Why my Lets plays are so bad?

[norman1994civ5]

My Civilization 5 Lets plays are soooooooo bad. I want you to watch a couple parts of them and tell me why they are so bad. here are a couple links to them.

Civ 5 lets play with England:https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL79BD04C58AE69639&feature=view_all

Civ 5 Gods and Kings Lets play with Byzantine:https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3B9494486D73C50A&feature=view_all

I want you to flip through a couple of them and tell me in these comments or in the comments on the youtube why my lets plays are so bad. You can be negative. And don't worry about me. I have a thick skin. Nothing will hurt my feelings. Maybe I will learn a few things from your negative comments.

 

[kamikazees]

I watched your first English LP video and will provide some comments. Let me say first that what I saw was not "bad," although there is room for improvement. I can tell you are a new player but it is clear you are thinking through your moves (very good!)... even if some of them can be improved. So here is what I suggest:

First, you chose England for an archipelago map. It was obvious that early sailing was on your mind, as it should be. In fact, an early trireme on this kind of map is just about essential.

But let's talk about your initial start. You had a coastal start with 2 deer, with 2 whale and a fish nearby in the water, hills all around and gold and grassland in the north. Quite frankly, the start was amazing. You knew you wanted a hill start, but you failed to see your settler was already on a hill. Not only that, it was on a hill/river, which is widely regarded as a superb city location. Then you moved the settler SW to another hill, away from the grassland (food) and gold (luxury resource).

Which brings me to the next point. You chose to research mining. Why? Your initial priority should have been food, not mining, especially since you moved your settler away from the 1 thing you would want to mine, the gold!

Instead of mining, you should have chosen Pottery to build a granary, which would have given +1 food to both deer, then Animal Husbandry -> Trapping to be able to make camps on the deer and gain +1 production on them. Or, you could have gone Pottery -> Sailing to get a granary, and work boats for the whales, and a trireme, then go to AH and Trapping. AH would also have revealed whether you had horses, which you could develop for more production, or sell to an AI (once you meet with the trireme hopefully).

You could have delayed Trapping if you wanted to go with Sailing and get a work boat for the whales, then a settler for an early second city (I might have done that). No sense buildng a granary if you are going to build an early settler. But, there were many better choices than mining.

Once you have that core, then you can go mining to get more production from the hills. You could insert archery anywhere in there if barbs are becoming a problem. In any event, check out your terrain more to decide what you want to research.

So you built a worker instead of a scout. That was probably a good move. When the worker was finished, though, he had nothing to do... that was a research problem.

Your chosen city location was not too much worse. You gained access to some more water tiles. Because of that, you should prioritize building a lighthouse (or the Great Lighthouse) in that city. Remember, on this map, your start should have had 3 priorities: (1) growth (either by food or a second city, or both), (2) find the other players, and (3) sell resources to them.

 

[norman1994civ5]

Remember, on this map, your start should have had 3 priorities: (1) growth (either by food or a second city, or both), (2) find the other players, and (3) sell resources to them.

Thanks for the advice Kamikazee. It was very helpful. See if I did a better start on my first episode in the Bysantine lets play. and yes i am new to civ 5 just got it this summer.

 

[kamikazees]

No problem. I have now watched your last Elizabeth video and the first 2 Byz videos. I enjoy your commentary and think you will quickly get very good at this game. Now to my thoughts:

Elizabeth: Okay, so you went for a domination victory and actually got Moscow. Great job! But you got stuck at Gao and were eventually broken... why?

The answer is simple: growth. You didn't prioritize growth. Look at your capitol: 8 pop. Now look at Gao: 16. Even St. Petersburg had 11. Growth is critical because more pop = more tiles worked, and even better, more science. Your science at T219 was 60... it should have been about 4x that, or more. You were just starting to build a university in London...way too late. Did you build the National College?

You got behind on science, then tried for an ill-fated attack against Gao with a few pikes, catapults and a trireme... there was nowhere for the catapults to set up to fire on Tombuctu (even if they had gotten close enough to the city), the lead pike was left out in the open and even if you had wiped his army and taken Tombuctu (22 defense), Gao had a 36 city defense... so how high was the attack of your best unit? 13?

And across the world Catherine attacks you with Longswordsman and Crossbows, which are medieval/renaissance units. You're defending with... spearmen and an archer, ancient units... she's 2-3 eras ahead.... ahem, science.

Byz: I like your initial thinking here. You want to found a religion: great initial strategy for Byz. So here's my thought about the rest of your strategy:

Victory condition. You comment you will probably go for a "cultural or science" victory. Byz can do either, but each requires an entirely different kind of play. They are opposite victory types. Think about the social policies: piety and rationalism. You can't have both. Some victory conditions can be switched to others (science start, then domination, for example), but not these two.

