Military build up vs. completionisim

[Lighteria]

First off, I'm new to the forums.
Sup? Don’t worry, I'll include a short version of this post at the end.

Second, I've had some trouble adapting to civ 4, especially with the quick obsoletion of units and building any moderately well-sized army.

First a little history on me... I came to civ 4 directly from civ 2 where my preferred strategy was to expand as fast as humanly possible, strive for peace in all foreign relations, and then build up a democracy so bloody rich and advanced that I could basically sit back and laugh whilst the massively overpowered spies bought out every city that didn't have the foresight to be democratic and eventually take over the world with profit. While I kept most cities in expense check by restricting growth, I always had to have nearly every '1 gold' building in every city, thanks to the, again, massively overpowered Adam Smith Trading Company. My score was never very high, but I could always take pride in building up a giant peaceful civilization from the foundations of prosperity and the bricks of awesome. I saw civ 4 on the shelves and figured "Hey! How much could it have changed?"

".......Oh." Was my response.

Here's my major problem. I was a FEIND at snatching up wonders in Civ 2. It reached the point where I wouldn't be happy until I built them all, but this was never really a problem for me since I would have enough cities to be able to afford letting a few of them sit on their thumbs building pretty things. I was usually quite far ahead in tech as well (usually played on prince or lower, didn't play to be frustrated) since more cities meant more research. But now I find myself rather stymied by my economy. I have a hard enough time keeping myself in the positives for my income as I expand, trying my best to stay around 100% as much as I reasonably can. I figure that would afford me an edge in technology... but the frustrating thing is, it DOESN'T anymore. Even on the lower difficulty settings my rivals tend to nip at my heels... which is VERY uncomfortable for me and between trying to get wonders and building the essential improvements in the cities I just barely have enough time to eek out the requisite defender for each city. Then I mouse over a few nearby rival cities and see literally DOZENS of units holed up in a nearby border town and I just rip my hair out screaming "Where do you people find the TIME for that?!"


Summary:
Staying close to 100% barely wins me the tech race and upgrading units is extremely expensive. I just don't see where all the funds are coming from for my rivals to create a giant standing army, stay close to my techs and keep the army upgraded while I barely manage the latter two. Am I focused too much on wonders and buildings and how can I break my old habits and play civ 4... well... better?

[rjmatsleepers]

One point worth making is that staying at (or close to) 100% research will not maximise your . More cities and a lower research rate will often give you more across your empire.

RJM

[DaveV]

1. City specialization. Most of your cities should be commerce cities, with libraries, markets, and lots of cottages. You should have at least one military pump, with a barracks, forge, and Heroic Epic. You should have a Great Person pump, with several food specials, temples, library, market, forge, and National Epic. See this thread for discussion about where to build your cities.

2. Tech trading. This is a big part of how the AIs stay caught up in tech (turning on "No tech trading" makes the game at least one difficulty level easier). There is a limit on the number of techs the AIs will trade during the course of the game, though ("We fear you are becoming too advanced"), so try not to receive cheap techs in trade.

3. This is not Civ2, where ICS was always the answer. In Civ4, you generally have to make a choice between expansion or wonders in the early game. On an uncrowded map, it can be a good strategy to crank out a couple ultra-early wonders and use them to support your expansion, but on most maps the AIs will settle right up to your borders and peaceful expansion will be out of the question. If you want to play a peaceful, tech-heavy game, try experimenting with different map types and reduce the number of AIs in the game. On these thinly populated maps, it's well worth your while cranking out several early units to explore the map and pop the goody huts.

[Lighteria]

City specialization is something I've been experimenting with actually. I've had rather akward results at best, especially with production oriented cities. I suppose I'm still compulsively trying to build absolutely every building since there's no 'cost' like in civ 2. "It could use the culture boost!" Is always chiming in the back of my mind.

Perhaps next game I'll ease up on pushing the tech slider to 100... I suppose I'll have to be more disciplined with keeping my military pump just that as well.

I appreciate the advice!

