Vel's Strategy Thread, Volume III

[Velociryx]

Will go back over the list when I get to work this morning. I agree with you re: basic traits, but am not as sure about the strategy selection being trait dependent. I think terrain and your own personal desires have too much to do with it...sure, the Civ you pick matters, and can modify the basic approach, but I'm not sure that it (strategy selection) necessarily belongs at the back with the Civs...we need to bring that to the fore very early on, IMO as one of the most pivotal decisions to make.

Also gonna add:
* Finding God
* Specialists vs. Generalists
* A Primer on Civics
* Structuring your Economy
* Expansion

(these will generally be sub-sections of existing stuffs, but I wanted to at least jot down what I thought of last evening, and then work them into the framework later.)

[Verrucosus]

Originally posted by Velociryx

If there's something I'm missing, or something you'd like to see added, now is the time.

-=Vel=-

Having just read somewhere how important it is to use a "window", I cannot refrain myself from commenting. Before I do, I'd like to say that it's slightly difficult for someone not actually writing the guide to give an well-founded opinion on the outline. There's a lot of insight that you gain during the process of writing and before publication the writer himself (and perhaps his wife if he dares to let her have a look at the manuscript) is usually in the best position to find out what is missing. There's nothing wrong with discussing the menu in advance, but it's your kitchen, you're the Chef and you will know best which ingredients to use and where to put them.

In a way, Civilization consists of a number of beautifully interwoven components (city management, diplomacy, warfare etc.). The player must master these components individually and then - and this is the real challenge - learn how to combine them into a strategy. For that reason, a logical approach would be to first discuss the individual components and then teach us how to forge them into a strategy.

However, I feel that this way of teaching the game would not be as much fun as the method used in the SMAC Guide which was to take the reader through the stages of a typical game and teaching him about its various components as they come up. My preference would be to stick with that approach and the outline could look like this:

I. Introduction
§ 1. Welcome
§ 2. A "typical" game (the game stages)
§ 3. Setting up a Game (very basic, leaving civ and map type discussion for later)
§ 4. Guns v Butter (the Builder/Momentum spectrum, incl. strategic implications of civ selection)

II. The Window ("As long as we're all Barbarians")
§ 5. The First Turn
§ 6. Earliest Research (e.g. Bronze, Religion, Pottery gambits)
§ 7. Exploration
§ 8. The Second City

III. Early Expansion ("Land Grab")
§ 9. Peaceful Expansion Paradigms
§ 10. Defending against Barbarians
§ 11. Terrain Development
§ 12. Early Infrastructure (Buildings, Wonders, Specialists)
§ 13. Speeding Things Up (the concept of Turn Advantage, Pop & Chop techniques, probably introduced in § 5, but fully developed here)
§ 14. Early Diplomacy (mainly open borders)
§ 15. Rushing
§ 16. Defending against a Rush
§ 17. Research Towards the Next Stage (incl. slingshot techniques)

IV. Regional Consolidation ("Master at Home")
§ 18. Situation Assessment
§ 19. Research Choices (usually late classical and medieval advances)
§ 20. From City State to Empire (the concept of synergy)
§ 21. City Development & Specialization (incl. terrain development, buildings, wonders, concentration of culture as a basis for cultural win)
§ 22. Social Choices (incl. e.g. discussion of specialist economy under caste system)
§ 23. Religion
§ 24. Diplomacy (mainly tech trading)
§ 25. Military Buildup (incl. promotion strategy)
§ 26. Regional Warfare
§ 27. Exploration & Colonization of nearby islands and continents

V. Continental Dominance
§ 28. Situation Assessment
§ 29. Research Choices (usually Rennaissance advances)
§ 30. Economic Growth (discussion of new buildings, wonders, social choices during this stage)
§ 31. Continental Politics (diplomacy after regional consolidation
§ 32. Advanced Warfare
§ 33. Exploring the Globe

VI. Endgame ("Road to Victory")
§ 34. Situation Assessment
§ 35. Industrial & Modern Research
§ 36. Late Game Economy (incl. cultural victory)
§ 37. Modern Diplomacy (incl. UN votes, diplomatic victory)
§ 38. Modern Warfare (incl. domination victory)
§ 39. Space Race

VII. Putting it all Together
§ 40. Game Plans (incl. those that might try to break away from standard game patterns)
§ 41. The Meta-Game
§ 42. Odds and Ends (stuff that doesn't fit elsewhere, fondly remembered from SMAC Guide)

