Which one is the most important to you?

[Mauritania]

Production because it's the only way you'll ever get any decent money, culture and military.

 

[BrantleyL1]

Production preceeds everything, so It almost goes without saying....

I tend to concentrate on military. Maybe not for offense at first, but those damn barbs. Build some axemen and you are safe for a while.

I used to worry about money, but don't as much. I'm happy to run a small surpluss. Later, though, it comes in real handy. Nothing like paying to upgrade when you are under attack. Those old axemen and macemen just don't cut the mustard against invading riflemen.

 

[salty mud]

Production. Without it, things take for ages to build, and you will lag severly in games.

 

[Papa Smurf]

money>military>production> everything else

need money for military

 

[ddog14]

I'd go with production, but only as a prerequisite for a strong military. I use military power to make people afraid to declare war on me as I fight smaller civs for resources and land. However, without good production, a military is generally going to be smaller than is necessary, not to mention being an aggressor means you must be powerful at all times, or else you will be invaded.

 

[Allenbird]

Oddly enough my favorite one to acquire is culture. I just enjoy creating culture and making my borders expand. To me it's one of the most exciting parts of the game.

 

[Quintillus]

Other: Technology. By commerce or by war, technology is #1.

Money of the other four, but then again it doesn't help much without production. And it's hard to get lots of production without food. And to get food, you often need larger borders by way of culture. But to defend that territory you need a military.

Technology isn't as powerful in Civ4 as in CivIII, though. Neither is commerce, for that matter, with upgrades being so expensive.

 

[KMadCandy]

Other: Fun. which totally depends on my mood. the style of game that will be most fun for me that day can vary wildly depending on my mood. somebody pissed me off lately? i'm gonna want to be a warmonger! i don't have much time but i want to play, not do anything supposedly productive? OCC, so there it's probably more production than the others listed, but a very big emphasis on resources that are visible on turn 0 ... if i don't see health at the start, that map ain't gonna work out.

just, you know, keeping up my role as the queen of oddball situational answers.

 

[King Flevance]

Other - Tech. Although production brings up a very close 2nd, if not tied for 1st.

 

[Jerrymander]

Production. It's not on the same plane as the other three items.

 

[fed1943]

Food, first.

No food means, no grow,no production, no commerce, no military, no game.

Best regards,

 

[ngraner42]

Food is king.

 

[Churchill's Hat]

money and food, i'd say-- without very much of either you'd be too low pop or too low technologically and would be playing catch up the entire game. However, I chose money because food is more abundant.

 

[Papa Smurf]

Food wasnt one of the choices
duh of course u need food

Other: Technology. By commerce or by war, technology is #1.

good point Quintillus
but..

 

[Papa Smurf]

sry hit enter by mistake

but..

u need money for science,

but.. u need food to grow to have more money

but.. u need production to build money maker buildings like market and bank and a military

but.. u need techs to hav a more adv army

but.. u need money to hav a big army

but.. u need food to hav more money

ok i think u get it, u need a balance between all
no one thing is better then the other ( exept culture )
this is a stupid argument thats not goin anywhere

BALANCE OF POWER

 

[jkp1187]

Homer Simpson put it best....

Money can be exchanged for goods and services.