Alright boyz, here we go!! Civilization IV first impressions...

[molson]

Originally Posted by Alan T

Those are just some of the early military strategies. I stopped this approach probably over a year ago myself because it started getting boring always doing it that way. I actually don't play as much civ these days, but the great thing of this game is there are endless numbers of ways to run the game and be ok. Just some probably aren't quite as effecient as others is all. If you aren't playing multiplayer or on one of the tougher levels, that shouldn't matter too much though.

That's one reason I've avoided learning too many "strategies" about CIV IV - I really don't want it to become a connect-the-dots kind of experience.

One way to really mix things up is raging barbs. Even if you're lucky enough to get the great wall, you're in no positition to invade anyone until everyone's defenses are pretty good. I'm trying to come up with some other wacky setups that negate the usual step-by-step process.

[chesapeake]

To build a little on what Alan wrote, early rushes for me depend on primarily 2 things -- what military resource I have available; and, do I have a relevant uber unit (UU).

I am playing as the Celts in my current game (random draw), so war is my business. I made an early beeline to ironworking for my UU and took out my closest neighbor, Monty.

I don't find "knowing" the stretegies to be a problem. Each leader and nationality has such pronounced differences that, when factored into the broad variation of terrain you may end up with, that my strategy will differ broadly from game to game.

I am, by nature, a builder. Playing the Boudica of the Celts is a huge change for me. She's a warrior, purely and simply. So my advice to anyone that feels like they've fallen into a Civ rut is to pick a different map or a leader that requires you to play a completely different strategy.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by chesapeake

I am, by nature, a builder. Playing the Boudica of the Celts is a huge change for me. She's a warrior, purely and simply. So my advice to anyone that feels like they've fallen into a Civ rut is to pick a different map or a leader that requires you to play a completely different strategy.

Agreed. Random draw is a great way to be forced into trying out some tactics that you might not otherwise use.

[Buccaneer]

The one thing I forgot to add in my haste was about UU, as ches mentioned. If you have an UU that replaces Axe (like the awesome Vulture), that's all the better and you can dominate early on. But there are other early UU that are very strong which can easily defeat two closest capitals. Prats, Dog and War Chariots come to mind.

The goal is to claim enough territory for 8-9 cities. Think of your first 4 cities (your capital, your second city to get copper/horse, your first and second captured capitals) as "T". If you start off in the middle of a landmass, get the capitals to the right and left (or one side and the bottom/top). If you start on a coast, get the two capitals on the other coast and the bottom (or top). That will prevent two neighboring civs from squeezing you (esp. if one is India) plus it will corner the other civs on your landmass. With 4 (possibly 3) cities well spaced apart, you have the freedom and elbow room to fill in when economy permits.

[Buccaneer]

Here's an example from a game earlier this year

[Buccaneer]

The southern city was a bit far but it was on the coast with some good specials (plus it was the Sumerians, a very dangerous neighbor). The two side cities were very close to the east and west coasts so this got me most of the continent I was on by 1000bc. In looking at my logs, the three cities other than my capital were enemy civ capitals that I captured with Dog Soldiers, one of the few times I got three capitals early on but this setup was designed to be an aggressive game.

[Ajaxab]

I think this point is buried somewhere in this thread, but I'm still baffled at how quickly the AI produces units. I tend to think that if I have war declared on me and I don't have a considerable tech advantage and have 10-15 units stacked in a border city that could come under attack that I'm pretty much conceding that city. It probably isn't unfair, but there sure are times where it feels like it.

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by Ajaxab

I think this point is buried somewhere in this thread, but I'm still baffled at how quickly the AI produces units. I tend to think that if I have war declared on me and I don't have a considerable tech advantage and have 10-15 units stacked in a border city that could come under attack that I'm pretty much conceding that city. It probably isn't unfair, but there sure are times where it feels like it.

There are more ways to protect a city than just have endless numbers of units in them. Obviously it is good to have border cities expanded culture-wise to where it takes enemies more than 1 turn to move in, but at the minimum you need to make sure they can't attack your border cities from their territory, so they can't declare war, move in and attack in the same turn.

