Some advice for a beginner

[Inspector Dex]

So I'm finally on board with the civ franchise, having purchased the civ IV gold edition (i.e. I'm playing warlords). I've been learning a lot by reading some of the game threads people post (Sisiutil in particular, if you're listening, thanks ).

However, there's only so much you can really learn from reading posts where 500 years or so pass at a time. I can tell that I have a lot to learn in terms of the micromanagement of my cities, and that's where I could use a lot of advice. So if anyone could give me tips to help with my development, I'd be very appreciative. In particular, some topics I'm curious about:

• How to best use workers
• Build orders (especially early on)
• building farms vs. cottages

I'm aware that I'm probably the 10000001st person to ask about this, so please feel free to mock me, and direct me to appropriate links.

Thanks in advance. (And if it helps to know, I'm playing warlord difficulty at epic speed).

 

[JujuLautre]

Welcome to cfc

At first, I advise you two excellent guides you can find in the strategy articles section:
- Sisiutil's strategy guide for beginners
- Specialization (don't remember the exact title)

Now, considering that you know what can of different specialized cities it exists, it's not so difficult to answer questions 1 and 3:
- #1 All cities need food. So: Food specials or farms. You need a minimum at the birth of the city to let it grow, and after you need surplus food to be able to work mines, workshops... all in all, tiles that don't produce 2 foods.
- commerce cities need commerce based improvements, so basically cottages. Sometimes windmills to get extra food at the same time as more commerce. And some times production improvements if it's necessary. Mainly cottages. And don't forget rule #1.
- production cities need production improvements: mines, workshops, mills. And don't forget rule #1, especially for those cities, which work mainly food-deficit tiles.
- GP farms need food. Go to rule #1.

Another use of workers is to link:
- link cities, link players, for extra trade routes and extra movement
- link ressources, to be able to use their benefits.

About early build. There's a good article about this in the strategy article section. But apart from the first few builds, there is no best build order. You should always build what you need for your cities and your strategy.
Most players recognize this rule for your first build.
- build worker first (improving the land is best); unless:
- you want to get access to a seefood special and you have fishing
- you will not have enough worker techs at the moment the worker appears to give him work (ex: you begin with hunting and mysticism and try to get an early religion)

Other questions?

 

[Inspector Dex]

Thanks for the response! I have a nice .pdf of Sisiutil's guide on my desktop ready for reference at a moment's notice. It's the first thing my friend linked me to when I told him I bought the game (along with this forum).

I feel that I understand the concepts of city specialization, although I find the ideas hard to put into practice. I usually settle for resources and decide what type of city it will become based on the tiles. I'll have to learn if this is a bad idea. Overall, I'm realizing the depth of the game is immense. I can see why it's so popular.

Probably the best thing for me to do is play, play, and play some more. I need to experiment with my city builds (and what to do with workers once they've built enough farms to cover rule #1) to maximize effectiveness. My feeling is that my mid-game success will depend a lot on my early game play.

Thanks again for the quick response

 

[Cam_H]

I feel that I understand the concepts of city specialization, although I find the ideas hard to put into practice. I usually settle for resources and decide what type of city it will become based on the tiles. I'll have to learn if this is a bad idea.

Doesn't sound like a bad idea to me!

As JujuLautre notes, is very important - being surrounded by Gold and Incense is all fine and good, but you really need to ensure that you have the people to work the plots to yield the and/or . Without immediate through tiles such as an Oasis, food resources or Floodplains, cities must otherwise be carefully managed and/or it must be accepted that they will probably stagnate in terms of population growth for sections of the game. Planning for irrigation chains is one thing worth bearing in mind. I did a post on food counting here that might be of interest.

My city specialisation is often dictated by the special resources it has - if a city has Cows, Wheat and Copper it's bound to become a hub, while say Gems, Rice and Dye spell centre, while Fish and two Deer might be the farm.

Empire balance is important too ... find the ratio that you feel most comfortable with, but don't completely discard either centres or centres - you're after a good blend of 'brain and braun'.

Finally, cities are dynamic. As new technologies, civics, improvements, etc. become available, so can the role or emphasis of your cities. Equally, if you're successful in war (or very successful at flipping cities with culture) you can rearrange your empire's balance as new cities with their own natural strengths are added.

Best of luck!