Time to face it: I suck at Noble.

Don't think in hard and fast rules of which types of tiles should get certain improvements. However, plains should mostly be worked last - improve floodplains and grassland first, unless we're talking about a resource, of course. Food is king and plains lose out here. The same applies for hills.

I had a look at your save.

You should be running your :science: slider at 100% as often as possible. You have enough gold to get Alphabet in 8 turns rather than 10 (at your current rate), so go for it.

Two workers (I know you have a third coming up) isn't enough at this point. You need one or two more for now, especially since you're a bit behind on improvements.

Make sure you chop grassland riverside forests first before plains ones.

Lyons went warrior first? Don't do that in a new city, but instead prioritize infrastructure. Existing cities should supply military units. You also don't need to keep two warriors there.

When looking for spots to settle new cities, make it a goal that every food resource around you is workable by at least one city.

I don't see too many good city sites because it appears that you're a little boxed in and the open area to your northwest is very subpar. I would say try dropping a city 1NW/1W/1SW of the pigs between Pacal and Wang, because either one of them is likely to settle it soon and you want to grab it first. Backfilling can always be done later. I can't tell what's in the fog, so it's hard to say which spot is the best.

Another possible city location is 2S of the clams, but that's not a big priority right now. There's also corn to the south of you, but with all the tundra down there, that spot can wait. It's still worth settling eventually, though.

You have two warriors quite far to the west (one fortified, why?), but none to the east which you have barely explored. Swing one east and the other one south. Your early scouting should have the primary goal of finding new city sites to settle - you shouldn't be wandering too far from the capital in order to do this, but instead try to circle around it.

Wang has a very, very strong capital, holy cow. Double gems? Horses? Wet corn? Elephants? Sheesh! If you can find horses, copper or iron, you could plan a war against him soonish.
 
Thanks for all your help and strategy tips. I don't think I need to continue this shadow game because I just played another Noble game and I'm winning easily by the early 1900s. I'm starting to get the hang of the game, although the lessons I'm learning on this website have helped immensely. I know I still have a long way to go before I move up in skill level, so I'll keep researching here and asking questions.

Again- thanks to everyone. :D
 
Thanks for all your help and strategy tips. I don't think I need to continue this shadow game because I just played another Noble game and I'm winning easily by the early 1900s. I'm starting to get the hang of the game, although the lessons I'm learning on this website have helped immensely. I know I still have a long way to go before I move up in skill level, so I'll keep researching here and asking questions.

Again- thanks to everyone. :D


It's good to hear you're getting it right. That's good. :goodjob:

I still just want to mention that there is no reason to be afraid of cities overlapping (that is, cities can work the same tiles - but only one city at a time, obviously). And from looking at the last screenshot you attached it seems to me like you settled Lyons on a grassland/riverside tile. Personally, I would've settled on the plains/riverside 1E of its current position (unless there is some really good plots beyond the screenshot...).

One thing you can think of (if you haven't already) is that when you have an area where you want to settle; try to settle with food-resources right next to your city. If that still leaves several tiles to choose from, try to settle the worst tile (yield-wise) available. The city will get a 2-1-1 (Food/Production/Commerce) as a minimum anyway.


Yours Sincerely

Kjotleik of Norway :)
 
Yes, I try to do that.

I also need some tips:

Should I cottage or farm plains?
Cottage or farm grassland?
How do you handle unhappiness due to overcrowding (if you can't whip) after you build temples, etc.?
Should I generate specialists in all my cities, if possible?
 
Instead of going with hard and fast rules for tile improvements, you should figure out what you want out of the particular city and improve based on that.

I found this article to be a great read when I was still trying to master city specialization.
 
Hi, Joe, take a look of what I did (my tech path, my city settlements etc)

I declared war on ragnar at 300 because he was a loner! (religious wise)
the war ended at 740 where I took over...none of the other civ even have alphabet yet!!!


can you figure out what you should do next?
 

