Some general questions

[Easycompany68]

Hi guys, i appreciate the answers in previous post i made. All really useful.

So i just played my 4th game ever, it was a science victory as korea on emporer level. standard map size, pangaea map, pretty much standard everthing. On turn 350ish.


I've been reading posts from some pretty good players posting screen shots and there a few things that are pretty impressive.

How do people get up to 600gold per turn or anything more then 50 gold per turn without sacrificing production.

How do people have cities with 30-40 citezens?

So I usually have played games with 4cities so far. My main city with have maybe 14-15 citezens and the other cities with have 10ish by turn 350ish.

Am I focusing to much on production? I'll usually have a food production of +1 to +3 and then the rest pump into hills for the production. I'll usually have 50-70 production in my main city by the end and 40ish in my secondary cities.

Gold...how the heck do you get such high productions? I'll usually build tons of woners in my main city and then i'll build all the happiness, production, culture, religion buildings in the other cities... I tend to get caught with a smaller army but i'll make adjustments for that. I just wanna know, is building granery, workshop, coloseum etc ( all the generic buildings) i about 8-10 turns needed? can i cut production in half and have more gold comming in?

I think i'm approaching the game wrong...even though i won (becuase i cheaply reset a prior save and build troops in time for the attack...dont judge me i'm a noob..lol).

I read posts and people seem to be buying settlers real early and seem to have 4-5-6 cities by turn 70-80... i usually only get my second city by turn 70-80 becuase im trying to rush all the "important" buildings and also trying to get early wonders...

Even though there isn't a right and wrong most of the time, can someone post some numbers to give me a guideling...stuff like,

-what is a good amount of production to aim for vs food.
-do i sacrifice production (against better judgement) and make sure i always have at least "x" amount of food and gold

-Ohh, if your going for tall...are there some buildings that are a absolute must to build as soon as the come avalable (example, aquaduct?)

thanks and sorry for the long post

Edit: for got to mention, the reason im wondering about buildings is becuase most of them have gold upkeep and by the end of a game i'm usually lucky if im producing 10 gold per turn...that with me selling all my luxury resources either for 240 gold or for 8 gold per turn.

 

[CrispyCritter]

I wouldn't worry too much about not following the "buying settler" and other strategies that you see elsewhere; those become more important as difficulty increases (though if you can buy settlers, it will help your population growth).

Your major lack at the moment is your population growth. Bigger cities mean more production and more gold. Each citizen in a city means an extra gold per turn in trade routes for instance. Try a game or two of concentrating on maximizing food (granary, citizen placement, aquaduct, water mill, maritime city states, etc.), and see what happens.

I'm a big believer in trying things out for myself - get ideas from the strategies here, but fit them into whatever your current style of play is. You'll learn more and, IMO, have more fun doing so.

 

[Easycompany68]

Ohh my God...man, it really helps to know the mechanics of all the bonues...

I had no idea city population affected trade route gold...lol I thought it was a fixed amount. I hadn't noticed it went up by 1 or 2 gold at one point but I assumed it was caused by the era i was in...I don't know why i didn't research it more... So then wide civilizations can really get the gold rolling in ( i just found the equation) But it would also help really tall civs...wow, thanks for that info

so is there a rule of thumb on what amount of food i should have at all times. +5 ot + 10 etc...

 

[kirbdog]

I feel I'm doing my job when I have at least 30 surplus food in the capital and 15 elsewhere. (I feel even better with more! )

 

[Novalia]

Concentrate less on forcing production tiles. Let the city grow and production will follow. Even think about farming some of those hills next to water. Ally maritime CS. Water mills.. Granary.. Aqueducts. They all add up. Population directly translates to science.

Wonders have a way of making you play a bit panicky. Try some games completely ignoring wonders and you'll see a huge improvement.

Regarding gold most of those high gpt games you hear about come from puppets by conquering cities. Build trading posts for those cities. Multiple puppets can really crank out the gpt with little maintenance costs.

 

[Easycompany68]

Wow, so some of you have 15-30 food surplus...

I usually have between 1-3ish surplus food and have tons of production...i'll complete buildings in 10turns.


Im guess then that by the end of the game you really don't have many buildings...my capital will have about 10-15 wonders and probably another 15 buildings..

my other cities will be a little smaller...


