General Strategies and Combos for Civilization 4 by Robo-Mike
This guide supports patch version 1.09 of the game.
Latest update:
(12-13-2005) v1.3 Promotions tips Not Researching Horseback Riding tip Great Person City added to City Specialization
TODO: Build Red Cross and check if drafted units get Medic Check if you can still build Chariots if Gunships are available and Horseback Riding is not researched
====================================================================== Section 0: TABLE OF CONTENTS ============================
s# code title -- ------ --------------------- -1 (DISC) Disclaimers 0 ( ) Table of Contents 1 (INTR) Introduction 2 (PLAN) Overall Gameplan Combos A. World Wonder Hog B. Great People Factory C. Super Specialists D. Cultural Victory 3 (CITY) City Specialization Combos A. Research Facility - inland B. Financial Center - inland C. Financial Center - shore or island D. Elite Military Academy E. Shock Troops Factory F. Industrial Capital G. City of Greatness 4 (BILD) Initial Build Orders and Research 5 (MISC) Miscellaneous Tips 6 (FAQ-) Question and Answer Portion 7 (ABOU) About the Author 8 (MAIL) Contact Info 9 (ENDC) Contributors / Special Thanks 10 (HIST) Revision History ( ) Final Words
** To go to a specific section, search for the code including ( ). For example, search for (CITY) to go to city combos.
If you think the Civilopedia wasn't clear enough, this guide can serve as a quick "glance" as to what technologies, improvements, civics and other in-game options work well together to serve a common goal.
Sure you can go for both the culture and space victory conditions in one single game, or you can have a city that's good both at research and military production, but it's much more beneficial to focus on a single victory condition or gameplan, or perhaps, to make Hamburg the Foremost Military Capital of the German Empire... with the slogan, "One unit of Elite Panzers per year, guaranteed!" Scary, isn't it?
This guide assumes that you know what said civic or world wonder or city improvement does. If you don't, simply consult your manual, in-game Civilopedia, or any of the many other guides on the net (such as the other Civ 4 guides on GameFAQs).
All of the information contained in this document is true to the best of my knowledge. If you see something wrong about it, don't flame, send or post a correction (preferably with proof if you have it).
Remember, games of Civ 4 can be unpredictable, cut your own path to world domination!
Because these require specific world wonders or leadership traits or specific research paths or careful game planning, you have to think ahead with these strategies before you even hit the Start button. Selecting your leader is already half the battle.
* - Essential or highly recommended + - Extras that may be beneficial
---------------------------------------------------------------------- A. World Wonder Hog ------------------- * Industrious trait * Stone or Marble resources * Pyramids world wonder (highly recommended you get this) * Forge * Engineer specialists (requires Forge or Pyramids usually) + Philosophical trait (optional) + Parthenon world wonder + Hanging Gardens, Hagia Sophia world wonders, etc. + Pacifism civic (if you can afford it)
Even if you're not going for a culture victory, taking World Wonders for yourself gives you a tremendous advantage while denying other factions of those advantages.
If you're going for this strategy you better ensure you have the resources around your first towns, otherwise your Industrious people will be building the wonders as fast as some civs with Stone or Marble.
The Pyramids are so essential to this strategy that you should restart if you don't get it. Pyramids will help produce Great Engineers which will help you steal more world wonders in the future. It's also good to rush to Metal Casting to be able to build the Forge ASAP. Caste System will NOT give you Engineers.
Parthenon will help you get even more Engineers if you build it in a second town. But it's difficult to get two early wonders up. If you succeed, however, then you already have a tremendous advantage over other factions.
Hagia Sophia and the Gardens among other wonders also produce Engineers so prioritize them.
Not being Industrious doesn't mean you can't build any wonders, but you should be Industrious if you want to build A LOT. The more wonders you have, the higher your final score will be. You want to look good in the Hall of Fame, right? Riiight.
