Having some Civ4 issues..

[Coldkilla]

Alright I just bought Civ4 because I've been hearing some good stuff on it but I've about to go insane over it. It just seems like everything I do fails before 400AD...

-If I go the economic route, I don't have enough warriors to defend against Barbarians.
-If I go the Military Route, I fall behind significantly compared to other factions.
-If I do a mixture between the two, I fall behind the other civilizations and get killed by barbarians.
-If I start building a wonder (ex. pyramids) it gets canceled like 5 turns or so before its complete and useless gold is given to me... causing me to be further behind in the race for dominance. I chop down forests to speed up production time to get 20 stone per forest tile, but it still isn't enough...

I typically start out building a worker, a scout, and then a settler. I build up the tech so I can chop down trees (so I can boost production on stone). After I crank out a Warrier or two, I build another Settler and spread out a little so I can trade between cities.. I ally up with other factions so I can have time to grow before engaging in combat.. The barbarians slip through all of the cracks between the two towns and sneak around my warriors and get a crack at my Cities.. if I have a single set of warriorsinside a town - they are killed by a single set of barbarian warriors and I lose it. If I spend the time building many warriors in each town, I fall severely behind the other PCs....

It seems like everything I do never works and its just aggravating because the game lasts for so long before I get taken down nearly every time around the same time..

 

[Bateluer]

You are going to fall behind the other civs, especially at higher difficulties. Concentrate on technology, its critical. You can be in 3rd or 4th place, but if you have the technological edge, you can handily defeat other civilizations.

Barbarian levels will drop off as the game progresses though, its only in the early game you need to really worry about them. Researching some of the early military techs, like archery, will give you an early edge, until they bump their technology up a notch too.

If you need to, drop the difficulty setting down a setting until you get the hang of it.

 

[lupi]

If you haven't already, you need to read some of the strategy stuff on how to specialize your cities. This is even more important at higher diff levels.

 

[sandorski]

I always turn Barbarians off. They're just annoying.

 

[Mermaidman]

It sounds like you're building a settler too soon. I usually build 2 or 3 warriors and one worker before building a settler. I don't build scouts.

Originally posted by: sandorski
I always turn Barbarians off. They're just annoying.

Weenie

 

[Daverino]

My first question is what difficult level are you playing at? The higher levels are pretty insane.

- Happiness is critical to keeping your cities at full production. You have three main ways to stay happy early on:
1. Economic - Acquire happiness resources: Gold, silver, gems, fur and ivory to start. Sugar, spice, silk and wine later on. You can trade for ones you do not have
2. Cultural - Use religion. Religion opens early buildings (temples) that allow you to improve happiness. Multiple religions can really help, but you need to build more temples
3. Military - Use civics. Head straight for Monarch, adopt hereditary rule and use military units to make your cities happy
- The AI trades technologies and resources. If you do not trade with the AI you will fall behind very quickly.
- Money is critical. Settling on rivers dramatically improves your economy. So do cottages. Force your cities to work cottages, which will grow them, even if there are more 'productive' plots in the radius.
- Settle strategically. Settling like an expanding circle isn't always best. Try and cut off a tract of land like a peninsula by settling in a line and leave the cut off area to settle later. Be careful if you have open borders or your opponents have ships.
- If you are not creative you will need obelisks for culture to start. Stonehenge is great for non-creative tribes. For creative tribes, Stonehenge can lead to fast cultural domination.

 

[Abel007]

Originally posted by: Coldkilla

I typically start out building a worker, a scout, and then a settler.

This is your biggest problem. Workers and settlers do not allow the city to grow while being produced. There is really no need for a worker and settler that early anyways. Wait til the city grows to a two or three then think about workers and settlers.

 

[Coldkilla]

Originally posted by: Abel007

Originally posted by: Coldkilla

I typically start out building a worker, a scout, and then a settler.

This is your biggest problem. Workers and settlers do not allow the city to grow while being produced. There is really no need for a worker and settler that early anyways. Wait til the city grows to a two or three then think about workers and settlers.

I need at least one-two workers don't I? I'm just a little confused... so I should just wait and not do anything for a while? Seems like a waste not to simply build stuff while your waiting for the town/tech to progress.