Having a good number of troops in border cities is usually good, but the things that help a ton is to mix up some of what you have in there. I find having several artillery (cannons, catapult, etc) there and using them offensively to attack the enemy stack coming for your city helps thin them out a ton. Having calvary type units to flank the enemy's artillery helps a ton as well.. Basically what I learned is the best defense for border cities is to force the enemy to have to move to outside of your city and then you take the war to them. THey can't siege your city if their entire stack is dead or almost dead.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Another question that I just thought of in relation to attacks on your border cities. I'm sure that the AI opponents used the advantage of Open Borders to also scout your cities to determine possible weak spots for attack if they want to do so. As a result, what am I losing if I don't allow open borders so I can keep them at bay? How significant is the loss in other aspects?

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

Another question that I just thought of in relation to attacks on your border cities. I'm sure that the AI opponents used the advantage of Open Borders to also scout your cities to determine possible weak spots for attack if they want to do so. As a result, what am I losing if I don't allow open borders so I can keep them at bay? How significant is the loss in other aspects?

Open borders helps spread your religions or corporations to other civilizations if you are trying to accomplish that. Open borders also helps improve the relationship between the two civilizations slightly. Whether or not that is significant enough for you, depends on your situation in your present game I guess.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by Alan T

Open borders helps spread your religions or corporations to other civilizations if you are trying to accomplish that. Open borders also helps improve the relationship between the two civilizations slightly. Whether or not that is significant enough for you, depends on your situation in your present game I guess.

So my guess is that your religion will still spread if you have closed borders, but it will spread less quickly.

Also, for those of you who do the rush early on to try to take some cities, I assume that it comes at the cost of not founding any of the early religions. Is the advantage that you gain by getting a lot of early cities enough from a science perspective that you can catch up and pick up religions like Christianity, Islam, etc. later in the game? If not, is building markets and banks your only option to keep the money flowing?

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

So my guess is that your religion will still spread if you have closed borders, but it will spread less quickly.

Also, for those of you who do the rush early on to try to take some cities, I assume that it comes at the cost of not founding any of the early religions. Is the advantage that you gain by getting a lot of early cities enough from a science perspective that you can catch up and pick up religions like Christianity, Islam, etc. later in the game? If not, is building markets and banks your only option to keep the money flowing?

I haven't played much in a while, so am a bit rusty, but I think I recall if you have closed borders the religion won't spread to them (unless they get it via a different civilization that you had passed it to that then passed it to them).. but I may remember that piece wrong.

About the early rush question.. usually those that are strong proponents of the rush have this philosophy. Let other civs spend time building religions, shrines and cities. Spend your time building your military so you can then take those from them. Often times if you take out the two closest civs to you, there is at least some possibility that by the time you take their city, it is a holy city for some religion. This chance obviously decreases the more AI opponents that play however.

[sachmo71]

You also can't establish trade routes if you don't have open borders, IIRC.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by sachmo71

You also can't establish trade routes if you don't have open borders, IIRC.

Where can you see this effect? I know that you can use a great merchant to do a big one-time money grab, but I don't completely understand how to measure the trade route effect.

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

Where can you see this effect? I know that you can use a great merchant to do a big one-time money grab, but I don't completely understand how to measure the trade route effect.

If you click on your cities you can see the income it receives from "trade routes". It starts off with just trade routes between your own towns, but as you develop roads, sea commerce, etc.. you will see foreign cities show up there which generate more income. Mercantilism also has the same effect of shutting off all foreign trade routes as well.

[chesapeake]

A couple of other things may help to stop an invasion. How many units you have in border and coastal cities is actually a factor in what the AI's decision-making process. Cities in your interior can get by just fine with just a unit or two. If you do this well enough, your neighbor may not declare war on you in the first place.

Mixed arms in your border cities is important, but you should also consider what units may be coming your way. If your neighbor has no horses, you can skip the pikemen. If your neighbor has a melee UU, you can be darn sure that the stack s/he sends your way will be heavy with them. Add some relevant counters to your border cities.

[chesapeake]

I am pretty sure a religion will not spread to you from a nation with whom you do not ahve open borders or trade routes. It could come through a third party with whom you do have such an agreement.

[Schmidty]

Colonization's out??? I didn't even know that.

I'll have to go out and pick it up.

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by chesapeake

I am pretty sure a religion will not spread to you from a nation with whom you do not ahve open borders or trade routes. It could come through a third party with whom you do have such an agreement.

That is what I was thinking too.. I seem to remember some theocracy/mercantilism strategy that relied on no other religion or corporations spreading.. but I'm a bit rusty/foggy on some of this so said I wasn't sure.. but that seemed to be what I remember too.