---------------------------------------------------------------------- B. Great People Factory ----------------------- * Philosophical trait * Parthenon world wonder * National Epic national wonder (preferably on the city with wonders) * Pacifism civic * Caste System civic + Mercantilism civic (good idea but can be messy to micromanage) + Other world wonders and improvements that let you assign specialists
You may need to micromanage your cities so that it won't assign specialists you don't want. Tailor each city to produce the right Great Person for the situation.
Good cities for Great Person production are those with a large surplus of food.
You can't get Great Engineers and Great Prophets via the Caste System so you may want to build wonders and buildings that earn you Great Engineer/Great Prophet points, or improvements such as Forges and Temples to assign specialists.
---------------------------------------------------------------------- C. Super Specialists -------------------- * Caste System civic * Representation civic * Mercantilism civic * Great Library world wonder * Angkot Wat world wonder * Sistine Chapel world Wonder * Statue of Liberty world wonder + A city with a large food supply + Expansive trait (helps a lot)
A bit related to combo B, but this revolves around getting free specialists and making every specialist you assign count. You will still get Great People in the process though, so a Philosophical leader will be able to benefit from this strategy.
---------------------------------------------------------------------- D. Road to Fame (Cultural Victory) ---------------------------------- * Free Speech civic (get Liberalism ASAP) * Free Religion civic * Religions, temple, monasteries & cathedrals (the more the merrier) * Theater, Library, University, etc. * Sistine Chapel world wonder * Broadcast Tower (or Eiffel Tower if you can manage it) + Parthenon world wonder (produces Great Artists) + Hermitage national wonder + Creative trait (optional) + as many world wonders as you can: Rock&Roll, Broadway, Hollywood are good wonders to have
The general goal is to have all three of your cities go up and reach 50k culture (Normal game speed) at the same time to be more efficient. So if you feel one of your cities is lagging behind, prioritize putting a wonder or a cathedral in it.
Since you are raising up three legendary cities, it helps to have about nine (yes, NINE) temples of different religions around your empire so you can build multiple cathedrals in all three target cities.
To "collect" religions, either conquer another city with the religion you want then build a monastery there, or open borders with a nearby civ and PRAY that they send missionaries to you. (I find that having Free Religion civic implemented encourages your AI neighbors to send you their missionaries.)
Stonehenge or The Oracle helps since they're built very early and adds a couple of culture points which can pile up. Parthenon will not only increase your Great People production, it will also provide Great Artists you can feed to your cities.
As for your Great Artists, if it's early in the game put them in a city to get the + to culture. Since those religious cathedrals and Hermitage increase even the yield of the Super Specialist, the Great Artist may end up producing more culture in the long run. Later Great Artists can be saved and then stuck into one of your culture- rich cities that are lagging behind.
Why did I say that the Creative Trait is optional? +2 culture a turn is helpful, but there may be other traits that can help your culture victory. Industrious trait will help you get the Wonders you need. Financial trait can come in handy when you want to pour your money into culture. You can produce an awful lot of culture each turn with towns and water tiles. Philosophical trait will help you get Great Artists and Engineers to use.
====================================================================== Section 3: City Specialization Combos (CITY) ============================================
These can be integrated into any strategy. As long as you have the prime land to build a specialized city, go for it!
* - Essential or highly recommended + - Extras that may be beneficial
---------------------------------------------------------------------- A. Research Facility - inland ----------------------------- * Towns (towns on flood plains highly recommended) * Library/Monasteries/Observatory/Laboratory * Great Scientist Academy + Financial trait + Great Library world wonder + Free Speech civic (once towns are built) + Have a nearby food (e.g. pigs, wheat) or production resource (e.g. horses, iron) if possible.
You can't go wrong with this one. So that's why they don't have a "scientific bonus" leader trait... makes Financial a lot more powerful than it was in Civilization 3, eh?