VIII. Special Notes
§ 43. Civilizations & Traits
§ 44. Map Types & Settings

IX. Epilogue

X. Appendices (Glossary, Tables etc.)

Some general comments:
- The main problem with arranging the guide in a manner that follows the pattern of a typical game is that we can talk about a "typical" game only in the broadest possible sense. I don't see that this should be keeping you from using this arrangement again, but you can use the introduction to make it clear to the reader that he cannot expect his game to follow the same pattern and that you are using it simply because it's the best way to teach strategy without artificially disecting the game into its components.
- The later the game stage you discuss, the more assumptions you will have to make in order to say something meaningful. The generic "Situation Assessment" sections I have included in the main chapters for the later game stages should give you an opportunity to describe in broad terms typical situations that a player may find himself at the beginning of those stages. (You may even want to include the scenario that the player has more or less spectaculary failed during the previous stage.) You can use these typical scenarios to give more differentiated advice during the following sections.
- Following the pattern of a typical game has the disadvantage that there will be several sections on combat, economy, research etc. I think that is a price worth paying for being able to discuss for example "combat during the industrial age" rather than "combat in general", but that is certainly a point up for debate. I don't believe there are any major redundancies the SMAC Guide where you used the same pattern and I believe it is possible to avoid them here as well.
- You will notice that I have tried to move the main discussion of certain concepts and strategies into the chapter of that stage where the player is usually able to use them extensively. That does not mean for example that there's no synergy prior to the "regional consolidation" phase or that we don't need to think about chopping only after the window have closed. (On second thought, maybe the chopping discussion really belongs into the "Window" chapter.)
- Where I've put certain topics, is heavily influenced by the way my games unfold, partly as a result of my strategy. In that sense the arrangement is rather subjective. It is also subject to adjustment to the Warlords expansion that I do not own yet.

The short version of this post is that I'd like you to consider an arrangement of the guide that follows the usual pattern of the game. Again, I have no doubt that during the actual process of writing the guide you will find out which approach works best.

Verrucosus

[Velociryx]

Wow! I'd say that's an endorsement for the basic structure of the SMAX Guide! I was gonna try to come up with something entirely different, format wise, for Civ 4, but if you're okay with the notion of borrowing the format for this new guide, then yep...we could make that work quick and easy (and less time spent on format means more time on content!)



-=Vel=-

[Verrucosus]

As indicated, I'm fine with that format from a reader's perspective, but I don't want to keep you from experimenting and I certainly don't think time is essential. Taking a slow approach will give you more time to experiment both with the game and the book and might give you the chance to take a possible second expansion into account (if there will be one).

Verrucosus

(P.S.: Talking about speed, I forgot to mention that notes on how to adjust standard strategies to quick, epic and marathon speeds would be welcome.)

[Velociryx]

*nods* Oh believe me...I'll experiment like mad!

But this....using the basic structure from the SMAX Guide and making additions as needed to accomodate all the cool new stuff in Civ 4....this gives me neatly bundled "folders" to drop my various notes into, so I can watch how they interact. As they begin to draw together, there will, no doubt, be intriguing revelations requiring for additional, as yet unthought of sections to be added, but that's all part of the fun! And I agree that at least some nod needs to be given to the various speeds and how they impact the baseline strategies....maybe a plug for my favorite speed, Marathon...

-=Vel=-

[Verrucosus]

I like Marathon a lot myself, but I've favoured epic speed in my recent games. In a sense, Marathon would be the perfect speed for teaching the game, because - combat aside - it's like using a magnifying glass and making everything more visible. For purposes of writing a guide, I'd probably stick with the standard speed since that's the one most people seem to use.

[Velociryx]

I agree...It's cramping my style, since I much prefer Marathon, but...I'm dealin...

-=Vel=-

[Velociryx]

Progress Report:

Okay, the status of the new guide is as follows:

Introductory stuff a bit more streamlined (and appearing below).

Strategy stuff on the Classic Rush (and variants) has been moved from Mongolia's section and placed in general strategies, with notes specific to Mongolia's leaders left in the section for specific Civs. That stuff is not yet finished, so won't be posted for this update). But we're starting to pull the various threads together.

Still barely more than a beginning at this point, but we're getting there....

Vel’s
Civ Four Guide

Prolog ~ Introductions All Around

Introduction
To be penned later….

OoO

Glossary of Terms
There are all manner of terms and abbreviations used when talking about Civ. I’m not even going to try to provide a comprehensive list of every term you may run across here. Instead, I’m going to give you the ones relevant to understanding strategy, including all the ones I use myself (and some of the terms I use here I coined myself, so you may or may not see them elsewhere). Primarily, the purpose of this list is to keep you from scratching your head in confusion when you read a term or an abbreviation I use to explain some game concept, strategy, or tactic.

OoO

As the guide develops, and new terms are needed in the writing, they’ll be added to this list…this marker to eventually be removed!

AI – Artificial Intelligence. The AI Civs are your opponents in SP (Single-Player Mode).

Builder, Hybrid, Momentum - These are terms coined in the days of Sid's "Alpha Centauri" game (which is still installed on my hard drive, btw). They describe the three basic "states of being" that players tend to fall into.