[Butter]

Can someone explain corporations to me, or point me to a website that explains them fairly well? It seems like every time I get one that I can build, it costs me production and money, but I am not sure of the benefit. Also, I can't ever seem to send a corporate "missionary" (I forget the term right now) to another country and have them spread the corporation there. How does that work?

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by Butter_of_69

Can someone explain corporations to me, or point me to a website that explains them fairly well? It seems like every time I get one that I can build, it costs me production and money, but I am not sure of the benefit. Also, I can't ever seem to send a corporate "missionary" (I forget the term right now) to another country and have them spread the corporation there. How does that work?

+1

I know that corporations, although they spread much the same as religions, differ drastically from religions. Outside of having a conflict with your neighbor about a 'heathen' religion, there's little downside to the spread of your religion. With corporations, there's a lot of thought that needs to go into how each corporation will effect your civ as a whole. It can cause your civ to thrive or bury it in a big old mess.

[molson]

This game is better than any therapist.

I posted a few months about how I was having a stressful girlfriend situation, so I just decided to got nuts on CIV IV for a while. 5-6 hours later, I felt better. This time, it was big stress at work. So last night, I decide, "it's a CIV IV night", and rip off another 5-6 hours. I felt way better about work afterwards.

And how long as this game been out - 3 years? Best game ever.

As I'm still dealing with something brand new in my latest game. 3 big continents. I own 1, after destroying my Japanese neighbors. The middle one is occupied by 4-5 CIVs who constantly engage in war to a stalemates. The 3rd continent, by the far the biggest, is owned coast to coast by the Summerians, who wiped out their two neighbors very early on.

The Summerians have waged war on me a couple of times and have taken cities, which I've always regained. The last time, I took to the offense, went to their continent, and gained some land. I was surprised to see that they were using outdated units, even though we were basically tied in science.

But then I noticed something - EVERY single time I learned a new tech, they immediately steal it. 5-6 times in a row. I've never seen a civ that agressive with espionage before. I then dedicate 90% of my espionage points to them (but refuse to spend too many resources on gaining more points). They still keep stealings techs. But with their sprawling empire, they don't have the production or cash to develop an army to compare to mine. So I need to strike now, in their heartland, before I'm really ready to, while I have an advantage in military units.

Oh, and I have to go immediately to one of their biggest cities, as they'll win a cultural victory before long if I don't knock one of them out.

Best game ever.

[dolfin]

Man, definitely going to have to make it a Civ IV night now. You got me all geared up.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

So I'm giving the game my first try in a few months while attempting to implement some of the strategies that you all suggested. First off, I believe that I'm using the Aztec leader (special unit is the Jaguar). I started playing at 8:00 PM after my baby went to bed.

My first goal was to get to the tech that had the Swordsman/Jaguar unit. I researched the Wheel first and then researched Iron Working (along with all of its predecessors). Once I had that done, I went to work pumping out Jaguar units. I took the time to create roughly 10 units and massed them in one of my towns. I marked the Greeks as my first target. I was able to take all four of their towns. It wasn't easy though, as I only had 4 of my 10 troops when finished. But the ones I did have left had at least three upgrades each. The other pearl was that I captured the religious center of Hinduism.

I had to move to stabilize the towns I had relatively quickly. The surrounding civs had some troops and it looked like they were checking on my strength. I used a lot of archers to fortify my defenses. I also build Stonehenge in my capital, which helped to settle down the other towns by serving as a monument in all cities. Unfortunately, Justintine I (sp?) had other ideas. He was the largest civ and decided I looked like a good target. While he was bringing in groups of 6-8 units in waves every 10 turns, I was able to hold him off thanks to a weakness in his strategy. He was using lots of mounted troops since his cities were some distance off. As a result, I created a lot of spearmen and held him off after a LONG war. It took a lot of years to steady my civilization and get it running smoothly. One thing that was a lot of help was my relationship with the Incas. We were 'Friendly', so we became a 'technical alliance' where we were swapping techs to expedite our research.