---------------------------------------------------------------------- B. Financial Center - inland ---------------------------- * Towns (towns on flood plains highly recommended) * Market/Grocer/Bank * Wall Street national wonder + Religious Shrine (optional but highly beneficial) + Financial trait + Free Speech civic (once towns are built) + Free Market civic + Have a nearby food or production resource if possible.
Quite related to the Research Facility combo, but this time, you're seeking to get more money. If you have the extra time (you likely don't have that since you built lots of towns and you lack production) you can have the Financial city and the Research city as the same city.
---------------------------------------------------------------------- C. Financial Center - shore or island ------------------------------------- * Religious Shrine (optional) * Harbor * Lighthouse * Market/Grocer/Bank * Great Lighthouse world wonder * Colossus world wonder * Wall Street national wonder + Financial trait + Free Speech civic (once towns are built) + Free Market civic + Forge (for production) + Have a nearby food or production resource if possible.
It's a good idea to have workshops, watermills, lumbermills or mines on land since the shore will provide almost all of the food (but none of the production) you need. Try to avoid settling where you can reach less productive ocean squares; the more shoreline, the better.
Since this is a focused strategy and you don't have that much production, build ONLY the buildings you need for this. Build the military protection and workers elsewhere.
It's really less advisable to make a research facility on the shoreline because this financial strategy revolves more around trade routes, so just stick with the mainland for your research facility.
---------------------------------------------------------------------- D. Elite Military Academy ------------------------- * Barracks * Vassalage civic * Theocracy civic * Heroic Epic or Ironworks national wonder + Pentagon world wonder + West Point national wonder + Airport + Aggressive trait
This is the setup if you REALLY want to go to war. Barracks, Vassalage, Theocracy, Pentagon can help your entire nation build better troops. Imagine cranking out a 10-experience Mech Infantry or Modern Armor right out of the assembly line!
Meanwhile, having West Point and Heroic Epic together in a town can build really elite troops quickly. If you combine all the bonuses, 14-experience armies produced at twice the speed is not funny at all.
Or maybe Heroic Epic + Ironworks to pump out units at a scary speed.
Finally, add an airport to send troops directly to the front lines.
---------------------------------------------------------------------- E. Shock Troops Factory ----------------------- * Farms (food resources are great) * Granary * Barracks * Theocracy civic * Nationhood civic * Globe Theater national wonder + West point national wonder + Pentagon world wonder
The main drawback in drafting is the unhappiness it causes in your cities. Not in this hick town!
If you need military personnel in a pinch, hire those people so happy they want to go to war with you. "Hell YES, we will go!" Draft the city's population down to level 7 and take everyone's children to Vietnam without the social unrest, ever.
Drafted units get 1/2 experience points from Barracks and Theocracy among other things, but that shouldn't stop you from using the bonuses.
Also, they do not gain the +10% combat bonus from leaders with the Aggresive trait. You also CAN'T have the Vassalage and Nationhood civics together, which is just too bad.
I still haven't tested if drafted units in a city with Red Cross get the medic bonuses, though.
---------------------------------------------------------------------- F. Industrial Capital --------------------- * As many mines and water/wind/lumber mills and workshops as possible * Forge, Factory + power plant of your choice * Ironworks national wonder + Bureaucracy civic (capital city only) + State Property civic + Have a nearby food resource if possible + Granary
You can really combine this with military or Wonder-building strategies.
Just don't neglect food. You need the population growth. Constructing a Granary is a good idea since food will be really scarce.
This is one city where all the production counts, so don't chop down forests since you will lose out on the production in the long run.
State Property civic is good to eliminate the workshop food penalty and get free food from water mills as well.
---------------------------------------------------------------------- G. City of Greatness -------------------- * As many farms as possible (flood plains, food resources are great) * A few mines, water/lumbermills or workshops for production (strategic resources such as Iron or Horses helps a lot) * Pacifism civic * National Epic national wonder * Necessary buildings for specialists (e.g. Library for Scientists, Market for Merchants) * Granary * Lighthouse (if coastal) * Globe Theater national wonder, or any and all buildings necessary to keep the citizens happy + Slavery civic* + Caste system civic** + Parthenon world wonder (in another city = OK) + Any other wonders you feel like putting on the city (although it's difficult since it lacks production... I hope you have Great Engineers from other cities...)
