Civ 5 - Need your help

[Rhezuss]

Yo...first of, I suck at stategy games. Don't know why but I'm bad. The only game I do good is the Dawn of War series...

So on topic, last night I lost again at Civ 5. I'm playing on Prince difficulty (4) because on 3 and lower the AI is not that present and other Civs seems just too passive. So 4 is the sweet spot for me...well is it really?!!?

The only game I won was my first at level 3 difficulty...back at launch day.

I don't really know what i'm doing wrong and i'd like to hear tricks and tips from you.

First, I'm not aggressive player, i.e., I don't build massive armies and I don't conquer other civs/city-states. I even let them be and don't care about them much. But in evey game, there's a point where a civ will approach me, settle a new city right nex to my civ and ask me to not settle near them again...effin weird. Then at one point they'll denouce me out of the blue and declare war a few turns later.

I keep for myself most of the time and my goal is to achieve a culture victory (5 social policies) so I build culture stuff in my cities and try my best to not anger my neighbors. So I end up with 6-7 vities at max (I like small focused empires) with 2-3 military units...so when a civ delcare war on me I have to buy units ASAP to keep them at bay.

My last 6 games were like that:
- I keep to myself and build a small culture focused empire (6-7 cities) so my territory expands really quickly. While I have 6 cities in X sq.km., other civs can have 10-12 cities in the same X sq.km.
- I focus on culture buildings and try to add happiness and science ones in between or when I don't have anything else to build.
- I like building wonders as quickly as possible and most of the time I ned up first in wonders built.
- I really don't focus/care about my military power so most of the time other civ mock me about that...I don't really care though.
- At one point on civ will denounce me and eventually declare war, even though I gift them with luxury ressources I have to spare or any diplomatic rubbing I can give them.
- I don't care about city-states, I don't gift them money. Sometimes I give them units I don't use but I don't maintain my relations with them. So eventually I lose when someone build the UN.

Last night I finished...and lose...another game. I was at turns 460+ and had 1140 science per turn and 470 culture per turn. Had 7k gold, a little army near my northern border because a civ there caused my some troubles. I lose when Rome build the spaceship...

Ok, sorry for the long post but here my questions:

- How is the "denounciating system" works exactly? How and why is a civ that you just met, never pissed them off can out of the blue denouce you and declare war on you?
- How big of a army to you build and how fast to you build it?
- How many cities do you generally establish?
- How many culture/turn or scince/turn do you aim?
- Whats your build order when you create a new city? I generally build a monument first and then a worker. After that I go with the flow but mostly wonders and culture/science/happiness buildings, starting with the culture ones.

Thanks people!

 

[Veliko]

If you don't have very many military units it means you are weak and the AI will take advantage of that.

 

[PowerYoga]

Generally, if you come into contact with a civilization you need to have a standing army that's strong enough to repel whatever they have or they'll denounce you and immediately attack. It also seems like you're building on a very small scale/level so you have no cities to produce units if the poop hits the fan.

Smaller empires also research/produce very slowly. If you have 6 cities when the other guy has 20... well, he has 14 other cities that are producing culture and science that you are not getting, on top of military units/buildings that add to your overall empire. At least keep up with the number of cities and put them in useful places.


In general... start by expanding your horizons. You need to have more cities for natural resources too, how else are you getting aluminium or iron to build your defenses? Even if you're going for cultural victory, if you're sitting on 7k gold there's a LOT of stuff you can be spending that money on...


Here's my suggestions:

1) Befriend city-states. You seem to have a ton of money, use them as a buffer vs other empires. They will grant you vision and attack your enemies. If you're planning for a non-military victory you must keep them on good terms or they'll become a thorn in your side.
2) BUILD A BIGGER ARMY. 2-3 units is not going to cut it, ever. Other empires will see it and just roll over you. Even if you just use them to garrison cities and hills.... build a standing army!!
3) focus on production buildings first in a new city. Building culture buildings first will gimp your production rate for the rest of the buildings.


You absolutely need a standing military if you want to win any sort of victories. If you're buying them only when the AI attacks.... well, it's already too late. Better to never lose that city than to have to spend 6-7 turns retaking it.

 

[Matt915]

I have never heard of someone losing a game of Civ V before....follow the instructions the previous repliers posted, you'll be beating the game on the hardest difficulty in under a week.

