Second Game Ever, Shaka Noble Help!

[Teelman]

Hey all,

We'll I won my first noble game so I figured lets go for number 2. I started out at the bottom of a peninsula with not much room to expand except for into ole Napolean's territory. After I got my second city up, I did a warrior/chariot rush and took over Paris with plenty of land to spare between me and rest of teh civs. I think I have expanded well, with somewhat decent city sites (please correct me if im wrong).

However, my gpt has been killing me and im down to 10% science and still losing 8gpt per turn with as much gold as i can find in my cities. Have I expanded to quick? Any suggestions for those civ4 masters? Any general advice or help would be appreciated greatly! Thanks

 

[jmwalker]

you have 7 cities by 200 BC (I think) which, if on a standard size map, isn't bad.

One way which could help is lowering your espionage slider to 0%, that will save you a few gold. Also consider cottaging up your empire, to gain the commerce (not in production cities though). Depending on tech situation build wealth in cities if you have currency, if you have CoL build courthouses and run merchants through caste system. Have a look at your financial advisor- if unit costs/supply is costing gold deleting some poorly promoted units would save money (but lower you power rating).

These are the things i usually do when I REX too much, and do help stabilize your economy.

Last thing, on city placement you have built three cities one tile off the coast. this is generally a bad move, as you get a pretty useless tile which you can't improve with a lighthouse, and cannot build ships. However, it's situational, sometimes I settle on tile off if it means i'll get a tile or resource which would be very helpful. But maybe that's why I'm struggling on monarch

 

[j0b]

You have a few cities showing as unhappy - you are a cruel despot, so whip them into recovery infrastructure (eg library, courthouse).

As others will state, you need Currency, CoL and Alphabet to get out of this economic hole. Alpha I find particularly useful - a few turns of building research will get you to the other recovery techs. Whip some courthouses and build ikhandas everywhere and you will be paying only 30% city maintenance.

I agree with jmwalker about city placement too, some of those placements are pretty poor - I particularly cannot understand why Bulawayo is where it is, I would have put it one SW if you wanted the silver+iron in the first ring, at least that way it gets the deer and can grow. Nobamba could have been your GP farm if placed 1S3E, and then you could have had a dedicated commerce/production hybrid city pick up the cows, iron and spices 1W of current location. It strikes me that you do not want any overlap but some overlap is necessary and even beneficial if sharing resources or a plains hill.

As Shaka you have the economic advantage of cheap ikhanda (for maintenance benefits) and cheap workers with EXP, so take advantage of those things to dig yourself out of this.

 

[theskibum]

Its a bit tough to tell by the screenshots, but it looks like you have too much unimproved land. Cottages would help a lot. Reduce your EP spending to 0%, you won't need it if you get CoL and courthouses. In your case techining to Currency first may be the best option though.

What is up with that city in the middle of the ice??? That city will never be very good and will be a drain on your economy. The river further west would have been better to settle. You could have backfilled later if you really wanted the fur that bad!!

 

[batavier]

You've build the pyramids, so you can switch to representation to deal with your
happiness problems, so there is no need to research monarchy at this point. You can easily trade for it later.
You're farming a wheat tile east of Ulundi that isn't workable by any city. That's not a high priority worker activity.

 

[dirtyparrot]

I thought at first this was a thread about being attacked by Shaka

My advice to you is to build libraries (which will allow you to run scientists specialists while your economy recovers). I've never played as Shaka, so I won't have a great gauge on how great their unique building is in offsetting maintenance, but that helps too. Cottages will help too. I would also tech broker. And lastly, build enough workers to develop your land. Chopping forest will help to build the infrastructure that you need quickly. The rule of thumb is generally have 1.5 workers/city (although this would also be dependent on the map and circumstances as well).

I should also mention that the larger a city is, the more you'll pay for maintenance. So, whip away those angry people.

 

[futurehermit]

Your cities aren't located as good as they could be. A couple are 1 off the coast when they don't have to be. Your empire is kind of sprawling.

On first glance I would say:

1) More workers

2) Work more cottages to pay maintenance

3) Grow cities vertically

4) Whip libraries and run rep-enhanced scientists

 

[Teelman]

Thanks for the tips. I totally forgot about switching civics to hereditary rule when i chop/whip the pyramids which pretty much solved most of my problems. Then, I cottaged most of the river/grassland tiles in my cities as they grew which solved the rest. And the post about useless researching monarchy....i completely understand now which didnt help earlier b/c forgot about the pyramid civics. Hopefully i will remember next time!