This Great People City can be used with any strategy, not just a gameplan revolving around Great People. Even warmongers and techies can benefit...
It's simple... get your population as high as your happiness and/or health can support. Then assign citizens to specialists.
You can make a Great Person city on great for areas poor in production and with large areas of grassland, coast, flood plains or plains with fresh water.
No towns! You can always get your money elsewhere. But don't neglect production. You need to build temples and theaters to keep the population from going into rallies when they should be farming or reading books or rehearsing for their next musical.
* Because population grows fast with lots of food, Slavery makes good use of the excess baggage by killing them off and funding the next Forge or Temple.
**Caste System helps greatly to assign many, many Artists, Scientists, or Merchants at once. But it's not *THAT* necessary. You can always add the city improvements or wonders that let you assign specialists (e.g. Angkor Wat lets you assign 3 Priests). Of course you can't possibly assign say, 10 Merchants if you don't have Caste System, but still...
====================================================================== Section 4: (BILD) Initial Build Orders and Research ===================================================
We're assuming you're starting from the Ancient Era, since Civ is more fun and interesting that way.
Expanding quick or starting well can make a big difference in building a civilization that will stand the test of time.
a. Standard/Conservative Build 1 (research a religion if desired) 1. Warrior or Scout 2. Warrior 3. Stonehenge or Barracks or Oracle 4. When city gets to 3 population, a Worker or Settler 5. What you didn't build in #4 (if worker is built, settler is next and vice versa). 6. Resume construction on #3 7. Military units or worker or another settler as needed
b. Standard/Conservative Build 2 (research a religion if desired) 1. Warrior or Scout 2. Warrior 3. When city gets to 2 population, Worker 4. Resume #2 5. Stonehenge or Barracks or Oracle 6. When city gets to 3 population, Settler 7. Resume #5 8. Military units or worker or another settler as needed
c. Deforestation Build (posted by Softnum at GameFAQs boards) * obiously you can have less cities if desired (go for Bronze Working and needed military techs) 1. Worker (1 or 2) 2. Settler (worker/s chop 2 forests) 3. Settler at second city (chop 2 forests) 4. Settler at one of the cities (chop 2 forests) 5. Military units in each city, possibly Stonehenge or Oracle in one of the cities 6. Throw your military at your neighbor
----------------------- Initial Research Queues -----------------------
It's important to plan your research ahead, so you can get ahead and stay ahead. Here are some suggested research strategies.
a. Religion - You can easily get one of the early religions especially if your civ starts with Mysticism. Queue: Mysticism -> Polytheism Mysticism -> Masonry -> Polytheism -> Monotheism Mysticism -> Meditation (not recommended since computer civs usually go for Meditation) Animal Husbandry -> Writing -> Code of Laws (great if you prioritized early workers or after rushing to Alphabet for early tech trading)
b. Military - You can neglect the happiness of your people and opt to build an army and grab the lands of your neighbor. Queue: Mining -> Bronze Working -> Iron Working Hunting -> Animal Husbandry -> Horseback Riding (as of patch 1.09 you need the A.H. tech to figure out where the horses are... if you have horses, you can opt to get H.R. for the powerful Horse Archers) Hunting -> Archery
c. Improvements - Early workers and improvement of 1 or 2 cities can give a tech or population advantage instead of having many cities and suffering a maintenance cost. Queue: Wheel, Agriculture -> Pottery Hunting (gets Camp improvement) -> Animal Husbandry (gets Pasture improvement) Mining -> Masonry (gets Quarry improvement)
d. Tech Trading - If your scientists have become lazy... trade the techs from your neighbor. "Screw Bronze Working, I can get it from Gandhi anyway." Queue: Wheel, Agriculture -> Pottery -> Writing -> Alphabet also Writing -> Mathematics -> Currency (if needed) * You can then trade your Writing and Alphabet out to as many rivals as you can to gain the early tech lead and pick up any early techs you have missed. In addition, you can immediately start on Code of Laws (after getting Alphabet you can either pick up Priesthood from a rival civ or go the Mathematics -> Currency route) to pick up a religion. * Note that the AI may be reluctant to trade out some techs: Example, your nearby rivals may be afraid to trade out Iron Working because they fear being attacked. Or if Caesar is building The Oracle he may not offer you Priesthood.
