RB Civ 4 Help Thread

[Twinkletoes89]

After playing Civ 4 for a few months now and getting involved in 2 PitBoss games, I am starting to learn new things about Civ and I am aiming to learn more.

However, I am still only working well on Noble difficulty and would like to test myself but I think I need to learn more things to fill the gaps in my knowledge.

I know about the CivFanatics forum but I thought I would set up this thread so that people who are struggling can ask questions and get help from the experienced players on here.

[Twinkletoes89]

[SIZE="3"]Table of Contents[/SIZE]

This is reserved to list all questions which have been asked to hopefully avoid repetition.

1) What are the ''monopoly techs'' and how do you make best use of them?

2) Who are the best/worst leaders to deal with in SP?

3) What does the 'power' provided by Plants and The Three Gorges Dam actually do?

[Twinkletoes89]

So to start..

1) What are the ''monopoly techs'' and how to you make best use of them?

[Square Leg]

Monopoly techs are generally techs that you can get to before the AI and then trade for multiple techs you have missed by beelined said monopoly tech. An example would be something like bulbing Philosophy and then trading it for multiple classical techs or another renaissance tech.

Another option is compass since the AI generally avoids it for ages...

[Twinkletoes89]

Thanks for that SL.

OK new question.

2) Who are the best/worst leaders to deal with in SP?

[SleepingMoogle]

The best leaders are those whose personalities make their actions predictable.

This makes Augustus one of the worst (sometimes even he doesn't know what he'll do the next turn). Catherine is also pretty bad because she demands a lot, and yet nothing you do ever sates her needs (heh).

[Dantski]

Tokugawa is easily the worst AI.

1. Doesn't like opening borders
2. Agg/Pro traits mean everything that isn't a siege weapon is gonna get free promo's when you want to wipe him out. Of course this gets even worse if he reaches gunpowder

[Sandover]

2) Who are the best/worst leaders to deal with in SP?

My favourite neighbour is Mansa. He techs well, happily trades with you, is extremely peaceful and the only leader who ever offered to give me a tech. The one setback is that he is a poor rush target due to having skirmishers.

My most disliked neighbour is Julius. He happily declare on you early and there are simply too many situations where Praetorians are too powerful to deal with successfully. Being crippled in the ancient era is never fun.

My favourite far-away civ is Montezuma. He almost always go to war against someone and usually create quite a mess, slowing the progress of his general neighbourhood as a consequence. I always find it funny when he manage to get himself dogpiled.

My most disliked far-away civ is Gandhi. He steals wonders and religions right under your nose, techs well, often get all his neighbours to join him in a religious alliance and is deadly when he goes for a cultural victory.

[Bobchillingworth]

I like Cyrus; he always seems to be willing to sign a defensive pact, making him very easy to get a permanent alliance with if you're patient enough to avoid declaring on someone for about 40 turns. He's a bit less useful if you turn PA off, though.

[Twinkletoes89]

Right, new question brought up by my last 2 SP games.

3) I see that Power Plants (coal/Hydro/nuclear) provide 'power' to the cities they are built in and Three Gorges Dam in all cities. What does this 'power' actually do? Is it a multiplier of hammers or something similar?