Builders exist at the "peaceful end" of the playing spectrum, and don't care much for warring. They are drawn to Civ because of their endless fascination with the process of growing and nurturing the "perfect" empire. Warfare is typically seen as a distraction from the business of building and running the Empire (or, in the best case, they'll see it as a necessary evil).

Momentum players are all about conquest (and obviously, they occupy the extreme opposite end of the spectrum from Builders). The Empire is secondary for them, and only exists to serve as the platform from which to launch the next campaign, and they're happiest when mired in the mud of some war or another.

Hybrid players exist somewhere in the middle of these two extremes, and in truth, probably define the greater bulk of players. Still, players who tend to prefer building over warring tend to identify themselves as "Builders" while players who prefer warring will tend to refer to themselves as "Momentum" players, even when the vast majority are more than willing to do a bit of both. The Hybrid player seeks to strike a balance, understanding that warfare is a necessary (and fun!) component of the game, but is only a means to a greater end. In my opinion, Civ 4 has done an excellent job at bringing the two extremes together.

Choke - A battle tactic, involving parking a unit in enemy terrain to deny him use of that tile. This puts your enemy in the less-than-enviable position of having to decide whether or not he values the tile sufficiently to try and roust you from it, or if he'd rather hole up and hide in his city. Most frequently used as a prelude to a general invasion, to keep your opponent weak (and less productive) while you're building the army that will spell his doom.

Chop - The worker action of cutting down a forest, removing it from the tile and giving you a hammer boost.

CP – Culture Point

CPT – Culture Per Turn

CS Slingshot – Civil Service Slingshot. An Oracle trick involving timing the Oracle’s completion with the research of Code of Laws, such that you can take Civil Service as your free tech.

FoW – Fog of War

G-Man - Term used in this book for a Great Person

GA – Golden Age

GP – Great Person (also called a G-Man within the confines of this book)

GPP – Great Person Point

GPPT – Great Person Points Per Turn

GPT – Gold Per Turn

GW – Great Wonder

HP – Hit Point

HPT – Hammers Per Turn

Lockdown (or simply "Lock") - The point in the game at which your victory is assured. The more quickly you can achieve this state the better, and typically, the game is won or lost in the Ancient Era. Your performance here will be more important than all the other ages combined.

Locust – Clear-cutting all forests you can reach, in order to reap the short-term hammer benefits

MM – Micro-Management

MP – Multi-Player

NW – National Wonder

OB – Open Borders

OCC – One City Challenge

Oscillating War – The notion of fighting a series of limited engagements with each of your neighbors in turn, rather than fighting a single, long and decisive engagement with a one neighbor.

Pop-N-Chop - Available at Bronze Working, this is the key to unlocking ancient era productivity, and it involves a powerful one-two punch that Slavery's population sacrifice and the worker action of forest chopping represent. These two alternate means of production completely change the character of the game.

Pop-Rush (also abbreviated simply ‘Pop) - Sacrificing city population and several turns of unhappiness, in exchange for a boost to hammers.

Seafood Specials – Catchall term for crabs, fish, and whales…basically, any oceanic special resource.

Seminal Techs - The Seminal Techs are the ones that unlock all the basic terrain improvement actions for you, and for this reason, their power cannot be understated. They are:

Agriculture
Mining
Hunting
The Wheel
Fishing
Pottery
Animal Husbandry

These techs represent the very foundation of the game, and are the keys to unlocking the productivity of your lands. With these few, simple tools, you will see the productive capacity of your Empire explode.

The Window - Beginning at turn one, and running some unknown number of turns into the future, there is a "window" of time available to you, during which, you may develop in almost complete safety. This book treats "The Window" as the most important part of the whole game.

Turn Advantage - Doing stuff faster than your rivals are doing stuff. As a simple example, if you can build an Axeman in 5 turns, and it takes your opponent ten turns, then you are gaining five turns over your opponent with every Axe you build...that is to say, while your opponent is still struggling to get his Axeman out of the production queue, you've already finished yours and are on to something else (maybe a Library, or maybe another Axeman)...the point is that you have what amounts to "free turns" of production....or Turn Advantage over your rival. Turn Advantage is the mechanism that will invariably win you games, no matter what the prevailing conditions in the world, and like interest, its power has a compounding effect. Since you cannot earn "interest" in Civ, Turn Advantage takes its place as the most powerful force in the Civ-Universe. Of all the concepts in the game, creating Turn Advantage is the most important one for you to learn. You simply cannot win the game consistently without creating Turn Advantage (in fact, the lower levels of the game are made easier by creating it for you...that is the mechanism at work when you get production and research bonuses over the AI).

UB – Unique Building

UU – Unique Unit

OoO

Notes and Provisos
1) I am basing my observations off of a standard speed game, Monarch level of difficulty. Please understand that the numbers I throw out originate from here, and that if you are playing at some other speed and/or difficulty level, those numbers will change slightly (but the gist of what I'm saying will remain the same).

