so i just got the game and

[creslinn]

I'm getting my butt handed all the way from the north to the south . even on chieftien. I pretty much play on all random except the size which I put at standard and I ALWAYS play an american leader.

It doesnt matter how hard I try it seems like everyone is wanting to dish out a can of whoop !!! on me and I barely stay ahead in tech. I downloaded this game so I did not get a manual or anything? any quick tips/suggestions to help me out? The game seems fun but if I cant even win no ok..its not haha


Btw I bought the Game from D2D which came with the 2 expansions. which one is best to play?

 

[Sian]

try playing diffent leaders ... sticking to a certain batch of leaders due to national zealotry is just misunderstood idiotcy (might sound rude thats how the boat rocks)

start with feeling the waters with Vanilla, and when you feel you know the starting ropes go to BTS and never look back

another good idea would be reading the War academy here on civfanatics

another good idea would be to look at some of the games being played online here on this subforum to see how some of the more experienced players swing it

 

[bestje]

Good advice from Sian, pick one of the stronger leaders to play with as you learn the ropes.
read sisuitil's basic strategy guide, this is far better than the manual

 

[Stewie0416]

Just play more, its like a sport. The more u play the better u are and the more addicted u are. ( its not called Civilization fanatics Center for nothing. Also, try out different civs like Sian said. For chieftain, start with the amazingly awesomely godly pwn leaders like Huanya Capac or Julius Caesar. Then go into leaders that may seem interesting. Have u played the Tutorial in vanilla?

 

[Sian]

well ... i'd argue that HC is just overrated but thats my way of playing that doesn't fit him

 

[Gumbolt]

Start with a worker as your first build unless you are imperialist then a settler works well. Workers are key to developing land. Do be afraid to chop forest for hammers or use slavery to speed up city productions.

A good strategy for early expansion is developing bronze working as your 1st/2nd tech. Ignore the religious techs as they are merely distractions early on. Be sure to space cities about 3-4 squares apart. Remember food resources are key to early growth and building worker/ settlers early on. Bronze working also reveals copper for your axemen.

In terms of being attacked by AI. Make sure to have 2 or so good production city to pump out axemen/ swords early on. (2000bc-1000bc)

Beyond that play around. Having 5-6 cities by 1000bc with your science rate at 30-40% is not something to worry about. On my current game my science rate fell to 0%. I developed theology and switched to caste system. By adding scientist specialists to my cities I was able to recover my research rate to 25-30 beakers a turn. Always count the science beakers not the % rate on the slider.

If your playing below Prince you can normally build 4-5 warriors and rush a nearby Ai/Civ very early on taking their capital. You need to do this before they start using archers.

Beyond that play a game to 1000bc and post on here for more help. Its the start that is key to winning games. That and continually expanding and being aware of what the Ai is up to.

 

[Supr49er]

Read through some of the strategies here:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/forumdisplay.php?f=156

Huayna Capac is a friendly leader/civ to start with.

Welcome to the Forums creslinn.

 

[AndrewN]

I understand your problem, CivIV is a complex game, but practice will help. However some tips will always help; any repeated show how important they are.

Workers - You should have at least 1 per city and more for preference. You should avoid working unimproved tiles. The only ones that are acceptable are forests. You should also learn which improvements work for special resources.

Cottages - You really can't go wrong with cottages every where on easier levels. They don't look like much but they get better with time. Others will tell you other strategies to research but cottage spam is the easiest way to learn. Experiment once you have go the hang of the game.

Wonders - don't, just don't. They are a hammer sink that form a crutch that is difficult to break. Once you get better then you can learn when to build them.

Military - don't forget to build units. Mixed forces are the best way to go, and bring siege weapons.

Read through the games in this forum that others are playing. In many cases there will be a saved game you can download and take a look at. And finally post your own saved game so we can advise you.

Remember, it might not seem like it, but the game can be beaten on any difficulty level.

 

[Kesshi]

creslinn,

Play a new game as Catherin of the Russians. She has my vote for the easiest leader to learn the game with.

Her traits are very nice for a new player, and her Unique Unit and Unique Building are both fairly late into the game so you will develop a strating strategy that doesn't rely on either of them.

 

[Vox Dei]

I suggest that you lower the difficulty to settler. In new cities, build a worker and then a bunch of military before other builds.

As you become more experienced, raise the difficulty and try different strategies.

It's way more fun to win while learning!

 

[Bleys]

Beyond that play a game to 1000bc and post on here for more help. Its the start that is key to winning games.

This is a solid idea. It doenst take long to play to 1000 BC, but seeing how you play that portion of the game will help readers figure out where you may be going astray.

So play a game, even 2 or 3, up to 1000 BC or so, take a couple screenshots (your land, your capitol city screen), and upload the save. From there, it wont be hard to see which aspects of the game you seem to grasp and which you are having trouble with.

Another suggestion is to play series games, then compare what you did to others who played the same game. A good series for learning the basics is the Lonely Hearts Club. It wont help you understand diplomacy, or cutting off opponents from their land, or rushing, but it will let you learn how to expand, tech, etc, without worrying about being swarmed by AIs. Once you get the basic gist of that stuff, you can try other games that have more AI involvement early.

 

[Evil Beejeebers]

If you must play American old FDR is the best of them in my opinion. as his traits are useful when your new to the game.

 

[Supr49er]

Welcome to the Forums Evil Beejeebers.

 

[oyzar]

If you must play American old FDR is the best of them in my opinion. as his traits are useful when your new to the game.

I don't know why anyone would be so evil as to suggest this.. I find that his trait combination is one of the worst and his UU and UB are so late they might as well not have existed...

Anyways what leader you play really doesn't matter at the beging. Build enough workers(improve tiles that you want your cities to work(those with circles about them) build more settlers to build new cities. Build cities to claim resources(alt + r to turn on resource bubbles which shows where they are)).

Read sisiutil's guide for beginers or something http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=165632 i heard that was a good place to start.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Oyzar - he said OLD FDR. Old FDR had different traits. Old (vanilla) washington had the traits Darius currently does!

 

[oyzar]

Didn't fdr have the same traits? it was only wash that changed...

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Hmmmm, you're right. I definitely don't advocate wonderspam to beginners. Iffy indeed...

 

[lynxcat]

If you're getting whupped on Chieftain, then your problems are not going to be solved by switching leaders. I think you just need to play more until you have a grasp on the fundamentals of the game - specializing your cities, executing an invasion strategy, optimizing your tech path, having clear goals, etc. Reading Sisiutil's beginner guide or some sample games would probably help a lot.

 

[troytheface]

i suggest Attacko's strategy Guide or if that is to difficult to understand than Sistul's (sp) guide and if that is to hard to understand then perhaps one of the others.

 

[Evil Beejeebers]

I don't like the US leaders in general I just thought with the being able too build wonders quicker with out the resources would be better for a newer player. when you first get the game you tend to try and build everything so that's why organized is good.

the Mall is quite poor and the supermarket is not a great normal building anyway.

the seal is not bad with the right promotions.

And i don't really rate the charismatic trait.