It's the economy stupid...

[Kazuo]

After having rushed through the Settler, Chieftain, and Warlord levels I have now encountered some difficulties on the Noble level. I expand agressively and I manage to hold back any enemies but... my economy just grinds to a halt. It's 500 AD and my research is forced down to just 10%...

What to do to get the economy running? Key techs or civics?

[padillah]

If you are going to expand like this you've got to plan for it... a lot.

Get Pottery out of the way as soon as is feasable for your strat. Then build cottages on the best food tiles you can find and work them. You need that extra 10 gpt as soon as possible.

Other than that (and lowering research) most of the real commerce busters don't happen until (for me) too late in the game.

Tom P.

[Jaybe]

If your economy is grinding to a halt, then don't expand so aggressively and get some buildings in those cities. The game is trying to tell you something (something that has been widely discussed already, at that). LISTEN to it!

[snafuc4]

Re: It's the economy stupid...

Originally posted by Kazuo
What to do to get the economy running? Key techs or civics?

As well as the other advice here, see also http://apolyton.net/forums/showthrea...hreadid=142610

[Jamski]

Expand more slowly. Get cottages next to rivers.

[SirOsis]

I've found playing as financial civ can net you some serious cash as well. Couple that with founding a religion and sending out missionaries and building a shrine you'll be in the black. A few great merchants will also get your treasury in good shape.

[solo]

Selling techs is another way to raise cash and relieve your economy if you happen to contact an AI when they are sitting on a big pile of gold.

[Kc7mxo]

Best thing to do is simply destroy most of hte cities you capture and keep ones strategically placed, then rush them with culture buildings to take hold of the territory.

Civ4 works pretty hard to penalize and prevent large empires.

[Blake]

Yes. In Civ4 you really do need an economic plan. It's okay to expand fast, but you can't afford to expand without a plan for getting back in the research game.

Great Lighthouse + Trade.
Cottage spam.
Great Merchants.
Religion + Shrine.

Also, the Organized trait is very good if you have cash problems from over-expansion, just make sure to make Code of Laws (for courthouses) something of a research priority. I find it very hard to be an expansion/conquest whore WITHOUT organized, yes, it's possible, but you need to REALLY focus on a strong economy. With organized you can take much more of a devil-may-care attitude.

Oh, and there is no such thing as too much expansion! Any city can pay for itself with just a couple of towns and a courthouse. The tricky part is you might crash your economy by expanding too fast, thus leaving no capacity for research.

[Drachasor]

You do need to make sure you get some buildings that help lighten the financial load. First get some economic (and possibly a religion) techs done. Then get enough military tech to hold your own (bronzeworking is good enough if you have copper, you'll want iron if you have a lot of jungle however). After that I find you should bee-line for a better economy. I usually go for Libraries then Currency. After that it is Civil Service (I need to get forges and windmills along this way) for more food output. Then I go for banking. After that it is the University and Liberalism if I am a bit ahead of the AI (for the free tech). Otherwise I get the printing press for my towns and villages (in any case I get all three of these techs around the same time, order may vary).

Squeeze in military technology as needed to maintain equality or superiority with your neighbors. Make sure you have some of your cities focus on the financial side of things. Coastal cities with harbors can be nice, but early on a farm/cottage city with 1 to 3 mines will do much better--just make sure it has a good food surplus so it grows quickly. There are some other strategies as well (Great Lighthouse, Collossus, etc).

In any case I find that primarily focusing on my economy is the best way to go. Of course I rush after military techs if I need them. This is usually to keep up or surpass the AI. I'm a warmonger so I tend to go for surpassing the AI as much as I can. However, I typically don't research gunpowder as soon as I possibly can (but within a few techs of that point).

A powerful economy means you can make money and do great research at once, even while at war.

Try to avoid having more than 9 or so cities early on. Definitely don't surpass 9 before getting markets. Cities around this point can add a lot of maintainance (and even ones before 9 can add 10 gold/turn).

-Drachasor