I was the most active last month, but besides indicating that I wasted too much time playing this game, it was also a result of playing many Duel, Quick and/or Settler games. I thought I would impart what I have learned this last month for the amusement of the veteran players and maybe to help some others who like me are still struggling with this game. I can play pretty comfortably at the Prince level, but when I move to Monarch I seem to hit a wall. I am hoping that what I learn playing in HOF games will help me move up a level in difficulty.
1. Domination games
I tend to be a peaceful expansionist, getting into wars only when someone declares them on me. So I'm concentrating on the Domination and Conquest games to improve my war skills. But then I was surprised that on the Duel maps, no fighting was required. It was all about quick settler production and expanding your boundries. I realized how important Creative leaders are to that initial border expansion.
2. Conquest games
At the Duel and Tiny map levels and easier dificulty levels, these tend to depend on lucky goodie huts. I learned how to use my faster moving Settler to explore the map for huts and my opponent's location so my Warrior could move straight to the Enemy. I was also confused when reviewing the high score games and how they would conquer instead of destroy cities. Everytime I would take a city it would be razed. I know it sounds stupid, but I finally "discovered" the "No City Razing" option.
3. Changing the rules and Quick play.
Like many peaceful tending players, I played by the standard rules and prefered Epic or Marathon speeds. But now, with a specific goal in mind, I find myself looking at all the options (eg. no city razing, or no or raging barbarians), and trying to figure out which ones will result in the quickest win or higher score. In other words I am starting to look at Civ IV more as a game (instead of a simulation), and am more willing to change the rules of the game. I see Normal and Quick games now as another kind of rule change. The game is different, not worse, played at these speeds. It is interesting to play games at all the speeds, noticing how the strategy needs to change. Also I am using the Quick speeds, and smaller maps to explore different strategies.
4. The space race
I played a few space race games, and I think my technique has improved greatly. My first space race game was Duel Quick Settler and I was very dissapointed. My finish was way behind the others mostly because my poor tech choices and misunderstanding of the rules. For example I rushed a Great Engineer over to finish the Apollo Program and discovered that a Program is not a Wonder
.
Looking over the HOF I saw that there were only 5 entries on the Tiny Settler Space Race Quick game list, so no matter how badly I did, I would at least get on the table
. Learning from my first game I did OK, but thought I could do better. Realizing now that a Space Race game is a tech discovery game, I made a list of the important techs, prioritized them and had the list available during the game to remind me of my goals. I did better with a finish only 5 years behind the leader. I decided to move back to the Duel map to see if I did better there. I picked an easier speed and surprised myself with a #1 finish in a Duel Settler Space Race Epic game. One of my goals this month is to try for a good finish at the other speeds.
5. A Diplo game
Since I had finished the Space Race, I thought a Diplo game would be easy as both are tech race games. But I was suprised at the narrower focus of the path towards Mass Media and how sometimes the direct path wasn't the quickest. For example studying Education and then Liberalism to get a free Radio discovery was faster than going after Radio directly. I leaned how to get the best use of the AI's. At this level they will not attack unless attacked, so I would trade with them for every tech possible, and when I got them all, give them every tech I had so they might be able to help me with another one later. I also discovered how to "direct" my great people into which tech they would discover for me. If you would start studying a tech that a Great Person could discover, he would work on that one. For example suppose you have a Great Artist and want to rush Music, but he insists on discovering Drama. If you change your tech study over to Music he will then rush Music (at least this is how I think it works).
6. Chopping trees
The importance of Bronze Working and forest clearing was made clear to me. In the Dominiation games, my workers would be chopping down every forest to rush the settler production. In the Space race, I would chop down forests that were in my border but outside any city fat cross to rush the Apollo program and all the ship parts. Once I even chopped down a forest in the fat cross that had a lumbermill and railroad on it and it saved me a turn in producing my last ship part.
So now what?
I was surprised that I got a few games on some score lists as I never tried for a good score but was only interested in a fast game. I would like to try a Time game or two but need to research what exactly makes a good score. Is it more important to build culture, wonders, discover techs or just have more people. If anyone has a link to an old thread that discusses this I would appreciate it.
Then after learning how to score high on a Time game, go after a few more Score games. I guess this adds time to the score equation, and includes decisions like, is it more important to add more population and wait a few turns before finishing, or will finishing now result in a higher score?
I was surprised to see a game of mine on a Cultural Victory list. It happened a long time ago before I gave up playing the game for over a year. I need to rediscover how to achieve and score well on a Cultural game.
Most of my focus this month was on Settler games. I hope to change that to Warlord level this month, but will still play Settler or Chieftain games to work on strategy and get my name on a few more lists
.