My thinking with Bulawayo was "where can i get the most gpt the quickest with my next city" and i was thinking "i can get about 15 more gpt with the 2 beavers a silver" relatively quick. I guess that wasnt the wisest choice though.

I played some more and followed the advice and now im back to 30% science research and plus 4gpt per turn and only 1 or two cities unhappy and all growing now!!!

Now what on average to most keep the scienece slider?

 

[j0b]

The location of bulawayo is constrained by food. It is no use having 15GPT potentially available if you cannot grow enough population to work them.

I would be using specialists and representation at the moment, much more powerful than H Rule in my opinion. You do not have any cities which really need more than +5 at the moment (3 from representation plus two from resources) and the +3 beakers from each specialist with a few libraries ech with two scientists can really speed you up.

You should not aim to keep the slider at any particular point. I usually try to expand as hard as you did, recover to say 50% slider and then expand again by war (or peace if you have room). You have the room to REX, a great expansion leader (with Ikhanda plus courthouse) and should be expanding until you have no more room. With all that land you should quickly overtake in tech and have a nice renaissance war to clear out another one or two opponents and get a conquest victory.

Good luck!

 

[nanomage]

if you have pyramids, you do not need no slider. you don't need no cottages neither .
you should switch into Representation, whip libraries in your cities and start running those boosted scientists asap. then whip courthouses and other infrastructure. Your research is to be conducted by scientists and other specialists in your cities, rather than by slider.
however, if you will still be losing gpt at 0% slider (which i think at noble you will not)
then revolt to caste system and run merchants in your cities. they are 3gold,3beakers under representation, and actually they can move your science forward too.
EDIT: or you can always just go on a conquering spree. razing cities yields gold, you know! i'd call this a "rep and pillage" economy

 

[batavier]

Thanks for the tips. I totally forgot about switching civics to hereditary rule when i chop/whip the pyramids which pretty much solved most of my problems. Then, I cottaged most of the river/grassland tiles in my cities as they grew which solved the rest. And the post about useless researching monarchy....i completely understand now which didnt help earlier b/c forgot about the pyramid civics. Hopefully i will remember next time!

My thinking with Bulawayo was "where can i get the most gpt the quickest with my next city" and i was thinking "i can get about 15 more gpt with the 2 beavers a silver" relatively quick. I guess that wasnt the wisest choice though.

I played some more and followed the advice and now im back to 30% science research and plus 4gpt per turn and only 1 or two cities unhappy and all growing now!!!

Now what on average to most keep the scienece slider?

your overall commerce output seems rather low, and I can't quite make
out why that is. can you attach savefile?
You should try harder to generate some great scientists,
I don't think you're running more than 1 scientist anywhere.
Do you have currency yet?, if so, you can try to sell resources for gold.
I think you can probably trade more techs. Someone should be willing
to trade maths or monarchy (still need it for the wine tile) by 540 AD on noble.

 

[Killroyan]

Bullwayo should have gone 1 SW. That way you would have gotten the deer and you would be able to work silver and iron and still grow. Second of all it would have been coastal so with a lighthouse the city could grow pretty fast. You can still get a city now 2N1W of the deer at the river. Settle that one asap. Also get a city in between the two clams, just 1N of the grassland hill. It is a perfect Maoi city. Workshop the grassland and then it is definitely a nice city. It is even possible to place a city between the wheat and the silk. If it has food it is already ok.

 

[Teelman]

Thanks for the advice all. I am working today (12hr shifts) so I wont be able to get back to the game till tomorrow at the earliest.

How do I attach a save file and what programs are needed?

Also, I have trouble finding a good research path once I get into renaissance/industrial era. What are some key techs that are pretty universal in terms of any player/civ that should be the focus once I reach those stages?

 

[Roxlimn]

None.

It depends on what your Civ is like and what you're going for at the start of the Renaissance. I'm assuming, of course, that this is after the Lib Race - Lib Race is a strong option to pursue for many situations.

For military, go for Nationalism, Military Science, Military Trad, Chemistry, Gunpowder, Steel.

For civilian, go for Printing Press and related techs.

It really depends.

 

[Jedi_Otis]

This is your second Civ game ever and you warrior/chariot rushed somebody!?!?

GOOD JOB!!!

Yes, as others have pointed out, city placement needs alot of work. For future tech, concentrate on military, build huge armies and conquer the world.

Warmongering seems to be in your DNA.

And after all.....you ARE Shaka!