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[Soundwave]

People aren't kidding about having the big army. You will literally get attacked as soon as an AI thinks it has a bigger military than you. Based on the way they determine this, my own ally (I think it was Byzantium?) decided to send her entire HUGE (like, 20-25 different units) army of warriors and spearmen after my well fortified (with crossbowmen, mountain ranges etc) border cities. They didn't stand a chance, I was knocking out 3-4 units a turn. So six turns, and several unit promotions later, she asked me for a research agreement. Amusingly enough, that research agreement got me rifling, and a big swathe of her country, including her capital.

 

[Sarasena]

Don't build every building in every city just because you can. Make sure you actually need the bonus the building offers, and wouldn't be better off producing another building or a resource.

Other than that, have fun!

 

[zenoaugustus]

1) Just play. It's by far the easiest way to learn.
2) Never, ever trust Hiawatha. That ************ is a hypocrite and a warmonger.
3) Always understand that there is most likely another choice you can make. The smartest leader understands all options available. Don't do something because you had planned on it if it no longer makes sense. The game is dynamic, and the only way to combat that is to be dynamic as well.
4) As with anything, have fun.

 

[Isalan]

Never trust the Ethiopians or the Japanese, they are suspiciously friendly with each other.

Lot of stuff that's gone before.
1. Start small, knock down the number of city states, they just tend to get in the way.
2. Get workers soon, you want 1-2 per city. Once you get past 3-4 cities, automate them and they'll happily plod around.
3. Many people decry religion but if you get an early start on it and start exporting it to nearby nations with your trade caravans and ships, having the world religion can be pretty straightforward.
4. Get a scout or 2 and bung them on auto explore. The first nation to discover all the other nations gets to start the world council and host the first one. This means more votes for you, therefore more decisions in your favour.
5. City sieges can be a real bastard, especially if said city is surrounded by rough terrain. Get the place decently surrounded then think about maybe bringing some workers down to clear forests and jungles. Can really help if your fighting into a choke.
6. Your military costs you money. If your going early expansion, get enough military to fend off the local barbarians, then leave it there. Once you need to start worrying about invading, then build yourself a fighting force.
7. Roads. Roads everywhere, or at very least linking all your cities.
8. If you come across a city state with some really nice resources early (this happens quite a lot) consider pumping out a fighting force and battering them before other nations pledge to protect them. Realistically, your going to want siege engines for this, but you can get by with 3-4 archers if you have too.

Also, have fun! My first successful game involved Rome taking over the known world followed by 50 years of nuclear war with the heavily entrenched Russians. Damn Ruskies, why couldn't they just roll over like everyone else.

 

[Syntax Error]

Oh also, enable quick movement/combat. That will help keep you sane. Even with those on, a single game ends up about 3-5 hours for me. More if I go OC with my cities.

Only 3 hours? Tell me your secrets oh quick one! I'm playing a game right now that has lasted at least 7.

It actually depends on the Victory Condition you're pursuing. I play mostly Emperor, Pangaea maps, Standard Everything. The higher up in difficulty you go, the longer it would take because you will need to micro your cities to get the most out of them at any given time, because you have less margin for mistakes. Mostly, I play space ship games.

Victory Speed Quickness:
Diplomacy is quickest (in IRL hours), since it requires the least amount of tech, and just a whole crapton of Gold. The vote for World Leader appears as soon as someone enters the Info Era.

Space Ship:
There is a semi-fixed tech path you need to take in order to minimize the time you're building parts while researching the other required techs. My personal best is Turn 250 with Korea in Gods And Kings, while here in BNW, it's turn 289 with Poland. Times vary with how much you fiddle with your cities. You can also achieve Cruise Control faster with this (just pressing Next Turn until something happens).

Culture:
Takes a bit longer than Space Ship, and dependent on your enemies, since your tourism should outclass their culture, which happens very late in the game if at all. With the revamped system and the right situations, you can win on turn 150 with this, but it requires A LOT OF LUCK.

Domination:
Takes a lot of time (in IRL hours) but potentially has the lowest turn count. Be prepared to move A LOT of units one by one. Or, if you have a commanding tech lead, get three Artilleries and a horseman. Pound cities with Arties, then swoop in with the horse to cap the city. Rinse and repeat till all capitals are yours.

