Any advice?

[BigWilly1974]

So I've played all the Civs...years apart mind you. I usually played Civ 3 on Monarch (I think it was...4th of 6th levels), and had an easy enough time of it.

My first game played in Civ 4 was on Noble, which I think is the middle difficulty where the AI has no adv/disadvantages. I lost by the space race, but only because I didn't even realize at the time how to stay on top of it. I was a handful of turns away from a domination victory. So, I'm thinking Noble is pretty easy given it was my first game.

I step up to Monarch (?)...2 levels above the Noble, and get my butt handed to me fairly good, and early. After a few aborted attempts, I moved to down to Prince, and I'm still struggling.

In an effort to stay competitive in the land grab, I'm finding myself time after time falling behind militarily (by a mile), and most times, in tech as well. What I've been focusing on have been:

- founding a religion early, usually Hinduism
- have 3 cities by 1000 BC
- lots of food/hammer production
- culture improvements

I have not been in the habit of building cottages, which I now understand is probably a big problem given they take so long to become big money makers. I've also been neglecting building workers in the very early game given that they stunt growth, and if I have to go through no growth, I'll typically just build a settler so the AI doesn't box me in.

It just seems to me that on Prince, the AIs are building up modern and large'ish armies, and staying ahead in the tech game.

I'm also finding that the AIs are generally cautious or annoyed at me, which means I tend to get attacked relatively early and I just don't have the military to keep up. I could build up arms early, but then I figure I'll be killed in the culture/tech race.

Either they have a big advantage, or I'm missing something.

Ideas? Thanks

[Simplicity]

Part of the reason you're getting attacked early is that you're falling behind with your military. If the AI is annoyed at you, and you're behind them powerwise... They're sure to declare war pretty soon.

You're playing at a higher level than me, but I would always at least find one "buddy" AI. Convert them to your religion or convert to theirs. And then become their best friend in da whoooole wiiiide woooorld.
At least that way, if you die, there's an AI to mourn you...

[Solver]

Build cottages. Once they grow, they're awesome money makers. That is how you stay in the tech race.

It's a good idea to try and establish great relations with at least one civ - religion is a good place to start there - convert them and they'll be happy with you, and then you will benefit a lot from trade.

[Jon Shafer]

Yes, as Simplicity has noted diplomacy is a big part of Civ 4. Getting AIs to like you is much more difficult than in Civ 3 and religion is a vital part of it. Don't expect to come close to winning a domination victory and having m/any friends.

[BigWilly1974]

Speaking of converting religions...

If I have a state religion, and some aggressive AI asks me to convert to their religion, what are the pros/cons? My diplomacy with them will get a boost, but what "losses" will I suffer in taking on their religion and abandoning my own state religion?

Secondly, in the last few games I tried...I was sending missionaries to rival civ cities to spread my state religion. The attempts were "successful", but I didn't really see any tangible benefits other than 1 gold more per city converted. Is there a critical mass requirement? E.g. the Mongolians have 7 cities, I spread Hinduism to only 2 of those cities, aside from the 2 gold/turn, what benefits can I expect to receive from spreading religion?

[Jon Shafer]

You get line-of-sight bonus in cities with your state religion. You also get a pretty big diplomacy bonus if that civ switches to your state religion (which is the ideal situation).

Aside from that there is, of course, the gold bonus which can become quite hefty if you're prolific in spreading the Good Word.

[Simplicity]

The diplomacy bonus only comes if they switch their state religion (which they may not do). If you get enough of their cities converted, you can always ask...

There's no penalty for having multiple religions in your cities. But switching to their religion may cause you to lose some advantages if your previous religion was better spread through your empire (the happiness and culture bonus for each city with your state religion, for example).