[BTS] Tips for Fast Spaceship Victory?

[Morningcalm]

I played Civ 4 yesterday and picked Warlord difficulty since it was my first time in ages. Got Genghis Khan on random, wiped out one AI, all but one city for another, and then decided it would be easier just to go for a spaceship victory than invade all the other AIs. I also frequently tech traded with AI to skip some turns over. I won in 2013 AD, which seems a bit late for a spaceship victory. I tried to maximize production and growth and had pretty great science thanks to high pop cities generating many scientist specialists, but still took forever to get the spaceship parts done. Are there tips you all might have to get spaceship victories faster? What's the fastest you've gotten in a game? Is the key to spaceship victory just going really wide? Should I just have murdered more AI to take their cities?

 

[Tecumseh1]

It's pretty hard to win in late game without fighting any wars. For space it helps to have many cities both for more research and production. And best way to get cities is to fight wars at opportune times. You don't need 25 cities but more than 10 helps.

 

[antimony]

Basically you just need more cities. But also I've won in the 1700s with less than 15 (on Noble).

Here is a thread with some tips from @Fish Man that would also apply with 10 cities I think (like go for communism early, which order to get techs, etc.).

Post in thread 'Nobles' Club 246: Isabella of Spain' https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/nobles-club-246-isabella-of-spain.660786/post-15850840

 

[Morningcalm]

Ah ok, thanks! I will try replaying the game I just did with more conquest. My concern is the army costs and unhappiness might cut against any science gains I get from conquest.

 

[civac]

2013 is very late. Try to use cottages to generate your science especially around the capital. Scientist specialists are great for generating Great People but other than that they are relatively inefficient. This is even the case if you are running Representation though obviously they are much better with that civic.

 

[Morningcalm]

2013 is very late. Try to use cottages to generate your science especially around the capital. Scientist specialists are great for generating Great People but other than that they are relatively inefficient. This is even the case if you are running Representation though obviously they are much better with that civic.

Yeah I had a good cottage economy in some cities; lots of farms in others for specialists. I had a 22 pop Globe Theater Berlin generating great people every few dozen turns, but it wasn't enough science to get those key techs early. I think the early war time might have dragged down my commerce sufficiently to make the science route less workable then. If not science specialists, I guess the worked cottages help keep science high, but I couldn't quite get enough science anyway. I guess it might have been because I didn't have too many cities.

 

[Jellybug]

i don't tend to go for space so im interested to see. have you tried out a few more games?

 

[6K Man]

Hard to finish a space race early on low levels, because the AIs develop so slowly. That means 1) they never have any techs you can trade for (which would speed up your research) and 2) their cities stay small longer (worse trade routes>less commerce>less research)

Also, cottages are poor for production. You should turn most/all into watermills/workshops when it's time to start building SS components.

And yeah, more cities definitely.

Once you're done bulbing, save some Great People for a Golden Age(s) when you start building. You can't whip or rushbuy SS components, and you likely won't have any forests to chop. So a Golden Age is about the only production boost you can get (other than having Aluminium/Copper/etc, which should be a given)

 

[ariosto]

It depends on a leader you play. FIN is one case, and Saladin/Tokugawa is completely other one. I think, landing before T250 (16XX) is a good result, and sub-T230 (15XX) is great. Generally for fast space victories you need to conquer land fast, but also efficiently. Every city after communism is profitable and late tech are expensive, so you need many of them
So I would advice to learn how to war and how to develop empire in the early game. This is the key in civ4.

FishMan's guide is great for rather peaceful game

still took forever to get the spaceship parts done

Try to identify cities with good hammer potenctial and make them as productive as possible. High pop, workshops + mines, forges + factories + coal plant + levees + lab should speed up construction of spaceship parts.

Hard to finish a space race early on low levels, because the AIs develop so slowly. That means 1) they never have any techs you can trade for (which would speed up your research) and 2) their cities stay small longer (worse trade routes>less commerce>less research)

I strongly disagree. It is much easier and cheaper to conquer from weaker enemies. Or to settle more land peacefully if you don't want to start wars.

 

[6K Man]

I strongly disagree. It is much easier and cheaper to conquer from weaker enemies. Or to settle more land peacefully if you don't want to start wars.

Absolutely true for conquest/domination wins. But not for space - a space win will be easier on lower levels, but not faster (assuming the player can handle the higher levels, ofc)

 

[antimony]

I doubt it would be the case on an average map, because higher difficulties also make teching slower with higher tech costs and higher maintenance eating away at your research.

 

[ariosto]

Well, you play first 100-150 turns similarly - doesn't matter if you go for faster space or domination victory. So I'm pretty sure space victories should be faster on lower difficulties. You can stomp opponents with Knights, not with Cuirrasiers. Worker steals with no backfire. There are even warrior rushes.
On top of that you have cheaper techs, almost all the wonder, which you finish when you want, not when you are forced to, lower maintenance - all of that should overweight inability to trade techs.

Now I want to play Tokugawa on random pangea map on warlord and check out, how fast my spaceship will be.