Strategery

[fephisto]

I just managed to get civ 4 working, and, uhm, wow.

Anyways, I quickly learned I couldn't use ICS, and that settlers or workers didn't rely on pop sent me a curve-ball.

I'm just wondering what people's specialization tactics are, I eventually went with a unit-factory/wealth-grabbing dual specialization.

Something like this:

Unit-factory:
Buildings:
Barracks
Airport
Bomb Shelters
Bunker
Castle
Temple
Plant
Drydock
Factory
Forge
Granary
Lighthouse
Obelisk
Recycling
Walls

Improvements:
Quarries/Watermills/Plantations/Camps/derricks/platforms/pasture when/whereever possible
Grassland/Plain=Workshopped, but at least 3ish tiles with farms
Floodplain=farm
Hills=mines
Desert=cry
Death to Forests and Bambi




Wealthers:
Buildings:
Academy
Airport
Bank
Bomb Shelter
Broadcast Tower
Bunker
Castle
Plant
Coliseum
Factory
Forge
Granary
Grocer
Harbor
Lab
Library
Lighthouse
Market
Monastery
Obelisk
Observatory
Recycle
Supermarket
Temple
Theater
University
Walls


Improvements:
Quarries/Watermills/Plantations/Camps/derricks/platforms/pasture when/whereever possible
Grassland/Plain=Cottaged w/o Trogdor burnination, but at least 3ish tiles with farms
Floodplain=farm
Hills=Windmill
Desert=cry/stick fortresses on it cause I have nothing else to do.
Death to Forests and Bambi





Aqueducts/Hospitals where appropriate.



Now, some problems I've noted with this are that, obviously, my wealth cities are stuck building forever, and as I've already said, I have very few naval production centers.

Should I really specialize wealth-cities further for the sake of more micromanagement?
Any critiques at all? Cause I really suck at this game XD.

 

[fephisto]

Oh, btw, I noticed that I couldn't updgrade in a city w/barracks whenever I wanted to, why is this?

 

[KAuss]

A tip I have to give you is that buildings do nothing for a city worth nothing...

A city is not what you build in it, but how many workers work the terrain it's built on...

The fat cross should determine ultimately what you should have inside... ONLY after you have the population and the production numbers to take advantage of it...

I now play games where I build NOTHING but barracks and pump out units... I only build up core cities and it's working a LOT better...

Example would be a coastal city would be nice with all the financial goodies... However if the city is 2 pop, then it's a waste of time building a bank... as it'll most likely give you 1 extra gold, for the price of a LOT of hammers...

Also markets and grocers are good for commerce too, but you can seriously do without them until happy / health becomes a problem... 25% of a core city that usually produces about 30 - 40 gold is just 8 - 10 gold... So a smaller city producing like 12 gold / turn will only see another 3 gold / turn which is just as good as nother worked tile for a finan leader... Definately NOT worth the time building if you catch my drift...

Instead, pump a steady stream of units with a barracked city and as they grow to a "core" type city, build those buildings!!!

You'll know when the time is right when you can finish units in about 5 turns... This will mean you'll have enough hammers to build that building you want so much without slowing you down...

Improvements around cities are the things that needs building in a timely manner... Make sure you focus on growth as population determines a HUGE part in your success in Civ 4...

Without units, no amount of cities and critical planning will save you...

BTW, navy is next to useless if you can kill anything that lands...

 

[CivCorpse]

In the welath cities i tend to build cottages on flood plains so i get a quick boost to my research and still get 3 food from them, the cottages grow from an earlier point so they reach town status faster. I mine a couple hills for the raw production. You don't need to work as many hills that way to get the hammers you need to build the libraries and such. Plus it gives you a better chance at getting the great library in the city that does it the most good, 50% of the minimal research a high production city gives isn't worth building it anywhere else.
Also skip the Obelisks, I always try for Stonehenge as it gives an early start on a Great Prophet and if you have 6 cities then 6 Obelisks cost 270 hammers while Stone henge is only 170 I think...or 85 with stone.

 

[Astax]

Farm on floodplains not always. Sometimes you want a juicy cottage. If you got 5 floodplains in your city radius, why 5 farms? Who the hell needs so much food? Anyway Problem is as you go higher in difficulty, your cities dont grow that fast! Not even as fast as AI because AI gets more healthiness bonus. That's why most players fall behind. Onyl way to keep your empire and cities growing is by having widely space cities on a big map with lots of healthy resoources. And ofcourse a few religions.

 

[Shillen]

Like you said your wealth cities are building forever. You really need to have some production in those cities. You can't just cut every forest down and put a windmill on every hill. They should at minimum be able to dish out 10-15hammers per turn. So mine however many hills you need to to accomplish that.

 

[Gufnork]

If you got 5 floodplains in your city radius, why 5 farms? Who the hell needs so much food?

Anyone who wants an efficient GP farm. Just build the Globe Theatre there and start working those farmed Flood Plains.