Pre-Turn Checklist?

[Kilik]

I'm very new to Civ 4, but I assume that most (good) players have sort of a "pre-turn checklist" that they go through before moving on to the next turn.

What's yours?

 

[magicalsushi]

I get the impression that many people here don't actually bother, but still get much better results than I do. I'm probably a borderline OCD sufferer, and on most turns I check every city to make sure the tiles are allocated optimally (eg. maybe it's only 1 food short of growing this turn, in which case I'll temporarily drop a little bit of production in order to get enough food to grow) and everything looks right. I pay close attention to the number of turns of slavery anger left, and just try to plan ahead in general with each city. I also look at what techs my rivals have (every turn; it's really important). I need to know who has the techs needed to build any wonders I want, or who's getting close to liberalism, or who is going to end up building the AP or UN, that kind of thing. Also, it's worth checking to see if any of the backwards civs are feeling rich - sell them tech before soemone else grabs the cash! Less frequently, I check the resources screen to see if anyone has anything useful, or can spare me any money for my surplus goods. Occasionally I'll reshuffle my trades to get better deals.

At the start of the game, I try to check the diplo screen every few turns to see if anyone is able to offer me open borders yet (I don't speak to every single leader, but I'll check to see if there are any open borders between other civs, so I know who has writing). Later, I keep checking to see if anyone has reached alphabet before me.

I check the power graph very regularly (it's crucial), and the other stats less regularly (GNP is worth checking). Very occasionally, I'll glance at the victory conditions screen - the domination section is the most interesting bit. When someone builds a wonder, I'll try to find out which city it's in by checking the top 5. It's also worth checking to see if anyone has missed the wonder and ended up with a heap of cash to buy my old techs. On BtS, I occasionally glance at the "info" part of the diplo screen to see what kind of civics people are using, and who will be giving each other fave civic bonuses.

To be honest, I look at a lot of the info screens compulsively even if they're not useful; I just like to have a feel for how the world is shaping up. I look at the top 5 cities screen much more often than anyone could ever need to, but it's nice to imagine the world's citizens speaking with awe about the Seven Wonders of Thebes, or the Three Shrines of Mecca.

Like I said, I imagine most people don't check things regularly each turn. In summary, I always check the tech screen and cities, often check the resources trade screen and power graph, and occasionally check everything else. I'd be very interested to hear what other people do...

 

[magicalsushi]

While we're on the subject, I increasingly feel I need notepaper nearby when playing Civ. I'm still too lazy to use it, but I really ought to. Rather than have a static checklist, I'd like to have a "things on my mind" list - not the same stuff every turn, but one-off events that will require some action soon. For example, I'm forever developing techs that give me access to new civics, but forgetting to switch during the next turn. I don't like having the revolution as soon as I get the tech, because the anarchy messes up the time estimates when picking the next tech. I ought to write down "don't press enter until you've switched to HR!" or something and get into the habit of glancing at my notes before starting the next turn. Some other useful types of note would be "remember to cancel resource tribute to Alexander", "pop rush forge before forest chop is finished" or "refocus espionage spending towards Gandhi in 3 turns, once Cyrus's research is visible". That kind of thing. I could also write "NEVER TRUST CATHERINE AGAIN" at the top of the page in permenent marker...

 

[Silence101]

I usually have a goal or two that I'm working toward at a given point during the game... like if I'm building a wonder in a city and that city is going to grow in two turns, I might let it go... but two turns later I might come back to it after it's grown and change up the tiles being worked to optimize production and stop growth. Or, another example is when I'm going for a certain GP - I might change up the specialists in a city to increase my chances of getting that GP.

I don't really have a check-list though... I know what I want to accomplish at any given point, so I optimize as much as possible to do what I need to do, but other than that and giving orders to units and cities, that's about all the checking that I do.

 

[gdgrimm]

I use the HOF mod, which pretty much covers all the things I would check every turn.

It can be configured to notify you the turn before a city goes unhealthy or unhappy (very useful for getting a few hammers into building something before whipping the rest), when some other civs are ready to trade some techs or have money available for resource trading, etc., etc., etc.

It goes a long way to helping me save time.

