Using your comparative advantage.

In class we have been talking a lot about comparative advantage, and how it is in your interest to utilize your advantage. In CIV IV each leader has a special skill set. The Americans (my favorite) have special units and starting technologies. The American special unit is the navy SEAL; no other CIV can produce a SEAL. The unit itself is great, it has all the advantages of any other foot soldier (it can climb mountains) and it does more damage to opposing units. To gain access to this unit your civilization must be advanced, so it is in your best interest to progress through the ages as fast as you can. Early confrontation gives you no advantage; actually it puts you at a disadvantage because most other civilizations have special units that come earlier in the game. Diplomacy is a must to maintain peace until you have the upper hand.

Although the units are important in this game the other attributes are arguably more important. The Indian empire’s workers are able to build faster than any other civilizations. The American cottages produce more gold per turn than anyone else. So as I learned in class, I used my advantage by building an extensive cottage system and used the gold generated to buy other necessities that were in low supply.

It’s recommended for a reason

It’s recommended for a reason. When I play CIV and it is time to select what new thing my city should produce, I don’t even look half the time, I just click on the first thing on the list. The game recommends several different production ideas based on your CIV’s needs. The first few times I played the game I completely ignored the suggestions, thinking I know better than this game, I know what my cities really need. But as I became a more experienced gamer I came to the realization it really does know better than me. The game’s recommendations saved my ass a few times as well.

In one particular instance I was playing as the Americans, and my empire was progressing well, soon I had about 10 cities. By this time it is becoming difficult to manage all your cities productions, workers projects, warrior’s movements, and scouts exploration. So to make life a little easier I started producing what the game was suggesting. By using this feature you are able to essentially forget about a nagging task and you are able to devote you full attention to other tasks. A little later in the game I was playing I decided I had it was time to conquer the lowly Japanese. I had enough units to take out the Japanese, but I was worried that after my conquest I would be left unprotected and vulnerable for attack. Needless to say the game did not know my intention and thus did not suggest I produce military units, it continued to say I should build up culture. This is one of a few times in my CIV gaming career I have neglected the games suggestions.

By using the suggestions you will build a very powerful empire. The recommendations ensure that your cities, and empire as well, are balanced in most respects; culture, military, workers, settlers, scouts, etc. The game also suggests many other useful things that makes managing your empire a whole hell of a lot easier, you can see recommended places to start new cities with you settler. It will tell you the best usage of your land, farming, cottage industry, etc. all in all this recommendation feature is very helpful and it eliminates a lot of the hassles in a growing empire

Planning

I now disagree with my previous blog and Jared Diamonds theory that Location is the most important factor in a society’s success. By now I have played a good 10 games, although the majority I got either bored or frustrated so I did not play them all the way through. In my experience I have noticed that my original agreement with diamond’s theory shifted.

I now think that the most important factor in your civilizations success is planning. This may sounds slightly stupid, but I have found it to be true. I have started many games in ideal locations, surrounded by numerous resources and failed miserably. I think when I am spawned in such an ideal location I get too exited with my surroundings and mass produce workers to harvest the resources, neglecting any warriors, scouts, settlers, and pretty much all upgrades required early on to set the foundation of a great empire.

Many times my capital city has been placed in a remote, desolate area, and I have prospered. The more difficult location presents more of a challenge, and from the start, I am more focused on doing everything I can to survive and expand. With the easier location I automatically assume I will win with the number of resources I have and I am less involved and determined to win.

One game I was playing as the Germans, and was surrounded by mountains and plains. There were few resources of value immediately surrounding my location, which caused me to develop scouts and settlers to explore and take advantage of all resources I find, plus I produced warriors to escort the other units. To make a long story short I was very successful as the Germans, and I was able to build my empire quickly as well. Having few resources immediately around my starting location lead me to produce a wide variety of units early on and be more meticulous in my approach, thus leading to victory.

Early Attack

In other strategy games I have previously played an early start was absolutely crucial. An easy victory was attained by rushing the enemy base with a few soldiers early in the game. The idea is to catch your opponent early enough, while he is building his base and neglecting security. This was a time-proven strategy but it did not work in CIV.

