Civ IV Tactics

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Hmmm... Interesting points. War chariots in that case can be effective. Unless of course you start right next to a protective civilization. In those cases, no matter how quickly you connect up horses, it is quite likely that your opponent will already have archers.

I've also gained newfound respect for the Chinese UU. The Cho-Ko-Nu get the same melee bonus that crossbowman get, and in addition get 2 free strikes and do collateral damage.

I've found that collateral damage is probably to most powerful thing you have going for you when placing a city under siege. I've also learned that directly attacking a city with a catapult or a trebucet will cause collateral damage to all of the units inside the city, even if the catapult or trebucet is destroyed in the process. Now, prior to committing my units to a battle, I'll usually sacrifice a couple of catapults or trebucets to the defenders to soften them up for the rest of my units. Siege units are generally quite cheap to make, so they aren't hard to replace.

I have one more question for you. What strategy do you use when you get a great general? Obviously, you will link him to a good attack unit, but do you have him join a group of four or five units and divide his experience points among them, or do you prefer to have him join a lone unit and have him give all 20 experience points to that unit? I tend to give all 20 experience points to a single unit, because when you upgrade the units, you only get to keep the experience points beyond 10 for the unit you attached the general to. Of course, you still keep any upgrades the unit may have received, so maybe it's not as bad as I thought. Last night I got my first level 8 unit. Level 9 requires 65 experience points. However, I must admit that not only did this unit have a great general, put I took the upgrade that gives +50% experience points for all battles.

 

Actually, I use then as superspecialists to get units with an extra 2 exp. I've debated Military acadamies though. If you produce more than 10 units in such a city the specialist puts ahead of the 20 points you would get for one unit or a stack.

In the Barbarian hordes scenario, the only use for them is to attach them to a unit. I kept doing it with a stack to give a little boost to a number of units. One unit I attached to a warrior with Medic II. I then gave him Medic III. I found when I attached him to an attacking unit, it was too vulnerable.

 

I don't think I've ever added a great general as a specialist. Most of the units I build early in the game. In fact, tanks are usually the first units I build en mass since the ancient era. It's not unusual at the end of the game for the mechanized infantry unit in the capital to be the warrior that I got in 4000BC. I haven't built any military academies either. Most of the military units that I do produce are built in my bigger cities anyway, ones where I only need a few turns to build a unit anyway. So the 25% reduction would likely only save me about one turn.

I use great people in a variety of ways, even though there is a typical action I usually do depending on what type of great person it is. For example, I like using great prophets as superspecialists. They boost the city's food and hammer production. In fact, the only time they aren't added to a city as a superspecialist is when I have a holy city where I can built a holy shrine. I always use great scientists to found a research academy. The 50% research boost is too good to pass up. Great Engineers are always used to hurry production of a wonder. In fact, if I get one when I'm not building any wonders, I'll make him sleep in my capital and wait to use him when I'm actually building a wonder. Great Merchants will complete trade missions, but obviously only if I have a friendly neighbor. If I'm at war with everyone I'm sharing a border with, they will become superspecialists. I also like using Great Artists as superspecialists, as they increase culture by +14 per turn, which is the biggest single increase you can get in the game. In fact it's 4 more than you can get from any wonder. It is worthwhile to stick a Great Artist in a city along your border with a rival civilization. Especially if some of your cities are so close that one or two tiles fall within both cities' radii. I've flipped a few cities this way.

 

I find that I use Great people for techs sometimes too. I like getting that leg up on research when I need it. My priority is Academies where I have a good science city, Shrines where I have a holy city, Rushing wonders, but I have done Trade Missions and Culture bombing. Great Generals are the only ones I regularly use as super specialists...

 

Well, I'm not saying I NEVER use them for other purposes, it's just that I prioritize their usefulness. Obviously, if I get a Great Prophet and I do not posess any holy cities without shrines, I'll use him for something else.

