How I stopped worrying and learned to love the (culture) bomb: A Civ IV BTS AAR

[MetalDog]

It's the Classical Era and I haven't even discovered Archery yet?!?   :o

[TheCommandTent]

Good stuff MD.  While I only play Civ V now I'll enjoy reading this nonetheless.

[MetalDog]

Thank you, Tent.  You are always generous in your support.

[MetalDog]

Ok.  With a couple of exceptions, my Scout has revealed my land mass.  I am on a small continent at the southern end of the globe.  That's good and bad and for many of the same reasons. 

Good: I can grow my empire in (relative) peace.  With no neighbors, I have no fear of organized aggression.  I should also be able to use all the Resources on this continent for my own benefit.

Bad:  As I am by myself, I have noone to trade with economically or technologically.  The Resources I do have are mostly Food based.

Finally, without neighbors, I have no idea how to gauge my progress relative to the rest of the board.  Am I taking chances I don't need to in order to keep up?  Or is my progress glacially slow and no amount of knowledge will help?

Anyways, here is a list of the type and amount of Resources I will have if I colonize this continent by myeslf:

Sheep-4
Stone-1
Horses-2
Cows-1
Copper-1
Sugar-4
Deer-4
Crabs-1
Wheat-2
Clams-3
Fish-2

My citizens will be healthy in large cities, but I will have to work magic and spend beaucoup dollares to keep happiness up.  Especially if I can't found one of the Religions.

[MetalDog]

I find Code of Laws to be one of the most important Techs in the game.  Not only can you found a Religion, but, the Courthouse reduces (City) Distance from Capitol costs by 50%.  All your buildings require a Gold Piece upkeep.  The further away your city is from the capitol, the bigger the penalty applied to your upkeep for that city.  Courthouse halves that.  Thereby giving you access to more of the Gold you are generating.  On top of all that, Code of Laws is required Research for Civil Service and Constitution, both important Techs in their own right.

However, with the extended Research time, (26 Turns, which I will reduce to 21 before I end this Turn), it is a long ass time to research anything.  And if I don't get the Religion, as valuable as Laws is, I will have made a serious error in not going for Iron Working or another valuable Tech with less Research time.

[MetalDog]

The new city of Lyons.  Due east of here, there is the beginnings of a land mass.  Whether it is an island or a continent, I do not know, but, my neighbors will most likely come from that direction, so I will build towards it.

[MetalDog]

AWESOME-MATIC!!!  I am the first to discover Code of Laws!!!  Confucianism, you are MINE!  Along with the Religion and Courthouses, I can build the Chichen Itza World Wonder.  It gives a Defense Bonus to each of my cities.  I will at least get a jump on building it.

[MetalDog]

The core of Empire.  France circa 425 BC.

[MetalDog]

Apparently, my whopping 4 GP does not rank me in high stead.  Bummer.

[MetalDog]

Now, for the first SCT.  Building a Forge gives me access to the Colossus World Wonder.  So, I am going to sacrifice 2 Population in Orleans to build the Forge and then the Colossus. 





And it always interests me how the AI chooses to interpret its governance of my cities.  The distribution of my population to the tiles inside my fat cross is optimized for building the Forge in the first screenie.  In the second (below), growth of population is emphasized.  You can choose which direction you want the AI to run your city using the buttons at the bottom of the City Screen (pictured below).  You can focus on growth, gold, poduction, etc.  I always choose balanced.  Which is the default.

[MetalDog]

World Wonders are fantastic bulk generators of Culture Points.  Hence, great to have in a game whos VC is three cities with 50,000 Culture Points per.  The benefits they bestow on your Empire are pretty sweet, too.

[MetalDog]

Certain wold events show up on the screen regardless of whether or not you know where they are hapening.  Founding of Religions is one.  And I was just notified that Christianity has been founded.  The screenie shows where Theology is on the Science Screen.  All Techs you have researched prior are green.  All the ones you have not researched are in, I guess that's purple and grey.  Someone is either WAY ahead Technologically or they had the ability to do as I did with Code of Laws and jump out ahead on the research trail.

[MetalDog]

A look at the land mass due east of Lyons.  A nice little island with one resource, Stone, and very little else to recommend itself.  I'll get to it if I can.  I seriously need two or three moe cities A.S.A.P., but I don't want to kill my economy and research.  damn delicate balancing act!!!  I would kill for some knowledge of where I am globally against my neighbors.

[MetalDog]

Orleans gets the Colossus!  W00T!!

[MetalDog]

Back to back turns!  Paris builds Chichen Itza!  Double W00T!