First of all, a reply to the victim of 4 am hallucinations .. you can't change production from a standard city improvement to a wonder. I tried that already
I've read a great set of tips here .. Firaxis should take these posts and add them as an appendix to their crappy, incomplete, and error ridden manual.
Here are a few more ideas that I've gathered in my games ... so far 5 wins in 5 tries at Regent, Monarch, and Emperor levels.
1)This applies to Greeks, Zulu, or any CIV with ancient (cheap) defensive special units.
Scenario? After building that new border city with that pitiful 1 shield production and you are in dire need of a good city defender immediately.
Rush the hoplite/impi. Cost: $80. Then upgrade the hoplite, impi or other special unit to your most advanced defensive unit. If you've Leo's Workshop (which you should) this strategy is even better.
I.E.: Let's say that you've discovered Replaceable Parts and can build the Infantry for $90.
Rush the hoplite: $80
Upgrade to infantry: (90 - 30) x 2 = $120.
Total = $200
With Leo's Workshop the total will be 80 + 60 = $140.
If you rush build that infantry right from the start the cost will be 4 x 90 = $360.
This doesn't work with CIVS that don't have a special defensive unit because older standard defensive units become obsolete and unavailable for production.
2) Never rush a unit or city improvement in its first turn of production. The total cost will be 8x original cost. Wait for the 2nd turn. This also applies in despotism. You'll sacrifice 2x the population then if you wait that 1 turn.
3) If you're a scientific CIV always choose the library as the first city improvement in cities close to other CIVS. This also goes for recently conquered cities. You'll get 3 cult points per turn for 2/3 of the temple cost. Your city borders will increase in one turn less.
4) After a blitz you find that all your artillery (catapults, whatever .. ) has been left behind, and all your units are fast attacking units. You obviously can't reduce city population by bombardment now.
a - Attack and capture the city if possible
b- abandon the city on the same turn
c - lose the city back to the enemy
d - attack the city on the turn after it switches back. The city pop will have reduced (usually by 2 or 3 points) due to the AI drafting crappy conscripts.
e - retake weakened city.
Now the city is much easier to hold on to and less likely to revolts and reverting back to the enemy.
5) The Middle Age is the age with the most wonders. If you plan on acquiring a majority of these wonders, and you should, keep at least 3 cities on Wonder/Forbidden Palace production. It doesn't even matter if that 3rd city has a high shield production, you'll snap up at least one of the wonders with it by first starting with the Forbidden Palace.
6) At higher levels it is a real challenge to keep your cities happy. Happiness ~ production, money, research.
Wonders that produce happiness are much more important. Aim for the Oracle, Hanging Gardens, Bach, and Sistine's Palace over other wonders.
7) Don't upgrade your defensive units in cities within your borders. It's an unncecessary cost. You shouldn't have any units at all in these inner cities. But be careful with the AI using a Right of Passage agreement to placing units close to these cities right before they launch a sneak attack (haven't seen that yet, but just in case). Don't agree to ROP agreements at all. They're a headache as soon as the AI starts tramping across your well tended gardens every turn.
8) A tip posted previously in this same thread mentions that you should decrease the research rate to the minimum necessary that will provide a certain number of turns per tech.
I.E.: a 50% or 100% research rate will provide discoveries every 4 turns.
This is not a bug, it seems that game developers wanted to place a limit to how fast you can research tech in this game. In Alpha Centauri, in a well advanced game with The University, I could research new techs every 1 or 2 turns.
Every age has its own limit to how fast you can research new techs.
BTW, this is not a tip.
9) Not a tip either, but by observation. The most useful special units are those that place you in a leading position early on. Thus, the best units are the Greek Hoplite (defense) and the Persian Immortal (attack). Cherish the Hoplite, its usefulness never ceases (see tip #1), and its upgradeable all the way to Mech Infantry.
10) Not a tip either haha. But its just plain stupid the way the game compares military power based on the number of units each CIV has (observation seen in this thread). Alpha Centauri, also made by Sid and Firaxis a couple of years ago, calculated military power based on the quantities and relative strengths of each unit as compared to the most advanced unit available, and even provided the equation for calculating a unit's relative strength.
11) Use the embassy effectively in determining when you have the possibility to start and FINISH a wonder by spying on other cities that are currently producing wonders. Never start a wonder you can't finish or switch to another (pretty obvious). Keep a record of AI cities with higher shield productions than your own. Even if you have a headstart on a wonder, they can beat you to it. See 11b.
11b) If you're ahead in the tech race of have a tech advance that leads to a Great Wonder which no other CIV has, don't trade or sell to any CIV while a Great Wonder race is going on. First wait for the CIV or CIVS (always sell or trade to all of them simultaneously) to loose the race and waste all those extra shields on some city improvement, THEN sell the tech. In this way, you have assured yourself of building that Great Wonder and the AI looses all that production.
12) Most important wonders in each age. Shoot for these first.
Ancient: Pyramids - more population = + production, $$$, science = +++ power
Great Lighthouse if you're on an island. Otherwise you're doomed.
Middle Ages: Copernicus and Newton U in the same city. Or if you're war inclined the go for Sun Tzu's Art of War.
Industrial: Hoover Dam, hands down.
Modern: U.N. unless you want to loose pronto!
13) At Monarch level and up the AI has a huge tech advantage. Set research to 0, you'll get no tech but tons of cash. Buy all your techs, the cost of buying a tech is a fraction of the research cost. Do the math.
You can do this until your ahead in production and $ capacity, then set a research pace that the other CIVS can't keep up with.
14) If the Forbidden Palace has been built and the Palace is grayed out, use Small Wonders as headstarts for Great Wonders.
15) The Theory of Evolution is buggy. It won't discover 2 consecutive techs. Leave 2 research branches open to get the 2 free tech advances.
That's it, I've just dedicated 2 hours of my life to you guys. Hope you appreciate it!!
Any feedback on these suggestions is welcome.
