Veteran Civ2 player getting lost in CivV

[dla26]

I've owned and played all of the Civ games (including Civs I-IV and even Civilization Revolution for Xbox 360 and DS) but the one I keep coming back to is Civ2, which I've played countless times. I just picked up CivV and want to get back into the modern era, so to speak, of Civ games.

My go-to strategy in Civ2 was pretty straightforward: build new city after new city, tiling them so they each fit snugly against the borders of the next city leaving almost no gaps - and establish key city locations that will prevent other civs from developing more than a handful of cities. After grabbing all the land (which drives up the treasury and science), get Democracy, max out science and production. By the time I reach tanks, the other guys are often still on catapults, and I can go through and wipe everyone out. One thing I often do is leave one last city, completely surrounded by dozens of mechanized infantry and tanks all around while my Engineers run around and put railroads on every single space on the world. Only when all of that is done and every city I control has every possible building/improvement and there is literally nothing else that can be done, I go in and wipe out that last city.

I never got into Civs 3 & 4, since my pre-set go-to approach didn't really apply and I never got around to learning the new fundamentals. In Civ V, for example, I'm building city after city, but there are gaps due to the amorphous nature of the cultural borders and my cities all seem unhappy and not really growing.

Any advice on some basic strategies like the one I outlined for Civ2 above? Anyone else in a similar situation?

 

[Punchline]

You, my friend, are what used to be referred to as a "Builder!" Not too many of you guys around anymore - was a great playstyle back in the day, and man did empires look impressive with an entire map filled with cities...

It's not really possible anymore, as you seem to have learned the hard way. Unhappiness now restricts the number of cities you can comfortably found, and you have to be far less rigid in your approach.

-P

 

[dla26]

You, my friend, are what used to be referred to as a "Builder!" Not too many of you guys around anymore - was a great playstyle back in the day, and man did empires look impressive with an entire map filled with cities...

It's not really possible anymore, as you seem to have learned the hard way. Unhappiness now restricts the number of cities you can comfortably found, and you have to be far less rigid in your approach.

-P

Wow - that makes me sound old, maybe like one of the last Jedi.

So what are some other good go-to strategies these days?

 

[Punchline]

With age comes wisdom . And grumpiness - hence the minor (and not-so-minor) outrage at some of the Civ V changes; a lot of old timers around here, and they're not so swayed by fancy graphics - so don't worry, you're among friends.

Expansion is still a big part of Civ, you just have to think a little more about when to expand - more cities does not necessarily mean a healthier empire. I feel the need to mention here that because CiV is so new, and so different in some important ways, that there really aren't any 'hard rules' yet, and very few generally accepted 'good' strategies. Or perhaps more accurately, there are still lots of good strategies, lots of different ways of playing that are producing good results for different people.

So you can play Babylon and tech up as fast as you can, using Wonders, social policies and Great Scientists to quickly boost yourself up the tech tree.

Or you can play the Germans and amass a terrifying army of Brutes and crush your enemies in the very early game.

Or you can play the Greeks and woo your city state neighbors, gaining massive amounts of food, culture and units in the process.

Or maybe play Egypt and focus on grabbing as many Wonders as you can.

Or just forget about happiness - it's not actually a huge issue to have an unhappy population, it just limits your growth. If your empire's already huge, it's not really a big deal (some would argue), which is a bit of a shame actually.

Browse the forums, try following a few "Let's Plays" on Youtube, play the tutorial in-game (which is pretty much impossible to lose, so feel free to experiment), or read along while someone else plays and figure out how they think (I recommend Lemmy's tragic tale here: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=380899).

Hopefully some kind souls will offer their own suggestions - in a few months the community will be bit more organized, and there will be a lot more articles, a better understanding of game mechanics, and hopefully better, more specific advice.

-P

Edit: Grammar, spelling, sense

 

[dla26]

This is great info! I'll start looking into some of those things and I just might have to spend a couple games working out the kinks. If I feel the urge, I can always go build up a massive empire again on Civ2 for old time's sake.

 

[Martin Alvito]

There are two basic plans in this game:

1) Turtle. Small civ (<4 cities), use diplomacy to keep the AI off your back. Win by Culture, diplomacy or unbalanced strategy (eg: Rifleman slingshot, see associated front page thread).
2) Warmonger. Found several cities, tech to a critical early game military tech (Horseback Riding or Iron), build an army, and go pay the nearest AI a visit. Repeat until all rivals are dead. There are ways to get around your Happiness problem in a big civ; that's another front page thread.

Either way, hook up your luxuries first. Prioritize the techs that will hook up the ones you have and will be settling.

As noted, classic Civ 2 builder won't work. The Firaxis response to all of us walking all over Civ 2 and SMAC was to up AI production bonuses on the higher levels to the point where it's more efficient to kill the AI for its land than play straight builder yourself.