Razs Learning Thread

[padillah]

This is a problem I have as well. I'm looking for an EMPIRE (said in loud booming voice) and it gets frustrating having to wait for several turns until I can get one.

I'm playing Warlords right now as the Celts (BTW am I the only one that changed it from "Celtia" to "the Celts"?) and I am having a hard time building an EMPIRE (said in loud booming voice).

Tom P.

And I think I got a map where everybody is on one continent and no one is on the other yet.

[DrSpike]

Originally posted by padillah
This is a problem I have as well. I'm looking for an EMPIRE (said in loud booming voice) and it gets frustrating having to wait for several turns until I can get one.

If you don't have patience you don't deserve an empire. Empires take dedication and planning.

[Jaybe]

Originally posted by Rasputin
I think the other problem i make for myself, i s my desire for an empire means lots of cities, and from what i can gather that isnt good in civ4. i see some games people only have 10 citiys. I would be bored with so few. Till i get over the 20+ mark for number of cities i dont feel like i have made an empire.

You are setting yourself up for a fall when you advance in difficulty if you spam cities.

Instead, set yourself a goal of percent research & gpt. Get in the habit of using that as a guide for when to build a new city. Never have more than 1 settler in reserve.

I don't know if that advice will work on settler difficulty. May have to go up a level.

[Tokyo Sexwale]

Yeah, you have to be patient. 20 cities? I play on Prince / Monarch and I rarely have more than 3/4 cities by 1 AD. I think most people go for 6-8 cities by that time, but I never go that large. I win about 50% of the time on Monarch, but I do all my expanding between 500 and 1500 AD, on large maps.

I'm much more of a builder than a mongerer, but I tend to build up a big army around 1AD and then attack one of the neighbours and grab their cities to expand.

You have to be patient.... having 3 well-defended cities with developed tiles is much better than a weak empire. Expanding too fast is death in this game and you'll never get past noble if you don't control yourself. (And the game goes a little faster too with fewer cities.)

Also, don't be afraid to be behind in the score until late in the game. On noble, I'm usually ahead by 1AD, but at Prince/Mon it's often 1500 AD before I'm on top.

And learn to use the Oracle slingshots and other such "tricks" - they're fun.

[Rasputin]

so if i not building many cities till after 1AD , what the hell do i do ?

[Tokyo Sexwale]

I don't run out of things to build, only on rare occassions. Then I just build troops. I'm probably a bit extreme.... most people try for about 8 cities by 1 AD, I would guess.

I tend to go for an early religion (not always successful on Prince and Monarch) so I at least have cultural things to build.

One thing you might try when stepping up to Prince or above at first is to switch Tech trading off. The bonus the AI gets for research is difficult to catch up to and you may find yourself way behind.

Also, it is my belief that the further up the levels you go, the more you are forced to play as a warmonger, which is why Rome is a great choice to play as. There's nothing wrong with sticking to the lower levels.... right now I divide my time between Prince, which I almost always win and Monarch, which I win half the time.... I've tried harder levels but it's too tough for me and I've no desire to try them again right now.

As I said, I prefer to be a builder and I think the only way to win at Emporer and above is to build a massive army of weaker units and attack the more tech advanced AIs.... not that fun IMHO.

[Kc7mxo]

don't forget to click the automanagment buttons in the city window. in the little box, they look like food, hammers, and a coin. you'd be amazed at the difference this makes. why it doesn't default to on is beyond me.

and secondly, building your own cities is overated. taking your neighbors cities is much more fun!

[padillah]

I had a big problem building enough units in the begining so I found a good way to keep myself building units, build a unit every other turn.

You can build whatever you want on the "even" turns (2, 4, 6, 8,etc) but on the "odd" turns build a military unit (settlers and workers don't count as military).

This helps but you will still be behind the AI at first because they build in spurts, all units then all buildings.

Also, that second city as fast as possible is a must. My initial build queue is usually Warrior, Settler, Warrior, Worker, Warrior... Sometimes I have to pre-build the second Warrior because my city hasn't grown by the time I get to building the first Settler. But only as a tactic for waiting for the growth, you don't need to actually build two warriors first, but it doesn't hurt anything if you do. Send him with the Settler so you can start on buildings right away.

What I'd like to know is how do some of thses guys know exactly what the AI is up to and how advanced they are? I've seen people talk about "attacking the most advanced neighbor", how the heck do I know who's more advanced? I don't have spy's yet, it's 4000BC. How do you tell who is more advanced?

Tom P.

[Rasputin]

thanks again for al lthe great stuff