What Next? Attack? Expand? Build?

[Bleser]

Hello Civ Vers,

I'm in my second game of Civ V and am at a point where I'm not sure what I should do next.

Civ: England
Difficulty: King
Speed: Epic
Map Type: Archipelago
Civs: 10
City-States: 16
Resources: Sparse (I'm now realizing this is not only fewer map locations but I think lowers the # of resources per tile; i.e. hooking up an iron only gives you one iron unit?? or is this because I'm on King difficulty?)
Current Time: About 50 BC
Happiness: +15
Income: +7
Iron: 0 (used my one available with one catapult!)
Horses: 0 (don't have any at all)

I've met about half the world and am starting to form relationships with the Civs, and only one of them is a PITA (Siam) and close to me. Everyone else is decently far away or I have not met. I'm doing well, three cities founded, about to have another Settler. I could fit one more city on my island but it would be decently far away from my capital (does this matter anymore??) and not gain me any new luxuries.

1. How do I decide what to do next - should I settle more cities to try and grab more iron resources that are somewhat close by on another island (currently only have one which only allows me to build one catapult)?

2. Should I attack Siam since he's pathetic and "HOSTILE" towards me and has luxury bonuses I could use? This is tough because obviously more cities means more unhappiness but then again the new luxuries help offset that. I guess I could raze all but his capital city (he has four total cities).

3. Should I just peacefully keep settling cities on new islands and try to grab as much land as possible, regardless of how far away they are?

It's tough because in Civ IV I usually just fell in the trap of "attack attack attack" and every game ended in blood. I don't want every Civ V game to end in me being a warmongeror but I'm not sure how to pick a path to victory at this point. I feel that taking out Siam would gain me enough bonuses to justify it but I don't want to stagnate my growth.

Thoughts? Sorry for no screen shot - was rushed this morning and didn't have time to grab one.

*EDIT* - Screen Shot Added! Advise away!

 

[Baleur]

Expand expand expand! Use those 15 happiness on cities
And well, if you expect the city to grow big, place it 6 hexes away from the closest city (since each city can use plots 3 hexes away, that way they dont have to "share" plots).
Or just place some a bit closer if its on the coast or something.

Personally i'd just settle new islands until my happiness is at 5 or something.
Though i usually play to get land and big borders so that might be why
I NEVER waged war in Civ4, haha, so other ppl might disagree with me, and rather suggest that you should attack and conquer, which will prolly gain you bigger rewards (developed cities, land, etc)

 

[Bleser]

Expand expand expand! Use those 15 happiness on cities
And well, if you expect the city to grow big, place it 6 hexes away from the closest city (since each city can use plots 3 hexes away, that way they dont have to "share" plots).
Or just place some a bit closer if its on the coast or something.

Personally i'd just settle new islands until my happiness is at 5 or something.
Though i usually play to get land and big borders so that might be why
I NEVER waged war in Civ4, haha, so other ppl might disagree with me, and rather suggest that you should attack and conquer, which will prolly gain you bigger rewards (developed cities, land, etc)

Thanks for the tips!

Here's my beef with the happiness thing:

If I expand as you suggest, I can probably only settle one, MAYBE two more cities that will grow to about a size 5 each before hitting the happiness cap - and then what? I've acquired no new luxuries and stunted growth of all my other cities.

So that is why I'm stuck. I don't want to attack for no reason, but if I can acquire cities with luxuries attached from a nearby neighbor I think that's the better option. But those cities can suck since they have an inevitable courthouse cost due to getting rid of the unhappiness from conquering. I guess I can just burn them all to the ground and just take the capital, but I would think that would seriously hurt my relations with other civs.

Side note: How do you view what buildings are already in a puppet city without annexing the puppet city??

 

[Mahatmajon]

But if you expand to a new luxury the city can grow to a size 5 "for free".

If you expand to a luxury you already have you can trade the excess to an AI for a luxury you don't have.

You need a city with a luxury and horse and/or iron ASAP - preferably iron.

