posted 12-10-98 12:43 PM ET        

When I play 4X games, I tend to be a "build up my cities" kind of player. To this end, I spend a fair bit on research.

My biggest weakness is that I never seem to put enough production into military units so my army always tends to be too small when I need to call upon it.

I'm not an overly aggressive person by nature and try to maintain peaceful relations whenever possible. (In MOO2 I always avoided Alliances and just stuck to Non-Aggression Pacts because your allies would invariably ask you to go to war on their behalf.)

This might also explain why I don't like RTS games...I find the base-building more fun and so I always die in the first "rush" sent against me.

posted 12-10-98 02:21 PM ET            

I'm always trying to stay on top of the research tree in Civ2-- I don't care too much about how much money I have, and try to keep defenses low enough to focus on building libraries, etc. and then the banks, etc. to afford them.

In MOO2, I never could shake the desire to play a "Creative" race. I am research obsessed to the point of my own destruction.

posted 12-10-98 06:15 PM ET            

I also sometimes just forget to make enough Caravans to create a large Economy. Most of the time the caravans i do make are used to create Wonders as quickly as possible.

So far my Favorite Factions are.

Peacekeepers.
Hive.
and just to be different. Jerusalem.
Altough personaly i think i am going to probibly use a Custom Faction.

I also focus on Science a little to much but as i always hated to be a Democracy i was never as focused on it as some people I know .

posted 12-10-98 07:07 PM ET            

Anyway, my weakness is I tend to become quite isolationist. I build a few cities, & defend them well. Unfortunately, my research falls, & people in other civs run over my defenses with advanced troops. But, in my ever increasing race for perfection, I intend to correct this flaw when I play in SMAC.

posted 12-10-98 08:37 PM ET            

I tend to have the same flaw, CClark. I tend to improve my cities to the exclusion of military. It was only recently that I suddenly realised that hey, the difference between 5 and 6 shields in production really wasn't that bad, therefore one more unit wouldn't hurt.

I used to simply have one Phalanx in each city, with the odd attacking unit thrown in, and definately City Walls everywhere. If a city started to be attacked, then I would think about another defensive or offensive unit. but basically my build queue for a new city is:

Defensive Unit
Settlers (for new city)
Settlers (for new city)
Temple/Library (depending on if I have enough wonders to keep them happy for a while)
Settlers (for terrain improvements)
Library/Temple
City Walls
Marketplace
Aqueduct
University
Bank
And so on.

My first city I vary in that I only build one settler unit to found new cities, then after building a temple, I build the Pyramids (or try and be first to do so). My first city tends to be my "wonders" city, until I find a really good site, with perhaps coal in some hills, then it becomes that one. I once also had a city with three or four whale units, so I used that instead.

For Science, I get Bronze Working first, after which I race to Masonry. Then it is a mad rush to get The Republic, at which point I change governments for the first time. Then rush to Invention, then democracy. I go for max science, with enough taxes to keep me in surplus. I start off with no luxuries, and only really put them up when I reach the stage where I start building aqueducts, which is normally just after I build Michaelangelo's Chappel.

I can see the flaw in this, esp after getting some feedback from others. Obviously whacking luxuries up real high for a couple of turns would be a better way, even if I sat on size 8 cities for quite a while.

Most important wonders I find are:
Michaelangelo's Chappel
Leonardo's Workshop
Adam Smith's Trading Company
Bach's Cathedral
Statue of Liberty
Pyramids (v useful early on)
and just about all of the later Wonders, though Esp Woman's Suffrage and the UN.

I also find Shakespeare's Theatre useful, as it allows a Democracy to build a heap of military units in that city. I tend to build it in a city with heaps of shield production, and use that city to base my "out of city" army in.

And it is funny that in 4 years or more of playing the game, I never got out of that playing style. For four years I NEVER used the governments of Fundamentalism or Communism. I have started experimenting recently though, and it is certainly a different experience.

posted 12-10-98 09:04 PM ET            

BTW, I used to think the Great Library was the way to go, but lately I've decided to be really good friends with one Civ (to trade techs) and then use diplomats/spies to get techs from my enemies. Later in the game I like to get UN, so I don't steal but by then the GL is usually obsolete anyways.

posted 12-10-98 11:16 PM ET            

I was half expecting to see a bunch of people posting that they alternate between Mil unit, settler, Mil unit, city improvement, repeat.

posted 12-10-98 11:27 PM ET            

I also like to build up my cities, though with specific aims in mind, like Science, trade, military (I alway get Newton's in my top trade city, and add a library, University, and as many Scientists as is practical to it. Averages about 200 science, which is approximately half of my total). If I get the chance I also like to indulge in an early military campaign. The tech/money/territory rewards are usually well worth it.

I also like to have a very strong navy, to the detriment of my land forces, which I find are only important when you can build howiters and mobile infantry (although Armour is great fun if you get it first ). Cruisers are very useful, as they bypass city walls and cause little population loss. I love Battleships. But so do enemy missiles.
(tip: load up a carrier with aircraft and missiles and include an Aegis in the same square).

I also prioritise trade routes, especially overseas ones (record 344 gold payment on deity). A very useful hack is to set the Caravans and Freight to 'All As Road' - otherwise movement takes too long. And the lack of any trading ships irritates me...

posted 12-11-98 06:43 PM ET            

And umm, who were you responding to in that first paragraph in that post??

Like Mike said, Spartans don't reveal their weaknesses. Their only weakness is killing too many people!

posted 12-12-98 12:52 AM ET            

Spartans are just paranoid cowards. They come by it honestly though. Just look at teh "survivalists" in Waco and other places. They build big forts and hole up. When the FBI comes knocking, they get completely paranoid. I figure the Spartans, even with military advantages, will be the easiest faction to wipe out. (Notice in the some of the screenshots the only faction missing was always the Spartans!)