2) There are essentially two schools of thought where formulating strategy is concerned. One is to build your strategy around the maximization of your strengths, paying secondary attention to covering your weaknesses, and the other is to be primarily concerned with covering those weaknesses, letting your natural strengths more-or-less take care of themselves. In my opinion, the former approach is the superior approach, and so, these writings are geared that direction. If your play-style favors the latter, , then some adjustment will need to be made to make these writings apply well to you. I will attempt to at least broadly outline how the latter could be made to work, but my primary focus will be on what I feel is the superior "maximize your strengths" methodology. Thus, there is a certain bias built into these writings, and you should be aware of it.

3) There is another bias built into my work. One that you may or may not agree with. In my opinion, food is the resource of primary importance in this game. Then commerce, and finally hammers. Note that I said "hammers" and specifically not "production." This is because there are many alternatives to boost production, and "hammers" are but the most common. I like building things fast (as you will see), but I'm not willing to sacrifice my ability to research and/or the money in my pocket to shave a couple turns off of something I'm building unless I have to. If there's another way (and there usually is), then I'll take it. So note the bias in your reading. If you favor hammers over commerce, then again, these writings will need some adjustment to make them fully applicable to you.
OoO


Anatomy of a Civ Game
I’m going to approach the subject of this book in the same way I’d teach a class…that is to say, somewhat unorthodoxly. Yeah yeah, we’re going to take a structured approach, begin with a series of broad overviews and slowly drill down to the particulars that will serve you well during the course of a game, but we’re also going to have some fun doing it. This isn’t the kind of “class work” you remember from school, so hang onto your hat, and let’s get started!

The first thing that needs to happen is, we need to spell out, at least in broad terms, the natural flow and progression of a “typical” game of Civ. Important, because it serves to frame the rest of the discussion that comes later.

Will every game be exactly like I’ve defined it below? Of course not. Some phases, under some conditions might be skipped entirely, others might be incredibly long (or short) in their duration…who knows? But as a generalized guide, this basic roadmap will serve you well, and help to facilitate planning, because the long and the short of it is that most games of Civ tend to have a fairly predictable development pattern.

All of that comes later though…for the moment, it is enough to introduce the various phases of a typical game of Civ to get your brain turning on that particular subject, so here they are:

Phase I - The Window
This begins at 4000 BC, and runs some unknown number of turns into the future. It is the period of time in the very early game when the biggest concern you have is the local wildlife (lions, panthers, wolves, bears), and your primary goal is to get out there, gobble up huts, meet your neighbors, and learn the lay of the land. Of course, while you are doing all of this, you're also laying the foundation for the whole rest of your game. If you do well before the window closes, you'll likely to well for the entire game. If you stumble here, or act indecisively, you'll likely spend at least the next two ages just trying to catch up. This is by far the most important part of the game. If the Ancient Era is more important, in game terms, than all the other eras combined (and in my opinion, it certainly is), then this window is the most important part of the ancient age...easily more important than all the turns that make up the rest of the age, combined. This is the era when those crucial first few techs are discovered, when early religions are founded, and when whatever strategy you have decided to pursue begins taking shape.

Phase II - The Peaceful Land Grab
The window closes as soon as the first barbarians begin to appear. That's it. Party's over. You are now in at least some danger (and perhaps quite a lot of danger, if you selected "Raging Barbarians" or somesuch). If you haven't used the Window to get yourself set up and prepared, then this next phase will likely leave you feeling flustered and vulnerable. There's no set time limit on how long this phase can last, but it begins with the appearance of the first barbarians and ends (for you) when there's no place left for you to expand unless it's at someone else's expense (i.e., no more expansion without declaring war on someone). This is the phase during which Rushes occur...everybody is scrambling about for "their share" of the continental pie, and defenses are usually minimal. A rush at this stage in the game can absolutely devastate a neighboring Civ. Even if it doesn't kill him outright (which it usually does), the Civ will be totally marginalized in all future eras of play, and can be polished off at your (or anyone else's) leisure.

Phase III - Regional Consolidation
Once humanity has spread out like a cancer across the continent, it's only a matter of time before violence erupts (if it hasn't already...see Phase II and the note about Rushing). The particulars and reasons for the wars may vary, but they will come...they always do. If you have done well for yourself during the early phases of the game, then you'll be well-positioned to build on those gains now, and it is a winner-take-all proposition. This stage doesn't end until a clear regional power emerges from the pack of Civs sharing your "portion" of the continent (if you find yourself sharing a smallish landmass with one or more Civs, this phase might get skipped entirely). As the human player, your mission is to see that you wind up winning the top spot in your region. Fail here, and you either die outright, or are relegated to a fringe position that will be increasingly hard to recover from, and may well lead to a slow decline, and eventual death.

