Strategy and Tactics
While every game is different, there's a basic strategy which most
players follow, especially at the start of the game.
In
general, the steps are:
0. Choosing the first city site.
1. Mapping the countryside.
2. Defending the cities.
3. Deciding which units to build first.
4. Improving the land.
5. Deciding where to build cities.
6. Taking care of the cities.
7. Interacting with other players (diplomacy).
8. Exploring the world.
9. Things to keep in mind.
10. Making your own strategy for the game.
0. Choosing the first city site.
Start the game by wandering around BRIEFLY to find a good place
to build the first city. Don't feel tempted to investigate any
yellow-roofed villages yet - they might contain barbarian
tribes. Build the city close to resources and perhaps close to
the sea. Keep in mind that the city you build first will be
your capital! The idea is to balance the quality of the site you
find against getting your first city established as early
as possible.
1. Mapping the countryside.
After the capital city has been founded, it will start producing
a warrior unit. These units can be used to rove around
exploring the countryside. Remember, it is risky to leave a
city undefended, so perhaps keep the first warrior in the city,
and use the following one to explore. If you started the game
with an explorer unit, use that to explore, obviously!
2. Defending the cities.
At this point, defend your cities by always leaving a warrior
unit in them. As your civilization develops units with a
greater defense strength, replace the obsolete units with new
ones to ensure your cities have maximum defense. The units most
often used for defense are (in order of strength): Warrior,
Phalanx, Pikemen, Musketeers, and Riflemen.
Keep in mind that with some types of government, military units
inside or outside cities can reduce or create unhappiness.
Also remember that when a land unit is inside a city, it gets a 50%
defensive bonus, as if fortified. When a new city is built,
the city starts to build the best available defensive unit from
the above list.
3. Deciding which units to build first.
After building one or two Warrior units, start building Settlers.
Settlers take city population, but if you picked a good city site,
your city should be big enough by now. Settlers are best put to use
founding new cities; while they can also build agricultural improvements
(see the next section), it is better to use Workers for this when
available, as unlike Settlers, Workers do not consume food from
their parent city. Keep in mind that a large population increases
both the amount of productivity and your civilization's research
rate, not to mention that cities secure land for your empire,
so founding new cities should be a high priority initially.
4. Improving the land.
Each city has an area of land around it that can be used
for growing food, producing goods, and generating trade. This output
can be increased by using Workers (or Settlers) to improve the land
close to your cities. The land can be improved with irrigation
(increasing food), roads (allowing units to move faster and
increasing trade), and mines (increasing production), among other
improvements.
5. Deciding where to build cities.
The best location for a city is a matter of taste. A city which
is placed near the sea is easier to spot by opponents, but can
also serve as a port for sea-going units. (They also usually
need a coastal defense later on.) The best strategy is to build
a few of both, but keep in mind that your opponents will find it
harder to locate your city if you don't build it by the sea.
6. Taking care of the cities.
Every city has a band of citizens. The number of citizens
depends on the city's population. When you tap on a city, you
can see how the land around the city is being used. You can
assign your citizens to the land, or they can be specialists that
contribute to your civilization in other ways. Especially at the
start of the game, care should be taken to ensure that the citizens
are employed so that they maximize growth, trade and production.
If too much food is being generated, a citizen can be taken off
the land by tapping on the occupied land tile. This
citizen can then be transferred to the other duties mentioned
previously.
If you tap on the central tile of the land, the citizens will be
rearranged to maximize food output.
The golden rule of taking care of a city is that there should be
at least as many happy citizens as unhappy citizens. A city
where this is not so falls into disorder; such cities are labeled
with a raised fist or a lightning bolt (depending on the tileset).
Take care not to let this happen to any of your cities, as cities in
disorder produce nothing, and are prone to revolt.
7. Interacting with other players (diplomacy).
When one of your units first meets a unit of another nation, or
finds one of their cities (or equally if they find you), a basic
contact is established between the two nations. This provides each
with basic intelligence about the other, which can be accessed from
the 'Nations' report.
This communication will lapse after a set number of turns with
no contact. Establishing an embassy will give a more permanent
communication channel, as well as more advanced intelligence such
as details of technology. Embassies are one-way - the nation
hosting the embassy receives no benefit - and once established,
cannot be revoked.
If you are in contact with another player, then you can arrange
a diplomatic meeting. From the 'World/Diplomacy/Status' report,
this is done by tapping on the nation with whom you wish to meet and selecting
'Meet'. A treaty dialog will pop up.
In this dialog you can negotiate an exchange of assets (maps,
vision, advances, cities, or gold), embassies, or binding pacts
such as a cease-fire or peace. There is no need to trade like for
like; you can trade, say, an advance or city for gold - you can
consider this buying and selling. Each player builds a list of offered
items. To remove an item from the list, tap on it.
When both players indicate satisfaction, the pact is concluded.
Pacts affect where your units can go and what they can do,
and a pact with one nation can affect your relations with others.
Under authoritarian governments such as Monarchy you can break a
pact at any time, but the representative governments (Republic and
Democracy) have a senate which will block the unprovoked
cancelation of a treaty; unless a foreign Diplomat or Spy sparks
a diplomatic incident, the only way to dissolve a pact in this
situation is to dissolve your government. The details of pacts are
described in the Diplomacy section.
A couple of notes:
- You can't give away your capital.
- You can only request property that you know about; so you
can't request technology unless you have an embassy, and if
you can't see a city on your map, then you can't request it.
Of course, the owner of that city can still offer it to
you, in which case the area around the city is shown
on your map before you accept the treaty.
- One important thing to note: when a city is transferred,
any units in the field and supported by that city are also
transferred (but not those sitting in other cities). So make
sure the other player isn't getting a better deal than you expect.
8. Exploring the world.
After you have fortified your cities with troops, build Triremes
in the cities near the sea. Use the Triremes to map the world
in search of opponents and new lands. If you are on an island,
you should spend less on military and more on expansion. Or if
you are located close to an opponent, it is truly a good idea to
make a peace treaty and share the advances you have made.
Diplomatic units are very useful here, and WILL pay off later.
9. Things to keep in mind.
- What the next advance you'll need is.
- What your tax, luxury and research rates are currently set to.
- Treaties are often broken, so don't neglect defense...
- Some wonders can be made obsolete.
10. Making your own strategy for the game.
These basic concepts will allow you to play the game pretty
well, especially in the beginning of the game. But to improve,
you need to study the various units and advances, and PRACTICE,
PRACTICE, PRACTICE!