Also, play time is directly proportional to the number of non-puppet cities and workers you have. I rarely go above 5 cities, which might explain why I am quick to finish my games.

 

[Strazdas]

Oh also, enable quick movement/combat. That will help keep you sane. Even with those on, a single game ends up about 3-5 hours for me. More if I go OC with my cities.

Tell me your joking. A good nice large map game of civ is 20-30 hours, and that is good, because good game should last long. of course it gets a bit tedious when you have 30 cities to take care off every turn.
Also obviuosly im assuming your using the slowest game advancement speed because why would you use anything else. it is too fast as it is.

 

[Syntax Error]

Oh also, enable quick movement/combat. That will help keep you sane. Even with those on, a single game ends up about 3-5 hours for me. More if I go OC with my cities.

Tell me your joking. A good nice large map game of civ is 20-30 hours, and that is good, because good game should last long. of course it gets a bit tedious when you have 30 cities to take care off every turn.
Also obviuosly im assuming your using the slowest game advancement speed because why would you use anything else. it is too fast as it is.

I said above I only play Standard Size and Standard Pace, because any higher (Map Size) and my PC will melt. So that's why. Also, there's no point in going Marathon in a Standard-Size map. It's gonna end up too tedious to just keep pressing next turn. Although, from my limited experience with Epic, the odds are stacked in the Human player's favor in longer paces, since production is scaled and humans are far better at preserving their units than AIs. I've wasted many a Carpet of Dooms in my play with Civ 5. Some of them were nuked.

 

[Latinidiot]

Oh also, enable quick movement/combat. That will help keep you sane. Even with those on, a single game ends up about 3-5 hours for me. More if I go OC with my cities.

Only 3 hours? Tell me your secrets oh quick one! I'm playing a game right now that has lasted at least 7.

It actually depends on the Victory Condition you're pursuing. I play mostly Emperor, Pangaea maps, Standard Everything. The higher up in difficulty you go, the longer it would take because you will need to micro your cities to get the most out of them at any given time, because you have less margin for mistakes. Mostly, I play space ship games.

Victory Speed Quickness:
Diplomacy is quickest (in IRL hours), since it requires the least amount of tech, and just a whole crapton of Gold. The vote for World Leader appears as soon as someone enters the Info Era.

Space Ship:
There is a semi-fixed tech path you need to take in order to minimize the time you're building parts while researching the other required techs. My personal best is Turn 250 with Korea in Gods And Kings, while here in BNW, it's turn 289 with Poland. Times vary with how much you fiddle with your cities. You can also achieve Cruise Control faster with this (just pressing Next Turn until something happens).

Culture:
Takes a bit longer than Space Ship, and dependent on your enemies, since your tourism should outclass their culture, which happens very late in the game if at all. With the revamped system and the right situations, you can win on turn 150 with this, but it requires A LOT OF LUCK.

Domination:
Takes a lot of time (in IRL hours) but potentially has the lowest turn count. Be prepared to move A LOT of units one by one. Or, if you have a commanding tech lead, get three Artilleries and a horseman. Pound cities with Arties, then swoop in with the horse to cap the city. Rinse and repeat till all capitals are yours.

Also, play time is directly proportional to the number of non-puppet

and workers you have. I rarely go above 5 cities, which might explain why I am quick to finish my games.

Ah I see. I also keep my cities to a minimum, i guess my computer is just a bit slow to calculate all the turns.

 

[Syntax Error]

BTW, if you have BNW and want a rather OP Civ, play Poland. Every new era, they get a new Social Policy, which means when Medieval Era comes, you'd have at least 3 more Social Policies than anyone else, and those 3 Policies don't get charged from your Culture counter.

Try this:

Policy Order:
Tradition Opener
Left Side of Liberty until Collective Rule (free settler). Build two settlers immediately after this goes online. Work only production tiles when making Settlers. You won't starve with them in production.
Finish up Tradition
Right Side of Patronage until Consulates. This gives you Free Stuff from City-States. So, if you scout them out early, all the better. Consulates give you "Free 20 Influence" with All CSes after 20 turns the moment you get it. You then Pledge to Protect them for another "Free 10 Influence" (quotes since it's not really Influence you get, but meh, would take too long to explain), making all CSes your Friend permanently.

