Another bunch of newbie questions...

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

(Hopefully some of these questions are original.)

I'm just about done with my initial game - on Settler, and yes, I'm tired of stomping Archers with MBTs. But a few questions came out of this game, at least...

Upkeep/Maintenance: Some civics have 'None' under Upkeep, which is easy to understand. But what does 'low', 'medium' and 'high' mean, on a per-city basis? I realize that more cities=more upkeep, and that more units=more upkeep as well. But how much upkeep per unit or per city? Has anyone generated a table comparing city/unit expenses under the various civics regimes? And does the cost of city/unit upkeep go up as the difficulty level changes?

Regarding civics in general: Given that there are so many options, how often do you find yourself changing civics? If the answer is "often"... how much of a handicap is the period of anarchy? Assuming you aren't Spiritual.

Wonders: What's your favourite, and why? They all seem pretty handy, but nothing, especially among the early Wonders, really seems to stand out as a must-have the way Hanging Gardens and Michelangelo did in Civ2.

It does seem to make sense to build as many of the Wonders you want to build in one of 3 cities - just to keep the cultural victory option alive. Is there an obvious downside to this approach?

Advice is appreciated... and more questions will be coming, I'm sure...

[Dale]

1. Maintenance is hard to quantify as "5 cities = 10 maint". It's a lot more dynamic than other civ games. Some civics change maint, some give you freebees before maint kicks in, etc, etc.

2. By the time the civics are being researched, I know what sort of victory I'm heading towards and pick my civics to match that victory. I change when I research them if it'll help me to the victory I picked.

3. Well, a lot of people say oracle is a must have, but once again, depends on what victory you're heading for.

Dale

[rjmatsleepers]

As far as maintenance is concerned, my recollection is that if you "mouse over" the civic you are thinking of changing to, you get to see the actual cost.

And I can't get my head around STYOM describing himself as a newbie!

RJM

[Urban Ranger]

Upkeep for a city is based on the distance of that city to the capital (or Forbidden Palace if you have one and it's closer) and number of cities you have.


Civics: not often. I stay with one set of civics until something major happens, e.g. war, that makes me change.


Wonders: nothing you really must have, but Great Wonders are very nice to have, because of the bonuses you get, and simply because you deny the pesky computer players from having them. The Oracle is usually a good choice, esp when you build it as part of the Civil Services Slingshot (see the Strategy section for details). The Pyramids is an excellent choice because you can use Representation. The Colossus and the Great Lighthouse are excellent if you run a seafaring nation (i.e. lots of ports and fishing villages). Again, check the Strategy section for more details and debates.

[Ijuin]

On Civics: Mercantilism is best used in conjunction with Representation. That way, not only will you get a free specialist in each city, but said specialist will give you three extra science beakers. However, unless you are either running Representation, or have the Sistine Chapel (which gives +2 Culture to all specialists) or Angkor Wat (which gives +1 hammers to all Priest specialists), then you are better off using Free Market than Mercantilism.

[Urban Ranger]

Mercantilism can be a good civic to run if you have just captured a whole bunch of cities. Free artists + theatre is a great way of increasing culture.