Attachments

  • Joe AD-0300.CivBeyondSwordSave
    160.7 KB · Views: 49
  • Joe AD-0740.CivBeyondSwordSave
    198.1 KB · Views: 50
Hi, Joe, take a look of what I did (my tech path, my city settlements etc)

I declared war on ragnar at 300 because he was a loner! (religious wise)
the war ended at 740 where I took over...none of the other civ even have alphabet yet!!!


can you figure out what you should do next?

hehe sounds like your dominating...monarch next!! (dont bother with prince)

City specialisation IS a good idea, i have to admit i sometimes struggle to decide even now, especially when a city has poor food, but a bit of commerce and a couple of hills, i unintentionally end up with hybrid cities occasionally..
 
Yes, I try to do that.

I also need some tips:

Should I cottage or farm plains?
Cottage or farm grassland?
How do you handle unhappiness due to overcrowding (if you can't whip) after you build temples, etc.?
Should I generate specialists in all my cities, if possible?


Read what Nials wrote:
Instead of going with hard and fast rules for tile improvements, you should figure out what you want out of the particular city and improve based on that.

But to make your thoughts kick in (hopefully in the right direction), here's a couple of suggestions:

A - Should I cottage or farm plains?
If you need to work plains early in the game you should look into whipping population away. Having a high enough happy cap to work plains early on is an indication of either [A] Questionable city placement A lot of happiness resources (really good!) or [C] Hereditary Rule (many units in the city). There are (naturally) more reasons, but right now those may be the correct ones (?).

Also, having a Library in the city to work a Scientist or two is a good alternative to working plains (be it cottaged or farmed plains). Later on in the game plains can be used to place workshops (preferably under State Property) or watermills (if riverside).

B - Cottage or farm grassland?
Before Civil Service you cannot farm non-riverside grassland (unless there is a food resource on the plot). The decision must really be made with information on how much food you need to have in order to operate your city at the current happiness capacity. Or how much food you need in order to operate your city in the "near-future" happiness cap (if you are close to new happy-resources, adopting Hereditary Rule, etc.)

Also, specialized cities must have special rules regarding grasslands. Under Bureaucracy (+50% for both Production and Commerce) your capitol should be as big as possible, working as many high-production and high-commerce yield-tiles as the happy cap allows. That means a lot of cottages, in most cases. A Great Person farm (GP-farm) must have maximum food in order to work as many specialists as possible. This translates into farms for all grassland tiles.

C - Unhappiness from population (no whip)?
The only reason not to be able to whip is if you're not running Slavery. That most probably means you are running Representation (from Pyramids) and Caste System to focus on running as many specialists as possible (Specialist Economy (SE)). You'd be best served not to change away from Slavery for any other reason before emancipation-angry citizens force you to adopt Emancipation. But this happens rather late in the game, and shouldn't be in focus early on in any case. If you do run SE: Pay close attention to what luxury-resources the other civilizations are willing to trade to you. Also, if you have Feudalism you should remember that for every vassal you can acquire - there will be one more happy citizen in each of your cities (but other leaders may not like you anymore (despite your diplo-screen telling you they are pleased with you) if they are cautious, annoyed or furious towards your vassal (<< THIS IS IMPORTANT TO KNOW!).

D - Should I generate specialists in all my cities, if possible?
No, no and no! That is, unless you are running a Specialist Ecomony. However, building an early Library (and running two specialists) in order to get a Great Scientist to use for an Academy in your highly cottaged capitol in order to boost research (and prepare for Bureaucracy) is good play. Just choose one city with enough food to run two specialists early on to accomplish this. Don't bother with questions like: "But this is not going to be my GP-farm city," or "but this is a better production city than commerce city." Just get that early Academy in your capitol and enjoy the benefits of increased research! To finish this off I want to say that if you do suffer from a lack of happiness resources - and don't have Hereditary Rule yet - working a specialist is better than growing into unhappiness. However, I think using Slavery to whip is stronger than running a specialist in this case (my opinion). Naturally, there may be circumstances where you are more in need of research than production. But again (sic, so many choices - so many ways to Rome...) it is probably better to build Research (after Alphabet) working high-production tiles, than it is using population to create a Scientist specialist.



Yours Sincerely

Kjotleik of Norway :)
 
Top Bottom