Be sure to grab the Oracle as well to get this up and running quickly. With this, you can have four cities by turn 50, National College around turn 90-ish, and a very strong base to pursue any victory condition. With practice, you can open up Rationalism just as the Renaissance is coming along, for a great big science boost.

Sure, this Policy Order can work with other Civs, but it will take too long to set up. The quicker you get the Free Stuff, the more of it you get all-game.

 

[Strazdas]

Oh also, enable quick movement/combat. That will help keep you sane. Even with those on, a single game ends up about 3-5 hours for me. More if I go OC with my cities.

Tell me your joking. A good nice large map game of civ is 20-30 hours, and that is good, because good game should last long. of course it gets a bit tedious when you have 30 cities to take care off every turn.
Also obviuosly im assuming your using the slowest game advancement speed because why would you use anything else. it is too fast as it is.

I said above I only play Standard Size and Standard Pace, because any higher (Map Size) and my PC will melt. So that's why. Also, there's no point in going Marathon in a Standard-Size map. It's gonna end up too tedious to just keep pressing next turn. Although, from my limited experience with Epic, the odds are stacked in the Human player's favor in longer paces, since production is scaled and humans are far better at preserving their units than AIs. I've wasted many a Carpet of Dooms in my play with Civ 5. Some of them were nuked.

Fair enough then, with such limitations you may end up with such timeframe. I know PC limitations problem, i remmeber being unable to play large CIV 4 maps back when it came out too.
There is always a point to go to marathon unless you play a completely peaceful game, as tecnologies usually progress too fast for any reasonable wars otherwise. in fact id like a even slower game mode, but thats me.

 

[piinyouri]

Welp, first game of Civ and thus far here's how it's went down.

Playing Egypt and focus super hard on building wonders, getting as much culture as I can, with just a big enough army to protect myself.

Then out of nowhere, Nobunaga who was friendly about 10-20 turns ago, suddenly decides he doesn't like me. I try to pay hm off, as I just do not want to fight, at all. But it always wears off, and he comes nagging back.

So, rather pissed off, I flipped production around entirely and began pumping out siege units like crazy and forced my way into his country and blew his capital apart with cannons through sheer attrition.

I am now contemplating what's next.

 

[Frankster]

snip

Nobunaga was probably envious of your wonders and higher score, i guess something posters including me should have mentioned is everyone loves wonders including the ai, and just like humans they get really pissy if 1 player is wonder hogging xP Highest tree and all that.

Btw i miss your old front mission 3 Pham avatar

 

[piinyouri]

snip

Nobunaga was probably envious of your wonders and higher score, i guess something posters including me should have mentioned is everyone loves wonders including the ai, and just like humans they get really pissy if 1 player is wonder hogging xP Highest tree and all that.

Btw i miss your old front mission 3 Pham avatar

Awww, not to worry. I'm sure she'll return someday. : )

Are the different Civs more or less geared towards certain playstyles what with their innate bonuses and whatnot?

In other wosrd is it a bad idea to play a civ a certain way if it somehow goes against what they are designed for?

Just curious since I choose Egypt because they were builders with no combat bonuses and so far I've fought more than I've built, though it doesn't appear that I was at a disadvantage for doing so, but I'm not sure.

 

[Syntax Error]

Stuff that could lead to war:

Coveting your lands. This happens when civs are near each other. I think if they have cities within 10 tiles of each other. Some people covet more than others. Expect an early war with Civs that have an early-game military UU.

Spreading your religion into their lands when they founded their own religion. Even more so if you prophetbomb their Holy City. Not really that much of a cassus belli, but it MAY lead to the other guy declaring on you.

Bullying a City State. If you attack a City State under their protection, it will add up to their list on why they should purge the land of your people. This can also happen when you outright declare war.

Favor of City States. If you are an ally with a City-State they like.

Coveting Wonders. If you wondersnipe them too often, they just might march into your lands and attempt to claim those as their own.

Being friends/chummy with their enemies. This could lead to denouncements. So pay attention to the Diplo Overview.

And finally, the FROM LEFT FIELD. If you have a small army and the AI deems that you are easy pickings, they WILL declare war on you. Particularly prevalent in the early game.

