Anyone have any tips for Civilization 4?
- Thread starter ManBearPig
- Start date
Chriscross3234
Senior member
- Jun 4, 2006
- 756
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Yup check out CivFanatics, tons of fundamental tips and strategy on the forums to help you further enjoy Civ IV
Schadenfroh
Elite Member
- Mar 8, 2003
- 38,416
- 4
- 0
Do not over extend, hold back on creating new cities unless you have a ton of money.
Archers and Longbowmen make the best early city defense.
Build cities near resource tiles (within 2 tiles in any direction).
If an opponent is overwhelmingly threatening, switch to his state religion and become his friend (buy time).
The first guy to switch to the Religious Freedom gets a sizable tech advantage.
If at war, go after resource producing squares that allow the enemy to build military units (early is copper and iron, it changes later).
Play at epic game speed so technology wont progress as quickly and you have time to adapt to new technologies.
Archers and Longbowmen make the best early city defense.
Build cities near resource tiles (within 2 tiles in any direction).
If an opponent is overwhelmingly threatening, switch to his state religion and become his friend (buy time).
The first guy to switch to the Religious Freedom gets a sizable tech advantage.
If at war, go after resource producing squares that allow the enemy to build military units (early is copper and iron, it changes later).
Play at epic game speed so technology wont progress as quickly and you have time to adapt to new technologies.
Thanks guys. Im actually doing alright on default settings. Things are going really fast though.
I dont get some of the most basic things like...
1)What difference does it make how much culture or green potion things (uhh, what are those) i adjust in the top left corner? What's that do?
2)What exactly do the tiles even do?
3)Should i be building cottages and farms and all that stuff? I have stuff all over the place, i just built it wherever.
4)How can i get more great scientists/engineers/artists?
5)How do i see how much stone and other resources i have (total)?
6)Wtf does the growth bar mean?
7)Those big circle on the screen when you open up the city viewer, wtf do they do? You can add scientists and stuff but it says starving after a bit so i just didnt touch them.
Stuff like that. Thank ye.
I dont get some of the most basic things like...
1)What difference does it make how much culture or green potion things (uhh, what are those) i adjust in the top left corner? What's that do?
2)What exactly do the tiles even do?
3)Should i be building cottages and farms and all that stuff? I have stuff all over the place, i just built it wherever.
4)How can i get more great scientists/engineers/artists?
5)How do i see how much stone and other resources i have (total)?
6)Wtf does the growth bar mean?
7)Those big circle on the screen when you open up the city viewer, wtf do they do? You can add scientists and stuff but it says starving after a bit so i just didnt touch them.
Stuff like that. Thank ye.
Schadenfroh
Elite Member
- Mar 8, 2003
- 38,416
- 4
- 0
Green potion = science, higher the quicker you discover new technologies. Lower the more money you make. Culture allows your border to expand, increases happiness in cities, and if your culture encircles an enemy city, it might even flip to your control
Depends on what kind of tiles, your cities harvest natural resources from tiles
If there is a natural resource on the tile (like a banana tree), then build the suggested building with a worker (if available). Cottages are good for plains, farms are better for grasslands with access to water (so you can actually irrigate them)
Certain wonders (special buildings) can increase the probability that they will spawn randomly there.
Check your trade adviser, iirc
Population growth in that city, the number next to the city is the number of people in it (x 10000 or so).
You can assign workers to harvest natural resources from the surrounding areas (thus feeding your citizens or mining) instead of having them hang back in the city researching, counterspying, etc.
before going into a fight press and hold ALT key over an enemy when you have a unit selected to see the fight win percentages.
in the early stages get iron and make sure your opponents dont! same for horses.
wars are long and arduous hang in there and dont quit.
CIV is fun. sitting and hitting ENTER was never this exciting
in the early stages get iron and make sure your opponents dont! same for horses.
wars are long and arduous hang in there and dont quit.
CIV is fun. sitting and hitting ENTER was never this exciting
Bateluer
Lifer
- Jun 23, 2001
- 27,730
- 8
- 0
Few things I've noticed, playing on higher difficulty ratings is tough. And they get exponentially tougher. Opponents will seem to have an inexhaustible supply of soldiers. In one of my recent games, I had a city defended by over a dozen veteran infantry. In the span of a single turn, my enemy was able to crush the defenses using riflemen and siege weapons. He'd bombard the city to reduce its defense rating, then attack with cavalry. The cavalry would only deal so much damage the my infantry, but they always withdrew before dying. Thus my infantry eventually took so much damage, they were easy prey for the weaker riflemen.