I think the difficulty was set at 'prince'.

 

[Bateluer]

Originally posted by: Coldkilla

Originally posted by: Abel007

Originally posted by: Coldkilla

I typically start out building a worker, a scout, and then a settler.

This is your biggest problem. Workers and settlers do not allow the city to grow while being produced. There is really no need for a worker and settler that early anyways. Wait til the city grows to a two or three then think about workers and settlers.

I need at least one-two workers don't I? I'm just a little confused... so I should just wait and not do anything for a while? Seems like a waste not to simply build stuff while your waiting for the town/tech to progress.

I think the difficulty was set at 'prince'.

No wonder you're getting creamed. Turn that down a few notches until you get the hang of it.

At the beginning of the game, you'll need a worker to build improvements, but don't build it right away. Build a few warriors first, send 1 out to explore, and possibly construct some early buildings, specifically a barracks or obelisk. Barracks grant extra exp to military units and obelisks begin building your culture early.

 

[Daverino]

Well not exactly. . .
I usually go worker-worker-settler-Stonehenge as my first four builds. This only works because I research Bronze Working first to get the ability to chop forests. After the first worker is built, I chop chop chop the other two units out. Large cities are difficult to manage right off the bat. I can easily use slavery to catch up on any buildings that have been slacking off on. The second city builds a few military units and then gets to work on another settler or a worker. The first barbarians are always animals and they won't attack your villages.

 

[cyclohexane]

prince is way too tough, try noble for a while

 

[StinkyPinky]

Why would you start at such high difficulty? Start lower and get to know the game first. You should not be building a worker so early, and youl should only start doing a settler once you reach pop size of 3 imo.

 

[schneiderguy]

I find it's a better strategy to build a settler as your first unit. Barbarian warriors don't spawn until there is (2n+1) cities on your continent, where n is the number of civilizations so you dont have to worry about them for a while. There are still animals, but by the time your settler is completed your capitol's borders should have popped far enough for you to keep your settler in those borders on his way to the new city site. After that I build some workers.

 

[wanderer27]

Being new to the game I'd start no higher than Chieftain until you learn your way around.

What to build first depends on what Techs you start with and what is in the influence of your City.
If you can actually do something productive with a Worker, then it might be worthwhile to build one and then follow it with a Settler.

I generally build a Settler first. Getting that next City can really give you a boost.
Keep expanding but don't go too fast, there are penalties to getting too big too fast.

 

[Wuzup101]

Damn... now I'm going to have to go out and buy a copy of Civ4 to give it a go. This post already has me looking on amazon!

 

[CPA]

Originally posted by: Abel007

Originally posted by: Coldkilla

I typically start out building a worker, a scout, and then a settler.

This is your biggest problem. Workers and settlers do not allow the city to grow while being produced. There is really no need for a worker and settler that early anyways. Wait til the city grows to a two or three then think about workers and settlers.

I use a strategy I learned from reading a strategy post on one of the Civ forums.

Worker, settler, worker, then military. You can usually get the first three in before the barbarian attacks get too difficult. Plus, with two workers, you can speed up production pretty well without needing a populated city.

Oh, and gold is NEVER worthless. If you missed out on the wonder and received gold, adjust your taxes down to zero and your research to 100% until the gold gets used up. This will give you an advantage in researching technology early, which will then allow you to use technologies to trade for others.

 

[CPA]

Originally posted by: Wuzup101
Damn... now I'm going to have to go out and buy a copy of Civ4 to give it a go. This post already has me looking on amazon!

Screw Amazon, just get it off of Steam.

 

[brandonb]

This is your main problem.

When you unlock land, and drive scouts through it, if there is a ton of open space, the AI generates barbarians to fill up the land (or they are generated but are alerting them to your presense.) So because you are scouting a bunch of empty land at the beginning you are creating the barbarians you despise. Sure you might unlock a few huts and get some cash or something else, but it does not pay off in the long run. Do not create scouts, its pointless. Let other civilizations come to you!

