Why is Civ 4 so difficult??

[Fish Man]

You have some good advice from the other posters. However, in addition to all that, make sure Civ 5 bad habits don't carry over.

DON'T:
-Found 4 cities, sit on them all game, and expect to turtle win
-Expand too quickly either, because you'll cripple your economy and piss off neighbors
-Ignore OK or good city spots because they don't seem to be good according to V logic - this takes a while to get used to, but you have to realize a food, lux, or strategic resource and some hills and fresh water means it's a-ok to settle even though it seems like the city won't grow past pop 10 (it won't need to for a while) or there's overlop
-Spam archery units because ranged attacks are OP (there are no more ranged attacks in IV lol)
-Build 4-5 archers and think that's sufficient defense
-Put a farm on every tile
-Think growspamming cities will win you games, because food per turn isn't always everything
-Neglect commerce, because arguably the most useless resource in V can now be put in just about anything and is by far the most important
-Be afraid to use slavery

DO:
-Aim to have at least 8 cities by mid-game (Renaissance)
-Play to the advantage of your traits
-Axe rush if you have copper, high production, and a non-protective neighbor too busy building Stonehenge
-Build Oracle if you have marble or are IND (at least in lower difficulties) and get code of laws or currency as free tech
-Settle near gems/gold/silver, the early extra commerce is insane
-Get currency, code of laws, and civil service quickly for markets, courthouses, nonriver farms/bureaucracy
-Casually beeline liberalism for free tech, though don't rush it too much
-Be aware of the important "breakout" techs that give you vital bonuses to military or commerce - etc. currency, guilds, banking, printing press, economics for $$$, constitution for representation, education for universities, BW for axerushing or just defense, machinery and CS for maces, construction for cats, military tradition for cuirassers, rifling for rifles, steel for cannons, assembly line for infantry and factories, etc...
-Remember that militaries should be 5-10 times LARGER than in V to be adequate, because lowered production costs and more cities mean if you don't, Shaka will come and take your stuff
-Remember that resources are MUCH more powerful than in V (especially early game wet corn, 6f 1c)
-Remember cultural victory is very different
-Remember science victory takes far longer and needs ~15 parts built with spaceship travel time as well
-Remember to connect your cities and resources

Speaking for myself, I know V players are crazy for turn milestones, so here are some:
-About 1-100 AD for entering medieval era
-About 1000 AD for entering Renaissance era
-About 1500 AD for industrial

Good luck, have fun, and happy civving!

 

[Robo-Star]

-Be aware of the important "breakout" techs that give you vital bonuses to military or commerce - etc. currency, guilds, banking, printing press, economics for $$$, constitution for representation, education for universities, BW for axerushing or just defense, machinery and CS for maces, construction for cats, military tradition for cuirassers, rifling for rifles, steel for cannons, assembly line for infantry and factories, etc...

And of the techs that are mostly one-hit Wonders i.e. Divine Right.
-

-Remember that militaries should be 5-10 times LARGER than in V to be adequate, because lowered production costs and more cities mean if you don't, Shaka will come and take your stuff

And that they can stack.
-

 

[Jomackson]

1st, Axemen get bonuses against melee so thinking your warriors would be fine was not true. Plus Archers may make the best era based defense, but you have to build enough when you cannot build counter units of your own.
2nd, happiness applies to an individual city, not to a national bank of it. When you have too many population and not anything to make them gruntled, they become disgruntled. You should use the option in the city menu to do population control. Alos slavery is by default not a great civic, as sacrificing pop makes the people angry, and if you were at the precipice of a city becoming unhappy, now they are.
3rd, maintenance is a big step needed to be understood the most, because if you have too many units, it costs too much. If you build a 2nd city, it needs to be close to the first because distance from the capital also cost money, then you want to be sure a connection is active else by default it will have higher cost. When you can, build your start so each city connects by river, it makes you able to not need roads for longer as well as making a defensive bonus if your enemies only attack option is to cross it. You also need to build where the money is, so rivers, oceans, or if none are near you get pottery first and build some cottages. Make it a #1 priority to get luxuries that do not require long tech tree lines to get, focusing on mining or masonry tech luxuries.

Hope this helps.

 

[Tatran]

Also slavery is by default not a great civic,

It's the best civic, because it's the only way to rush items in the first part of the game and it also generates gold from overflow.
In most games I mainly use slavery + a granary to rush the 2 most important items in the game, settlers + workers. Overflow goes into a wonder, building, another settler or worker, but
almost never into a unit. I prefer chops to build a granary. That's why I consider Expansive one of the strongest traits.

 

[Robo-Star]

Alos slavery is by default not a great civic, as sacrificing pop makes the people angry, and if you were at the precipice of a city becoming unhappy, now they are.

Except sacrificing pop also lowers unhappiness from overcrowding...

 

[lymond]

. Alos slavery is by default not a great civic, as sacrificing pop makes the people angry, and if you were at the precipice of a city becoming unhappy, now they are..

Slavery is the single most powerful civic in the game and the key to success for all scenarios and levels. Sorry, but this bit of advice is simply very very bad.

 

[Jomackson]

I mean not all of the player base wants to use it, but it poses situational gains. If you have population to lose and enough happiness to sooth the masses sure, but not everyone actually wants to use it for being a d-bag.

 

[Jomackson]

Forgive me for not liking sacrificing massive amounts of people for progress.

 

[Robo-Star]

I mean not all of the player base wants to use it, but it poses situational gains. If you have population to lose and enough happiness to sooth the masses sure, but not everyone actually wants to use it for being a d-bag.

Not everyone who wants to use it is actually being a d-bag; the fact remains, its gains are far from situational.

 

[Imperator Knoedel]

Slavery is the single most overpowered civic in the game. You would have to play on some very obscure mapscript that has like zero food resources anywhere for it to not be worth running.

 

[Jomackson]

I tend to play the game in a role play sense, so unless I am someone who would do that, I don't. I mean if I was rping Abe it would be a break in character to use it. I guess people do not play like they are some sort of leader who cares about their people?

 

[Fippy]

Well it's more than fine to roleplay (i do that too in some games), but need to differ between that and general advice ofc.
Slavery is probably the most important reason for differences in player skill, strength..can call that what you like
It's so important that peoples who are not using it much will be far behind those who do (and learned about all those tricks).

 

[Archon_Wing]

I go out of slavery quick to run caste system! Wait, that's oppressive too ;;

Anyhow, it's fine to play the way you want, but giving advice is another story. For example, I like to pursue religion whenever possible, but I have to say it's really not that great most of the time. So I don't tell people to do it unless they're interested in it.

[Then again, the AP is insanely overpowered....]

 

[elmurcis]

Roleplay is nice... I don't use Nukes for example (too powerful and can be "game changer" if use UN ban AFTER build some stack of missiles - nice thing for quick win same time)
Instead I *love* submarines with G-Missiles for 1st strike - ineffective but "so careful" vs people under bad leader (i'm the best and I will give them freedom )
Or I might build Pyramids but run US from 1st turn (with NTT actually pretty useful civic... atleast in combo with Slavery)
Still "best game mechanic" isn't question in general