Eventually, I built up my war machine again with Jaguars and Pikemen and turned my attention towards Mensa Musa (sp?). I was a civ with roughly 9-10 cities and was 2nd in Civ scoring out of 4 known civs, while Musa was on the bottom in the Civ scoring. I figured he was a good target for expansion. One thing I noticed that I've done wrong in the past is use mounted units on city assaults. While mounted units are great for picking off stray troops on the move or the occasional weakened unit in the city, they're not good at all for straight assaults. I stuck with Pikemen, Jaguars, Catapults, and a Longbow or two and that mix seemed to work awfully well. It took time, but looking through all of your troops to find the best matchup can really tilt the battle in your favor. It took 200 or so years, but I managed to capture 8 of his cities. Unfortunately, just when I was about to pick off his last three cities, the Russians showed up from another unknown continent and took one of the weak cities (population was 1,900,000). Not only that, but Musa decided to become a vassal state and save his last two cities.

I was PISSED OFF. I was so pissed, that I promptly reorganized my troops and declared war on Musa and Stalin a few turns later. I went after the Russians first as they had a city that was still under unrest, had no fortification percentage, and they didn't have proper supply lines establish to reinforce their 7-8 troops on our continent. I raced through that stack of troops relatively quickly thanks to my newly created cannons and my musketeers. I then focused on Musa's last two cities. I picked off those two cities and suddenly I was a civ with over 20 cities. I quickly switched over to the State Property civic to avoid distance penalties and my population began to flourish financially, allowing me to build up my infrastructure along with cash upgrades of my troops.

After that, I had a long term of peace. My Incan friends and I were 1-2 in the civ score rankings. Justintine I was the only other civ on our continent. I had built in a great army of riflemen and grenediers along with cannons and a mounted troop or two. I had build 4 military academies in my 4 most productive cities, thanks to several great generals. That allowed quick production of troops. I was in a defensive pact with my Incan friends. Justintine I decided that I was getting a bit too big and decided to declare war. The Incans backed out of our deal and refused to fight. The year was 1900 and it was my civ of 23 cities versus the 15 city civ of Justintine I.

I then looked at the alarm clock and realized that it was 1:15 AM and I had to be up to go to work in 4 hours. Saved the game and went to sleep. The mega-battle will have to wait for another night.

[molson]

Good read, post how it turns out.

To end my mini-dynasty from above, I did invade the Summerians, and gained two cities on their continent without much trouble. From there, I decided to declare peace and build up even more so I could take Berlin (their most culturally-rich city, and the biggest threat to a cultural victory for them). While I'm building up, the Chinese, who have conquered the middle continent, declare war. They don't launch a full-scale invasion, but they force me to defend my main continent, which allows the Summerians to catch up to me in troop numbers on their continent. After a while, the Chinese war ends with little damage done to either side.

So now the Chinese and Summerians both lead me in points, though I have a slight tech lead over the Summerians and a large tech lead over the Chinese. So I decide to go after a space victory. But first, I still have to destroy or capture Berlin. I go back down there, but by now, the Summerians are much more powerful. I'm still able to take Berlin, which has about 10 great wonders in it. I have to decide whether to play it safe and destroy it, or try to hold onto it, and risk them recapturing it and getting another shot at a cultural victory. I decide to hold onto it, and I am able to hold the city, even as my other cities on the continent fall back into their hands. Fortunately, my navy is still dominant over theirs, so I'm able to bring in reinforcements via transport.

So now I have peace, and I'm focussing on science and production for the space race. But I know the Chinese will declare war again, so I have to shore up my defenses on my east coast. And the Summerians are a LITTLE too close to me in tech for comfort, and I know if I can just knock out one or two more of their big cities, I probably clinch victory. That's too tempting, so I build up and prepare for another invasion of Summeria. I build up a lot of ICBMs as well, hoping to ravage them before they can build the SDI defense.

It's a brutal nuclear war, that they get the worst of. I send over about 20 nukes and devastate their cities. The only have about 3-4 nukes to send back, and that damage is mitigated by fallout shelters. Even with that disparity, I'm unable to take any more of their cities. But I am able to get peace, and now they're no longer a threat to me in the space race, after that nuclear onslaught.

So now I'm 100% committed to the space race. I build the space elevator with a great enigneer. I build labratories in my best production cities (both speed up spaceship production). Things are moving along well. But during my nuclear war, the Chinese caught up and surpassed me in the space race. It's very, very, close, we're no more than 1 part away from each other throughout the rest of the game.