Playing as the Americans, my favorite, I was set on an early domination. I built an “army” of four warriors within a few turns and sent them looking for an easy target. I found the Germans, a feeble looking civilization. I sent my warriors to the capital city, guarded by one archer and ordered them to attack. Within two turns my warriors were dead.

CIV, unlike many other strategy games, gives enormous bonuses for the defending army. I became aware of the severity of the bonuses after the attack. I ordered the warriors to attack from a square with no defense bonus, plains. Also in CIV, a turn biased game; it takes a very long time for armies to move, especially over different terrain. Most likely when I ordered my warriors to move the Germans would fall easily to my army. However by the time my warriors moved to German territory, they had enough time to beef up their security, and were able to develop more sophisticated technology than I had.

Tanks and expansion ramblings

As my American empire entered the modern era I realized the awesome power of the tank. By the time I was able to produce tanks my empire was fairly large (about 15-20 cities) and spread out. I was able to produce tanks quickly because of my developed infrastructure (about 4 turns per tank). Playing on the easiest difficulty level no other civilization was really a threat, or nearly as advanced, so I was the only one with tank technology. After stockpiling tanks near the American-Japanese border I declared war, and proceeded to take over Japan. All was going well, Japanese cities were falling without much trouble, the American tanks were seemingly invincible, until a freaking samurai destroyed my tank! Granted my tanks health was a little low due to prior attacks from lowly samurai and horse archers, but come on this is a tank, a steel tank. What is next? A navy seal falling to an axe man? Besides this shocking incident, the Japanese empire did not ever mount a significant counter attack, and after several turns was easily conquered.

Before attacking Japan I had envisioned completely taking over, not simply destroying Japan, I wanted to expand my borders. Even though my attacks were very successful I made a crucial error in my quest to broaden my empire, I forgot about the settlers. I tried installing a new governor when the first Japanese city fell, but the city quickly rebelled. The next problem that I had not anticipated was Egypt’s expansion into what was previously Japanese territory I had conquered. So for all you CIV IV players out there, beware, if you are trying to expand your borders make sure to anticipate other empires stealing land you just conquered.

Culture

The first few times I played CIV IV, I completely overlooked the importance of culture. Culture is extremely important, it allows you to gain access to resources, cripple enemies, and if you have enough you can win the game. You initially start the game with about nine squares of culture surrounding your city. That culture acts as your cities borders. As you add wonders to your city, and increase the culture, your borders expand.

Your can harness any resource within your borders; you cannot access a resource outside of them. It is extremely helpful to have high culture-producing cities near your current borders, this allows rapid expansion of your territory and it prevents any enemy expansion. Additionally rival civilizations can neither see, nor cross any of your borders.

Culture is also the only way to capture a city without declaring war. If you have lots of culture in a city close to a rival border, you can successfully capture a rival city without declaring war. This is the preferred way to expand your borders when you neighbor an ally.

In one particular instance I was playing as the German empire, neighboring a slightly less powerful Russia. I allied with Russia early in the game, but as the game progressed my civilization needed more room for expansion. If I had declared war on Russia I most likely would have won, but I would have left myself dangerously vulnerable for attack. The best solution for my problem was to diplomatically conquer Russia with my culture. I set up several cities on the German-Russian border and produced nothing but culture. My national borders eventually grew and grew until they engulfed a Russian city; I took control of the city, expanding my nation, without any significant harm to the alliance.

CIV #1

When I was first learning how to play Civilization 4, I restarted my civilization several times until I was finally satisfied with how my empire was progressing. My current empire is expanding steadily because, unlike my other failed attempts, I have a variety of important resources near my starting city. The resources available near your cities are the greatest determinate of your civilization’s success in the game. If Civilization 4 is an accurate representation of history then Jared Diamond’s ‘location’ theory is correct. Diamond explains Eurasian dominance by showing how location, and the corresponding resources, is the largest factor in an area’s technological advancement. The location of your civilization is the single most determinant factor in the game because with a poor location, devoid of food, mineral, and animal resources, your civilization will be incapable of advancing. A good location that provides most of the resources you need, especially food, will allow you to produce units much faster. The ability to quickly produce units allows you to strengthen your army, add workers to improve your empire, and develop settlers to create new cities, expanding your empire.