The Great Artist is something of a dilemna as well. +14 culture per turn is a lot, but sometimes you're better off taking the straight up 4000 all at once. It all depends on what point you are at in the game. On the 286th turn your super specialist will exceed the 4000 culture points you get in one pop. So if it's already the 1700s or later, you're better off taking the one time boost.

I suppose I would use great scientists to discover a technology or become a super specialist, but only if all my cities already had science academies.

On the topic of specialists, do you typically have specialists working in your cities? I usually don't, unless I build something that gives me a free specialist. Of course, part of the reason for this is that I don't build very many farms, meaning that to keep my city growing, I need to utilize pretty much all of my popualation on the land.

 

I'm using them more now that I'm seeing discussions on the concept of a specialist economy. Basically, the idea is that you run your research slider at 0, and use Representation (and Pacifism in peace time) You then get all your science from specialists (remember the extra three beakers from all sepcialists under representation). You eventually amass a huge treasury to upgrade your units, and if you find yourself at war you can switch to Universal Sufferage, Vassalage and Theocracy, use that huge treasury to rush the civic improvements then fire up the war machine and kick some teeth in. Aggressive, Spiritual and Philisophical leaders benefit most from this trick.

Basically you farm your cities and run as many specialists as you can. Caste system works wonders here too.

The Pyramids are the only mandatory wonder, but the Oracle, the Parthenon and Sistine Chapel are hugely beneficial.

 

I'm going to... get this game and give it a try, I've heard good things about it.

The problem is, if it's anything like the earlier Civ games, I'll go on it for a 'quick 15 mins' and find 4 hours have gone by... !

 

If you go into the options, you can have it display a clock to help you track the actual time so that if you have a limited amount of time you can spend, you can know when that time is up. That may be the biggest improvement for Civ IV yet! It's like a case of beer that lets you sober up immediately when you have to drive...

 

Finally got a win on Noble this weekend, although I cheesed it really bad. I won with a diplomatic victory through vassal states. Once you build the United Nations, your vassal states must vote the same way you do during all elections. I deliberately let the English and Vikings capitulate, which meant that between myself and my two vassals, anything that I voted for would pass, including the diplomatic victory. I have to try for a culture victory one of these times, although I'm not sure what the proper strategy is for that. Do I want a small number of cities to minimize corruption, or a large number of cities so that I can have other cities pick up the slack militarily while I go for as money wonders as I can with three major cities? Of course, selecting a cultural civ to start will also be highly recommended.

@Barmy - I will warn you that despite the clock function, this civ is just as addictive as its predecessors.

 

I've got a query regarding tactics for Civ IV so I thought I might post it here. I was playing a game vs. my roommate today. I think the map was Terra, not sure what it was called but its the one where you have 2 or more continents with sea in between, and odds are you are alone on one continent while your opponent is on the other one...

What I tried to do in the game was build a lot of coastal cities to block off all entry points into the continent (I didn't enable Open Borders) and then I spammed defenses and naval units...I got upto Frigates before my opponent started trying to attack me. I of course had Axemen and Swordsmen in all my cities so I was picking them off as they got dropped off on my continent.

The strategy worked in my favor, as I was defending the whole while and was able to consolidate my position while my opponent was burning all his resources in trying to invade.

What I want to know is, is this a reliable strategy? Or was I just lucky this time?? Should I have been more aggressive trying to attack him with naval units?? I eventually won the game in the later stages by a Domination victory...I managed to get some serious land grabbing done on a lot of the islands and the tundra region..

 

That's a viable strategy for the type of game you played. In a one on one game with only two major continents, you'll likely have access to all of the resources you need. In a multiplayer game vs. more than one other oppenent (whether human or AI) your strategy will become problematic. You may certainly sit back and fortify everything around you - you won't be eliminated by anyone at least - but it is unlikely that this strategy will result in a victory. First, it's likely that you'll be sharing your continent with on or more rival civs. Because of that, it is likely that you will not have access to all of the different resources, which will require a change of strategy.