The Chinese declare war again, but again, the war is limited to naval battles and a couple of tactical nukes launched by missle cruisers (by now everyone has SDI, which limits the impact). I want peace but can't get it. Then the Summerians declare war again, and recover all of their cities that I still had on their continent (including Berlin). They also lob a few more nukes my way, killing a lot of my military. I now have no navy, no airforce, and only a token defense remaining in every city, with some fortifications on the east coast (towards China). I completely give up on the Summerians - if they invade me, I'm toast. But like me, they're too weakened by nuclear war to send any kind of invasion force.

Somehow, I lob over just enough nukes, and build just enough battleships and missle cruisers to get peace from both sides. By now, I'm a DISTANT 3rd in points. The Summerians have just about caught up in the space race, and the Chinese are slightly ahead of me.

Though the Summerians are still behind me, I'm wary of their tendency towards aggressive espionage, and the fact that they could sabotage my spaceship production. So I dedicate 100% of my espionage points to them, and start to actually build intellgience centers, utilize great spies, bump up my espisonage slider to 30% (stuff I never do). That seems to keep them at bay, and it also appears to stop them from stealing my techs the second I obtain them.

For me, it comes down to getting the genetics tech. That tech enables the final spaceship part. I have a city all ready to start building it the second I get the tech. I've the first civ to get it, and go to town. I check the other civs every turn, seeing if they've researched the tech yet. After about 10 turns, I feel pretty safe. The Summerians are unable to steal the tech away. I now have the final 3 spaceship parts building, needing about 15 turns for the win.

And the Summerians declare war AGAIN and launch a boatload of nukes. Fortunately, they don't go after any of my cities are the building spaceship parts (I intentionally build those outside my capital, and outside my largest city, where the nuclear attacks are focussed). Then the Summerians actually invade. So I completely abandon my east coast defenses (leaving me vulnerable to the Chinese), and send EVERYONE to defend my spaceship cities. The Summerians conquer my largest (and first) city, and then another, and then another, coming to the doorstep of one of my spaceship building cities. Since I have a crapload of money from 2 religious centers, and 2 corporations, I'm able to rush-build troops pretty quickly, and by then, I have a pretty solid defense. I also make the unfortunate decision to nuke my former capital, which has a huge Summerian force that could be a threat to me. I also nuke dangerous stacks of Summerian troops in my own territory. Finally, I also nuke naval stacks just off my coast, which destroys the stack, but also a lot of my land. Eventually, my tech advantage allows me to get peace - I offer him Genetics (the last spaceship tech), for peace, and he accepts.

One of my spaceship cities suffered some damage from stray nukes, compromising the production of that final part. And unfortunately, most of my workers died in the nuclear attack on my capital. So I use my financial advantage to rush-build about 20 workers across the continent. They run over and clean up the impacted cities, and I get my spaceship back on track.

And then - I finish the spaceship and launch it. Not sure how much margin I had there, but it had to have been close. I spend the last 20 or so turns while the ship is in the air rushing nukes and military. I nuke my former cities on the continent now controlled by the Summerians again, which allows me to re-take those cities before the game ends (hopefully they'll forgive me on the whole nuking them thing)

It was Noble difficulty, large map, 10 civs, shuffle map, aggrssive AI, raging barbs, marathon speed. I think next time I'll go back to a wackier map.

Wild game - I can't remember having so many mutual nuclear wars - the bombs were just flying everywhere. And I have no doubt that my desperate decision to nuke enemies in my own territory was necessary for victory.

[Passacaglia]

Does anyone know if there's a mod or something that gives you a notification when a city grows a population point? I remember being annoyed by that in Civ2, but here I'd really like to be notified when that happens.

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

Does anyone know if there's a mod or something that gives you a notification when a city grows a population point? I remember being annoyed by that in Civ2, but here I'd really like to be notified when that happens.

The HOF game mod can be configured to tell you when your city is about to gain population, culture, etc as well as when you do gain those things.

It has other things available as well. I can't tell you where to download it though, I don't really use any mods and it has been forever since I've played Civ4

[Passacaglia]

Thanks!

[Passacaglia]

Looks like it notifies me just like I want, but when I start a game, I get this line. Does it mean anything?

HOF Warning: This game is not valid for HOF use. See the Settings page of the Victory Screen for details.

I went to that screen, and it looks like it doesn't like some of the choices I made. Is something weird going to happen since I chose "unrestricted leaders" (I like to play as Zara Yaqob of the Romans, FWIW)?

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

Looks like it notifies me just like I want, but when I start a game, I get this line. Does it mean anything?