I'm still waging that game, but the conflict isn't going well. My allies deserted me, capitulating to the Greek menace. Basically, its just me against everyone else on the map now. The foot holds I established on his continent early on in my war with the Aztecs have been reduced to a single city, that he could take at will. Fortunately, I still have control of an island off his coast that I can use. Its comparatively lightly defended though, though I use air craft to target tile improvements. Scorched earth might be the only way to weaken him enough to actually do some damage.
I'm still waging that game, but the conflict isn't going well. My allies deserted me, capitulating to the Greek menace. Basically, its just me against everyone else on the map now. The foot holds I established on his continent early on in my war with the Aztecs have been reduced to a single city, that he could take at will. Fortunately, I still have control of an island off his coast that I can use. Its comparatively lightly defended though, though I use air craft to target tile improvements. Scorched earth might be the only way to weaken him enough to actually do some damage.
Make sure to destroy roving bandits early in game if you have them. They are worst the the CPU in attacking! One bandit cpu had one city left, would just keep sending units after unit to destroy stuff around my city, turns out it was the last place on map I did not uncover with fog of war. lol
Don't forget to save before going to war! Nothing ruins your day when you go to war and the enemy unloads cargo carrier of troops right on coastline of best city.
Don't forget to save before going to war! Nothing ruins your day when you go to war and the enemy unloads cargo carrier of troops right on coastline of best city.
So would this increase my culture/science/money? They have those little icons next to them.
When i make the great people super specialists or let them build their buildings, do i get that amount PER turn or just one time?
thanks for all your help guys
Schadenfroh
Elite Member
- Mar 8, 2003
- 38,416
- 4
- 0
Yes, but eventually you will have more workers than tiles to work on, hence why you can assign idle workers to becoming specialists.
Depends on the specialist / action.
1) Roads increase trade. Make sure you have roads on every single tile (square) in your empire. Trade gives you the currency + science + culture. Trade is the amount of those things each city gets based on how many roads are around the city. Have 1 worker (or more) for each city you have. If you have 5 cities, you should have atleast 5 workers doing improvements.
2) Don't build towns once you hit about 0bc/ad. Conquer others. The difference between conquering others or building towns is that you get to plunder their treasury, and when you take over towns, its already half built with improvements, such as granary, library, etc. Once you hit 1500 ad though don't do it anymore, because once people start making alliances you are going to get everybody declaring war on you.
3) Maintenance. Too many troops take a ton of money (and morale) to support. Only build an army when you plan to attack. Otherwise keep 3 defensive units (+ city walls, etc) stationed in each cities.
Thats about it for beginner tips.
2) Don't build towns once you hit about 0bc/ad. Conquer others. The difference between conquering others or building towns is that you get to plunder their treasury, and when you take over towns, its already half built with improvements, such as granary, library, etc. Once you hit 1500 ad though don't do it anymore, because once people start making alliances you are going to get everybody declaring war on you.
3) Maintenance. Too many troops take a ton of money (and morale) to support. Only build an army when you plan to attack. Otherwise keep 3 defensive units (+ city walls, etc) stationed in each cities.
Thats about it for beginner tips.
The Civ4 AI engages in a lot of tech trading, and if you don't participate you'll quickly fall behind. If you have a tech that a lot of civs want, trade it to each one of them for different techs on the same turn.
So should i fill in those circles with artists and other things until it says stagnant?
I suck at this game...came in third. I couldn't even get to the Manhattan program within the time frame set.
I suck at this game...came in third.
I couldn't even get to the Manhattan program within the time frame set.
Bateluer
Lifer
- Jun 23, 2001
- 27,730
- 8
- 0
Originally posted by: Kazaam
So should i fill in those circles with artists and other things until it says stagnant?
I suck at this game...came in third.
Depends what your goal for that city is, stagnant means the city isn't growing. If you want the city to produce culture, use artists. If you want to increase scientific production, use scientists. Each specialist type has their own unique benefits.
I usually like my cities to be growing, more citizens means more potential production.
Don't worry about not making the Manhattan Project, I almost never complete it. In my opinion, its better to let another civ invest the money and effort into completing it as once its complete, it unlocks nukes for everyone. Some Civs in Civ4 will use nukes against you with out restraint, especially if you've done something to anger them in the past.
