Top twenty newb mistakes

[Harovan]

Originally posted by Alexander's Horse
I'm playing my third game of SP so Jimmy is probably right - damn newbies

How do you meanwhile like the game, AH? Your trolls from the good old flame war times are forgiven, but not forgotten .

[teaster]

I think the biggest mistakes I made as a newbie were

1-expanding too slowly, usually because I would switch from settlers to city improvements too soon

2-tile improvements to tiles I would not be able to use, for example improving more than 6 tiles for a city before you are able to build an aquaduct

3-Attacking someone immediately if they place a city in an area I want whether I was prepared for a war or not.

I seemed to take it a little personnally back then. As a veteran I no longer launch myself into a war prematurely. Now I build up my military strength, my military infrastructure, and scout the enemy...then launch my forces at him with a maniacal frenzy. I guess I still take it personnaly maybe I should enroll in an anger management seminar

[TheArsenal]

Trusting the AI.

[conmcb25]

Originally posted by BigDork
One thing I was very guilty of when I first started playing was working every tile for a city right from the start. I'd have size 3 cities with every tile around it developed. And at the same time I didn't have enough workers to do that for every city so while I was working to fully work one city another was sitting there undeveloped. Of course everyone here sorted me out.

So I agree with the above, another newbie mistake is not coming to 'poly.

Big D what the heck are you doing back at poly?

[ducki]

Waiting too long to change from despotism once you acquire monarchy/republic.

Just for the benefit of the newbies, with the C3C luxury/resource scarcity, if you are not going to use the Lux slider, switching to Republic too soon could be crippling - not always, not necessarily even usual, but something to be aware of with the new resource distrubution in conquests. If you have a bunch of big size 7+ cities and only 1 luxury, early Republic _might_ be a mistake if you don't use the slider.

[Theseus]

All good comments. Good idea for a thread, jt!

Here's one I'd throw in: Not trading techs. Do NOT research what the advisor suggests, rather something else that fits your overall strategy.... and then trade off techs aggressively.

[asleepathewheel]

Something I like to do is to focus on the scientific civs first. Nothing more annoying to me than working on feudalism for 10 turns and the byzantines or someone pops up with it, trades it around the world, and i'm screwed. Of course, the flipside is that you can use scientific civs to your advantage by gifting them into the next age and then getting their free tech from them...

[Inverse Icarus]

Originally posted by Theseus
All good comments. Good idea for a thread, jt!

Here's one I'd throw in: Not trading techs. Do NOT research what the advisor suggests, rather something else that fits your overall strategy.... and then trade off techs aggressively.

yes. wh0re techs like it's the apocalypse. sell it to whoever will pay the most, because after it gets dispersed, it is valued at less by the AI.

this goes hand in hand with another one, explore as much as possible. if you're the middle man between civs that don't know eachother, you can play off that and get both of their techs for little initial investment.

[Lord Silvi]

Too little, too late, too few

My biggest mistake:

Not to declare war. I waited until they did.
I send weak forces, didn´t concentrated against enemy cities.

[vmxa1]

Don't over look the fact that not knowing the best plays and learning can be fun. I still morn the fact that I don't get to see fleets of 32k anymore in Moo1.

[Capt Dizle]

Soon I'll take these ideas, redefine them a bit, make a list and solict more feedback. Refine and maybe do some polling. We probably need to stipulate that these top twenty apply to the ancient era. Good imput. Keep it coming.

I'll add another. Pride. Refusing to yield to AI extortion threats before you are prepared for war. Sometimes its better to nuture a grudge until the day you are ready to serve a dish of chilled revenge.

edit: oops, Xorbon beat me to that one.

[Jaybe]

Originally posted by vmxa1
Don't over look the fact that not knowing the best plays and learning can be fun.

The discovery process is one of the great reasons I enjoy new versions/patches and expansions!

[Switch]

*ahem*
Attacking a large civ in the industrial age, forgetting that they'd built the Knights Templay...
This being a low-level game, and so research was naturally slow, they had a LOT of crusaders...took several stacks of cavalry to eliminate them all.

Oddly enough, even with the resource scarcity in C3C, I still managed to get every strat resource up to rubber.

[techbota]

Which woders do you guys think are absolutly important??

I like the pyramids, The temple of whateveritis, and the great library??

Also you guys say to trade techs like mad??? Isnt this counter productive seeing as if you have gun powder you wouldnt want to give it away (I wouldnt think so) I here alot of people say in their games that they are way ahead of the AI but I dont see how with this strategy.

Also I hear not going to another government is a mistake. Under despotism I make more money and have no war wariness. If I try republic I automatically have to lower my sliders because I take a HUGE jump into the negative!!!! So I have been waiting for democracy. Infact in the conquest book it says a couple of these races thrive in Despotism. PLUS I usually lose like 2 city improvements in the riots that insue. I just have a bad taste in my mouth since the last time I changed before democracy. As for any other government im not sure. It just seems like democracy is the ONLY route to go. BUT I am a newb so what do I know.

[ducki]

Which woders do you guys think are absolutly important??

Ancient?
None. Not a single one is "absolutely" important. None are "necessary". Most are crutches. And this is coming from a former wonder addict. If you just have to build an Ancient wonder, make the the Pyramids on anything but a smallish island, and then, make it the Lighthouse.

But I encourage you to play with a self-imposed "No Ancient Wonders" rule for a game or two.

Regarding governments: get more luxuries(trade, steal, whatever), don't build so many improvements(they cost per turn), and don't have such a large standing army(which costs a lot more per turn in Republic than despot).
If you have a huge standing army, then use it. Republic doesn't give you garrison happiness.
You might be happier with Monarchy or even Feudalism.