Continents/Prince

[mukymuk]

I'm a civ noob and have just won at Prince level a few days ago. Since then I've played a couple "Continents" games and lost badly. Here's what happens:

Game #1 I was the only civ on the continent. All the AI civs where on another continent. I didn't have any interaction with the AI until they got to Optics (long before me, I might add).

Being isolated like that, I was unable to get any religion--so organized religion did squat for me--no 25% build bonus that I like so much. Also, was unable to trade techs. Anyway, it was a tough situation. What's a good plan of attack when you find yourself isolated?

Game #2 I was stuck between two AI's on the same continent. This game wasn't so bad--made some mistakes a got both neighbors beating war drums. I think I could do it over and deal with it though. Problem is that it seems that you have to have completely different strategies to deal with Game #1 vs. Game #2 and you don't have many turns to figure out what game you're playing.

Any advice is appreciated.

[Diadem]

Yes, that is the beauty of civ4. There is no fixed strategy, you need to adapt.

Of course, at the very start of the game you know nothing. So you start with whatever you think is best. And you adapt your strategy as you learn more about the world and your rivals.

Early scouting is important too.

[Velociryx]

Okay, I'll take a stab...

The first goal of every game should be to get a lay of the land. Not only for scouting future city sites, but also for scoping out the whereabouts of potential neighbors (or, soon to be subjects...whichever the case may be!).

While you're doing this, structure your game as though you're not alone. If you find out that you are, it's only a few techs to get you on the path to Optics (and if you DO confirm that you are alone, then getting to Optics by means of the fastest path available is your one and only priority...on Prince level, it's technically possible to keep pace with tech-trading AI's, even if you get shut out, but it's not particularly pleasant.

If you're not doing it already, I heartily recommend doing something like this:

Bronzeworking as a first priority (pop n chop). Libraries as a second priority (by way of husbandary, for more worker techs).

Chop the library fast in your capitol and assign scientists right away to get the first GP as a scientist and create an academy. Even if you don't do ANYTHING ELSE research wise for a long time, this will put you several steps ahead of the pack (and bronze first is important because typically you can research bronzeworking and chop a library faster than you can make straight for writing and let it build slow, to say nothing of how much more quickly you'll get your next worker/settler out...BronzeWorking = turn advantage on steroids). This, coupled with even ONE cottage at your capitol can set you up for the entire early game. Replicate it out to at least one other city (with relatively more cottages to make up for the absence of a palace), and you're set for nearly the entire ride to Optics...or, if you don't need it, whatever else you're researching).

If you're sandwiched, then do this: Play nice with one civ, and thumb your nose at the other. Play nice with the least warmongering one, and build aggressively toward the other. All you need is to not get jumped by both at once, so switch to whatever religion the nice guy is running and run some trades with him (trade spare resources with him so you've got a "per turn" agreement in force....trade techs frequently, giving Nice Guy sweetheart deals...will improve your relations with him and you'll be even less likely to suffer an attack)....if possible, get your nice neighbor involved in the dismantling of the WarMonger's empire...since you're between them, if he helps, odds are, he won't actually capture many cities (if any), and the ones he does get, you can prolly culture bomb away from him later.

Tip: If you get a tech that the AI does not, TRADE IT BEFORE YOU FINISH ITS ASSOCIATED WONDER! Start to work on it, and when you're getting close to completing it, offer it in trade. There is no pre-building of wonders any more, and if you wait until the wonder is completed, it won't be nearly as attractive to potential buyers, so to milk as much out of it as you can, trade it before the wonder is done.

In battle, unless the AI is quite small, don't take him all in one bite. Go for cities you know you can control, keep those, take one more beyond that and burn it to the ground. By making peace at this point, you don't have to worry much about war weariness (since the war was relatively short), and you all but guarantee that if there is a next encounter with this civ, you'll hold all the important cards. (Example: In my current Monarch game, I'm adjacent to Mongolia and Spain....Spain founded Buddhism, and Mongolia adopted it. Seeing this trend, I too, adopted it--even tho I founded Confucianism on my own, and am spreading it inside my borders). Despite the fact that both of these civs have a reputation for being psychotic, they both love me to pieces, and we have several profitable deals running.

When I deemed myself strong enough, I declared "Free Religion" in my realm, knowing that Spain, as the founder of the relligion, would not approve. Sure enough, and just like clockwork, she attacked me two turns later. She's got her cities arrayed in two groupings....four of them are quite close to my borders, then a wide expanse, and three more. In this case, the wide expanse will have the same effect as razing one of her cities would. The expanse itself will ensure that she will not culturally intrude in any great way on my new Spanish cities, so the plan will be to take them all (leaving her with three), and make peace. She'll be no real threat at that point (tho I will plan to finish her off later), and I'll have relieved most of the pressure from my "two front" situation. This basic methodology can be used in any similar situation, provided that you are observant of in-game trends, and have at least a few resources to work with.

-=Vel=-