BigJonsson
Member
I keep getting my ass handed to me on the 4th difficulty level, what are some good strategies to dominate the game?
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Civ 4 strategies?
- Thread starter BigJonsson
- Start date
BigJonsson
Member
Is no one else addicted to this game as much as I am?
BigJonsson
Member
DSN2K said:
lol
I finished a strong 2nd on the 3rd difficulty lol
I need to learn how to build a solid economy
Open Source
Banned
Don't build buildings you don't need, build troops instead. Pillage cities for cash. If you can't take a city, pillage its improvements. Take cities and enslave their workers instead of building settlers and workers yourself. Get catapults quickly, use them to knock down walls, and then send in 3 or 4 or them to soften up large stacks of defenders and make them easy for your swordsmen/axemen to finish off. Give your melee units anti-archer upgrades in the early game, because the AI mostly has archers in its cities. Research the technologies you need to take advantages of the resources around you instead of doing the same order every time.
And for maximum fun (in my opinion), play custom games with 17 AI opponents, archipelago, snaky continents, huge.
Also for maximum fun, quit the game around 1600 AD and start over, because once the expansion is all done, the rest of the game is a grind.
And for maximum fun (in my opinion), play custom games with 17 AI opponents, archipelago, snaky continents, huge.
Also for maximum fun, quit the game around 1600 AD and start over, because once the expansion is all done, the rest of the game is a grind.
adrockthekid
Member
This is how I've always, always played Civ:
1) Expand as far as you can, as fast as you can. Stop only when you stake the claim that you want, relative to your neighbors. In Civ III-IV, you also want to AVOID Open Borders until you've culturally taken over everything you want; the enemies WILL send that lone settler to establish a city behind your lines, and it's damn irritating.
2) Turtle for a while; long enough to catch up/pass your rivals in tech. Have a big enough army to discourage any overly aggressive moves by the AI; they know how much you have. Good rule of thumb is 2 units/city. Remeber, too, that even a lowly Archer with the Garrison upgrade will make the enemy take a *ton* of attrition -- even if they have "better" units.
Part of this involves building your infrastructure and choosing the proper civics -- Organized Religion and a strong state religion (which has spread to all/most of your empire) is key for this. Stay at peace with enemies if at all possible. Buy them off if you must.
3) When your economy and infrastructure are stable, either go all-out tech or all-out military, depending on what kind of victory you want to win.
This is obviously very general, but Civ, just like any RTS, is a lot more about pacing and tempo than the minute decisions of whether you build a Temple or a Library first. Learn how to recognize and set the tempo, and the game is nearly won.
Hope this helps! Civ IV is a fantastic game; don't give up on it.
1) Expand as far as you can, as fast as you can. Stop only when you stake the claim that you want, relative to your neighbors. In Civ III-IV, you also want to AVOID Open Borders until you've culturally taken over everything you want; the enemies WILL send that lone settler to establish a city behind your lines, and it's damn irritating.
2) Turtle for a while; long enough to catch up/pass your rivals in tech. Have a big enough army to discourage any overly aggressive moves by the AI; they know how much you have. Good rule of thumb is 2 units/city. Remeber, too, that even a lowly Archer with the Garrison upgrade will make the enemy take a *ton* of attrition -- even if they have "better" units.
Part of this involves building your infrastructure and choosing the proper civics -- Organized Religion and a strong state religion (which has spread to all/most of your empire) is key for this. Stay at peace with enemies if at all possible. Buy them off if you must.
3) When your economy and infrastructure are stable, either go all-out tech or all-out military, depending on what kind of victory you want to win.
This is obviously very general, but Civ, just like any RTS, is a lot more about pacing and tempo than the minute decisions of whether you build a Temple or a Library first. Learn how to recognize and set the tempo, and the game is nearly won.
Hope this helps! Civ IV is a fantastic game; don't give up on it.
Somebody pointed me towards this thread on Civfanatics which describes a method known as the "choprush", dunno if it's any use to you.
In Civ 4 you can actually expand to fast, so be careful. Since your city maintenance goes up exponentially with the number of cities you have, if you end up with too many cities, and not enough well developed cities to pay for the maintenance, your science percentage will plummet to ridiculously low levels and you will fall hopelessly behind. Pay attention to how much money you are making/losing when deciding when to build a settler or whether to raze that city you just captured.
This is quit different from all previous Civ games where it was always the best strategy to expand as rapidly as possible (which taken to it's extreme led to the infamous ICS). In Civ 4 you need to have a more balanced approach to your expansion, with periods of consolidation and development between settling / capturing cities.
This is quit different from all previous Civ games where it was always the best strategy to expand as rapidly as possible (which taken to it's extreme led to the infamous ICS). In Civ 4 you need to have a more balanced approach to your expansion, with periods of consolidation and development between settling / capturing cities.
FreakyFink
Member
tahrikmili
Member
I disagree with early expansion strategies. Expanding way too much and way too agressively early in the game will be more problematic than benficiary, 4-5 cities, each specialized on a different focus (science, military, culture, wealth, production) is a much better idea in the long run, until you hit the AD years. Always try to found at least two religions. Don't worry about open borders and accept them, go for the trade bonus they bring, channel it to science. Remember that early warfare is more about pillaging than conquest - pillaging is a great way to earn $$$ for funding your research or units. Go ahead and declare war, and pillage whatever you can! Make good use of artillery - they are 100% crucial in city sieges unless you are 2 or more military techs ahead of the competition, which is unlikely. Bombard cities until defense bonuses reach 0 then attack with the artillery units - they cause collateral damage.. once that's done, attack with city takers. Always use specialized and upgraded military units. Watch out for being sniped by a space race victory. Choose your wonders wisely. Whenever possible, in the later stages, when trying to expand through conquest, only take cities with important buildings/wonders and pillage the rest, lest you lose them to foreign culture and/or armies.
I probably forgot quite a bit but these should be enough for a while
I probably forgot quite a bit but these should be enough for a while
my $.02
Don't place your second city until copper has been spotted.
Found cities on top of vital resources so the resources are much harder to loose.
Location Location Location. A lot depends on initial placement in this game. You don't wanna be sandwiched between Genghis and Napoleon.
Don't place your second city until copper has been spotted.
Found cities on top of vital resources so the resources are much harder to loose.
Location Location Location. A lot depends on initial placement in this game. You don't wanna be sandwiched between Genghis and Napoleon.
100Bullets
Member
Awesome thread since I've been getting my ass handed to me as I've upped the difficulty. The game is too addictive to give up so the more help the better.