Alone On Continent

[Dactyl]

I finished my first complete game, and it was at Prince level as the Arabians. I was on a rather small continent by myself. The problem I had was establishing contact with the other civs. It took such a long time to get to Optics that, by the time I could build caravels, I was so far behind the other civs that it was impossible for me to catch up. The Americans won the game with a space ship victory one turn after I had entered the modern age. In short I got waxed. Interestingly enough I was never at war in the game since I mainly wanted to get a feel for it.

Still, it wouldn't have made any difference if I had gone to war. By the time I had the ships that could have carried my armies over to the other continents, I was so far behind in tech that I would have gotten my rear kicked.

So, the question is, what should one do when one finds himself alone on a continent?

[Solver]

I would say, if you're alone, make a point of grabbing Optics and building a Caravel or two. That's important simply to establish contact with the others. After that, I found that being alone on a landmass is quite ideal for developing infrastructure. Just build, build, build... or that's what I do.

I also think that Prince is quite rough to start on, I'd recommend Noble instead.

[Dactyl]

Like I said, I went for Optics, but it seemed to take forever to get there, and I did build lots of infrastructure. I played a couple of partial games at Noble level but found that it was so easy that I wasn't learning much. Playing Noble I ended up founding three religions, building lots of the wonders, and scooping up most of the techs first.

[Jon Miller]

I did that on my second Noble game.. and I lost still

JM

[Ellestar]

That's why i plan to always use an option "no tech trading" in CIV. In that retarded Civ 3 AIs had effective 100% tech sharing and there was no way to stop it. "Trade techs or die" situation doesn't add any stategic elements IMHO.

[alva]

You're playing Civ4 now, not Civ3.

[Dominae]

Re: Alone On Continent

Originally posted by Dactyl
So, the question is, what should one do when one finds himself alone on a continent?

1. Build a lot of Cottages.
2. Prioritize Harbors/Lighthouses.
3. Construct the Colossus and/or Great Lighthouse.
4. Beeline for Optics and Astronomy.

Since you're not likely to wage war when isolated on an island, Hammers become a lot less important. Focus on Commerce instead. It's okay to have one very productive city (like your capital) to build Wonders and units, the rest should be cash cows.

[Dominae]

Originally posted by Ellestar
That's why i plan to always use an option "no tech trading" in CIV. In that retarded Civ 3 AIs had effective 100% tech sharing and there was no way to stop it. "Trade techs or die" situation doesn't add any stategic elements IMHO.

I suggest playing the standard game (with No Tech Trading OFF) a couple of times to see how this feature has been improved over Civ3. A lot of work was done to ensure tech trading is not as degenerate as it used to be. You might be surprised.

[Proteus_MST]

Hm, especially if the continent is fairly large,
it seems to be very important to control the barbarians.

They can be a real pain in the arse,
if they manage to build several citiesa on the continent.
(but of course these cities are also a nice addition to your empire,
if you manage to capture them )

[joncnunn]

I disagree entirely. Prince is too easy.

In any civ game series with a lone island start, you need to beeline to the techs allowing you to escape your prison.
This also means building cottages which will grow and produce the commerce you need.

This is actually easier to do in Civ IV due to the or gates.

Also, an isiolated start isn't quite as much of a killer in Civ IV as previous games in the series because even if every other civ is on the same land mass, no one gets to trade techs until someone discovers the alphabet.

Originally posted by Solver
I also think that Prince is quite rough to start on, I'd recommend Noble instead.

[jones]

Found myself alone on a pretty good-sized island in my current Monarch game.

1. I had gold mines = mad crazy expansion early
2. made a point of lighthouse and colossus and mostly coastal cities
3. pyramids

That was the plan, and I figured I was set until the Barbs got so heavy I not only missed out on the pyramids, I never got proper GP farms or science cities set up. I was about 3-4 techs behind Roosevelt when I finally made contact with everyone around 1200AD, but, had I had Representation I'm pretty sure I would've had the lead.



gold mines before realizing I had the place to myself.



I could reach the icecap and circled the globe with a galley. My second galley found it could reach another continent

[Mayfield]

Some suggestions when you find yourself alone:

#1. Found one religion. (In my current game on Prince I went with Christianity) When you are close to getting optics start pumping out missionaries. Have them convert the world for one gold/city bonus. I have been able to keep it at 90% research with this.

#2. While you are researching Astronomy get some settlers ready, and start the galleons as soon as you get Astronomy. Don't give the computer astronomy until you have colonized everywhere possible. The computer stinks at colonizing the extra bare land that is created (small continents and islands). Once you have secure island cities trade them Astronomy. They don't usually get it before you and you will get a lot for it since it is expensive to research.

#3. If they are all on one main continent (which usually happens to me), get your army ready to invade the weakest link. Take that island quickly and with overwhelming force, and ally with whoever will (hopefully you have taked point #1 and converted an opponent to your religion). Once you have a foot hold you will have a chance to compete.