[Garth Vader]

I generally expand until my tech rate goes down to 50-60 percent. Once you get courthouses and markets and your cottages mature you'll start pulling away from the AI's.

[Supr49er]

Lighteria ,

Build Libraries in your cities early, and convert two citizens into Scientist Specialists . This will really boost your research.

And, Welcome to the Forums.

[rah]

At the higher levels, more than one city better be cranking units or your empire will be quickly reduced in size.

[Lighteria]

I'm a bit in the mindset that EVERY city needs a library... "Oh, I'll build that archer later... right now my people want books!"

I won't make it through the harder difficulties with that attitude, I know. Old habits die hard.

[snoopy369]

Your tech rate should be falling to 30-40 percent for a period in most games. Use scientist specialists to make up the difference, as Supr notes. Not in every city, but in those that have a food excess. Usually you will have plenty of cities in the early game that cannot expand as much as they would prefer to due to unhappiness.

Wonders are buildable by IND or when you have stone/marble; when you don't have any of these, you should build very few wonders.

Focus on getting Currency and Code of Laws relatively early; the former gives you a second trade route and the latter gives you courthouses. If you are ORG build courthouses everywhere, if you are not build them in your outlying cities at least (anyone with around >4 gpt lost to maintenance). Get Open Borders with other civs when you can, as this gives you better trade routes.

Definitely don't build every building in every city Generally I build buildings that give at least a 3g/hammer return within 100 turns (so a 100 hammer building should give at least 3gpt on average for the next 100 turns).

[snoopy369]

Buildings almost every city needs:
Granary
Forge

Buildings many cities need:
Library
Marketplace or Grocery (only one usually)
Courthouse
Bank

That's about it for early to mid game buildings. Other buildings are only 'as appropriate', ie Barracks in cities that build mostly mil units, more commerce buildings in commerce cities, theater or monument if you need culture, etc.

[rjmatsleepers]

Originally posted by snoopy369
Your tech rate should be falling to 30-40 percent for a period in most games. Use scientist specialists to make up the difference, as Supr notes. Not in every city, but in those that have a food excess.

ie every city that will have an early food surplus needs a library.

RJM

[Colm]

I used to build every building in every city, but I found that's just a waste of production. Why build a colloseum when everybody is happy? Why build an aquaduct when the city is still healthy? Instead of that building, you can build units to defend/attack, or build a worker for that new city you just founded.
I play this game for months, but I still improve my playstyle every day.

[Panag]

Originally posted by Colm
I used to build every building in every city, but I found that's just a waste of production. Why build a colloseum when everybody is happy? Why build an aquaduct when the city is still healthy? Instead of that building, you can build units to defend/attack, or build a worker for that new city you just founded.
I play this game for months, but I still improve my playstyle every day.

Hi ,

corect , unless you have a lack of lux resources or to much war Weari one should focus on units to roll into the AI's grounds , but be carefull when the plague hits in some mods its better to have that extra health from an aquaduct , or when you have a border city that extra building culture might prevent that your city has less tiles to work on , .... ( ! ! )

the best way , it to adapt asap to any given situation and to be flexible

Have a nice evening

[Theben]

With the exception of early exploration, forget everything from Civ2. Explore for those special resources and to map where you want to place cities. Don't try for every wonder as this will only lead to frustration. You'd be better served trying to wean off of building wonders entirely.
And falling to 10-20% tech is okay as long as you've expanded considerably and will be able to get Code of Laws and Currency soon.

[Panag]

Originally posted by Theben
With the exception of early exploration, forget everything from Civ2. Explore for those special resources and to map where you want to place cities. Don't try for every wonder as this will only lead to frustration. You'd be better served trying to wean off of building wonders entirely.
And falling to 10-20% tech is okay as long as you've expanded considerably and will be able to get Code of Laws and Currency soon.

hi ,

indeed , its a whole new ball game new

as for wonders , why do the hard work , ... build an army , send a spy to recon the city and the turn its done take it , ....

techs can be traded or bought , or force them during peace talks , ....

Have a nice day