The first thing you should work on is archery, whatever gets you there quick. At the beginning of the game, let the town work up to about size 3 before working on any workers/settlers. Because a town at size one working on workers/settlers will not grow and they produce next to nothing. You are handicapping yourself doing that. Work on something else such as a granary, library, and if you have no other option, work on warriors, but once you create them, just fortify them in the city, don't make them go exploring.

Once you get to 3, work on a worker, then work on a settler. Getting to 3 is no big deal and will happen quickly. Once you create the worker, have them focus on building roads everywhere. Roads create trade which is used to make money, science, and culture.

I also protect my city with 3 archers in the early game, because when the AI comes for you, they will send multiple units in a group. 1 warrior is not enough to defend a town. Also build city walls as soon as possible (once you get the technology, which should be a priority after archery) because city walls give you a huge defense bonus. 3 archers + city walls can withstand most enemy attacks in a round.

 

[nanobreath]

Wow...prince as your first difficulty level. Not the game that you can just jump in head first and learn as you go. You have to start in the wading pool, and then work your way up in difficulty. The upper difficulty settings are only for people that really like a challange, and min max to the nth degree in order to outsmart the AI.

Play a custom game you setup with only 1 AI. Great for learning the game.

As mentioned, gold is hardly useless. More gold allows more research, more expansion. Also, Wonders aren't the end all be all like in other civs. They provide usefull benefits that you should try for only if it alligns with your current goals.

It really sounds like you did research on how to play the game ahead of time and simply bit off more than you can chew as a new player.

 

[Glitchny]

...Dont start the game on prince. It is one of the higher difficulties and Civ is not an easy game. try Noble for the first time out.

 

[imported_Champ]

I have a different strategy

i go

worker - warrior - settler - building or wonder - settler - building/wonder - settler

basically my strategy is to get as many cities out strategically as I can, although that hurts the $$$ when you hit past 800AD you will be burning everyone in $$$ science and military; but until that point either get a religion and give it to your neighbors or go to the neighbors religion for protection (your own religion + great prophet = $$$)

also what civ do you play as?...i find rome augustus to be really good if you wanna walk through in early game, otherwise churchill (BTS) is really good with red coats and protection. I also like stalin but i think hes a bit harder to start with

It sucks when your science hits 40-60% but thats only temporary...the civ that wins wars is the one that can pump out the most troops (unless someone goes nuclear) and eventually you will be pulling in the $$$ and science...oh and DO NOT PISS OF MONTY

 

[postmortemIA]

one of best civ sites, guide:
http://www.civfanatics.com/civ4/strategy

 

[fivetiger]

Originally posted by: brandonb
Sure you might unlock a few huts and get some cash or something else, but it does not pay off in the long run.

Sometimes it does. In the game I'm playing now, I discovered a hut within the first 10 turns that gave me a settler. As you can imagine, I'm dominating the game.

That is a very lucky scenario, of course, but I have always found hut-hunting irresistable in Civ games.

 

[Daverino]

Sounds like some of you are playing the older Civilization III.

1. Roads and RRs do not improve commerce in Civ IV. They are necessary to link cities not connected by coast or river for city-to-city trade and they link cities with resources. There is no tile benefit from building a road however. It's still pretty nice to build a good road network because it improves your mobility. But there's no absolute reason to 'spiderweb' all of your cities. Railroads will also improve production at mines and mills, but again, they have no effect on commerce.

2. I've never gotten free settlers or workers in Civ IV from huts. I thought that was taken out of the game. Maybe it happens on lower difficulties though.

 

[CPA]

Originally posted by: Daverino
Sounds like some of you are playing the older Civilization III.

1. Roads and RRs do not improve commerce in Civ IV. They are necessary to link cities not connected by coast or river for city-to-city trade and they link cities with resources. There is no tile benefit from building a road however. It's still pretty nice to build a good road network because it improves your mobility. But there's no absolute reason to 'spiderweb' all of your cities. Railroads will also improve production at mines and mills, but again, they have no effect on commerce.

2. I've never gotten free settlers or workers in Civ IV from huts. I thought that was taken out of the game. Maybe it happens on lower difficulties though.

I believe I've gotten a settler a couple of times, but never workers. Usually it's gold. Sometimes it's technology, maps or warriors.