Production Management on Emp+?

[Bruceleet]

I've been lurking these forums for a while since starting to play civ4 again (didn't really play much more then 3 or 4 games in the past) and I've been doing pretty well getting up to emperor within 2 or 3 months. That said I like a challenge so I haven't really actually been doing that good on Emp but I like games more if I have to work for it and can actually learn. However I'm doing really bad in the war department and after playing a few test games where I tried different war strategy's I think I have an eye on the problem.

The problem is mostly production wise, I know about city specialization and the like but I feel I'm wasting too much time building useless buildings in cities that could be cranking out 3 or 4 units instead of the fairly useless buildings. And I feel I sometimes waste a lot of time on low production city's. So I had a few questions:

1. What buildings do you build in what type of cities? (GP farm, Commerce, Production?) I know the obvious ones but do you just build those and skip everything else?
For example all my cities usually have libraries, granaries, markets, grocery's, universities, forges, aqueducts, temples, barracks, banks and things like lighthouses and harbors for coastal cities. This takes up A LOT of building time leaving no room for army.


2. If I skip a lot of those buildings how do I get to the building cap for things like Oxford and Wallstreet for example?

3. If you keep cranking out Units from 1 or 2 productions cities how do you prevent them from going obsolete in times of prolonged peace (forced or because your too weak?)?
For example my usual prewar prep is to turn all my cities to producing mass units (some siege some mellee/gunpowder) so that I have a good up to date force by the time I invade. The downside is my infrastructure development is zero while I do this.

4. How do you deal with low production cities? Do you run slavery longer to whip in the needed buildings sacrificing early cottage growth? Or do you race to US (with or without mids) to rushbuy the needed buildings?
I mean sometimes I have a great commerce city sitting on top of some prime floodplains with some gems or plantations mixed in. However the city is very hammer starved and it takes me a good 200 turns to get some decent multipliers in there.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

1. Hammer cities get hammer multipliers. Commerce cities get commerce multipliers. GP farms get whatever multipliers exist for the spec type you're running, and GPP multipliers.

2. It is OK to build or whip infra to unlock your national wonders if the payback is good enough, even in hammer cities. Oxford is usually the priority. Wall street may or may not be depending on your objective and how the game goes (if a renaissance war goes really well, probably just keep building units and win). At any rate things like markets, grocers, temples, etc are quite weak in hammer cities unless you have enough of the resources or are desperate for .

3. They go obsolete, and then you use them anyway or upgrade them to hit with a new advanced troop at max speed.

Look at it this way: a university (or to avoid oxford complications an observatory) in each city is a 25% boost to science. Compare that to the yield of capturing 4-10 more cities. Those military units might be giving you a better return after all.

4. Let's see here...I'll just quote the cottage guide:

"Rule 5: Growing cottages is more important than building gold and science improvements."

Keep working the cottages. It will get built eventually. If you're in HR (probably), let the city keep growing and work even more cottages. You might eventually wind up working every viable cottage tile for that city (you probably will), in which case you can work mines or something and there's your production. US will obviously bring hammers from the towns themselves, so then you can get any infra you don't have yet without major concessions.

Exception, also per DaveMCW's guide: "If your base commerce is so high that slave-rushing a university increases your beaker count immediately, it is ok to kill the citizens and build it."

Unlike planning tons of turns ahead, that isn't hard math .

 

[Grey Fox]

1. What buildings do you build in what type of cities? (GP farm, Commerce, Production?) I know the obvious ones but do you just build those and skip everything else?
For example all my cities usually have libraries, granaries, markets, grocery's, universities, forges, aqueducts, temples, barracks, banks and things like lighthouses and harbors for coastal cities. This takes up A LOT of building time leaving no room for army.

You can generally skip banks and universities in your hammer cities, unless you need them to build Oxford or Wall Street. Can usually be good to build at least universities to get Oxford out quickly. Wall Street usually comes later anyways, so if you have 6 commerce cities, these can maybe handle the banks alone.
So generally skip research/gold boosting buildings in your hammer cities, unless they contribute enough commerce to warrant them, and if you got time.
I often end up building at least libraries everywhere anyways. At least early game the two scientists alone can make it worthwhile.

2. If I skip a lot of those buildings how do I get to the building cap for things like Oxford and Wallstreet for example?

See answer to 1. But basically, build them if you need them. Often you want to build them just to get Oxford out faster.

3. If you keep cranking out Units from 1 or 2 productions cities how do you prevent them from going obsolete in times of prolonged peace (forced or because your too weak?)?

I don't know how others do, but I don't keep cranking out units unless I see an offensive war in the future. Other uses of units however can be Hereditary Rule happiness, or for defense against a war you know will come.
Hammer cities are also good for workers, settlers, and for the occasional Wealth/Research build.

4. How do you deal with low production cities? Do you run slavery longer to whip in the needed buildings sacrificing early cottage growth? Or do you race to US (with or without mids) to rushbuy the needed buildings?
I mean sometimes I have a great commerce city sitting on top of some prime floodplains with some gems or plantations mixed in. However the city is very hammer starved and it takes me a good 200 turns to get some decent multipliers in there.

How long I stay in slavery depends on how many cities I have and how my economy is. I feel that I often stay a bit too long in slavery cause I still have some stuff to rush. But I try to time the switch to US with a majority of my cottages turning to Towns. I'll switch to Free Speech around this time too. Can switch to emancipation early to hurry the growth of the cottages though.
You want banks in most of your main commerce cities before you do this though, or prepare to rush them after. Rushing banks etc is worth it as long as the commerce is good enough.

 

[Bruceleet]

Thanks for the fast answers got a followup tho. I'm watching your immortal let's play thing atm which gives a nice view on what buildings you make and when to whip that you don't get watching ALC or RPC reports.

1. Hammer cities get hammer multipliers. Commerce cities get commerce multipliers. GP farms get whatever multipliers exist for the spec type you're running, and GPP multipliers.

How do you deal with in GP farms, and hammer cities without grocer, aqueduct etc? Should I focus on smaller pop size cities and squeeze in more cities to still work all tiles? At the moment I'm avoiding overlap unless its really unavoidable or if its desert/tundra.

Also loved the cottage guide hadn't fully read that yet but it gave some nice info.

 

[VoiceOfUnreason]

3. If you keep cranking out Units from 1 or 2 productions cities how do you prevent them from going obsolete in times of prolonged peace (forced or because your too weak?)?

Siege units - they have a longer shelf life than the attacking pieces, and you never have enough of them anyway.

 

[VoiceOfUnreason]

How do you deal with in GP farms, and hammer cities without grocer, aqueduct etc? Should I focus on smaller pop size cities and squeeze in more cities to still work all tiles? .

Something to chew on: you aren't trying to make your cities successful; the goal is to make your civ successful.

 

[Bruceleet]

Thanks for the tips guys especially that last one from VoU really helped turn my game around at least I went 3 wins for 3 games on Emp. One was a really sloppy weird culture win where I ended up near the dom cap too because I wanted more religions to speed up my culture. Conquering for culture was something new for me.

Still getting my head from make good cities to make a good empire really helps at higher levels. I'll hit you guys up again when I have problems moving up to immortal which won't be long if I keep winning, at the moment however I have to work hard for my wins so Emp should last me a bit longer.