For example, say you start a game and you have access to copper, but not iron. In this example, it is essential to go on an offensive against someone who has iron when you can still compete with your axemen. Axemen are actually favored against swordsmen, so you can compete. However, if you wait too long, you'll still have axemen and horse archers while your opponents moved on to knights and macemen. At that point, stick a fork in you - you're done. Sure, you'll be able to stay competitive for a while, upgrading archers to longbowmen, and maybe making some war elephants, but without iron, your prospects are bleak.

Another thing I have discovered is it is much more difficult to get a domination victory with more civs competing against you, because most land is occupied from fairly early on in the game. Therefore, the only way to win a domination victory is through conquest, as there simply isn't enough available land to gain the required percentage without assimilating rival civs.

The sit back and defend strategy has only two possible means of victory in multiplayer contests - the space race and cultural victory. You don't need a whole lot of cities for building a spaceship. Provided you have the essential resources available (aluminum and uranium) you can realisticly build a spaceship fairly quickly with 6-8 cities. Cultural victory is also a possibility, as that requires you to have three high culture cities.

 

For Cultural win, the conventional wisdom is that you need 9 cities and at least three religions. You spread the religions to all your cities then build the temples. That lets you put cathedrals (Music enabled Religious buildings) in your three biggest culture producing cities.

Faraaz, I hear that strategy used to defend the coast from naval invasion. Not only does it eliminate the naval unit, but the invasion force that it carries.

 

Ah, I didn't think of that, although it does make sense. I suppose the more religions you get, the better, as you would still only need 9 cities. It also seems like you have to alter your strategy a bit, as there are precious few cultural producing buildings early on. There's a monument, temple, and monestary (and of course wonders), but you don't start getting some of the better cultural buildings until you get to drama, which is early, but not super early.

I'm thinking the easiest way to get to three religions is clicking on code of laws right out of the box. Not only will you be the first to discover confucionism, but you should also pick up buddhism and judaism along the way. Of course, your cities will be lacking some major technology required resources in the early part of the game if you go that route.

 

Confucianism, Christianity and Taoism tend to be the easiest to get. Further, Sistine Chapel works wonders with a specialist economy, and Pacifism is a great civic choice for Specialist economies.

Your early game wil be tied up with land grab and an early war or two...

 

Cool...thanks guys.

Yeah, I kinda figured that it would only be viable in a 1v1 game. Today, I was playing a game on the Pangaea subset map with the same friend of mine, as well as 3 AI controlled opponents on Noble.

I usually always play with either Gandhi or Bismarck, because I spam wonders and civics throughout the game. I was trying to defend myself by playing passively and go for a cultural victory, as you mentioned above. I ended up getting PWND by a Rifleman rush late game. My military techs weren't as advanced as my other stuff, and I ended up only with Macemen when I was under attack.

Anyway...just thought I'd add my 2 cents. Lesson learned!!

 

You'd be surprised how important some techs really are. Even with a specialist economy and earlty war where you don't have time to build Granaries, Pottery is still important because you need it for Code of Laws and courthouses to keep your economy out of the tank...

 

Absolutely true. Here's a breakdown of my early game strategy for what to research and when:

I always make courthouses an early priority. As soon as you have more than two or three cities, if you don't start building courthouses, you're in for a world of hurt. There's no reason to go to the tech tree when asked to pick your first technology to research, and click on code of laws so you get a straight shot to that tech, but it cannot be delayed for long. With the speed at which I expand, I usually want to have code of laws by the time I research my 15th technology or so. There are 6 prerequisites for code of laws, (I guess technically there's 8, if you count the wheel and pottery, but I always get those techs early anyway), so I do have some options available early while still getting CoL before my civ starts to get really big.

