Some Starting Tips For a Noob- Please?

[egali]

Hi to all, i only recently started playing this absolutly wicked game last week. I cant believe that i had never spotted it before. Anyway il get straight to the point.
Im after any starting tips players can give me for playing the ORIGINAL CIV 4 with no expantion or patches.
I usually play as Elizabeth with my house mate on a large/huge terra map with about 8-9 other civs on noble difficulty and we are playing a conquest game condition.

I have been trying to get the wonders quickly and concentrate on research but as i said ive only played the game 4-6 times.

Any tech routes or any tips would be great for a new player trying to start out in this great game.

PS anyone posting some great little tricks and cheat i can cain him with ill give you a free days paintball at my paintball site in Stoke on Trent as he is at the moment the bain of my existence. lol

Anyways thanks to all who post in advance.

Chris

 

[namliaM]

What level do you currently play at? I am currently helping a guy at Warlord level... http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=253486

He is moving on up steadily... If you are allready in the upper regions (>Prince) go read some ALC games http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=252788

ALCs tho I find to be more for higher level gamers allready. Mostly new players make specific errors, like build TO MANY DAMN WONDERS.

There is however no such thing as "if you do this and that" you will win at that level. Just about everything is situational.

There are a couple of DO NOT do's that help.
- Dont build (to many) wonders (unless for a specific goal and you have the special resource for it)
- Do not hunt (to many) religions
- Genaraly it is better to do (atleast) one active war to gain land
- Do not act like Toku (i.e. Please DO open your borders and trade techs)

I hope that helps

 

[egali]

Im playing at Noble level and have done quite well a few time but as soon as i move ahead of him he tends to quit or just gets all my surrounding civs to attack me lol. I hate him so much.
I had heard tips of stealing workers - how is this done
and also he keeps stealing AI citys in wars but wont tell me how to do this. Again i hat him so much but i need to kill him at this game as its the only strat game hes beating me at ATM.
And yes i did think the way forward was wonders - so any tips on the wonders you would go for ould be a great help too.
Chris

 

[stuttrboy]

The only wonder that I would say is one any game could use is the Great Library. Wonders are a waste of hammers if they aren't being used for a specific purpose. There's a few things you want to do with Vanilla, research BW and CHOP CHOP CHOP, cut down every forest you can for production, out of the box vanilla, slavery and chopping were disgustingly good.

 

[egali]

Slavery ive alway been very very weary of as it kills population isnt tht the key to growth? In what circumstances would you use slavery and dosnt it balance its out with a drop in production if you use it? Oh how does the grannery affect slavery as i heard it mentioned a few times?

 

[egali]

sorry i found out a granery doubles the growth rate sorry for being such a noob lol

 

[egali]

"Once you discover currency, sell your technology to the other civs. They're glad to hand over all their money to you for inferior techs. Spend this money on research. The first time is the most lucrative one."

How do you spend extra cash on research?

 

[Cer]

How do you spend extra cash on research?

Usually you have to run the "science slider" at less than 100% because you need gold to cover city maintenance costs and units costs/civics costs.

If you can get significant amounts of gold from rival civilizations, you will be able to set the science rate closer to 100%

 

[egali]

i just wondered if it was possible to convert the extra cash into research points as i have my slide at 100% all the time and never have a deficit

 

[allunderheaven]

that's not possible... how do you manage to get it at 100% all the time?

 

[egali]

dont know i have played 5 multiplayer games on a large terra map and never had to turn it down

 

[TMTurtle]

that's not possible... how do you manage to get it at 100% all the time?

If you don't extend your empire far and aren't very combative, you don't have very high upkeep.

 

[v8_mark]

But 100% without a deficit would be, like, one city. Unless you have an early GP settled, or a shrine or something.

 

[TMTurtle]

But 100% without a deficit would be, like, one city. Unless you have an early GP settled, or a shrine or something.

Holy City would definitely help, and if you get gold from huts you can go a bit at a deficit, I suppose.

 

[Stolen Rutters]

and also he keeps stealing AI citys in wars but wont tell me how to do this.

Noble, AI start with warriors, strength 2.

Simple way to "steal AI city" early in the game... early war.
-Research Bronzeworking, or Animal Husbandry, or Iron Working (to reveal copper, or horses, or iron).
-Improve the resource and connect to your capital (by road or river).
-Congrats, you can now build better units that can kill warriors. Build them, declare war, and capture cities.

If you were fast enough, axes, or swords, versus warriors will take cities in no time. Chariots are almost as good.

If you were slower, you will face archers, and you will need to promote your units with city raider (preferably CRII or CRIII). Chariots start losing more often (they don't get city raider).

If you are real slow, you will be facing cities with even better units and a defense bonus (that 40% below the city, for instance). Then you will need construction tech to get catapults.

There's more to it than what I say here, and these tactics won't always work (some civs have really good unique units that you will have trouble with, and not all starts are friendly to early war), but hopefully it will help.

edit - and being real slow isn't always a bad thing. Sometimes you realize early that early war isn't in the cards, so you research non-military tech first. This game forces you to make choices based on your priorities.