 

[Rhezuss]

I have never heard of someone losing a game of Civ V before....follow the instructions the previous repliers posted, you'll be beating the game on the hardest difficulty in under a week.

I think I know what the problem is: my army.

I'll train some terror squads and show them!!!!!!!!!!

Hahah thanks for the tips!

 

[monkeh624]

I think I know what the problem is: my army.

I'll train some terror squads and show them!!!!!!!!!!

Hahah thanks for the tips!

Don't forget about your advisors. The military advisor is the most useful, as he'll tell you how powerful the other civs armies are. The rest are a bit useless though. The advisor icon is the triangle in the circle, top right on the screen.

 

[Rhezuss]

Don't forget about your advisors. The military advisor is the most useful, as he'll tell you how powerful the other civs armies are. The rest are a bit useless though. The advisor icon is the triangle in the circle, top right on the screen.

I disabled those advisors pop-ups hahahah...might as well reactivate them...

lol at me...

 

[nanobreath]

I disabled those advisors pop-ups hahahah...might as well reactivate them...

lol at me...

Don't worry about the popups, just click the advisors icon when you want to get the information. The popups are just annoying reminders.

 

[paperfist]

If you don't have very many military units it means you are weak and the AI will take advantage of that.

I may be wrong but in Civ V it doesn't seem to weigh that much as in previous versions. I'm on a continent with 4 other civs and my military is bigger then all their combined, but every time I turn around Suleiman & Elizabeth are denouncing me and threading war. It seems like the bigger factor is being too 'puny' which seems to equate to your civs population numbers.

OP: have you checked out the strategy articles here? http://forums.civfanatics.com/forumdisplay.php?f=392

Basically you want to settle cities that take advantage of resources and luxuries. With your first get out 1 or 2 scouts and send them on their merry way. As you discover other civs you want to start building cities and expanding their borders through culture (or tile purchasing) so that you can block off as much real estate from competing civs as possible.

Build lots of trading posts, with the right civics you can purchase buildings for your cities on the cheap instead of just waiting x amount of turns. Food comes pretty easy in this game so the more trading posts the bigger your coffers.

Every city doesn't need every building. Setup the cities with the best production with buildings that boost production then have them build military. Do the same with money setting up cities that produce lots of gold and build buildings that enhance this. You can also use your great people to boost income by settling them near the city.

Enter in to research agreements with other civs to boost research. Trade excess luxuries with other civs to boost happiness in your cities.

City states, meh they are a pain in the ass. I just conquer them otherwise you just end up paying them 250 every so many turns to earn their 'gifts'.

 

[Rhezuss]

Ok, finally got something nice going on yesterday. I'm at turn 320 something and got all 5 policies completed and in 33 turns i'm gonna finish the Utopia Project in my Capital.

Got a stronger army too and upgraded my units along the way. Everyone seem to be friendly with me so far except Gandhi...which decided to declare war on me around turn 280. I got a strong army and some policies that boosted my army strengh in friendly territory so he just couldn't do damage on me until he decided to drop an atomic bomb on my capital!! I managed to raze 2 cities from him in this war though so i'm satisfied with the outcome.

He asked for peace 3 times, the 2 first times he wanted eveything from me, money and ressources and I declined both times. The 3rd time he proposed peace and gave me some money and I accepted.

Seems like a strong army is necessary in this game after all.

And I thought being peaceful was the way to go...

 

[JTsyo]

Ok, finally got something nice going on yesterday. I'm at turn 320 something and got all 5 policies completed and in 33 turns i'm gonna finish the Utopia Project in my Capital.

Got a stronger army too and upgraded my units along the way. Everyone seem to be friendly with me so far except Gandhi...which decided to declare war on me around turn 280. I got a strong army and some policies that boosted my army strengh in friendly territory so he just couldn't do damage on me until he decided to drop an atomic bomb on my capital!! I managed to raze 2 cities from him in this war though so i'm satisfied with the outcome.

He asked for peace 3 times, the 2 first times he wanted eveything from me, money and ressources and I declined both times. The 3rd time he proposed peace and gave me some money and I accepted.

Seems like a strong army is necessary in this game after all.

And I thought being peaceful was the way to go...

Way of the world my friend. You have to be able to protect what you have.

 

[Rhezuss]

Finally won a game...about time!!!!!!!!!
Culture victory to boot. Next time i'll go for a Science victory.

Whats the difference between the difficulties?