 

[King Flevance]

Eh, I sort of have one. First, I make sure my units are all in position the way I want them. Then I scan my cities. About once every 10-20 turns I go through them all 1 by 1 and check everything out entirely but usually I can remember what city is doing what. So, I go through all my cities I know need attention and usually that's it. On occasion I check and see how long a worker has left on finishing something.

 

[Shoot the Moon]

The HoF mod's reminders help me a lot in that regard, although I still have to go through occasionally to check for the AI rearranging my citizens or assigning a new citizen stupidly.

 

[sirhanselot]

What is the HoF mod and where can I find it?

 

[HolyHandGrenade]

What is the HoF mod and where can I find it?

http://hof.civfanatics.net/civ4/

You will love it

 

[Birdmanthepuny]

All of the above are great suggestions, but I have a very bad habit of just pressing enter when my worker actions are done I sometimes get too wrapped up in the big picture that I neglect a lot of the important micromanegment. Far too often I get sucker punched by a civ I thought I had good relations with, but by neglecting my army turned into a nice snack.

 

[Silence101]

All of the above are great suggestions, but I have a very bad habit of just pressing enter when my worker actions are done I sometimes get too wrapped up in the big picture that I neglect a lot of the important micromanegment. Far too often I get sucker punched by a civ I thought I had good relations with, but by neglecting my army turned into a nice snack.

Organizational management I believe is the single most difficult aspect of this game. It really requires to proactively look at situations and find solutions/answers/strategies to potential problems before they really become problems.

It's about getting your Civ from point A to point B faster and more efficiently than anyone else.

Edit: Point A being "the beginning of the game" and Point B being "a victory conidtion"... I kind of thought this was self explainatory, but just in case, I thought I'd define exactly what I meant.

 

[Veritass]

Point A being "the beginning of the game" and Point B being "a victory conidtion"... I kind of thought this was self explainatory, but just in case, I thought I'd define exactly what I meant.

Actually, Point A is the beginning of the game, and Point Z is the victory condition, and we all need to figure out what to do at points B through Y.

Here's what I do; it is sufficient for Noble and sometimes for Prince. You probably need more micromanagement than this to go higher. This is also what I am typically doing during peace-time turns. During war time, there is much more going on.

• Once every ten turns or so, I look at the power graph to make sure I am in a reasonable position, and build more military if I am not.
• Once every ten turns or so, and/or after I discover a new technology, I click on each leader and see if there are any trades I can make for technologies or goods.
• I click on the leaders in turn from the bottom up, so if multiple people will trade me a technology, I am trading with the weakest guy.
• Whenever I discover a new leader, I adjust the espionage allocation to include that leader.
• Unless I am playing on a huge map (which I seldom do because of time considerations), I zip through all of my cities at the start of each turn. I click on the flag to get to the capitol and go forward or backward through the cities.
• I glance at the top of the screen and look at how the city is growing and how it is producing.
• I seldom change my specialist management, usually just when I am selecting a new wonder to build, etc.
• I usually have 2-3 items in the build queue. This helps to remind me that City D is focusing on military, and City H is focusing on spies, and City L is focusing on spamming missionaries, etc.
• Having build queue also reminds me of other long-term things: for example, when I discover Optics, I queue up my caravels in a couple of coastal cities, so I don't forget to build them. I will probably also queue up a scout or missionary in some inland cities to go on the caravels. That way, even if I am not building the caravel right now, I will remember to build it.
• Toward the beginning part of the game, I am almost certainly running Slavery, and I check for pop-rushing opportunities. By keeping an eye out, I will usually find that 2-3 cities are ready to expand next turn, and I make a note that next turn I will be pop-rushing a lot.
• Toward the end part of the game, I am almost certainly running Universal Suffrage with a cash-generating surplus. I usually go through these cities in reverse order, because the most recently acquired cities are typically smaller and have more good opportunities for cash-rushing those theatres, temples, courthouses, etc.

That's what works for me, but I am always looking for better ways.

 

[Shoot the Moon]

I think that the only thing that would need to be added and/or changed to what Veritass just listed to move up to monarch/emperor is that you should check diplo relations occasionally and that you should check for possible tech trades EVERY turn. Tech whoring is a big help on the upper levels. Thankfully, because of the HoF mod's reminders system (it will tell you whenever there are new trading opportunities, a city is about to become unhappy, etc.) I don't have to look at the screen every turn, just read the pop-ups.