Top twenty newb mistakes

[Zero]

good reconaissance/exploration makes the difference between good player and bad player IMO.

some bad players actually do play well, but theyre either too afraid to make the aggression and turtle up or blindly attack in one direction without checking all the angles. This allows the opponent to seriously take big advantage if he's a smart player that gathers intel about you.

[ducki]

When I have empty cities, the AI makes a bee-line for them.

That's a perfect reason to leave a city "undefended".
When you know precisely where an enemy will strike and from which direction, you won't need a defender _in_ the city because they'll never make it there.

Two defenders in every city means you have no idea where they AI will strike. One or two "bait" towns makes defense a lot easier, and allows you to defend with fast-mover attackers instead of fortify-and-hope-they-don't-pillage defenders. It's not necessarily the "best" strategy, but under a representative government, your garrisons give you no contentment bonus, so if you can get by without them, especially in your interior if you are big enough to have an interior and an exterior, save yourself a bit of upkeep while making your enemy more predictable/manipulable.

That's just me, but I tend to keep a lean standing army, so if I don't _need_ a unit, I don't keep it. That means I have more fast-mover attackers and as few garrisons as I can feasibly get away with.

Under MP, this would be suicide, but in SP, it's free money.

(Edit: And yes, this is just my opinion, and more geared to a larger, later game empire. Early game, I like the peace of mind of having "troops" in every city, but lately it's more often swords and archers than spears, since I can shift them to the offensive or track down pesky pillagers without diverting my offensive force. Gah! I rambled! Anyway, it's just opinion. If your strat works for you, more power to ya. If it doesn't, give someone else's a try.)

[Alexander's Horse]

Originally posted by Jon Miller


I just go straight for their cities, I hit them with the artillery until their defenders are all hurt, than I hit them with my attacking infantry

Jon Miller

That's what I do too artillery softening up is very important.

[geniemalin]

My biggest n00b mistake was a pathological fear of the lux slider. I played like the AI - using entertainers or extra troops or rushing collosea throughout my whole empire just to avoid 10 or 20% "lost" gold/research.

Now I have discovered the lux slider. And probably not coincidentally, am now becoming competitive on Emperor level, which I never was before.

EDIT: Also, the hangover of wanting to keep a couple of defensive units in every (even far interior) city, despite this being counterproductive with representative governments and railways.

[joncha]

I'm guilty of over-defending my cities... hmm, and building too many improvements, for that matter. I guess sometimes it just doesn't feel right to leave out things that I think should be important, even when they're not. *sigh*

zero: I believe it's "Rock over London, rock on Chicago." W.W. will be missed...

[BigDork]

Originally posted by conmcb25


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

Well this dang game just wouldn't let me leave. I took a vacation with CM but now I'm back.

[techbota]

about the lux slider. How does it help you so much? I leave it at 10% but if you raise it any higher you cant research techs competitvly! Unless I am missing somfin.

[chequita guevara]

Need to remember to use that lux slider. WW is killing me, despite police stations and Universal Suffrage.

[vmxa1]

Originally posted by techbota
about the lux slider. How does it help you so much? I leave it at 10% but if you raise it any higher you cant research techs competitvly! Unless I am missing somfin.

One is it can be used to put a citizen back to work that otherwise
would have to be an entertainer.

Another is it can be used to push cities into WLTKD and boost production.

I would not set to a given level, just for the fun of it. IOW you want to see what the value is and what you get for the level set.
10% may be good or it may be useless. Do any citizens actually change or not?

[ThePlagueRat]

Originally posted by Scriblerus

Being one or two turns from finishing research on a Tech, and not checking if you can still hit it in the same number of turns by rebalancing your sliders in favour of more tax (could easily be 50 to 100 gold over a couple of turns in mid-game with a large empire).

Similarly, not checking on the city screen to see if you need all those shields to hit your next build in one or two turns, or could reallocate some of the pop to produce more trade/food, or as specialists for a turn or two.

IMO those are flaws in the game engine. Yes, and I do use them to my advantage.