Newb here

[Billybgame]

Howdy ho. Found this site and these forums, as I can't access most gaming sites here at work. Was searching Civilization through Google, and found you. Seems pretty populous here, with some good info, so it's interesting. I'm a longtime Civilization player, going back to Civ I on the 5 1/4 inch disk.

I see tournaments and such....but mostly, at first glance it seems they're for BTS? I play vanilla Civ 4, at the moment. Are there tournaments and ladders for this, as well? I've had no thoughts about getting Beyond the Sword.....should I?

On a strategy front, I wanted to ask a question: I've worked my way up the difficulty ladder on Civ 4, and am currently failing at Prince. One thing that seems to be a trend is that no matter the situation, someone will declare war on my out of the blue, and a few times, I've been underequipped for the onslaught. Did the Game of the Month at Civfanatics.com, and had to retire due to the constant wave of Cavalry from a neighbor. I was at a big disadvantage, with no horses. As I said, I've played Civ since 1, and have always gone with 3, maybe 4 defenders per city. This just does not seem to be enough in Civ 4. And, at least in Prince, I'll look at other civ cities, and they'll have 10, maybe 20, defenders in them. Yikes. Talk about a serious lack of city improvements, while building all those units. So, the question is, how many units do you have defending your cities?

[Kuciwalker]

Look at the power graph. Civs will declare war on you if they perceive that your military is weak. If you have parity or superiority on the power graph, they're a lot less likely to declare war. You can get this superiority through tech or through numbers.

[Solver]

Really consider getting BtS. It's probably a bit cheaper now than when it was originally released and it's a good deal - in addition to BtS stuff, you're getting the content from Warlords, the first expansion (minus scenarios). That will give you 16 civ news, Great Generals, vassal states, corporations and espionage among other stuff. Most importantly, BtS has a seriously improved AI with reduced bonuses.

In Civ4, the best defense is not to let others declare war against you. Civs won't declare war out of the blue. A few fanatic leaders apart, AIs will usually only declare if they are militarily superior to you. The key here isn't having a lot of defense, it's in having military technologies and a standing army (that can well be offensive).

I rarely defend my inner cities with anything serious at all. In fact, my core cities are often protected with Archers until the end of the game. Border cities get 3-4 good defenders, though, if I have any reason to expect an attack. Keep checking the powergraph. If you're too low on it, get some more units. A good army acts as a deterrent.

[Kuciwalker]

Really consider getting BtS.

No! Do not buy BtS until they actually fix it. Right now there are massive, game-breaking bugs in the most up-to-date version.

And Blake still has an independent improved AI for vanilla, doesn't he? Billybgame should just get that for now rather than shell out.

[Solver]

There are several major bugs in BtS - only a couple are game-breaking the way I see it. All the major bugs, AFAIK, are fixed by the unofficial patch.

Blake's AI for vanilla is far behind the BtS AI. It's about five months of development behind, lacking several of the main features of BtS AI.

[Kuciwalker]

There are several major bugs in BtS - only a couple are game-breaking the way I see it. All the major bugs, AFAIK, are fixed by the unofficial patch.

Well, whatever suits him. I don't use unofficial patches, and if I hadn't already bought BtS I wouldn't buy it now. I think "I won't buy your product until it actually works" is a decent incentive for a company.

[Solver]

Well, it's all up to your personal choice. Personally, I see no reason not to use unofficial patches or such (for any game). I don't deprive myself of fun if the problems that come with it are either minor or can be fixed. Since the BtS unofficial patch fixes the 2-3 game-breaking bugs in 3.13, I see no reason for anyone with an Internet connection to deprive themselves of the fun in BtS.

They're making a second BtS patch anyway.

[Billybgame]

I bought Civ 4 a year ago, or so. Haven't played nearly as much as I did 2. 3, I kind of hated, it was so irritating, for various reasons. Still tried a lot. I'm just now lately getting more into 4. Going on what I've noticed at CivFanatics, BTS seems to cause a lot of problems. They have a Game of the Month cool thing, that I've seen tons of posts on problems for BTS players. That's kind of why I was asking. Pluses vs minuses. I probably haven't played 4 enough to NEED to go to BTS yet, anyhow.

Solver.......sounds like you play the way I do, then. Of course, this GOTM game was setup to test mettle, I'm sure. But, even with 3 or 4 Redcoats, my cities were succumbing to boatloads of Cavalry. Even cities on hills. I thought they'd be good enough, but no. I thought I was getting a lot of bad luck. But, maybe I just need more, in case of those sudden attacks.

Thanks for the power graph tip, too. I have not once looked at that. I will try.

What about contests, tourneys and ladders for vanilla here? Anything going? A lot to look at/for, at first, so not real sure.

[Solver]

I actually prefer to eliminate untrustworthy civs myself If I start next to Alexander, Montezuma, Mehmed, Shaka or someone else I know I can't trust, I aim to eliminate them as soon as I can afford to do so. Makes defending all that much easier. If you make friends with the "nice" leaders, it's very unlikely that they'll attack.

And no, we don't have any vanilla tournaments going on, we have the Tri-League for BtS, which you're welcome to join if you get the game. I just don't believe we have enough demand to get anything going for vanilla at the time.

[Billybgame]

In vanilla, I would have to include Mansa Musa and Saladin in that group. Would you not? I read a post saying Mansa Munsa wasn't the troublesome type. Forget that. He's the one who's attacked me, without provocation, the most. Saladin's always surly towards me, too.

[Solver]

I've never had a bad experience with Mansa Musa that I recall. Not militarily. There have been cases where I was forced to attack him because he'd be running away with research, but I find him to be extremely peaceful.

Saladin isn't peaceful but is rather predictable. He really pays attention to religion. In my experience, when sharing religions, he's a good partner. When not sharing religions, he'll end up attacking me.