[PB79 ricketyclik player/dedlurker thread] Monarch of the Glen

[superdeath]

Doesn't too many cities stifle the economy, and therefore tech advancement?

You have to spam alot of cities for that to happen. You WANT to generally be in the 30-40% tech rate at break even. More cities= bigger snowball. NOW... that doesnt mean spam cities till you go broke. But the first 100t is the land grab phase of the game typically. Being ahead in tech means very little if you dont have the production and food to whip/build whatever you are farther ahead in.

Regardless, another (closer/not zoomed out) look at your general area, a picture of your Demos, graphs, espionage screen, ect would be amazing. I dont want you to fall into the food category sooner than need be.

[Tarkeel]

Doesn't too many cities stifle the economy, and therefore tech advancement?

To a certain degree, yes, but Currency changes the calculations drastically with the second free trade route. Maturing cottages is also a way to save the economy. The goal is usually to get as close as possible to a dead economy without killing it and still getting to Currency. Here you also have easy access to inter-continental trade (from the islands) which greatly improves all your cities.

Some examples from my own games (linked from signature):
In PB62 we were working cottaged plains tiles in order to keep paying for our empire which had the largest size and economy.
In PB74 we had to resort to chopping forest into a whipped scout (twice) in order to convert the overflowing hammers into gold. This is not recommended unless you're certain about what you're doing, as it can very easily go wrong. (See Ruff's squad of scouts in PB58)

[superdeath]

Hey, long time no post. Hard to give tips/help you if you dont post your thoughts, pictures (not satellite view please, just Windows-Print screen to screenshot!) Judging from the scoreboard... things are going well. Cant get better if you dont ask constant questions

[ricketyclik]

No, things aren't going well. My economy has ground to a halt, so I can't get to currency or monarchy to increase my city sizes. I am, however, about to get alphabet, so maybe I can do a deal...

[superdeath]

Do a deal? Tech trading is off bud.

Probably would have been better to just straight tech currency vs alpha if your tech is that bad. Now it looks like you will be forced to build research (if you can show what your break-even is, along with your 100% gold rate)

Also, less satellite view. More normal view please Use mouse wheel.

[greenline]

Adjusting the field of view slider in the top right corner makes it easier to get zoomed out screenshots.

One thing that helps early economy a lot is island cities. If you research Sailing early on, you can settle cities on islands, which give trade routes worth 2 commerce immediately instead of 1. A few cities on islands makes it a lot easier to get to Currency.

[Tarkeel]

It looks as if you're trying to give every city the full 20 tiles uniquely? That's usually not a good idea; being able to share tiles is key. Both to speeding up new cities that can borrow food to whip out key infrastructure, but also later on you can shuffle away tiles when whipping or as needed. For the early game, food is easily the best stat to improve due to the ability to convert it into hammers with whipping; you should try to have every single food bonus improved and worked as much as possible.

Cumae and Rome are both size 7 and Unhappy, it's time to swing that whip! You have a ton of forests that could have been chopped into workers/settlers/infrastructure.

[ricketyclik]

Thanks Tarkeel. Noted for next time.

I'm going on a motorcycle camping trip this weekend, departing 22:00 Friday GMT, returning 08:00 Sunday GMT (Saturday 8 am - Sunday 6 pm my time).

Would someone like to play my turns for me in that window?

[Tarkeel]

Expanding a little on what I said: In single-player you usually want to go for the long term advantages, while in multi-player it's much more about taking all the short-term advantages you can to make the snowball faster and quicker. This can be a large change from SP and makes for vastly different city placements, but here's my general guidelines:
1) Every new city should have early access to a food tile, so it can grow to whip out basic infrastructure.
1a) When possible, the city should borrow/steal an existing improved food-tile from another city.
1b) Otherwise, settle next to the food so your worker can start improving it the turn the city is settled.
2) Claim new/important resources first. Prioritize settling areas that are contested, but be prepared to defend your claim.
3) Place your cities so that defenders can readily move between them.
4) Aim for cities to be able to work 12-ish tiles each; ie. don't pack them *too* tight. This is harder than it looks.

There are circumstances where you're supposed to break all of these, but they're a good foundation.

[superdeath]

Ricky, what difficulty of Civ 4 do you usually play on?