How did your first game go?

[Jon Miller]

I lost on time after getting beaten up for not having enough strategic resources (most importantly no oil or uranium)

it was Noble, Standard, Archipegio

I was on an island with 4ish city spots (only the one, my capitol, had decent production), I expenanded to one other small one (one square) nearby after a while...

several of the others seemed to start on nicer locations... and I had no oil or uranium near me..

a weaker nation (I was second at the time, almost entirely tech and culture) decalred war on me, and proceeded to smash up my coast with destroyers and battleships

I then bought oil (for a huge price, 250 Gold per turn plus a tech) because I couldn't make peace.. and then fought them back a bit (until they made peace.. for a lot of sciences)

I had already fallen back a bit, the 250 Gold was doing havoc with my tech.. but then I couldn't figure out how to stop it so I fell way down the rankings..

the game ended 2050 with no victory for anyone

Jon Miller

[Kingof the Apes]

I just got my copy today, and was planning on starting on Diety level just so I could gain a healthy respect for the game. Unfortunately, my monitor's red color died (?) and everthing is in blue and green.

I played a couple of turns, founded Hinduism (as India), and lost about three warriors to lions before the underwater look became too much for me. I hope I get this fixed soon

So far the game is great though.

[Solver]

Starting the game on Deity, now that's something interesting . If you're lucky, another civ will conquer you. If you're not lucky, Barbarians will .

[Sanuk]

My first game was as Spanish/Noble/Terra.

Was kicking butt until some barbs and Chinese mistook my lack of military units (1 warrior/city) as weakness.

Long story short - they were right...

[RGBVideo]

I then bought oil (for a huge price, 250 Gold per turn plus a tech) because I couldn't make peace.. and then fought them back a bit (until they made peace.. for a lot of sciences)

Yea, the AI now really does recognise the price of special resources: I just got (after a long haggle) 1 copper for 104 gold per turn from the Chinese in mid-game (I want to beat them in at least ONE wonder coming faster with a special resource -- the Internet, that is ).

[jkp1187]

After playing around on warlord while learning the game, I switched to noble and played a full game. Standard size "Terran" map, English (Elizabeth).

I lost in 2049 to America's (Washington) spaceship.

I did learn, though, that the Space Elevator rocks.... He had built nearly all of his ship, but thanks to the elevator, I built nearly the entire ship in record time, while fighting a colonial war in the New World against China. I was only one spaceship part away from finishing the ship when the game ended. If we could rush-build, I would've had him. (And if the clock had run out, I would've won....)

Stupid Americans.

[ranskis]

Hadn't played CIV since CIV I.. and I'm hooked again

Played my first game as Catherine, Russians. The goal was to try a peaceful game and go into culture as much as possible. After founding Moscow I quickly meet the japanese, north of the continent. Another explorer encounters the Aztecs south of my territory.. woops !

I go on to expand as much as I can squeezed between these two, managing to snatch a couple of japanese cities as they revolt and turn to my growing empire. Diplomatic relations are good with the japanese and excellent with Aztecs as I make lots of deals and spread hinduism in about all of their cities.

Statu quo for a while as neither of us on the continent have met other civilizations. Eventually a galion leaves Moscow and a few turns later I've met Indians, English, Persians, and Germans. More deals and an army of missionaries later, I'm good friends with everyone. (even tho the persians won't convert ? didn't figure out why). Things go mostly as planned with my cities growing and building libraries, theaters... the only worry is that my defense is rather puny. Seeing that Bismarck is building loads ands loads of military units + boats, I decide to fortify the eastern shoreline.

And now the turn of the game.. Everything is going "according to plan", I'm concentrating on 3 cities to reach the required culture level, churning out wonders, while suddenly... my closest ally, the Aztecs, declare war !! Didn't understand why, as they were "enthusiastic". of course all I have on their borders is a couple of archers and other old units.. I figure I can upgrade them to marines, as luckily I have a slight tech lead, but this slows me down, and they pillage everything south of my territory before I am able to retaliate. Turning the tide takes a lot of time and at this point I'm pissed ! The culture strategy is definitly out, half of my cities are starving and wonder building is delayed.. other civs, most notably english and germans are passing me score wise.

Time for a change in strategy ! I still have lots of money left in the bank, which is enough to convince the germans and their mighty army to turn against the technologically advanced english. On their continent war seems to be raging as I see their score stagnate for quite some time.
Meanwhile I have taken lots of damage but pushed back the Aztecs on their territory.. revenge ! Their cities are too well defended for me to raze, I am waiting for bombers and artillery support. nevermind, I am pillaging everything I can and cut their road network.

Last twist, as I am piling more and more units, suddenly the quiet japanese on the north of the continent declare war ! arghh.. luckily the diminished Aztecs are eager to accept a truce, accelerating the move of my military from south to north. Luckily I do not sustain much damage from the japanese, as they're using inferior units, and I can count on my bombers to quickly damage their incoming forces.

And finally.. I went to bed Not sure how this game will end, but anyway I had a blast, it's been a long long while since I had so much fun playing a video game.

Cheers and sorry for the lengthy post !

[RGBVideo]

Civ I

Taking out cities without artillery is next to impossible without a very good tech lead, or so it seems. I've had long lines of defensive units on the borders of my nation whenever I'm afraid of an invasion -- can't be bothered to start a proper war, but want to keep my infrastructure intact seems to have worked so adequately for my builder strategies, but that could be simply because I've had luck with the maps in all my games.

Are you a Finn living in France, btw?

[LDiCesare]

I made a first try (settler tiny) which reallt doesn't count as it was just a free tutorial for me. So my first game was as Frecerick on Noble small map (can't probably play much bigger maps due to small memory- I'll see). Ended when my friend Mansa Musa launched a spaceship. I was still learning, checking strategies and so didn't micromanage at all. The only war I fought started in the 20th century when the Russians landed two knights and took me by surprise. I took the city back in the turn, and invaded them later, taking one of their cities. I lacked oil and noone would trade it, so no panzers.
Overall I found the game entertaining, but the city screen is hardly usable because I can't see what each square produces (certainly due to my cideo card). It requires a lot of micromanagement in order to know which square is used and I can't see which are used by the neighbour cities, so I'll have to place the cities really apart. The lack of oil was extremely painful as it prevented me from waging a war.
I'll micromanage much much more and be more aggressive next time. Once I learn the tech tree, I think noble should be quite easy.

[ranskis]

Yep taking cities without artillery seems next to impossible.. next problem I had was that I haven't found a quick arty unit yet ? (apart from bombers much later in the game) It's not like I ever get them upgraded to "commando"

So there are still things I need to figure out.. have to play more with religion, especially.

And no, not a finn living in Paris, but a french who lived in Hki for a couple of years