Supernewb questions ^_^

[ARandomNoob]

Alrighty so i'd just like to start this off with stating that i aboulutly love this game. I've never player any other civ game and just the demo alone for this game got me hooked (although i was quite pissed off when i went to bestbuy asap and foundout i had to wait 3weeks for the game to even be released). Anyways i find myself struggling in multiplayer and not thinking im doing the greatest in singleplayer so. 1. What are the advantages/disadvantages in having a population unit sitting intown rather than out on a resources square? 2. Could anyone recoomend a good civ for a newb like myself to use? 3. I seem to be behind alot in capitol population, what should i have my pop doing when i micromanage the apple thing seems to take fooooorrrrreeeeevvveeerrrrr 4. Im seeing ai/humans with like 4-5armies of a singletype while im just

 

[ARandomNoob]

cont-> usually sitting on 3-4armies of a single type with about 2-3 diffrent types while i tech up because i dont want like 10warrior armies when im building riflemen, is there a trick to this that i cant figure out that wont put my civ behind? 5. When should i build the buildings/wonders and should i do them in only one town at a time or just do them all at once? anyways all i can really think of thats been frustrating me recently thanks in advance for the help and sorry at how long this was :/

 

[jedimogg]

1. What are the advantages/disadvantages in having a population unit sitting intown rather than out on a resources square?

# Working the city tile gives at least one production resource and an amount of trade (0-5) that depends on the city population.

* Laborers (Pop 1-6): +1 production
* Vendors (Pop 7-12): +1 production, +1 trade
* Traders (Pop 13-18): +1 production, +2 trade
* Merchants (Pop 19-24): +1 production, +3 trade
* Importers (Pop 25-30): +1 production, +4 trade
* Exporters (Pop 31): +1 production, +5 trade

http://www.civfanatics.com/civrev/info

2. Could anyone recoomend a good civ for a newb like myself to use?

no idea

3. I seem to be behind alot in capitol population, what should i have my pop doing when i micromanage the apple thing seems to take fooooorrrrreeeeevvveeerrrrr

food is the only way to increase pop. don't forget to use buildings like granary. also if you have a city with a lot of food, you can build a settler there and add it to another city to increase that other city's pop

4. Im seeing ai/humans with like 4-5armies of a singletype while im just
usually sitting on 3-4armies of a single type with about 2-3 diffrent types while i tech up because i dont want like 10warrior armies when im building riflemen, is there a trick to this that i cant figure out that wont put my civ behind?

depends on what type of victory you are going for.

5. When should i build the buildings/wonders and should i do them in only one town at a time or just do them all at once?

this may help with 4 too. you should build buildings in cities that can use them. try to enhance a cities strengths. if you have a couple cities with a lot of science, build science building in all of them. if you have a city that is good with production but not with science. don't waste the production on building a library there. it won't benefit you much. instead you may want to build buildings that increase production or just pump out units there.

 

[ydejin]

2. Could anyone recoomend a good civ for a newb like myself to use?

That really depends on your playing style. If you're aggressive and want to spend a lot of time in combat, try going with the Zulu, or maybe the Aztecs or Germans. If you prefer to Turtle try the English with Archer defense +1 or better yet Greece which starts with Democracy and thus the ability to build Pikeman/Hoplites. These can give you a very strong defensive edge so you don't have to spend as much time early on worrying about the military. The Japanese +1 food from Sea Regions is also a handy bonus, which doesn't take any strategizing to use correctly, or if you're having trouble getting the tech tree down, you could try the Indians who can use an resource without learning the associated tech. If you like building wonders you can also try the Romans (half-cost wonders in the medieval age and onwards and starting with Republic which allows building Settlers with only 1 cost). I think these are probably the easiest Civs to start off with. Some of the other Civs have bonuses which will require more strategy to use correctly.

3. I seem to be behind alot in capitol population, what should i have my pop doing when i micromanage the apple thing seems to take fooooorrrrreeeeevvveeerrrrr.

If you use your Capitol to pump out lots of Settlers, this can really cripple the speed at which it grows. Keep in mind every time you build a Settler, the city in which it is built uses 2 population points. Early on that's a lot of population. Switching to Republic reduces the population cost of Settler production to 1. You can also build the Hanging Gardens wonder to increase your cities population by 50%.

5. When should i build the buildings/wonders and should i do them in only one town at a time or just do them all at once?

As jedimogg says, you want to specialize your cities. You'll need cities with lots of trade producing science. Build libraries and universities in these cities. You'll probably want one or two cities producing gold. Build markets and banks in those cities.

Generally a city on the coast is going to produce a lot of trade. You can have these focused on either science or gold. Don't forget to build a harbor (available with Navigation) in these coastal cities as this will help with growth (it allows sea tiles to produce food). Land-locked cities don't produce much trade at all, unless you've got desert tiles. So land-locked cities are generally going to be most useful for production (such as building military units).

There are some specific buildings that are important under certain specific circumstances but not others. If you've got a lot of plain tiles in a city, build a granary. If you've got several hill tiles, build a workshop. If you've only got one plain tile or one hill, it may or may not be worth it going for granary or workshop early on (depending on what else you can do with the city). Same thing with Trading Post and desert tiles.

Some wonders are useful under specific circumstances. The Colossus of Rhodes is useful in a city with a lot of trade (one of your science or money specialized cities) although if you're going to build it, build it early as the obsoleting tech (Invention) comes pretty quick. The Trade Fair of Troyes is a great wonder specifically for a city focused on generating money (it doubles all gold production in the city). It's also good for a long time, as the game is often over before Globilization is discovered. Shakespeare's Theater is an important wonder if you're going for a Cultural Victory and again its effects are only in the city in which it is built.

Some of the other wonders you can build in any city, so build them somewhere with a high production rating. I'm fond of the East India Company, which works well if you've got a lot of coastal cities (+1 trade in all city squares). Himeji's castle and Leonardo's Workshop are both important if you're planning to do a lot of warmongering and again have civ-wide effects (you'll need to time Leonardo's Workshop so you have tech advances which will make upgrading your units useful).