Also, a 3rd place score can be very misleading. I've been in 3rd or 4th place before, but my military was so completely outclassed by rivals that my effective standing was much much lower.
Play at the difficulty rating right about settler until you get the hang of how the game is played, then up it.
Read the game walkthroughs on this site, definitely will help explain the basics and some more advanced strategies. Civfanatics is good for specific strategies, but I really like this site since it chronicles entire games almost step by step, explaining what and more importantly why he does what he does.
SpunkyJones
Diamond Member
- Apr 1, 2004
- 5,090
- 1
- 81
Read the manual and go to civfanatics.com. Lot of resources and articles for new players. Civ IV isn't a game you can just jump into, there is a lot going on in the background that you'll need to learn in order to move up to the harder levels. Of course the down side is you'll be up all night, I didn't get to bed till about midnight last night because of that dam mushroom cloud laying mofo Gandhi, but vengeance will be mine.
PHASE 1
----------
A good start is essential.
With your first city start with building 2 workers, the first to research is bronze working as it means you can use those two workers and to chop down trees and build all your early stuff really quick.
As soon as possible establish your neighbour's locations and go build towns next to them to stop them expanding into your territory. Once you have established your outer borders, you can then fill in the gaps where there are juicy locations with other towns.
PHASE 2
----------
Depending on what you have discovered over the first 50 or so turns, you should do one of the following:
1. If the map is archipelego, then obviously you need to get seabound asap to grab the available islands.
2. If you have made contact with a lot (4 or more) other civs already, get alphabet asap to start trading techs
3. If you seem to be sharing a continent with just one other civ, get on a war footing and wipe them out asap. Iron Working, metal casting, and construction would be the important techs to get an early military advantage over them at this stage.
OVERALL
Your main aim in the first 200 turns is to ensure you have grabbed all the sweet locations and established your borders as wide as possible (nothing worse than getting penned in). Dont build on worthless tiles though, let the enemy have that as it will just cost them money to run anyway and would give them no advantage. It is rare you will be the stongest faction so early, so use religion as a way to bond with the strongest factions and forge alliances. At least you dont have to worry about them attacking you and you can start working on dominating the mid-low civs, eventually making yourself into the strongest. This doesnt always mean war, you can use culture to capture neighbours towns (weaking them further) or give a relatively useless tech to one of the strongest factions in return for them starting a war on your target until they are weak enough for you start stomping through their towns.
Thats enough for now... but seriously, until I discovered the 'chopping down of forests at the start' tip I was useless and now I have won on noble a few times.
Edit
LATER GAME
Once you are established as described above, the key I find is that you thent set your research tree directly to Scientific Method. Why? Because this reveals where all the oil is which is the priority once you hit the 19th century. You can have scientific method as early as the 14th century which gives you a lot of time to either setup a defence around it, or if there is none in your territories, to go and conquer it! The early you do this the better as you will find once you hit the 19th20th century even your best allies will happily declare war on you if they find they are in the industrial era without oil. You dont lose out on all the other techs by doing this as you end up getting a lot of scientific techs to trade for the ones you are missing out on.
Once thats done, set your research directly to combustion (so you can extract the oil) and then straight to whatever its called that gives you the tanks (assembly line?). If you can amass 30 tanks before the others even get the tech you can dominate the world very very quickly.
Note this is a very military approach, but trying to win through diplomacy (UN etc) is down to a hell of a lot of luck. The few times I have won have been through this method in order to win by landmass (owning 30% or whatever the figure is).
----------
A good start is essential.
With your first city start with building 2 workers, the first to research is bronze working as it means you can use those two workers and to chop down trees and build all your early stuff really quick.
As soon as possible establish your neighbour's locations and go build towns next to them to stop them expanding into your territory. Once you have established your outer borders, you can then fill in the gaps where there are juicy locations with other towns.
PHASE 2
----------
Depending on what you have discovered over the first 50 or so turns, you should do one of the following:
1. If the map is archipelego, then obviously you need to get seabound asap to grab the available islands.
2. If you have made contact with a lot (4 or more) other civs already, get alphabet asap to start trading techs
3. If you seem to be sharing a continent with just one other civ, get on a war footing and wipe them out asap. Iron Working, metal casting, and construction would be the important techs to get an early military advantage over them at this stage.