HOF Warning: This game is not valid for HOF use. See the Settings page of the Victory Screen for details.

I went to that screen, and it looks like it doesn't like some of the choices I made. Is something weird going to happen since I chose "unrestricted leaders" (I like to play as Zara Yaqob of the Romans, FWIW)?

I am not familiar enough with that mod to knmow all of the settings. I think that Warning is normal since your settings arent the ones used for HOF game submissions, which as I guess you aren't worried about.

[Passacaglia]

I had a feeling there was some sort of game thing involved. Cool, thanks.

[CleBrownsfan]

I've played Civilization IV before but looking to install it again... what are the top mods? I'm at hxxp://planetcivilization.gamespy.com but have no clue which mods to d/l.

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by CleBrownsfan

I've played Civilization IV before but looking to install it again... what are the top mods? I'm at hxxp://planetcivilization.gamespy.com but have no clue which mods to d/l.

Maybe I am in the minority on this but I actually feel that Civ 4 is one of those rare games that is more fun and has more playability without any mods than with one.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by Alan T

Maybe I am in the minority on this but I actually feel that Civ 4 is one of those rare games that is more fun and has more playability without any mods than with one.

Agreed. I play it with the Beyond the Sword expansion. That's about as good as it gets.

[Draft Dodger]

those friggin' vassals. I was rolling in a game, with probably double the points of the next Civ. I had forced several into capitulation and when the Dutch asked to become a vassal, I figured I was set, since they were the only nearby Civ with tanks and stuff. So, I set out to conquer my other two neighbors. Unfortunately, as I was starting to get my land / population up to get a victory, I realized that Van Oofenhooven (or whatever) was really close to a cultural victory. Since he was my vassal, I couldn't declare war. I ramped up my espionage and started bombarding his cultural cities with spies, and I declared war on his neighbor in hopes of him losing one of the cities, but it didn't work. I also took all his resources in an effort to piss him off, but he wasn't having any of it. To make matters worse, the one remaining Civ I was stealing land from had a vassal, so I couldn't get him to capitulate. I was grabbing up land like crazy, but I simply ran out of time.

That's the 2nd time that's happened to me. I think the other time, I had launched my ships and then before I could win the space victory, some other hoser won a cultural victory.

[fantom1979]

I enjoy the information mods. I am not a big fan of the game changing mods.

Unit stats is probably my favorite. It gives details for each one of your units (but is very cpu intensive if you play long games).

[Buccaneer]

Originally Posted by Alan T

Maybe I am in the minority on this but I actually feel that Civ 4 is one of those rare games that is more fun and has more playability without any mods than with one.

+10000

The only thing I would look at would be Solver's Unofficial Patch. This is simply fixes some bugs that Firaxis introduced in their latest patch. Here is the one for BtS 3.17 Patch
Unofficial BtS 3.17 patch - Apolyton Civilization Site Forums

[Honolulu_Blue]

I agree about not using mods. I used one mod for a while. I think it Sevomod? Or something like that. I liked the expanded units and the way slavery worked, but since I bought Beyond The Sword, I haven't used it.

[Buccaneer]

It just hit me that Civ4 has been out for 3 years now and Beyond the Sword for 16 months. Does not seem that long but I guess with the amount of time I had played this game, time flew.

[Celeval]

That's one of the reasons that the Civ series always is so high on my list of favorite serieses... I'd still be playing Civ III if IV never came out, ditto Civ II and the original - it just lasts.

[KWhit]

Yep.

And Civ Revolution on the console is awesome too. It's got perfect pacing, IMO. Never gets too big or unwieldy.

[Buccaneer]

I just finished a great game that took 47 hours off and on since Thanksgiving. I wanted a different kind of game so I chose to play on large Archipelago with Tiny Islands and 13 civs total. The map ended up having about 150 islands with none larger than 15-18 tiles. That lended itself to a seafaring/naval type game with little resources in any civ's areas. However, my capital site did have some great hammer sites and I exploited that to the max.

One of the things that made this game different was that I couldn't start my first war until 1280 AD (normally I would have fought about 3-5 wars by then). But I had the military superiority and the one great production city that could out-produce any civ single-handedly. My first was to get more happiness resources but after that, it was to attack those civs in 1st place or behind me in 2nd place. It worked perfectly, as you can see from the Scores graph



I have won 4 long games in a row now after realizing that I needed to have 1 or 2 cities constantly cranking out superior military units - regardless of what kind of victory I was going for. In past games where I would lose or ended up quitting when well behind, I would lose focus on military production (e.g., not being able to stop an invasion or getting too far down in the power graph).

