N00b questions continue: how do I not blow this?

[Rufus T. Firefly]

So, as I continue to try to get the hang of Noble, I find myself for the first time ever in what seems to be a really good position. In 1700, the situation is:

1) I'm top of the power graph, playing as the cultural/philosophical Germans (vanilla Frederick the Great).

2) I've got a large tech lead; I'm currently researching Steel, while other civs have come around begging for Calendar. I believe I'm the only civ with Gunpowder at the moment.

3) I've got a great capital/science city, cranking out 350-400 beakers/turn and 25-30 points per turn toward GPs. (Contains Pyramids, Great Library, National Epic, and Oxford University and the usual science and money improvements [including two monastaries]).

4) I've got the second-largest civ on the board, with some room to expand (on two small islands; I've got one city on each, there's room for one more on each).

5) My only neighbor land border is with the weak and puny French; they are the only other civ on our land mass.

6) Only clouds on the horizon: My military is smaller than it should be (3 pieces per city, generally; at least one gun poweder unit in each), and Montezuma and Tokogawa are both in the game (Tokogawa's the biggest civ, controlling 19% of the board to my 16%).

7) My civics (I believe) are: Representation, Bureaucracy, Mechantilism Free Markets, Free Religion, and Free Speech.

Right now I'm focused on building up the military at home while developing the newly-settled resource-rich islands.

I realize that this description is no substitute for a game file, but still: If I handed you this game right now, what would you do with it?

[LDiCesare]

Why do you keep the French in the game if they're your neighbors, have nothing to trade with you and you're running Mercantilism so they're definitely useless? Get Steel, build cannons, then research Grenadiers or Riflemen, and roll them (maces/knights backed with cannons can do, you don't have to wait for grenadiers or rifles).
Did you build the Forbidden Palace somewhere?
What's the point of having bureaucracy when your capital cranks out GPP? Can't you move the capital to a place with less specialists and more cash/hammers?

[Sarco]

It's hard to say not knowing your religious or diplomatic status (if you have access to many religions, that can help a lot with cultural victory, and obviously it can also give you a diplomatical boost).

The first thing I would do would be to get a defensive pact with one or two guys. If Tokugawa and Montezuma have a land border, I'd prefer having a defensive pact with one of them (Tokugawa is probably most trustworthy of those two psychos) so that they will fight each other when one of them attacks you.

Then, the best question I suppose is how you would like to play it. There's a large gameplay difference between domination victories and the other types. Consider taking out the French just for fun, experience and perhaps a great general.

[Garth Vader]

Roll the French, fill the rest of your available space, build enough of a navy to defend yourself from invasion and coast to a space win.

If you get bored while doing that you can try a invasion of another continent. If you have a big tech lead and enough ships to keep an eye on everybody there is no way they can launch an invasion on you.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Originally posted by LDiCesare
Why do you keep the French in the game if they're your neighbors, have nothing to trade with you and you're running Mercantilism so they're definitely useless?

D'oh! I meant Free Markets, not Mechantilism.

Anyway, yes, taking the continent from the French seems like the next step; I haven't doen it yet only because I've been building science and economy infrastructure, not military. But it's time to build up, and invade.

And as someone pointed out, I forgot to mention religion. I've founded Confuscism and Taoism in different cities, and have built whatever the Confuscian cathedral is called; most of my cities are confuscian, with two being both Confusian and Taoist and one of the new ones being Islamic (the other new one has no religion yet).

[jnh140]

Well, choose a peaceful coast or gear up for a massive roll-over. either way, the trick to civ 4 is units.

Sounds like you got the general hang of noble, i was having a horrible time trying to figure that out until posting here. Time for prince!

war:

Definatly grab steel and produce about six cannon. Immediatly take the output of several coastal cities, two building galleon, two building privateers if possible. If you have a tech lead, piracy is AWESOME for screwing the AI, and allows you to war the insane or near-top leaders of the world without actually declaring war. You siphon resources, and force him to adjust his navy to compensate.

After you get a nice floatilla of privs, a big floatilla, few stacks of four-- switch to bombarding naval vessels.

As soon as you have a couple cannon, immediatly embark on a domination of the french. I'd drive them off the continent, no reason to have them there once they get riflemen and become a significantly tougher nut to crack. You'll have tanks by then but WHATEVER. By the time you are done with france, you'll have a better-trained army, and a fleet ready for naval invasions.

peace:

overrated. but aggressively spread religions, get a great merchent, and found sids sushi. build privateers and train a defensive army. i'd probably wreck france anyway, even an idiot can coast to a space upset if he brokers tech, spies, and



edit
...

looks like i forgot to finish my thought. lol
im a bit preoccupied with a crucible full of boiling niobium, but i digress.

if he brokers tech, spies, and has aluminum, he can sneak a space win. Uncommon when this far ahead in the power score, but ive had to divert 100% of my production to the space race in order to squeak a win against a lesser opponent.