And finally looking over my quattromasters scoring, one of my first long term goals will be to get every score over 10.
1. Domination games
I tend to be a peaceful expansionist, getting into wars only when someone declares them on me. So I'm concentrating on the Domination and Conquest games to improve my war skills. But then I was surprised that on the Duel maps, no fighting was required. It was all about quick settler production and expanding your boundries. I realized how important Creative leaders are to that initial border expansion.
2. Conquest games
At the Duel and Tiny map levels and easier dificulty levels, these tend to depend on lucky goodie huts. I learned how to use my faster moving Settler to explore the map for huts and my opponent's location so my Warrior could move straight to the Enemy. I was also confused when reviewing the high score games and how they would conquer instead of destroy cities. Everytime I would take a city it would be razed. I know it sounds stupid, but I finally "discovered" the "No City Razing" option.
3. Changing the rules and Quick play.
Like many peaceful tending players, I played by the standard rules and prefered Epic or Marathon speeds. But now, with a specific goal in mind, I find myself looking at all the options (eg. no city razing, or no or raging barbarians), and trying to figure out which ones will result in the quickest win or higher score. In other words I am starting to look at Civ IV more as a game (instead of a simulation), and am more willing to change the rules of the game. I see Normal and Quick games now as another kind of rule change. The game is different, not worse, played at these speeds. It is interesting to play games at all the speeds, noticing how the strategy needs to change. Also I am using the Quick speeds, and smaller maps to explore different strategies.
4. The space race
I played a few space race games, and I think my technique has improved greatly. My first space race game was Duel Quick Settler and I was very dissapointed. My finish was way behind the others mostly because my poor tech choices and misunderstanding of the rules. For example I rushed a Great Engineer over to finish the Apollo Program and discovered that a Program is not a Wonder
.Looking over the HOF I saw that there were only 5 entries on the Tiny Settler Space Race Quick game list, so no matter how badly I did, I would at least get on the table
. Learning from my first game I did OK, but thought I could do better. Realizing now that a Space Race game is a tech discovery game, I made a list of the important techs, prioritized them and had the list available during the game to remind me of my goals. I did better with a finish only 5 years behind the leader. I decided to move back to the Duel map to see if I did better there. I picked an easier speed and surprised myself with a #1 finish in a Duel Settler Space Race Epic game. One of my goals this month is to try for a good finish at the other speeds.5. A Diplo game
Since I had finished the Space Race, I thought a Diplo game would be easy as both are tech race games. But I was suprised at the narrower focus of the path towards Mass Media and how sometimes the direct path wasn't the quickest. For example studying Education and then Liberalism to get a free Radio discovery was faster than going after Radio directly. I leaned how to get the best use of the AI's. At this level they will not attack unless attacked, so I would trade with them for every tech possible, and when I got them all, give them every tech I had so they might be able to help me with another one later. I also discovered how to "direct" my great people into which tech they would discover for me. If you would start studying a tech that a Great Person could discover, he would work on that one. For example suppose you have a Great Artist and want to rush Music, but he insists on discovering Drama. If you change your tech study over to Music he will then rush Music (at least this is how I think it works).
6. Chopping trees
The importance of Bronze Working and forest clearing was made clear to me. In the Dominiation games, my workers would be chopping down every forest to rush the settler production. In the Space race, I would chop down forests that were in my border but outside any city fat cross to rush the Apollo program and all the ship parts. Once I even chopped down a forest in the fat cross that had a lumbermill and railroad on it and it saved me a turn in producing my last ship part.
So now what?
I was surprised that I got a few games on some score lists as I never tried for a good score but was only interested in a fast game. I would like to try a Time game or two but need to research what exactly makes a good score. Is it more important to build culture, wonders, discover techs or just have more people. If anyone has a link to an old thread that discusses this I would appreciate it.
Then after learning how to score high on a Time game, go after a few more Score games. I guess this adds time to the score equation, and includes decisions like, is it more important to add more population and wait a few turns before finishing, or will finishing now result in a higher score?
I was surprised to see a game of mine on a Cultural Victory list. It happened a long time ago before I gave up playing the game for over a year. I need to rediscover how to achieve and score well on a Cultural game.
Most of my focus this month was on Settler games. I hope to change that to Warlord level this month, but will still play Settler or Chieftain games to work on strategy and get my name on a few more lists
.And finally looking over my quattromasters scoring, one of my first long term goals will be to get every score over 10.
I found that while I took a hit going back to Free Market, founding a new Corp and spreading it around quickly made up any difference. Now its 1970 or so, I've founded 3 corps and am making a good profit at 90% research. Even with all the mistakes I've made while I've experimented in this game, it looks like I might have a good score. BTS might be the way to go for Time victories, at least at the easier levels.