So i guess im taking a different approach to the game buy might be better off aiming on food early and then as you said, production will follow..

thanks

 

[Unresolved]

Wow, so some of you have 15-30 food surplus...

I usually have between 1-3ish surplus food and have tons of production...i'll complete buildings in 10turns.


Im guess then that by the end of the game you really don't have many buildings...my capital will have about 10-15 wonders and probably another 15 buildings..

my other cities will be a little smaller...


So i guess im taking a different approach to the game buy might be better off aiming on food early and then as you said, production will follow..

thanks

When you go tall, you force food tiles while building many buildings. Most games, I end up with the vast majority of buildings in my main cities. Not too many wonders though since it's not safe to wonder-spam.

 

[Novalia]

All the wonder building you do is forcing a production sort of panic in your play. Hurry that wonder oh look that's available now so I can get that too. All the while your city barely grows with its 3 food surplus because you're citizens are working the mines instead of farms.

When your first worker comes out farm the river tiles first. Even the hills. Then the other tiles. Manually put your citizens on mostly food tiles. Then before you know it you'll have a decent population that can work the mines AND the farms. You might crank out a capital with 15 population by turn 100. At that point everything is built within 6-8 turns.... While still growing.

 

[Dogmouth]

The answer to all of your questions is food. Food is king. In the early game, I never work mines (except salt mines) unless I'm really desperate for production or unless the extra production is going to get me more food (i.e., a granary). In the mid game, I only work mines when I've got a really healthy food surplus. Also, don't build or work trade posts in your core cities unless they're jungle cities. Trade posts are for puppets.

 

[Easycompany68]

a lot of great info.

I"ve won on level 4-5-6...now i'm gonna go for level 7-8 (immortal and deity).


I"m gonna focus on production, avoid to many trading posts (which i don't really focus on usually).

I'll let the production come later on.


The only thing is, i played a game as korea going for science and i got beat to the great library which is really really early. I reset a earlier save and got it 1 turn before the AI. I had to have a food surplus of "0" to achieve it. Does the AI get bonuses to production? Will i be beat to all wonders if I go production hard?

 

[Unresolved]

The only thing is, i played a game as korea going for science and i got beat to the great library which is really really early. I reset a earlier save and got it 1 turn before the AI. I had to have a food surplus of "0" to achieve it. Does the AI get bonuses to production? Will i be beat to all wonders if I go production hard?

What level was this on? Most people stop attempting the Great Library on Immortal/Deity because it can be gone as early as turn 27(possibly earlier) with a strong chance to be gone before turn 35.

 

[iconocast]

i found if there is alot of warmongers around there is a better chance for the GL, but yes it gets built realy on higher difficulty's

 

[Easycompany68]

What level was this on? Most people stop attempting the Great Library on Immortal/Deity because it can be gone as early as turn 27(possibly earlier) with a strong chance to be gone before turn 35.

it was on the one below immortal...emperor?

So then i should give up on GL if I want to go for a tall empirer since i should try to keep food suplus real high even from the get go?

 

[kirbdog]

You should give up on Great Library because the risk/reward ratio isn't there. It's not just that you can grow more by not focusing on it, and it's also not just that it's risky. It's also that, for the price of a Great Library, you can have a regular library and an early settler and a shrine (for example). It's not completely clear that the Great Library is better than a library, settler, and shrine.

 

[Ninakoru]

... i usually only get my second city by turn 70-80 becuase im trying to rush all the "important" buildings and also trying to get early wonders...

^This. If instead of focusing wonders, you focus on infrastructure (granary, water mill) and early expansion, you get much better growth on the long term.

The first 100 turns are quick but pretty much mark your growth for the rest of the game. To get a few early wonders you sacrifice much growth, growth of cities not settled and growth focusing on production to get those wonders in time, growth getting aristocracy early, instead of elite landed and monarchy ASAP.

Early aqueducts are a waste, is better to wait until you finish tradition. Try to keep happiness positive near all the game. Prioritize growth over everything else if you will not face immediate happiness problems. After all, growth = investment for better gold and better production in the future.

Check out CS quests, allying a few CS ASAP also helps a lot with empire development (maritime +1 food to every city, merchantile = lots of happiness), but friendly CS also are great. Pledge to protect if you foresee you will get a quest for them. That will give you friendship for 20 turns instead of 10, big improvement. Early you can ally some CS easily with the barb quests.