 

[cracked]

Thanks for the tips!

Here's my beef with the happiness thing:

If I expand as you suggest, I can probably only settle one, MAYBE two more cities that will grow to about a size 5 each before hitting the happiness cap - and then what? I've acquired no new luxuries and stunted growth of all my other cities.

So that is why I'm stuck. I don't want to attack for no reason, but if I can acquire cities with luxuries attached from a nearby neighbor I think that's the better option. But those cities can suck since they have an inevitable courthouse cost due to getting rid of the unhappiness from conquering. I guess I can just burn them all to the ground and just take the capital, but I would think that would seriously hurt my relations with other civs.

Side note: How do you view what buildings are already in a puppet city without annexing the puppet city??

The trick seems to be to expand according to your strategic requirements.

Just because you're in lots of space, doesn't mean you have to fill it straight off.

If you're looking to rush early, you're better off building fewer cities and warriors to start with and bee-lining horsemen (if you have horses), capturing your opponents cities then puppet state them as soon as you have a couple of horsemen. Effective op to emperor level.

If you believe that an early rush would not favour you, then you may choose to expand quickly by about three cities using the liberty sp but choose sites that help you secure luxury items. Don't try to fill the space you're given though. Ensure you build colosseums and markets as you grow while building plenty of archery/mounted units: this strikes me as the trickiest to pull off. Look for opportunites to limit your opponents expansion. (i.e. watch for civs attacking city states or cities built in stupid locations).

If you're looking for a culture win, you may choose to expand more slowly, build a token defensive force to deal with barbs and discourage rivals atacking, then concentrate on stonehenge before expanding, at a rate of one every 50 turns. Check out the stories forum: this will give you a very good idea of what works and what doesn't (particularly the you tube videos).

Civ v actively encourages you to build up rather than spread out and expand via conquests, turning occupied cities into puppets. It does not encourage settler rexing. Hope this helps.

 

[taltamir]

conquer conquer conquer.
puppets might be inefficient in what they produce, and annexed have that annoying -5 money from a courthouse (annex RARELY)... but conquering doesn't only give you a city, it also DEPRIVES the enemy from having a city.

 

[SuperJay]

Attack Siam immediately and get them off your turf. Ramamajaemakang is obnoxious and demanding and must be destroyed.

(I'm only half-joking.)

And yeah, don't let unhappiness slow your expansion. Chances are, you'll have at least one or two city sites that will grant you access to additional luxuries.

 

[taltamir]

btw... you have MET half the world already?
You should be conquering people AS YOU MEET THEM... I sometimes build enough momentum to literally sweep through the fog of war, declare war and conquer ANYTHING I discover.

 

[Bleser]

Thanks for the recommendations everyone!

I have also noticed Siam being a PITA (been in both of my games thus far). He'll constantly tell you your military is weak and become HOSTILE at first chance.

Not that much of a warmongeror myself (meet and pillage) but we'll see how it goes.

We'll see what happens tonight. Will try to post screen shots as well. Also, how are you guys taking screen shots? Fraps or similar?

 

[taltamir]

I don't believe in war... I believe in peace. There is absolute peace in the world once I attack and conquer everyone else.

 

[AtriumComplex]

I don't believe in war... I believe in peace. There is absolute peace in the world once I attack and conquer everyone else.

Good to see I'm not the only one who tries to justify civ-war crimes.

 

[Bleser]

Bump for screen shot addition!

 

[taltamir]

Good to see I'm not the only one who tries to justify civ-war crimes.

war is not, in of itself, a war crime .

 

[Bleser]

So last night I attacked. I took the NW city closest to my borders and he sued for peace twice; the second time I accepted as he offered gold, gpt, all his luxuries, etc. Thankfully he didn't also offer me all of his remaining cities (bug from original build) - the offering was worth it but not overboard, much better. I accepted, and ten turns later after the treaty was over I attacked again and took his capital. Then I went to bed. Will finish the pillaging tonight!