Civilization IV for PC: Tips and Tricks
Today’s Post is courtesy of my husband. Because of the seeming lack of tips and tricks for Civilization 4 out there, he has kindly written some. The following is what he has sent to me. Enjoy.Tips for a good start at Civ4
Don’t expand too early.
Money plays a huge role in Civ4, especially early on, and each city costs a lot of money to get started. It’s best to stick with one city, maybe two if you need a particular resource. This is a huge difference from other civs where the only policy is fast expansion.
Build near resources.
Unlike earlier Civ games, in Civ4 the food resources (wheat, corn, rice) mulitply your food gain for that tile. So starting out it’s a great idea to build next to one of these resources.
Build a scout early on.
My second unit after a warrior is always a scout. Early in the game there’s usually plenty of village huts to uncover and, with a scout, you’re guaranteed something good. If you’re playing with barbarians on then you may need a few scouts as some will invariably die.
Found a Religion
There are many civic advantages to having a state religion, and great financial advantages to having founded a religion (assuming other civilizations are also of your faith). Religion also plays an important role in foreign relations. It’s not easy to get the first few religions as other civilizations are scrambling for them, but it could really sway things in your favor to have one, especially early on.
Build a trade network.
Build roads or connect your civilization to other civilizations via waterways to encourage trade networks. This results in more money for each of your cities on the trade network, especially once connected to other (friendly) civilizations. This is only possible if you have an Open Borders agreement with them, which is always to your advantage.
Use a variety of combat units.
Combat takes place with the attacker going against the toughest defender. What this means is that, if you only build archers, you’ll be eaten alive by cavalry who ignore first strikes. If you put some spearmen in there then the cavalry will have to face them instead. Each unit has an archetype it falls under and has an antithesis unit. Think rock, paper, scissors. So you see, building a stack of a single type of unit could get you killed if your opponent uses that to his advantage. Vary your approach, and use all the units’ strengths together.
Pay attention to your Leader’s abilities.
Look in the book and find out what bonuses your Leader has given you. Some can work very well together. Do you like the more expensive civics? Go for Organized for -50% civic cost. Think you’ll be building in jungle areas? Go for Expansive for +2 health in each city.
There have been a lot of really bad reviews on Civilization IV, but it really is a great game. Recently, some people have spoken up against these bad reviews, calling them what they are - afraid of new ideas. The problem (or good thing if you see it my way) with Civ4 is that it’s vastly more complex than other games, previous Civs included. You really have to think about what you’re doing, and there are layers to any strategy. I honestly think a college course could be taught on the intricacies of Civ4.
I hope these tips will help you get started. I lost several games before I figured these out, and now I’ve actually won once (on Warlord difficulty with no barbarians J )