Opening. You opened with a monument. I normally build a scout -> worker, but that's okay. You got your worker from Liberty... why did you pick Liberty? Liberty is for founding lots of cities... were you going to do that? Probably not for a cultural victory, maybe for a science victory though. Still, you need to found 5+ cities for Liberty to be a better choice than tradition. Liberty can also be good for Byz to found a bunch of cities with Shrines/Temples for faith. Were you planning on doing that?

Tech. Pottery was an excellent first choice. From there, you should have gone Calendar, then Sailing (develop luxuries, sell exess to Dido!). You went mining... your worker came out, again, with nothing to do.

Religion. This map was a great start for Byz. I hope you took Desert Folklore as your pantheon.

You are doing better. Keep it up!

 

[norman1994civ5]

. This map was a great start for Byz. I hope you took Desert Folklore as your pantheon.

You are doing better. Keep it up!

Thanks for the nice comments and encouragement Kamikazee.

I now have my fourth episode of the Byzantine lets play here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izs4dcNy1TA&feature=iv&annotation_id=annotation_301014

Check it out. I think I am doing a little better. I will try to take your advice while I continue the lets play. I am just a little confused about what I should do after I build my second city. I just built it and there is now a ton of good places to build my third one at. Should I try to take over The Ethiopians that are next to me or should I just find another place to settle? What do you think?

 

[kamikazees]

I've watched the 3rd and 4th videos now. You've got 2 workers and 2 cities at T50, which is not a bad thing.

The main problem I see right now is that you are not trading with the AIs. You have a ton of wine. Sell it! You might even be able to get away with selling a pearl or incense, if your happiness will allow it. You've already met Dido, Austria and Ethiopia. All of them have money. Get it.

Use that money to buy another settler, or worker, or building (granary or library), depending on what your goals are... and what are your goals? If you bought a settler, you could get the settler from liberty and found 2 more cities very quickly, bringing your total to 4. You are kind of cramped for space though.

Here are a couple other things I saw: (1) you had your worker farm a desert tile. that was a waste (+1 food on a nothing tile), should have had him improve the wine instead. (2) you are building roads too early. If your cities do not have enough pop, then a road between them will cost more money than it generates. Wait until they are 3-4 pop a piece unless you really need the road. (3) you chose festivals as your pantheon. Not a bad choice, but keep in mind you have to actually work the tile to get the culture/faith, and those tiles do not have much food you need a granary or the hanging gardens to off-set that. (4) you are researching trapping... why? I didn't see any trapping resources nearby. Get writing instead and start working on archers/libraries.

Now for Ethiopia. Like Byz, Ethiopia is a religious civ. In fact, he's faster at getting a religion than you (although yours can be stronger). If you do not deal with him early, he will found a religion, probably faster than you, and he will probably also enhance it faster. The pressure will start spreading. If he takes religious texts or iterant preachers, you will have big headache as it spreads through the continent.

Three ways to handle it. (1) Do nothing, hoping that your religion will spread faster (not a good choice); (2) You could get into a religious war with him, spamming missionaries and inquisitors in hopes that your religion will win more cities and more pressure. Or (3) war. If you chose (3), there are two CSs between your borders. Try to ally one or both of them (quests). I might try to settle near him and provoke him into a war. You could probably take his capitol with a warrior/scout and 4-5 composite bowman...

 

[norman1994civ5]

I've watched the 3rd and 4th videos now. You've got 2 workers and 2 cities at T50, which is not a bad thing.

Thanks for all the help it was very useful. hope you enjoyed them. Im trying to get better at commentating but I probly need more help on my game. The only problem is I accidentally deleted my byz game by quick saving another game that I was playing and over writing my byz one. I didn't know that could happen oops. I won't be using the quick save from now one. But I will still be continuing the series any how. I will start over with alll of the settings the same. including using the biz. Hopefully this time I can start out a little better with the tips that you have told me. Thanks.

 

[Soulzityr]

I am new to CiV and just reading these comments has taught me a lot as well

 

[Maxym]

I would recommend playing a couple of GOTMs posted in Game of the Month forum of Civ 5. You can then read other peoples descriptions of their games and see ways you can improve. And don't get discouraged by leaders finish times you are not trying to beat them just learn N get better. At least that's how I try to approach it. I am not trying to best Dave or tommynt but Tabarnak who Is a better player but within my abilities to play at his level if I am playing well.