A. Unit/s with March promotion + Unit with Medic promotion You can continue moving between multiple cities to conquer, healing damage on the way.
B. Railroad + Mine, Lumber Mill, Water Mill It isn't clearly stated on the Civilopedia, but here it is. The rail gives +1 production for the listed improvements above.
C. Sistine Chapel "glitch" If you own the Sistine Chapel and you conquer an enemy city, the non-working citizens stationed inside (excluding the tons of unhappy ones) will produce +2 culture right when the revolt ends, so when the city returns to peace you will have a nifty border, helping prevent riots in the future.
This puts Sistine Chapel right up there with the Pyramids as one of the more useful World Wonders in the game.
As of Patch version 1.09, it's still in effect.
D. Oracle Strategy (first posted by Heatsink at the GameFAQs boards) If you're going for a religion, and want a Great Prophet, you can research Priesthood and start on the Oracle rather than build Stonehenge. Good expensive free techs to pick include: 1. Machinery - have Metal Casting researched 2. Engineering - have Mathematics researched 3. Metal Casting - have Pottery and Bronze Working researched 4. Theology - have Monotheism and Writing researched Consolation Prize: Monarchy - It is always available with the Oracle.
Notes: Theology can exert pressure on other (human) players in multiplayer games since it founds Christianity and it could give them a false sense of how advanced you really are.
You may need to ignore more basic techs if you wish to grab Machinery or Engineering, but it's well worth it. This may be difficult to do on higher difficulty settings, though.
E. Mining for Ore? (posted by Archaos) Since all mines have a random very small chance to discover new ore resources every turn, it may be a good idea to put mines on all the hills that are not within your city radius to maximize your chances of discovering new resources.
F. Promotions tips: Getting skills that some units normally can't get Ever dreamt of Uber(TM) Infantry with City Raider 3? Training begins in the early ages... power up your Axeman/Maceman's City Raider promotion and when you finally upgrade them to a gunpowder unit, the promotions don't disappear even if gunpowder units can't get City Raider in the first place!
This also applies to any promotion that future units can't get... here are some ideas: Archers with First Strike -> Machine Gun, Infantry Knights or Cavalry with March -> Gunship Knights or Cavalry with Mobility -> Gunship Knights or Cavalry with Medic -> Gunship (haha)
G. Not Researching Horseback Riding? Isabella will be laughing at you while her Conquistadors go on parade. Without Horseback Riding, you will never be able to build Horse Archers, Knights, and Cavalry.
But there IS an advantage for not picking up Horseback Riding. Chariots cost only 25 production (Normal speed). In later years you can still build a Chariot in 1-2 turns, perfect for stuffing into an undefended new or inland city that is demanding protection while keeping your upgraded troops in the border or front lines.
Since Aggressive leaders don't get a +10% bonus with horses, it's not a big loss... with exception of the Mongols since they lose their unique unit, Keshik. Also if your civ's unique unit replaces the Chariot (e.g. War Chariot, Immortal), all the better...
Also, I wonder what happens if you build those chariots in a city with the Red Cross in it... hmm?
In higher difficulties it may be necessary to resort to multiple chariots + Hereditary Rule + Vassalage to keep your people happy especially during a shortage of happiness resources or religion/s.
I do not yet know, however, if you can still build chariots after researching gunships.