Phase IV – Pan-Regional Domination
Once the regional dominance issue has been settled, the top dogs from each region on the continent will invariably have a go at each other. In some (rare) cases, those surviving Civs who have been relegated to lesser positions on the continent may regain their former strength, and even become top regional players themselves, but in practice, this is unlikely. Once a Civ is down, they generally stay down, especially with the increased likelihood of dog-piling that we see in Warlords. This phase begins for you the moment that you, or some other Civ in your region becomes clearly dominant, and ends only when there's a clear leader on the whole of the continent. Make sure that it's you!

Phase V - The End Game
Often, the exploration of the rest of the planet is occurring while regional and continental dominance dramas are playing out, and so, by the time we reach the End-Game, a great deal more is known about the world. If you're playing "continents" or some derivative of them, then you've no doubt by now found "the other" continent(s), and discerned who the dominant Civs are there (or, if you're playing Terra maps, then you've no doubt discovered the New World, and may have already taken steps to begin taming it). In any case, the biggest surviving Civs, wherever they might be...these are your rivals from now until the game's end. These are the guys to beat. Whatever victory condition you are pursuing, whatever goals you set for yourself, the largest surviving Civs will be your primary opposition, and they may well try to form coalitions against you. Even if you are the strongest, if enough smaller Civs decide to hit you all at once, you could be in for some trouble. Or, if your position is not as secure as that, then you may find yourself in a tooth-and-nail race to the finish line with one or more robust rivals, fully capable of matching you militarily and in research. By and large, it is your performance throughout the other phases of the game that will determine how easy, or how difficult this portion of the game is, and of all the game segments that have come before, the one that has the most bearing, pound-for-pound, on this part of the game is...the Window. Whatever success or tribulations you face in this part of the game can, in all likelihood, be traced back to what you did, or did not do before the Window closed. This will not always be true...sometimes, you can have a brush with disaster in some later era that will echo quite loudly, but more often than not, it'll all go back to the Window. That fragile, wonderful first "leg" of the game....

OoO

Broadly Defined Types of Games
The overall flow of a “typical” game as outlined above was gleaned by studying the broad trends in a large number of games, and that same methodology can be used to identify common themes and features in an individual game as well. When we do that, we discover that (again, speaking in broad terms) there are a number of different types of games that you can choose to run. These exist at all points along the Builder – Momentum spectrum, and all of them can be used, in some form or fashion, no matter where you “are” on that spectrum. Some more than others, of course, but what it essentially means is that when you take into account the full range of possibilities (everything from your starting location to Civ traits and abilities, to various specific openings we’ll cover later, what it means is that you have a truly staggering number of options and variations open to you. Almost limitless replayability. And just as the overall flow of a game can be broken out into various steps by studying a large number of games, so too can those individual types of games be identified.

In my experience, any given game of Civ will invariably fall into one of the following categories:


Classic Rush Game
Achieve quick regional superiority in troops, and use them to smash one or more of your near neighbors.

Early Religious Gambit
Be the first on your block to found a Religion, and use it to drive your economy and your diplomacy for the rest of the game.

G-Man Game
Focuses on the early and constant use of Specialists (usually supported by selective wonder-grabbing) to generate an inordinate number of Great People

Later Religious Gambit
Usually this is not so much a strategy in and of itself, but is a nice side effect to some other strategic play (for example, the Civil Service Slingshot).
Resource Game
A general catchall category for games that do not appear to follow any particular plan. In truth, most of these games are likely following a strategy, just not one with as much focus as the ones listed below. Instead, these types of games tend to focus on terrain assets...building cities to capture this or that resource, expanding borders or participating in limited wars to deny a rival a particular resource, etc. Games that don't fall into this or any other category may well fall into....
Selective Wonder Grab
This is actually an umbrella of gambits, each tied to a particular wonder, and each with its own aims, and they deserve a brief mention here:

* Pyramids Gambit - Typically used in conjunction with a specialist style game because it allows for the running of "Representation" which gives your specialists a bonus to research beakers. It also has the effect of generating points toward a Great Engineer, which makes snagging future wonders a snap.

* Great Wall Gambit - Usually used as a "helper" Gambit for something else, it does carry some goodish advantages on its own (the end of barbarian troubles, to name but one). But its real importance is in the ability to generate those rare Great Engineer points, and again (like the Pyramids) help you snag additional wonders, later in the game.

* FarSeer - An Oracle trick, whereby you time the completion of the Oracle with the completion of research on Pottery and BronzeWorking, which then allows you to take Metal Casting as your free tech, and unlock the power of Forges, very early in the game.

* CS (Civil Service) Slingshot - Another Oracle trick, whereby you time the completion of the Oracle with the completion of your research on Code of Laws, which allows you to select "Civil Service" as your free tech, and thus, make the switch to Bureaucracy. This, combined with an Academy built in your Capitol can dramatically speed your research.