Those are the pretty common reasons.

Also, Egypt likes to play wide and Wonderspam. Rome is a little on the stabby side. Expect a CS to fall early if there's Mongolia. Among other things.

 

[Frankster]

Are the different Civs more or less geared towards certain playstyles what with their innate bonuses and whatnot?

In other wosrd is it a bad idea to play a civ a certain way if it somehow goes against what they are designed for?

Just curious since I choose Egypt because they were builders with no combat bonuses and so far I've fought more than I've built, though it doesn't appear that I was at a disadvantage for doing so, but I'm not sure.

Yes, civ bonuses do benefit playing their preferred style and give an edge in that department aswell as usually giving a preference to a particular victory type (so lets say your a science civ, chances are you're going to be amongst the first to be able to qualify for a space victory, but doesnt mean all the other civs cant win that way either, just you got a leg up for that victory type).
The AI also plays according to their preferred styles (unless you chose the option to randomize personalities) so babylonians for example are always going to aim to be the most productive science civ and will hate you if you outperform them in this domain.

Wouldn't say it's a bad idea per say to play a civ in a manner that goes against their speciality, just not optimal.
So not much point playing celts or byzantines if you're not aiming to have an awesome religion or playing the greeks if you have no intention of befriending city stats and would rather conquer them instead.
Its also worth remembering civs also have unique units (usually 2, egypt is one of those that only has 1), a unique building and sometimes even biases for starting terrain which might influence your decision in playing a country even if their civ ability isn't to your liking.

Egypt doesn't have any particular bonuses in combat and only 1 unique unit that gets obsolete quickly so are a tad disadvantaged vs an agressive military faction like the japanese but this doesnt mean you are doomed in combat, just the japanese units are individually stronger then yours and you will need to keep that in mind in situations when your units are toe to toe with theirs for bushido is a great bonus for closely fought combats.

Actually Egypt is a particular example..Since they are wonder builders, by being able to hoard wonders more easily you end up with all sorts of perks and bonuses which will end up benefiting your empire in a lot of varied ways, giving specialized civs a run for their money. Egypt is one of the more versatile civs that depending on the wonders they manage to build, can end up being good at everything (same for other civs, but egypt has a much easier time with this).

 

[Britishfan]

The way I do it:
Biggest map with as many City States & Civs as possible
Random map type
Random Civ
Random personalities
Enjoy the ride.

 

[piinyouri]

lots o helpful stuff

Mkay, that's what I was hoping to hear. Like, you do better at some things but you aren't penalized for doing others.
Funny you mention Japan's bushido power because I just saw a vid on youtube showing how crazy powerful it can be/is.
I would say I got lucky, but I'm only playing on the second difficulty level though.

 

[freaper]

A strong navy late game is key to success.

Don't expect to keep friends once you start launching nukes.

Always make a peace treaty on your terms; FINISH THEM (if you have to).

Always expect to get back-stabbed.

Don't try to capture too many cities early on. The negative happiness and lack of growth will hurt you A LOT.

Science + Military beats all.

 

[gigastar]

Most warmonger civs will go for you if you dont have a decently sized army on hand. And some will backstab you anyway. The Aztecs and Mongols in particular are extremely aggressive in the early game. If you have the expansions then if you start near Carthrage or Shoshone then it would be a very good idea to keep a bunch of units in thier general direction. Both are expansionists and nether have any qualms about warring for more territory.

I have no idea why people complain about Ghandi, I have never had a problem with him.

Ghandi is a good guy... until he gets his hands on some delicious Uranium.

Afterwards, he will throw all of it into biulding nukes. And he will drop them on anyone who so much as coughs in his direction, even if they share a religion and multiple trade routes. Or at least, thats what happened 4/5 times i played against AI Ghandi. The times it didnt happen he had no Uranium.

 

[Get_A_Grip_]

China are one of the best Civs to use when starting out. Provided you are on a map with a lot of land.
Their special crossbow unit can attack twice per turn, and when you upgrade them further to machine guns and the like they still retain the ability to attack twice per turn.

If you're on a map with a lot of islands then England are easily the strongest naval force in the game.

Going for a domination victory seems to be the best way of playing your first game.

If you spawn beside Alexander or Atilla, prepare for an early attack.