There's a list of techs that I research early regardless of what civ I'm playing. For example, if my civ doesn't start with the wheel, then that's the first thing I research. Then, I look at my resources in the immediate vicinity of my capital, and go for the necessary techs to acquire them. (I don't count things like banana or spices, because calendar cannot be quickly acquired.) You usually start with either pigs, cows, or sheep, so animal husbandry is always an early pick. You also usually start with either corn, rice, or wheat, so agriculture is also an early pick. If I start with crabs, fish, or clams, then I'm certainly going to research fishing early as well. I'll go for masonry early if I see marble or stone.

You need those techs as soon as you build your first worker (which I start producing as soon as my capital city hits size 2). Once I have a worker, I also research techs to improve the land beyond special resources. These can be delayed until after you make your first worker, because the worker will need several turns accessing the special resources before doing other improvements. I know I'm going to want to build mines and cottages, so mining and pottery are necessary.

After that, I start going for some military techs. If I already have hunting, I'll probably research archery as it's a quick technology to research. After that, I go for bronze working. Unless I'm playing the Romans, I will usually put off iron working until after I get Code of Laws. Naturally, if you are playing a civ that has spearmen, archers, or horse archers as their unique unit (I can think of 5 that qualify), then you're going to want those techs even if you don't have resources (like deer) to immediately access.

At this point, you've covered the basic necessities. You can access your early resources available to you, your workers can build improvements on any tile except those containing jungle, and you can produce units for either offense or defense for the three or so cities you have at this point. While that seems like a huge list of techs to go for early on, in reality, it's only about 10, and you probably got two or three before you even started to build your first worker.

Now it's time to focus on economy. The first thing you need is code of laws. With what you've already researched and what you started with, you probably have reduced the eight prerequisites down to 4 or 5 to get to code of laws. After that, I go for iron working, followed by currency. Then you start going for either your unique unit or decide to take a military path, a cultural path or an economic one. At this point, I can't detail my strategy any more as it is really dependent on the situation.

 

By 15th tech is about right for CoL. Some games I have skipped Hunting and Archery if I thought I could get away with Axes to defend cities (not in Warlords though, Chariots will cut them down like nothing...)

If I'm playing Rome, Iron working gets priority...

 

I think giving chariots the +50% versus axemen was absolutely necessary. Everything else in the game had something that balanced it, except the axemen. Prior to warlords, the best early unit to attack or defend against an axeman was another axeman. The only early unit where you axeman would be an underdog would be against the horse archer, and not by much (6 v. 5) However, the horse archer was balanced by the spearman (effectively 6 v. 8).

I am a big fan of archers now too. Especially if you are playing a protective civ. With protective traits giving CG1 and Drill 1, there's nothing better for early defense than an archer. Cripes, and archer is only base 3, but look at the bonuses you get! It's 3 + 1.5 (being in city) + 0.75 (fortified) + 0.6 (CG1) = 5.85. Considering they also now have TWO first strikes, you're likely a favorite even against a swordsman. You're definitely favored against horse archers (as they now get -10% when attacking a city). If you're playing the Malinese, it's even more in your favor.

I completely agree with getting iron working ASAP with the Romans. The Roman UU is probably among the best in the game, as there's nothing (not even the mighty axeman) that's favored agaisnt them. The first unit that has an advantage is the crossbowman, but there's usually a good long time between when you get swordsmen and when crossbowmen show up.

 

There are some things I'm grateful for however.

1) Rome has no aggressive leader. Praets with free Combat I is just wrong (and I can't quit drooling at the thought...)

2) Mali has no Protective leader. Skirmishers start at base 4 and have 2 first strikes. Giving them Drill I and CG I means you would need Maces and Catapults to take them down...

3) No Aggressive-Charismatic combination. They'd rush, promote units faster and be tooled up for the next rush fast!

Naturally, I'd love a mod where you custome pick your traits, UU and UB, but that's a pipe dream. I'd be interested to see a mod where you got more than two traits and could get the UU and UB of all leaders represented. I think it would lead to too much power gaming though...