WAS
"Wandering Aimlessly Strategy"
I can't take credit for the name, but I also cannot find the thread where this term was born...still, it stuck in my mind, and I thought it a fantastic way to describe those games that just...amble. They have no particular grand plan in mind. They simply....unfold. In terms of strategy, I can't say I recommend it, but it is a fascinating way to play now and again...
Now, it is quite natural that some of these different types of games will grab your interest and imagination more than others. This is simply an indication of where your preferences lie…sort of an internal barometer, and quite useful in its way, as it will help guide you into the sort of gaming experience you’re really looking for.

Again, we’ll talk about each of these basic “types” of games in more detail in later sections. For the time being, think on them, and see if you can come to some reckoning of which type(s) of games seem of most interest to you.

OoO


Game Start
There is an ever-present danger of complacency in Civ…If I could only caution you against one thing in all the game…if I could offer up but one tiny sliver of advice, it would be to guard against this.

Do not become complacent. Count this as being true even before the game starts. Civ is won or lost on the basis of the aggregate effect of a thousand small moves. The moment you start getting complacent, you start “glossing over” important decisions because they don’t seem all that important at the moment you’re making them.

This is false. Take your time and make sure that you’re making the right decisions for the right reasons. If it means saving off and getting up to take a break, then do that, and come back to the situation with a clear head.

I bring up the issue of complacency now because it (and specifically, guarding against it) will be a common theme that runs throughout this work, and also because it is very easy to breeze past the opening menu screens without much thought.

The problem with that, of course, is that the game’s strategic choices begin (or can begin) before the game officially starts. That is to say, Civ Selection can have a tremendous and immediately apparent impact on your game. Do you start with a Warrior or a Scout as your exploratory unit? Do you start in a position on the tech tree that lends itself well to the acquisition of one of the earliest religions, or not so much? Are your troops a cut above the rest? Depending on what Civ you select, the answers to these questions, and a great many others, will vary. Perhaps you’re one of those people who want to maximize as much as you possibly can in pursuit of a “purer” game experience. It’s a fine way to play, but that two, is a matter of conscious choice. I’ll not say much more about the matter here and now…there’s an appendix at the back of this book which goes into detail about the various map types and other game settings you can fiddle with, but for the most part, these are straight forward and self explanatory.

The main purpose for mentioning it here is two-fold. First, to make you mindful of the fact that important elements of strategic choice are yours for the making before you actually begin the game, and second, to begin demonstrating how the
Builder – Momentum spectrum and your place on it can influence your decisions, even before you make your first move.

Fire up the game and take a quick stroll through your various choices. Look at some of the faces…the great Khans of Mongolia, the stern, piercing stare of Stalin, the leaders of Egypt, Rome, the United States….each of these has a certain “flavor.” Each has a unique personality and, it should come as no great surprise that some Civs are inherently better at certain things than others. For example, Civs that have an ancient era UU (unique unit) might be considered to have a combat advantage in the early part of the game. Civs that start with Mysticism have a better chance at snagging one of the early religions, and so forth.

This isn’t rocket science of course…it’s fairly obvious to say that if the Egyptians are only one tech away from a strength FIVE chariot, then hey…it just might make them an early military threat, and you’d be right. No, it’s not rocket science, but this…these early choices…they are fundamental building blocks that you can base the whole rest of your game around.

What if you don’t want to found an early religion (for whatever reason)? What if you’re most interested in getting down in the mud and knocking some of your rivals’ heads together? In that case, your Civ selection (and map settings, etc), could help or hinder you in whatever pursuit you’re about. We’ll be going into a great deal more discussion about the pros and cons of the various Civs later, and how to make best use of each of them. For the moment, it is enough to acknowledge that based on what sort of game you have in your mind to play (which is itself based, in large part around where you “are” on the Builder – Momentum spectrum), there are a number of pre-game choices that can and will have important impacts on your game.

An important thing to note here, however, is that terrain is certainly not left out of the equation! Of course, this will be highly variable, and there’s no way that I, or anyone else could write a guide that will give you detailed information on the “best play” you could make, given the unique mix of terrain tiles, starting techs and Civ abilities you’ll have available to you at the outset, so I’m not even going to try. It is enough to note that despite what your own desires might be, they are somewhat subject to the whims of the terrain. For example…let us say that when the game screen comes up, you quickly realize that you have a coastal start, with several “seafood specials” nearby, but you didn’t start with the Fishing tech. Now, maybe before you started the game, you had this nice, involved tech path worked out that didn’t include researching Fishing right away. Unfortunately, the game handed you a bunch of tiles that are crying out for it. You could go ahead with your plan of course, and avoid Fishing, but it would be a waste, given all the potential sitting just off your shores…you would essentially be working against yourself…never a good thing.

