Top twenty newb mistakes

[Jewish Lance]

Besides not using workers properly, the next biggest mistake is building too many improvements and not enough troops!

[Gunter]

I believe that newbies tend to underevaluate the importance of alliances,on higher levels in the past I have often found useful to have one allied,possibly far from my lands

Gunter

[okblacke]

Re: Top twenty newb mistakes

[SIZE=1]I'll start with my favorite dumb thing to do. Building defensive units, especially spearmen.

What about on an archipelago map? Paying for high mobility would seem to be a waste there.

[ok]

[KenderBane]

The biggest mistake that I've noticed newbies making is paying way too much attention to the map and not enough attention to the diplomacy screen.

Diplomacy alone can determine technology leads, Gold per Turn trades, resource availibilty, alliances (MPPs, too), and (early on) contact with other civs.

I've seen some people not open the diplomacy screen until they were at war . You need to negotiate with all Civs (both human and AI) as soon as possible, if you don't you will get 'ganged-up' on and smeared.

[Gunter]

Originally posted by KenderBane
The biggest mistake that I've noticed newbies making is paying way too much attention to the map and not enough attention to the diplomacy screen.

Diplomacy alone can determine technology leads, Gold per Turn trades, resource availibilty, alliances (MPPs, too), and (early on) contact with other civs.

I've seen some people not open the diplomacy screen until they were at war . You need to negotiate with all Civs (both human and AI) as soon as possible, if you don't you will get 'ganged-up' on and smeared.

Even this statement is very true,I did the same mistake when I was a rookye,10 years ago more or less,CIV 1 times

Gunter

[conmcb25]

Being afraid to go to war.

Every once in a while those neighbors whose score is close or higher than yours need some pruning

[planetfall]

Not watching F3 screen and anticipating "weak" means attack is pending.

== PF

[gunkulator]

Another big newb mistake is not being prepared for the AI counterattack after war is declared. The AI always heads for your weakest city. Always.

[ducki]

Building too many city improvements - temples everywhere, barracks everywhere, libraries everywhere, colosseums everywhere. I'm still occasionally guilty of this, too, though(well, except the colosseums, blech).
This goes hand-in-hand with :

Using happiness buildings instead of the lux slider.

Also, failure to specialize cities - worker/settler factories, troop factories, etc.

Failure to explore and make contact as many contacts as possible as soon as possible.

Using the Great Library as a crutch(see Ision's thread about Wonder Addiction on CFC - I think it was Ision).

Irrigating bonus grasslands under despotism.

All of these I've been guilty of in the past. It's been 5 games since my last Wonder-splurge and I feel fine.


Oh yeah, biiiiiiig one - not building a granary in one of your first 2-3 cities, especially if you have bonus food tiles. This one is huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge.

[Fatwreck]

Originally posted by ducki

Oh yeah, biiiiiiig one - not building a granary in one of your first 2-3 cities, especially if you have bonus food tiles. This one is huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge.

I often don´t do that, and I probably loose alot by not doing it... but Emperor is still working out fine for me, guess I´m a bit lucky

[Alex]

i agree with all points mentioned by ducki. and the misuse of the science and lux sliders is really one of the biggest mistakes... i know, because it took me some time to start using the sliders back when i played civ2.

since most newbies start playing on Chieftain level, happiness is not really a concern, so they do not get used to manipulate the sliders early in the game - and often they do not have to do it during the whole game, because the happiness improvements manage to get things under control.

to me, knowing when to max science and when to max gold is a huge step towards a successful game...

[ducki]

Originally posted by Fatwreck


I often don´t do that, and I probably loose alot by not doing it... but Emperor is still working out fine for me, guess I´m a bit lucky

For examples on how an early granary can help, check out "Ducki Does C3C at Emperor".
The thread quickly devolved(my own doing) into a discussion about the how's and why's of a 4-turn settler pump - you can't make a pump without a granary, and if you've got the food, you're shortchanging yourself if you don't at least try to make one. There's multiple screens and saves and a looooot of insight from the strat forum vets about it.

I used to build a granary before my first settler _every_ time - that's a second-level newbie mistake. You must adapt to your terrain, and as such, there should be no hard and fast build orders for every single game.

That said, in the "Winning Early, What Do YOU Do?" thread that can be found in Theseus' "Must Read Threads"(topped in the strat forum), nbarclay did an analysis showing that building a granary before your first settler(if you have the shields to do it) puts your first settler out a mere 7-8 turns later than not building a granary and you catch up after about the 3rd settler.

Anyway, I'd probably vote my #1 newbie mistake as not checking out the strat forum, particularly the stuff in "Must Read Threads" - some of which is outdated, but the really important stuff is mostly timeless.

[vmxa1]

While I tend to agree with ducki, those are finer points that I would expect them to have trouble with. They are not limite to new players.

[adrianchew]

An early offense is a good defense... if you don't get enough cities and land, and you let the AI build up, you'll have a much tougher time taking over their cities later into the game. Early offenses if you have a good UU or can build the Statue Of Zeus is a huge boost.

If you're still in the early times and under Despot - when offered peace, see what you can get... barter to get free techs/stuffs then declare war on them again! Stupid AI always falls for that!

While I wouldn't suggest pumping out Spears, they do have a place defensively and there was at least one game I wish I had pumped out more early - cause I had lots of cash and the defensive units are cheap upgrades.

[Fatwreck]

Originally posted by ducki

For examples on how an early granary can help, check out "Ducki Does C3C at Emperor".
The thread quickly devolved(my own doing) into a discussion about the how's and why's of a 4-turn settler pump - you can't make a pump without a granary, and if you've got the food, you're shortchanging yourself if you don't at least try to make one. There's multiple screens and saves and a looooot of insight from the strat forum vets about it.

I used to build a granary before my first settler _every_ time - that's a second-level newbie mistake. You must adapt to your terrain, and as such, there should be no hard and fast build orders for every single game.

That said, in the "Winning Early, What Do YOU Do?" thread that can be found in Theseus' "Must Read Threads"(topped in the strat forum), nbarclay did an analysis showing that building a granary before your first settler(if you have the shields to do it) puts your first settler out a mere 7-8 turns later than not building a granary and you catch up after about the 3rd settler.

Anyway, I'd probably vote my #1 newbie mistake as not checking out the strat forum, particularly the stuff in "Must Read Threads" - some of which is outdated, but the really important stuff is mostly timeless.

yeah I should, and probably will... If I ever want to beat anything more than emperor