In this game, I made vassals out of my two biggest rivals (Celts and Spanish) and significantly hurt two others powerful civs (Ottoman and Sumerians), while leaving 2nd place Korea alone at the end - after getting a 1500+ points lead. Each military adventure would be accompanied by numerous naval units that did a great job in not only destorying any threats on the seas but bombard the cities to 0%. I would have 30 Destroyers while everyone else had a few Frigates and in the 20th century, I ended up with 60-70 Battleships, Destroyers and Cruisers, both for attacks and a defensive net around everything (too bad the AI weren't agressive toward the end). This was in additional to having 100+ ground units - all produced out of my capital that was capable of building anything in 1 turn (or 2 in 3 turns) throughout much of the game.

[BigDPW]

Originally Posted by KWhit

Yep.

And Civ Revolution on the console is awesome too. It's got perfect pacing, IMO. Never gets too big or unwieldy.

Got Revolution from gamefly a couple of weeks ago and I am really enjoying it alot. I am very pleased with the pacing and the general flow of the game. The replay value is certainly there and I don't get bogged down in the minutia like was often the case with my Civ-PC experiences (though I love the PC versions as well).

[ColtCrazy]

Some great reads here.

I finally won my first ever domination victory with a game I played mostly over the Holiday break. I was the British, and concentrated mostly on culture and city production early on. Got friendly with the people around me so most of my early wars where against countries father away and I had time to build defenses. I went on the offensive at the onset of gunpower. Like Buc, I attacked the countries directly below me. The first wars were the biggest. I had a vassal, the Incas who never did grow very big and asked for protection as soon as they good. Shaka had 2 vassals. The first war knocked Shaka down considerably. War exhaustion cause me to scale back, but in the inbetween years Shaka lost his vassals. The 2nd war put an end to Shaka's dominance and I was able to systemically attack the other powers from that point on. One of the funniest games I've played on Civ.

I think I'll get Revolutions with that 2k coupon that was posted here. It's that or NBA 2k9 and I think I'll get more mileage from Revolutions.

[Buccaneer]

Colt's post reminded me of something. The highest priority Wonder to build first is Great Wall, if on a landbase with plenty of space around you. Then comes Zeus. In an island game like the one had, Zeus became the first priority. That doesn't mean I don't build other wonders (I actually built Stonehenge and Artemis first in my capital) but Zeus is one of the those I must build if nothing else.

Also, I look at my homogeneous fighting forces that allowed me to hurt the powerful civs and it's always the same every game (even going back to Civ2 to some extent):
Axe (or a good early UU like War Chariots, Vultures, Praets or Dog)
Knights
Rifles
Infantry
Tanks

If I stick to an agressive production/upgrade schedule, I have never lost with an army of each - even in the game where I didn't use them much for offensive wars (i.e., just having them scares off everyone).

[Senator]

Still have this and all the other add ons loaded on my PC. Still haven't tried it once. I hope I can sometime, it sounds really fun.

[Buccaneer]

In case anyone is wondering about Zeus (no pun intended), here's what it means in reality. We all know that Zeus affects your enemy's war weariness. At first, you don't see it but as the war drags on, you will end up seeing less reinforcements and defenses because you have put them in such an unhappy state that production and gold are significantly reduced. With that in mind, I use my large stack to go right after their capital (typically with other large cities along the way). That way, not only do I attack with healthy units, but I get their best defenses out of the way and the rest becomes easier (as Zeus kicks in), paving the way towards capitulation or at least becoming no threat to you afterwards.

[spleen1015]

Having given up the World of Warcraft habit, I have gone back to playing pretty much every else. I fired up Civ IV last night and played.... and sucked. I never moved beyond Noble level. So, I'm not that good.

If I started a Dynasty thread would some of you veterans be willing to give me some tips if I step through a game?

[Passacaglia]

I've beat Noble maybe once, so my tips probably wouldn't do so great, but I would love to read a dynasty like that and get tips from others on here.

[spleen1015]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

I've beat Noble maybe once, so my tips probably wouldn't do so great, but I would love to read a dynasty like that and get tips from others on here.

I may need to back down a level. I played a couple games below Noble until I found out that Noble was the setting where the AI and Human were playing evenly.