In this way, we identify the three pillars that will primarily serve in the crafting of your game strategy.

Your own Desires
Your chosen Civ
The Local Terrain

It is from the subtle interaction of these three elements that all else will spring. When the game truly begins and you’re sitting there with your desires burning at the forefront of your mind, your Civ-of-Choice at your command, and a dozen or so terrain tiles visible, understand that in addition to looking at the smallest slice of a strange and unexplored new world, you are also looking into the cradle of your strategy. It will be born right here…right now, on turn one, and I will do my best in the pages that follow to teach you how to craft it. To shape and mold it until it is exactly what you wanted.

Welcome to “The Window.”

OoO

[Swiss Pauli]

Looks good to me.

[couerdelion]

Looks good Vel and I’ve only got a few comments/ideas

Glossary

Do you also want to include a definition of “huts”?

I also notice that you use the term GPT rather than commerce per turn. I assume this must therefore relate to the actually surplus gold generated by the civ but I wonder if this can be the case since the commerce per turn is something you are more likely to be looking at. The distinction between commerce and gold might be an important one to make in the guide in the same way that you made the comment about hammers/production.

Notes and Provisos

Talking of which you talk of production as being a figure which includes hammers implying that the former is the thing that defines when something is finished while the latter simply measures the contribution of city workers to that total. I personally find it easier to define them the other way round seeing production as what comes out of the city and hammers as what ends up in the production queue. Admittedly this is a matter of language although it is still the case that the stats details of “production” show what you call hammers. Either way, you need at least to define what hammers (or production) are.

Anatomy of a Civ Game

In phase V you refer to the previous phase as continental dominance while the document calls this “pan-regional”

Game Start

The statement “This is false” in para 3 does not appear to be contradicting anything. As a crude alternative, how about “Recognise that every minor error or mistake compounds over the course of the game and any you make at the start will be more serious than ones made much later”.

I also wondered if you might want to make a distinction between “mistakes” and “bad luck” - leaving you free to define the borderline here . Here’s another rough draft of what could be added to the end of paragraph 3 - “You’ll always make some mistakes and there’ll also be times when you are plain unlucky. If you can learn to take measured risks – generally low risks and high returns – then you’ll find it much easier to do well as the game develops.

In para 5, there are a few typos. Final sentence should read “straightforward and self-explanatory”.

As for the game start, you’re almost certainly going to have to make at least one important split of civs into two groups when discussing the “first move” and “early moves”. You made the comment in the text on Mongolia but I think it needs to go near the front whether you start with a scout or a warrior. I’m sure you are going to repeat the “settle on 2h square” comment so the scout has the added bonus of giving you a better early guide for your settler.

[Velociryx]

Thanks for giving it a creaful read-through! I'll review the doc when I get home this evening!

-=Vel=-

[Verrucosus]

Originally posted by Velociryx

Momentum players are all about conquest (and obviously, they occupy the extreme opposite end of the spectrum from Builders). The Empire is secondary for them, and only exists to serve as the platform from which to launch the next campaign, and they're happiest when mired in the mud of some war or another.

It's interesting that this characterization of momentum players does not include the element of timing that is reflected in the term "momentum". The basic idea of a momentum strategy (as I understand it) is to attack as early as possible and keep going because each successful attack will add to the "momentum" of your campaign until it becomes unstoppable.

The characterization that you give in the glossary - I suspect that you will discuss these terms in more detail in the main text itself - would very well cover a player who first builds his empire before he goes on the rampage. An "early attack" philosophy is not necessary to come within your definition. It seems as though the defining difference between builders and momentum players is no longer timing ("build first, then attack with a high tech army" vs "attack first, before your opponent can build that army"), but the player's ultimate goal ("you need an army to defend your empire" vs "you need an empire to support your army").

I'm not sure, but maybe this shift in emphasis is justified because the rules of Civ4 do not allow a pure "momentum strategy" in the same way that it was possible in the old days. Back then, it didn't really matter if your empire was shaken by corruption and inefficiency - as long as you had the momentum to force your opponents into submission. I would locate my own games somewhere between "Builder" and "Hybrid" and yet I do feel the maintenance limits when I try to expand. A momentum player in the traditional sense might well be forced to stop his campaign or watch his empire collapse in revolt at exactly the time when he has gained a really strong momentum. The rules of the game force him to stop and catch his breath at the moment of triumph ... and that's almost the opposite of traditional momentum play. (I do remember the strange reversal of roles in SMAC's late middle game when momentum players began to consolidate and successful builders started to send out their high-tech armies on "expeditions", but that reversal was usually a tell-tale sign that the momentum strategy as such had failed.)

I suspect that - because of the different game mechanics in Civ4 - "momentum" is no longer a tool that can carry a player directly to victory. If that is correct, it might be misleading to use that term to characterize a style of playing an entire game.

