPlaya44]

I just wanted to share this with all of you. If u can try to get STEAM POWER be4 every1 else than sell it for a REALY!!!! heigh price. lol i once go 50 gold per turn and 1000 gold. LIVIN IT UP.

 

[DaveMcW]

Advanced techs are worth a lot... the hard part is finding a civ rich enough to pay full price.

 

[Dr. Dr. Doktor]

Four tips for the despot.

1) If you plan a Golden Age under a despotic form of government you should not waste valuable worker time building mines on grassland with shields, nor should you build roads next to rivers. Focus on irrigation of plains and mines on grassland without shields. This is due to the tile penalty.

2) Try to rush all your libraries or temples in one turn, preferably just one turn before changing government. That way the luxury slider be working to maximum effect and there will be 3-7 turns od anarchy where you cannot produce anything, hence the happines of citizens is relatively unimportant.

3) Make sure you have at least four free units per town or city. This is an important advantage Despotism has over Monarchy for example, so use this to maximum effect.

4) Wage war incessantly, but make sure you have an exit startegy before changing to the Republic. War weariness carries over into the new form of government.

 

[obilesk]

I must be a loser or maybe its because i have to borrow a computer, but I've never won on any level but cheiften. I might get a chance to play about an hour a day, more if lucky. My game usually involves more diplomacy than war. Thank you for giving so many strats i never would have thought of, but are there any good strats out there to win peacefully (barring the early battles needed to secure borders)? I have little time to wage wars.

 

[Darkness]

Sure... Play Babylonian and build lots of cultural improvements.... and go for cultural victory

Play any civ and kiss ass all the time, build the UN and go for a diplomatic victory.

The key is always have a lot of advanced units so the AI is afraid to attack you... You probably won't get through the entire game without a war, but you can try...

 

[satchel]

Originally posted by Darkness
Sure... Play Babylonian and build lots of cultural improvements.... and go for cultural victory

Play any civ and kiss ass all the time, build the UN and go for a diplomatic victory.

The key is always have a lot of advanced units so the AI is afraid to attack you... You probably won't get through the entire game without a war, but you can try...

I agree with this. I play on Monarch and most (if not all!) of my wins on Regent and Monarch have been diplomatic. I am careful with my rep - I don't break treaties, RoP rape, etc. I trade frequently, and continue to trade once I gain a tech lead.

I pursue a build and research strategy, and always keep plenty of up-to-date units on hand. With strong defenses I am rarely caught of guard, and if I am attacked I can quickly take over a few cities and make peace. I rarely enter military alliances because I don't want to break treaties, but I happily give away RoP - this is especially useful to give to civs on other continents who aren't likely to take advantage of it but will love you for it! I also use diplomacy carefully to keep my rivals at war with one another - trade techs and resources to boost the weaker player in the war, and trade luxuries to keep the stronger player in the war longer.

In this way, I can win with a mostly peaceful strategy, usually only 2-3 brief wars per game. But I have found if you build a strong military and are ready to use it, you probably won't have to.

 

[Nero]

Putting a town on top of a resource secures it, but beware of culture flipping!

You do not know how annoying and frustrating that is untill it happens to you, so try to avoid it.


Ways to avoid Culture Flipping:
1. Make a Courthouse in the town
2. Lots of military units in the town


Sorry if this was already posted, its a big topic.

 

[Dragonlord]

Originally posted by Nero
Putting a town on top of a resource secures it, but beware of culture flipping!

You do not know how annoying and frustrating that is untill it happens to you, so try to avoid it.


Ways to avoid Culture Flipping:
1. Make a Courthouse in the town
2. Lots of military units in the town


Sorry if this was already posted, its a big topic.

Sorry Nero, Courthouses have no effect on culture flipping, since they produce no culture! A temple would be better...
See the posts for this topic in the strategy section.

 

[edawstwin]

This is an obvious one (to me), but I didn't see it posted, although I didn't read EVERY page in this post.

Anyway, when you get to 3 or less turns from finishing a tech, start playing with the research slider. Most of the time, you can gain extra gold (especially when there's only one turn left) by reducing the research percentage and still get the tech in the same number of turns. And sometimes you can get the tech one turn quicker by going negative on gold. That helps when you're pre-building for a wonder and need to switch production before your pre-build actually finishes. Also helps in trading that tech to other civs if you get it first.

 

[DaveMcW]

Yup, I always play with the research slider to get some extra gold, usually when there is 1 turn left on the tech.

I always set research on 100% no matter how negative it makes my income. It pays off when I get to the tech first and bankrupt all the AIs selling it. The exception is when I can research a tech in 4 turn, then I only use as much science as needed to get it in exactly 4 turns.

 

[Yzman]

What diffilculty do you play? On regent and higher, you will lose improvements for running a deficit so it is not a good idea.

 

[DaveMcW]

I make sure I have a large treasury before I start running deficits. My typical strategy is to beat techs out of my neighbors at 0% science (while saving up gold), then switch to 100% science when I am big enough to take the tech lead.

 

[M_Diggy]

Bump

 

[PersianImmortal]

Short tip: This thread is a sticky so it doesn't need a bumping.

 

[Robertr4836]

After a large war, if you have xtra military units at the "former" front:
1) Use the Military Advisor to find your "under" defended cities and cities defended with obsolete units.
2) Transfer your best units to these cities and activate obsolete units.
3.) Look for low population cities far away from your capital and disband xtra & obsolete units in these cities.

You will be well defended, save money by not supporting obsolete or xtra units and hurry production in your 1 shield cities.
If you are aways at war then sorry for wasting your time!

 

[Not Todd]

This is for the expansion only.

When you get Radio and can start build radar towers, only build them on borders where you're likely to be attacked, and use only workers you have captured from non-industrious civs.

 

[satchel]

Originally posted by Not Todd
This is for the expansion only.

When you get Radio and can start build radar towers, only build them on borders where you're likely to be attacked, and use only workers you have captured from non-industrious civs.

I would say that the second half of this tip cuts both ways. Foreign workers work more slowly, which is (I assume) the reason you want to use them up to build the radar towers.

On the other hand, unlike your own workers, foreign workers do not require upkeep. So, once you have a large enough force of foreign workers to overcome their slowness, getting rid of your own workers (either by building towers with them, or joining them back into your cities) can save you a lot of gold per turn.

By the time I have radio, on the threshold of the modern era, I usually don't need my workers for anything other than pollution duty. That's when I start looking to reduce the numbers of my own workers to save the upkeep. I still have enough foreign workers around to clear up the pollution.