What am I doing wrong??!!!

[Donkey-Mania]

Okay - I need some advice...

I really Like Civ 4 - but it seems I keep getting my ass handed to me everytime I play - no matter who I play... (The only times I can almost keep up is while playing the Russian chick)

This is what I do... I try and build my starting city bayside - with at least 1 clam,fish, whale, etc... I try and grab as many Huts as I can with my scouts (or warrios as the case may be)...

I usually try and research the path to Code of Laws first. The next thing I immediately research after that is Alphabet so I can take advantage of tech trading.

I usually am not sure where exactly to go from there - I'll research basically whatever I didn't get in trade that will help me expand my city - like Animal Husbandry, Wheel, Pottery, etc - and then try and move on to the bigger things that I think will raise my score...

I usually always build the Oracle as soon as I can, and also that other thingie you get free with Stonehenge in order to get the culture boost...


I usually build Cottages near streams and farms in the other areas. Mines on the hills, etc... I notice that my cities grow really fast - and I have to turn the population growth off or I get the at around city level 5-7.

Like this last game - I had immediate access to stone, iron, and copper with a few techs I researched - launched an assualt on Montezuma - took 3 of his cities before my army was spent and kept trying to expand and research stuff - but I notice my research takes like 60 turns to learn anything and while I learn that "one" thing - everyone else learns like 2-3 and my score constantly remains near the bottom or directly at the bottom and no matter what I do - I can never catch up.


What do I do to turn this streak off?

Should I build farms near streams or cottages?

What is the best course of research to get a good stance in the game?

Any other tips?


I've been trying to read the forums and stuff as well - but I figured direct questions would be a little easier maybe - thanks for the help!

 

[svv]

Stop off and get bronze working, agriculture, wheel and pottery before going on to code of laws and alphabet. Make sure your city(s) has plenty of food, but it sounds like you're doing ok there. If you've got a good suplus start laying down some cottages and/or making people specialists (especially scientists, after you build a library). Go into slavery as soon as you get bronze working, and use it to build things with the whip, especially when your cities are up past the happiness limit.

Regaring your question re streams/farms/cottages. Farms HAVE TO be by streams at the beginning, unless you've got a freshwater lake or an oasis. Cottages don't have to be by the stream, but they get a +1 commerce bonus if they are. If you're a financial civ, you'll want cottages by the streams whenever possible, because the initial cottage commerce, plus the plus one bonus, mean you'll have three commerce as soon as the cottage is built.

 

[Donkey-Mania]

Stop off and get bronze working, agriculture, wheel and pottery before going on to code of laws and alphabet. Make sure your city(s) has plenty of food, but it sounds like you're doing ok there. If you've got a good suplus start laying down some cottages and/or making people specialists (especially scientists, after you build a library). Go into slavery as soon as you get bronze working, and use it to build things with the whip, especially when your cities are up past the happiness limit.

Regaring your question re streams/farms/cottages. Farms HAVE TO be by streams at the beginning, unless you've got a freshwater lake or an oasis. Cottages don't have to be by the stream, but they get a +1 commerce bonus if they are. If you're a financial civ, you'll want cottages by the streams whenever possible, because the initial cottage commerce, plus the plus one bonus, mean you'll have three commerce as soon as the cottage is built.

Is there any special function I can do with Slavery - or is it just Slavery in and of itself that helps? I notice when you look at the city you can play with the citizens - like adding people and stuff - but never really figured out how that works - I need to read up on it some more for sure...

 

[ratrangerm]

With slavery, you can hurry production by sacrificing population in your cities. This is useful early on when you don't want your cities to grow too large because of happiness, health and maintenance issues.

It's a good idea to keep your cities from growing past size 3 early in the game, and having Slavery as one of your civics helps, because you can time builds so that you sacrifice one unit of population to finish something, then carry production over to the next item you build.

 

[Cam_H]

Donkey,

If you're prepared to do some reading, and have yet to see it, Sisiutil's Strategy Guide for Beginners is a very good general guide (although could possibly do with some

s).

There are a myriad of points and comments to make, but on;

Should I build farms near streams or cottages?

... I would advise to (a.) count your food needs and (b.) consider irrigation chaining.

(a.) You get 2 free for your city centre, and from that point on every citizen is going to cost you 2. If you don't plan your food requirements, you may quickly run out and stagnate the population growth of your city. 'Specialists' - the people on the right-hand side of your city view screen - eat 2 each, but add to the city in other ways, by adding , and/or as well as points - so you will pop Great People from that city sooner.

(b.) The Civil Service technology allows 'irrigation chaining' ... and what that means is that a farm becomes a fresh water source, and you can then connect more farms to 'normal' tiles such as glasslands and plains that couldn't be farmed beforehand, while resourced farms such as Corn farms that might not have been irrigated before can now be irrigated if connected to a fresh water source and give bonus food. If you surround your fresh water with cottages / workshops / watermills etc. then you run the risk of being unable to chain-irrigate because tiles that are not close to a river, lake, etc. can't connect to a fresh water source without knocking down your cottages / workshops / watermills etc. Clear as mud?

The rules for this game are reasonably complex, but by spending time getting to grasp them, you will hopefully be rewarded handsomely! Best of luck!

 

[Captain Pugwash]

Play difficulty level Chieftain until you get used to the game.

 

[Octavia]

That's a fantastic guide, thank you - I will read and learn!

 

[cabert]

there is a lot to read in the war academy, but remember:
cIV is a real strategy game! You need to use your head, not to wear a headset with microphone, but to actually think!

Those guides are good, but you really need to adapt to the map you have, to give yourself goals and seek the way to achieve them.

In doubt, the best early goal is to capture a neighbouring capital.
If you play at a low enough level, you just need a handful of axes to destroy a whole empire.

 

[Storminator]

You're taking 3 cities and finding your army and your finances stretched thin, right? These are related. Your city maintanance cost increases as your number of cities increases. This cost is applied to each city, so you get penalized twice for having too many cities.

Most of those cities you capture aren't worth it. Burn them to the ground. This will keep your city maintanance low, and you won't have to leave any defenders behind. You might be able to squeeze out one more city attack too.

And if you're getting Code of Laws and always build the Oracle, try timing the Oracle build until 1 turn after you get CoL, so you can get Civil Service with the free tech. It's pretty easy on lower difficulty levels.

PS