All of this is not to say that the momentum idea as such has no place in Civ4. It still has, but not in its pure form of carrying a nation to world domination without ever stopping for consolidation. On the other hand, the need to catch one's breath opens a different way of playing that was rarely seen in the old days: shifting gears during the various stages of the game.

Verrucosus

[Velociryx]

Hey man! As always, excellent comments! I think you hit the nail squarely on the head...gone are the days when you could simply start to attack, pay no heed to economic development (which is really the heart and soul of Empire...that and/or Religion, depending on your needs and focus), and simply conquer your way to victory...I remember reading a remarkable essay about Civ III in which the player began in isolation on an island near a large grouping of AI Civs...he built nothing but Warriors and Galleys for the entire game, and ultimately conquered the world....while I admit that I have not tried such an approach in Civ IV, the mechanics as I understand them would seem to indicate that such an approach in THIS game would only come to a bad end for the player who attempted it. Perhaps then, the term itself has outlived its usefulness, except in the most general terms of describing how much, and how soon warfare figures into your overall plan. I believe that the main reason this is directly tied to the city maintenance system, but also the troop upkeep system....take SMAC, for example....troop maintenance was tied to individual bases, and based on minerals rather than coin. Under this approach, it was very easy to take a group of 3-4 formers (who had, by virtue of their previous terraforming, long since paid for themselves in terms of outputs to the Empire), gang-terraform a new Borehole at a newly built city, re-home a few units to this new base to free up production at some more mature base (or, even better, simply upgrade a few more units to "clean" and remove the upkeep cost entire), and keep going without missing a beat...and all this could be done in a matter of 3-5 turns of play.

Not so in the world of Civ4, where cottages are the fuel fed into the engine of growth, and cottages take precious time to grow. Sure, you can enhance your economic position by virtue of gold, silver or gem mines (early), and later by such things as spices, but these are tiles of "happenstance" more than planning, and as such, cannot truly relied upon to form the basis of strategy (although I guess that there would be some subset of players who would restart with anything less than a gold mine in their beginning city radius, I cannot imagine that it would be anything but a small minority)....all that to say that at least some level of attention must be paid to the economy, even if it is nothing more than building and working cottages.

This brings to mind an interesting tradeoff though, especially for the momentum player.

It is true that no matter where you exist on the spectrum, you'll likely use pop rushing to facilitate faster builds of *something* (builders would use it to speed that Library along to assign some scientist specialsts and get to that extremely useful Academy, while Momentum players would be more inclined to rush in a couple more Axemen to start a-conquering--as a general rule of course), but there will come a very definite point when the diminishing returns on another rush will outweigh the economic NEED to stop rushing in City X and begin to work those cottage tiles so they'll mature. Thus, even if this is all the attention that is paid to the economy and Empire, it is compelling, because it underscores the point that the idea of being a singlemindedly focused conquerer is pretty much out the window in this game. All I can see it leading to is a steadily declining research rate, and the eventual disbanding of a healthy chunk of one's standing army, to be immediately followed by conquest.

And come to think of it, these notes might well need to put in an appearance in the guide...

-=Vel=-

[Cort Haus]

In my view, a key strategic moment in the game is when the local map is largely scouted, with the terrain, resources and rivals all revealed.

Assuming a rush is not already underway at this point, and the initial intent is to peacefully settle as much land as possible, the big questions have to be answered :

Where will I build my cities?
When will I build my cities?
What will I do with my cities?

The first subject, city placement, is worth a chapter to itself, with numerous variables and priorities. The second considers the timing of the expansion and the opportunity cost (vertical growth, alternative builds, techrate) of those cities. The third question is effectively 'Why am I building this city' and the answer lies in the intended role - production, commerce, GP farming, fishing village, hybrid or resource-bagging.

A useful tip concerning question 2 - when? : One answer is of course - before the AI settles there. The diplo screen can help with this. Cities in red (on the player side) are those which the AI won't want because they're too far away. If it won't take a city at distance X from it's capital, it won't build one at distance X+Y, so any locations farther away from a 'red city' should be safe from being settled by that AI at this point. These sites then become 'low-priority' as there is no immement danger of the AI settling there.

[Dominae]

Originally posted by Cort Haus
A useful tip concerning question 2 - when? : One answer is of course - before the AI settles there. The diplo screen can help with this. Cities in red (on the player side) are those which the AI won't want because they're too far away. If it won't take a city at distance X from it's capital, it won't build one at distance X+Y, so any locations farther away from a 'red city' should be safe from being settled by that AI at this point. These sites then become 'low-priority' as there is no immement danger of the AI settling there.

Interesting observation.

Although I think the AI takes into account other things than just distance when deciding what spots to settle and what cities to accept in diplomacy (and also when to raze, I believe).