====================================================================== Section 6: (FAQ-) Question and Answer Portion =============================================
Common, common questions. And others.
Q1. "Why should we keep forests? They give some production when cut down, helping early game builds..."
Yes, you can get the early advantage, but remember the intro to the game, we're here to "build a civilization to stand the test of time".
Forests produce 1 hammer so think twice before cutting them down becuase you might need that 1 production instead of the gold bonus of towns or the food bonus of farms.
Lumbermills are almost like workshops but without the food penalty (unless you enable the State Property civic).
Having the health bonus from the forest is a definite plus. Forests within your city radius give +0.4 healthiness each (so 3 forests would be +1 health while 5 forests give +2 health). (Thanks civfanatics.com for the info.)
Did I say they reduce the chance of global warming?
Finally, forests (along with hills and rivers) are your only hope to have a bustling city in the tundras. Plus they make nice obstacles for your ski resort's Expert-level course.
This is the game of Civ, you're not supposed to make the same mistake as all the city builders of real history. Have foresight. Be smart. Save the trees.
If you really want to join me in saving the trees, please don't automate your workers until a lumbermill can be built. Also turn on "Automated Workers Leave Old Improvements" under options.
Q2. "What does a granary do?"
When a city grows in size, the food bar goes to zero before rising again. With Granaries, the bar only goes down to HALF. Granaries effectively double the city's population growth, while providing additional health bonuses from some food resources.
Expansive leaders build granaries at 1/2 cost. Along with the +2 to health (and other bonuses provided by the granary), they can afford explosive population growth early in the game, making Expansive a lot better trait than at first glance.
Q3. "The intro music is great, where can I get it?"
The intro music is entitled "Baba Yetu", and the lyrics are basically the Lord's Prayer in Swahili. You can download a free full version sample from the composer's website: christophertin.com
====================================================================== Section 7: About the Author (ABOU) ==================================
Location: Project 8, Quezon City, Philippines
About me: I prefer the online alias Robo-Mike. Robo comes from Robo-Ky, a character in the fighting game Guilty Gear XX.
Thank you for reading this guide. Do you notice that all my guides look the same? Yeah, I'm lazy to make a new layout for each one, but the layout is good, right? If it isn't broken, why change it?
Links: pencil-sketch-badger.deviantart.com
====================================================================== Section 8: Contact Info (MAIL) ===============================
e-mail: hidden for now
Post at the Civ 4 board at GameFAQs, if you have any questions. We need more board activity, really. I plan to add the good questions to the Question and Answer Portion.
GameFAQs board members Some of you have posted great tips. I can't let them go to waste!
* Heatsink - Tips on The Oracle * Softnum - Deforestation initial build strategy * Archaos - Putting mines on all unworkable hills tip
GameFAQs For FAQ hosting, a great interface and a big collection of cool guides.
CIVFANATICS.COM, GAMESPOT.COM Your info sheets have made this guide possible.
CIV4INFO.COM/Sullla Has an online tutorial I highly recommend. Detailed screens and details on uses of great people, wonders, and other stuff.
my job For taking up most of my time and giving me money for my gaming hobby.
====================================================================== Section 10: Revision History (HIST) ===================================
(12-09-2005) v1.2 New Tip: Mining for Ore Fixed required tech for Forge. Fixed notes on drafted unit experience gain from Barracks, Theocracy, etc. OMG I am a total moron. Improved Oracle tips and strategy
(12-05-2005) v1.1 Grammatical fixes. Some new tips: Oracle Railroad bonus list fixed. OMG I am an idiot. More detailed info on forests and their health bonus. Removed sample cities. (Sorry, this caused a few problems.) New section: Initial Build Orders and Research
(11-29-2005) v1.0 First release.
====================================================================== Final Words ===========
(Display "Cartoon Network Studios" logo on white background.)
(A radar-like laser beam sweeps the screen.)
Julius Caesar: "Care for some salad? I made it myself."
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