Prince - Is this game winnable/where did I go wrong?

[olDirtyMin]

Hi everyone,

My first post - I've been playing Civ off and on for a couple of months now but am having a hard time winning at Prince - and this is from someone who dominated Alpha Centauri at Transcendent - but CivIV is a whole different type of game I've learned.

So, my question is: Is this game winnable and if not, what should I have done instead? Game setting - Prince (nonWarlords) with Frederick, trying out the specialist economy but I don't think it's quite working right. I was able to get Oracle + Metal Casting, Pyramids, traded techs with Alphabet and was the first to Liberalism and chose Nationhood. But I'm way behind in score and stagnating more as I go to war on Ghengis.

My feeling is that I went to war too late, but that really couldn't be helped since my neighbors started so far away, and I had no copper. Aside from that, I think I'm getting started ok in my games but really start to lose steam in the midgame eras. That is, I have a pretty clear idea of the tech order until Alphabet, and then it gets fuzzy from there. I'll typically go for CoL and then what?

So, I'm hoping for some critiques of my game and any tips on how to improve. Thanks!

 

[DaveMcW]

Cottages are the way to go if you're a newbie.

Actually they are the way to go if you're an expert too, but people always jump on me when I say that.

 

[JackOfClubs]

If you were the first to Liberalism you are doing OK. I assume you are also the only one with Nationalism? If so, a good option is to get Gunpowder and Military Tradition ASAP and dominate with Cavalry. Don't worry about the score.

I can't download your game at the moment, but if your war is stagnating, it is probably due to attacking with too few units. This can make for a very slow campaign which in turn leads to unhappiness in your cities and loss of production. If you find yourself in that situation, sue for peace and build up your unit strength.

One mistake many people make when running a specialist economy is focusing too much on research and not enough on production. You should have several cities whose only role is to produce military units. These cities may have one or two specialists if you can afford them, but only if there are no production tiles worth working.

I sympathize with the post-Alphabet blues, but there is really no right answer to what to do next because it depends on lots of factors. I frequently go after Construction for Catapults, but Calendar may be a more immediate need if you have lots of resources that require Plantation. Currency is usually good, both as a stepping stone to CoL and for the economic benefits. (Someone has noted that getting Currency is often a good substitute for Courthouses since it adds one trade route which can very well be equal to half the maintenance for the city.) Also, I usually find that civs don't want to trade Iron Working right away, so that is often what I research after Alphabet, especially if I didn't have Copper nearby.

You might want to consider playing a game or two at Noble to polish up your skills. I find Prince and Noble to be fairly similar, but the AI does get some advantages on Prince which can throw you off if you are new to the game. I wouldn't recommend going any lower than Noble, though, as you will form habits that won't scale to the more difficult levels. And, as DaveMcW says, try running a cottage economy at least until your other skills come up to speed. Being good at Alpha Centauri or Civ III does not translate to being good at Civ IV since, as you note, they are very different games. It may mean you learn quicker, but you still need to spend some time getting used to the new environment.