[Blaupanzer]

"and ..." Is this one of thse 'how to get a fool to anticipate' tricks? OR did you leave off a word or two, jnh140?

[Theben]

Originally posted by jnh140
peace:

overrated. but aggressively spread religions, get a great merchent, and found sids sushi. build privateers and train a defensive army. i'd probably wreck france anyway, even an idiot can coast to a space upset if he brokers tech, spies...

He's playing vanilla. No corporations or spies.

[johnmcd]

You really should crush France now you have astronomy. Then, push for a space win. Go straight for superconductors for the labs, then robotics for the elevator, and then satellites would be my opinion. Get the internet in and all the other crummy techs you'll have missed will fall into place.

You could go for a big war, but really, what's the point? The AI is so poor at warring anyway it hardly feels fair.

[Sarco]

Originally posted by Rufus T. Firefly


D'oh! I meant Free Markets, not Mechantilism.

Anyway, yes, taking the continent from the French seems like the next step; I haven't doen it yet only because I've been building science and economy infrastructure, not military. But it's time to build up, and invade.

And as someone pointed out, I forgot to mention religion. I've founded Confuscism and Taoism in different cities, and have built whatever the Confuscian cathedral is called; most of my cities are confuscian, with two being both Confusian and Taoist and one of the new ones being Islamic (the other new one has no religion yet).

OK, vanilla means a lot of the suggestions in this thread don't quite apply.

You have access to three religions if I understand you correctly and you don't mention diplomatic relations but I'm not good at diplomatic victories anyway

My suggestions:

1. build an army right away and destroy the French. Raze cities and keep only the good ones. Use cannons and keep building units until the war is over, this way you will have a decent army after the war. Remember that cannons are good at defensive duties as well in terms of taking out the enem stacks. Once you have the continent, maintain a large navy and make sure you have warning of enemy invasions.

2. decide if you want to go the reasonably safe but boring space race way, the more challenging but more fun cultural way, or if you want to continue waging attacking wars. Keep at least one city constantly building units.

3. if you decide to go cultural: switch to organized religion and spread your religions like crazy inside your empire. Every religion should be in at least nine cities - or rather every religion should have nine temples each. Then switch back. Decide which three cities should be the culture cities - usually your capital and two of your older cities. Build the three religious cathedrals in these three cities (requires the 9 temples of each religion). Research to mass media and on, build eiffel tower, broadway, rock'n'roll and hollywood wonders in these cities (not all are necessary) - use great engineers if you can or go democracy to rush them with gold. Maximise artist specialists in these three cities when you feel the time is right (caste system and optimized food output). Use the artists to build great works - but save them until you know which city will actually need them. The rest of your civilization should focus on keeping these three cities safe. Build silly amounts of units and try to keep your research up as long as possible.

4. Space race.... sigh just keep on doing what you have been doing. Tech research, get space elevator and laboratories and build that damn spaceship. Keep yourself defended while you do it.

5. Domination: well build units and kill the rest

[Rufus T. Firefly]

This is very helpful, guys, thanks! It also makes me realize there are a couple of other things I don't understand:

1) What's the tipping point for Free Markets? I'm running them now, but actually only have 3 foreign trade routes (and can't seem to get any more); if the AI has so little to trade, is Mechantilism better? What logic do you use in making that call?

2) Bureaucracy vs. emancipation: I've been running bureaucracy to boost science in my capital, but now I have lots of science infrastructure everywhere. What governs your decision over when to switch out of bureaucracy?

And to whomever asked: my capital has turned into a GP farm because of all the super-specialist scientists there; I haven't pulled anyone off the land. But maybe that's still not the way to play this; I'm still feeling my way around the whole GP issue.

[Theben]

Originally posted by Rufus T. Firefly
1) What's the tipping point for Free Markets? I'm running them now, but actually only have 3 foreign trade routes (and can't seem to get any more); if the AI has so little to trade, is Mechantilism better? What logic do you use in making that call?

I rarely if ever use Mercantilism, going from decentralization to free market to state property. If you don't have more foreign routes, I imagine you don't have Astronomy just yet and can only trade with the French. Either that or your cities are really, really, bad and other cities are better trading partners or your cities are the best out there and are trading with themselves.

