That beautiful plateu.

[angryllama]

One thing I loved about civ 3 was that beautiful plateau that you experienced when playing a peaceful/builder game. What I'm talking about is when you eventually run out of things too build and have zsuch a good economy that you can build up a massive army and finally assert your dominance by rolling over your nearest neighbours before you finally get a few more techs and can build again. Mind you I only ever played on the lower levels of Civ 3.

After a few games of cvi 4 first on fast adn then medium I was worried that the plateau was lost. I just simply couldn't build as fast as I researched and was being picked on because of my neglected millitary. I then tried epic and then marathon and it happened. That beutiful plateau occured where I had built all I could and massed a large army and could finally roll some civs.

I don't know whether the plateau occurs on higher levels but I just am so delighted that I have to tell everyone that I am glad that the plateau hasn't been completely emitted.

 

[Synex]

I'd say that 'plateau' is a demonstration you are playing on far to easy a level.

But hey, if your having fun, go for it!

 

[Thormodr]

Hey C'mon. What's wrong with a Llama liking Plateaus.

 

[Pentium]

Yeah, you can do than on lower levels. If you play higher levels (don't know where's that limit in Civ4), you simply run out of time to build everything. You must choose either the warmongering or building approach.

 

[Byrath]

I am finding there to be several of those 'plateaus' in my games, from about the Renaissance Era onward. I play on Prince. Not sure what the level you play has to do with it ... you do not get production bonuses (or minuses) based on the difficulty ... the AI does.

 

[xonixs]

sometimes i have reached plateaus on noble, i always plays noble.
One time was before i had researched culture, so i couldnt transfer hammers into culture, and my economic couldnt afford a bigger army.

I researched too slow. I didnt bother to disband my military, and everytime i build a new unit the research went slower.
In addition i was developping a technology that was far out in the tech tree.

Finally after i dont know 60 turns (easy) then i researched it. All i cared about now was a technology that could give me a building or faster research

 

[AngryPants]

If you want more time for warring, play on slower speeds.

 

[allnamestaken12]

Yeah, thats what the peaceful wins are for, at that point you're supposed to build a spaceship, and bulk up your military to prevent tribute forcing.

 

[DaveMcW]

If you build zero cottages, you will reach the plateau very quickly.

Then the plateau becomes a cliff...

 

[Thalassicus]

Haha, very true. Especially before you have Currency and can't build Wealth...

A good way to build faster is to use Organized Religion. Almost always when I have that long enough I just run out of things to build, and switch to something else.

It's also much easier to run out of things when you get Assembly Line. A forge, factory and coal plant provide +100% production over your normal hammer output.

 

[Pentium]

Haha, very true. Especially before you have Currency and can't build Wealth...

Why would anybody build wealth? Unless you really really need those 2-3 gpt to keep your slider a level higher, any building or unit is more worthy.

If you're as far as Assembly Line, you should be either pumping out units or maxing production for SS. And Factory builds take some time too, don't they?

 

[Seven05]

I "build" wealth frequently, I find the direct result more noticeable than "building" research. I also tend to have more production cities than anything else and very large armies. With super-specialist scientists in one or two cities that end up handling most of my research changes to the slider have a minimal effect while changes from switching production are huge. I know, cottage farms are "better" than massive production cities, but I just can't resist building military units in two turns or less at almost all of my cities, the logistics of it are much less complicated and it allows me to go to war with several opponents at once. So yeah, I "build" wealth, frequently I can "build" a substantial surplus in one turn (500gp / turn on a standard map is low for me) and that surplus can make up for slow downs in conquest or a sudden military buildup, it will even handle all of my upgrades when a new military technology is completed.

Why would anybody not build wealth?

 

[Crimso]

When I reach this "plateau" in a game, that's a sign to bump up the difficulty level. I'm on Monarch now, and I can still get that big tech lead but balancing that with a standing army is something I have yet to succeed in. So even though I'm the only one with knights, the AI has five times as many troops, and I get killed.

Beyond Monarch, I doubt you can reach that plateau against equal-sized opponents. Taking out a few nieghbors will hurt your science at first, but spam cottages and you'll catch up soon enough.

 

[Theodorick]

You can still do this on a higher level, though you'll find yourself kissing a lot of ass just to stay alive.

 

[Thalassicus]

Why would anybody build wealth? Unless you really really need those 2-3 gpt to keep your slider a level higher, any building or unit is more worthy.

It was in reference to DaveMcW's quote...if you build zero cottages, you'll run out of things to build very quickly

Just imagine expanding to 8 cities and having no cottages...research at 0, units auto-disbanding..don't even have Currency yet to build Wealth. Nothing to build but units, which put your even in more debt.

I did this on accident the first time I tried warmongering in Civ IV as Caesar -- conquered WAY too fast and kept too many cities. The thing is, if you don't have Currency yet and have over-expanded with units going on strike at 0% research, building units isn't all that great. You end up having to build them and disband right away...not all that produtive, when Wealth could get you out of the hole. Teaches the lesson on over-expansion in Civ IV very quickly