OVERALL
Your main aim in the first 200 turns is to ensure you have grabbed all the sweet locations and established your borders as wide as possible (nothing worse than getting penned in). Dont build on worthless tiles though, let the enemy have that as it will just cost them money to run anyway and would give them no advantage. It is rare you will be the stongest faction so early, so use religion as a way to bond with the strongest factions and forge alliances. At least you dont have to worry about them attacking you and you can start working on dominating the mid-low civs, eventually making yourself into the strongest. This doesnt always mean war, you can use culture to capture neighbours towns (weaking them further) or give a relatively useless tech to one of the strongest factions in return for them starting a war on your target until they are weak enough for you start stomping through their towns.
Thats enough for now... but seriously, until I discovered the 'chopping down of forests at the start' tip I was useless and now I have won on noble a few times.
Edit
LATER GAME
Once you are established as described above, the key I find is that you thent set your research tree directly to Scientific Method. Why? Because this reveals where all the oil is which is the priority once you hit the 19th century. You can have scientific method as early as the 14th century which gives you a lot of time to either setup a defence around it, or if there is none in your territories, to go and conquer it! The early you do this the better as you will find once you hit the 19th20th century even your best allies will happily declare war on you if they find they are in the industrial era without oil. You dont lose out on all the other techs by doing this as you end up getting a lot of scientific techs to trade for the ones you are missing out on.
Once thats done, set your research directly to combustion (so you can extract the oil) and then straight to whatever its called that gives you the tanks (assembly line?). If you can amass 30 tanks before the others even get the tech you can dominate the world very very quickly.
Note this is a very military approach, but trying to win through diplomacy (UN etc) is down to a hell of a lot of luck. The few times I have won have been through this method in order to win by landmass (owning 30% or whatever the figure is).
Nice, thanks guys.
What exactly do the tiles mean? I see food and gold in the tiles in the city viewer all over (in the sea too), but ive got no idea if im getting money from them. AM i getting money from the see just because those tiles are there?
What exactly do the tiles mean? I see food and gold in the tiles in the city viewer all over (in the sea too), but ive got no idea if im getting money from them. AM i getting money from the see just because those tiles are there?
if the food/money is not within a circle then no u are not getting it at that moment. but if u click on it it will move an idle/specialized citizen to that spot and they will harvest that food, however it will take away from whatever they were specializing in.
it is ok to have these not all filled. The best thing for beginner is let the CPU/governor AI take care of most of the city micromanaging until you understand the game more. Also you really really need to read the manual or any of the starting guides on the internet.
any help on making a city be able to spam great people? seems kind of tough to get my food production anywhere higher than 2 over the necessary amount.
great people come from wonders and specialists
my strategy is build city on 1pro 1food the yellowish one near river or coast and resources build worker then build barraks then settler then if wondre then settler...the more cities=more units...and you will fall behind in techs early but then will make up by feudalism
get a religion...Christianity or Judaism or Islam and spread it to all counties surrounding you...the more allies the better
use organized religion to boost production and depending on the civ you are playing as pick a point to build up and attack
trading techs can be useful...medicine is one that everyone wants get to it first...get to liberilism first for the free tech as well...your science would have picked by then...
a good civ to go with is the english...start with them and when you get better you can try others...for a early win though the romans can't be beat
Naval domancy is important as well...get oil or coal first and they will fear you destroyers and battleships...(it takes ALOT of ironclads to take down a destroyer)
build fighters and bombers and when at war destroy all of the enemies improvements you can
but the most important way to victory is having wonders...they literarly fix everything try to get as many as possible...and spread them out throughout your cities (the oricle is important)
then just make sure you attack only people weaker then you and you will be fine
my strategy is build city on 1pro 1food the yellowish one near river or coast and resources build worker then build barraks then settler then if wondre then settler...the more cities=more units...and you will fall behind in techs early but then will make up by feudalism
get a religion...Christianity or Judaism or Islam and spread it to all counties surrounding you...the more allies the better
use organized religion to boost production and depending on the civ you are playing as pick a point to build up and attack
trading techs can be useful...medicine is one that everyone wants get to it first...get to liberilism first for the free tech as well...your science would have picked by then...
a good civ to go with is the english...start with them and when you get better you can try others...for a early win though the romans can't be beat
Naval domancy is important as well...get oil or coal first and they will fear you destroyers and battleships...(it takes ALOT of ironclads to take down a destroyer)
build fighters and bombers and when at war destroy all of the enemies improvements you can
but the most important way to victory is having wonders...they literarly fix everything try to get as many as possible...and spread them out throughout your cities (the oricle is important)
then just make sure you attack only people weaker then you and you will be fine
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