2) Bureaucracy vs. emancipation: I've been running bureaucracy to boost science in my capital, but now I have lots of science infrastructure everywhere. What governs your decision over when to switch out of bureaucracy?

Building for war I switch to vassalage. If I have a few cities or few towns I'll use bureaucracy.

And to whomever asked: my capital has turned into a GP farm because of all the super-specialist scientists there; I haven't pulled anyone off the land. But maybe that's still not the way to play this; I'm still feeling my way around the whole GP issue.

Unfortunately, Super specialists do not add GPP production, only wonders and regular specialists do. Some other things will increase GPP like pacifism civic, but super spec should be put in the city that matches their abilities. FE, super merchants should go in either your Wall Street city or in your GP farm (+1 food). Scientists in your science city with Oxford, engineers in high production cities... you get the idea.

[Solomwi]

Originally posted by Rufus T. Firefly
This is very helpful, guys, thanks! It also makes me realize there are a couple of other things I don't understand:

1) What's the tipping point for Free Markets? I'm running them now, but actually only have 3 foreign trade routes (and can't seem to get any more); if the AI has so little to trade, is Mechantilism better? What logic do you use in making that call?

2) Bureaucracy vs. emancipation: I've been running bureaucracy to boost science in my capital, but now I have lots of science infrastructure everywhere. What governs your decision over when to switch out of bureaucracy?

And to whomever asked: my capital has turned into a GP farm because of all the super-specialist scientists there; I haven't pulled anyone off the land. But maybe that's still not the way to play this; I'm still feeling my way around the whole GP issue.

1) How big is your empire? One rule of thumb approach would be to add up the commerce from your foreign trade routes, plus one route in each city that doesn't have a foreign route, then determine how many specialists you'd need to match that amount of commerce (treating each specialist beaker/gold as one commerce). If the number of specialists is equal to or less than your number of cities, it's probably a good idea to switch to Mercantilism. Even if you drop a bit of commerce, it might make sense to switch given your huge tech lead, depending on what the extra GPP does for you. Mercantilism works wonderfully with Representation, by the way.

Another factor to consider is whether you can increase your foreign trade routes. You need the city to be visible on your map (not necessarily within your line of sight) and open borders. If you think you'll be opening more borders or exploring more territory soon, it may be good to stay in FM. If you think you'll be doing what I'd do in your situation, wiping out France and gearing up to do the same to Tokugawa, Montezuma and others, Mercantilism is the way to go.

2) Again, how big is your empire? I switch out when my capital is no longer the single dominant engine of my empire. Bureaucracy's a great civic, but loses a lot of its punch as your empire grows and becomes less dependent on your capital. The other three choices benefit all your cities, though far less so than Bureaucracy benefits your capital, so it's basically a matter of when the cumulative effects of those small benefits outweigh Bureaucracy's concentrated effects. I view Bureaucracy as a bridge civic, allowing me to use my capital to drive my empire while I develop other cities to take over their various duties. For instance, once I have two or three powerhouse production cities up, my empire doesn't suffer much from dropping the capital back down to a middle-tier production city, because my designated production cities are building whatever wonders I want and pumping out a constant stream of troops. Similarly, once I have several cities contributing to research and taxes, that 50% bonus in a single city (that doesn't apply to specialists) becomes smaller relative to my total output, and therefore less crucial to my advancement. If you're using a lot of cottages, see how many have grown into towns. You may see a net gain in empire-wide commerce from a switch to Free Speech (+2 commerce for each town).

If you decide to build up your army and bonk some heads, an immediate switch to Vassalage or Nationhood may be the way to go. I prefer Vassalage because it lets you build 2-promotion units out of the box while staying in Free Religion and before the Pentagon comes around. Nationhood always struck me as more of an emergency measure for a defensive war, but with the extra happiness from barracks to fight WW and ability to quickly raise an army of superior units, it could make sense in your situation, too.

If you decide to go peaceful, Free Speech only makes sense if it results in more net commerce. The culture bonus doesn't do you much good since your only neighbor is a backwards, weak France, which should mean you can swamp the border with your culture without the bonus, even if you decide to let them live.

[Sarco]

Originally posted by Solomwi

If you decide to go peaceful, Free Speech only makes sense if it results in more net commerce. The culture bonus doesn't do you much good since your only neighbor is a backwards, weak France, which should mean you can swamp the border with your culture without the bonus, even if you decide to let them live.

Unless you go peacefully for a cultural win.

[Solomwi]

Originally posted by Sarco


Unless you go peacefully for a cultural win.

True. That point kind of got lost in the shuffle of my thoughts as I was writing that part.