A001 - Civilization 4 Walkthrough home

Civilization 4 Walkthrough 

Part 1 - 4000BC to 1AD

Game settings: Continent, Huge map with temperate climate and low sea level.  I'm playing as Queen Elizabeth I (English) on standard speed at 'Warlord' difficulty.

4000BC - My starting location is quite interesting.  My settler stands on grassland with rivers flowing N and W.  Rivers are good because they provide extra commerce to adjacent squares, extra health to a city built on its banks and provide bonuses whilst defending attacks thus increasing the chance of repelling an enemy or those pesky barbarians.   The terrain close by are mainly plains and grassland, some forested, with one hills.  However to the N roam something very useful – elephants.  These can provide ivory as a luxury to keep citizen’s happy and, later on when we discover construction, build War Elephants and stomp all over our enemies. We’ll take it.  London is founded in 4000BC and reveals gold immediately to the S, corn to the W and cattle to the E.  It looks like there’s some dense jungle to the N but it’s a good start.  There's a goody hut to the NW which could give us something to help us on our way. 

Early strategy
As England is not a Spiritual civ it’s likely that the first religion, which is usually Buddhism, will be founded soon by another civ.  We could do with a state religion for happiness and diplomatic purposes and it’s best that we are the founders of that religion for financial purposes (so we can build a shrine), rather than adopting another civ’s faith.  So we’ll put the elephants to one side for a moment and concentrate on the Mysticism/Polytheism route, which is how Hinduism is founded, and we’ll look to build Stonehenge when possible.

London will produce a warrior for defensive purposes first then maybe we’ll think about exploring a bit more.  Goody huts are more productive when visited by scouts but we’ll see how we go.  Remember, unlike other civ games, the ‘Settler Rush’ strategy is not a good one and is the surest route to bankruptcy and defeat early on.  As our treasury is currently empty of gold we won’t think about our first Settler until London is size 3.

3760BC - The goody hut to reveals 44 gold.  Which is nice!  Warrior1 then moves around to reveal mainly jungle but a goodly few resources corn and dye to the N and gems and rice to the NE.  Hello, a scout from Genghis Khan approaches.  I return the compliments of the day and he’s off. 

That means the Mongols are around and a little too close for my liking.  They are not nice people and one of the more aggressive Civs.  I’ll have to keep him sweet or watch out for them.

3640BC – London spits out a warrior and sets to build another and that pesky scout grabs a goody hut just S of London.  Uh-oh, a problem:  Hinduism is founded far away and I’m nowhere near Polytheism. 

This means that my early strategy has fallen flat on its arse and I’m flapping around for an alternative.  OK, I still want Stonehenge so I’ll aim for that (some stone would be nice though) and maybe I’ll pick up Judaism later on.  As for my research I’ll want to build a Settler and my Worker will link up with the elephant so I’ll aim to research Hunting and then Agriculture for the corn.

3080BC – As London starts to build a settler a goody hut gives Warrior2 another of his kind.  They will explore N and W and immediately bump into the S border of the Malinese.  Mansu Musa has a quick chat – he’s not the friendliest of fellows but I may have to keep him sweet if the Mongols get any dodgy ideas.

That’s one thing about the diplomacy in Civ4 – you cannot please all of the people all of the time.  Choose your friends, but choose them wisely.

To the S Warrior1 reaches the coast, with corn and silk that might be a good place to build.  The Mongol empire’s border is just a little further on…gulp.

Maybe the Mongols will turn out good for me, I don't know enough about their relative position or strength to make a value judgement just yet.

3080BC – No sooner have I regained my breath than a warrior from Julius Caesar appears.  That’s 4 civs in quite a small space. 

Once again I have to reconsider my approach here.  With so many people milling aroud in such a small area it could be that I'm on an island and maybe need to build some cities fast – but that costs money and money is what I don’t have.

2760BC – Animal Husbandry is discovered and that reveals the location of horses on the map – and guess what, there aren’t any close to me. 

This is not untypical.  The resources in Civ4 are well spread but there are so many of them that it is very unlikely that all will fall within your borders.  You have to play with the hand you are dealt.  I have been lucky to have elephants where London is and there are some nice resources in the area I've earmarked for York.  On the other hand some resources are only revealed by discovering relevant techs so I go for Bronze Working next and see if copper is revealed close by.

2640BC – My settler is built -  now to  expand my empire being very careful to send a warrior along as an escort in case of trouble.

I would like to send him N but building a city amidst so much jungle means it won’t grow, not until I discover Iron Working and can clear my path as Iron Working enables my workers to hack down jungle.  

To the E I spot horses and send my settler there.  Hopefully he’ll get to them before Genghis.  London starts a worker to connect everything up.

2560BC – Hmmm…Warrior2 is exploring what I thought were the outer reaches of the continent when up pops Chairman Mao.  Maybe it is bigger than I thought…still bloody crowded though.

2480BC – York is built.  The Mongols are not far away to the E.  Better build me some decent defences. 

My cash is running low.  This is because I'm overspending on research and paying out 1 gold more than I'm receiving in taxes.  I drop my research rate to 90% to increase my treasury a little. 

Oh and warrior3 kills a lion and panther.  Rock!

2240BC – Bronze Working is discovered…can’t see any copper anywhere.  Annoyingly my warriors uncover two sources of horse to the south – if only I looked there first.

My aim now:  A religion and Construction; then maybe go to war.  Land is at a premium.  London completes my worker and starts on Stonehenge.  It’s a big job but my worker has a trick up his sleeve…to chop down a couple of the forests surrounding London.  This gives a production boost to the city so it’s not long before Stonehenge will be finished.

1960BC -Worryingly, just as I look to research Monotheism, Judaism is founded elsewhere. 

The next religion along the way is Christianity.  This is founded by the Civ who first discovers Theology, but researching that takes me away from my target of a strong army.  It's a choice I have to make and, with my treasury none too healthy I go for religion.

1560BC – Stonehenge is completed.   

This does two things:  It gives a big culture boost to London and, for a time, to all other cities I have.  This will expand their borders, increase their influence and make them harder to attack.  Secondly it commences the creation of Great Prophet who, when he/she is finally born, can do some great things for the city or the whole civilisation.  

London then has a stab at building the Pyramids, a very powerful early Wonder, and a worker chops like he has never chopped before.

It’s true that chopping forests reduces city health but I can counter that with food resources - the more different types of food I supply, the healthier my citizens will feel and the more productive they will be.  It’s unlikely I’ll complete the Pyramids but if I don’t, I will be rewarded in other ways by a refund of gold depending on how much I built before I'm beaten to it.

(Pic 3 – London, from the elephants point of view.  Somewhere behind those hills towards the coast lies York).

1120BC – The Malinese and Mongols ask to open our borders up.  I don’t want to antagonise either so I say yes. 

Should I ever founder a religion it will be useful to have open borders so I can spread the gospel of my (intended) religion with missionaries. 

A couple of turns later I bump into the Incas deep down in the S. It looks like this continent is going on forever.  Also York builds a settler, which I send back towards London. 

It’s going N to cut off Mansu’s expansion plans before he heads S.

875BC...too late, he’s already built a city up there (Kumbi Saleh).  With a Mongol settler hoving into view I quickly build Nottingham.  On a hill.  In a jungle.  Still that means that it’s easy to defend and it has resources all around but it is not going to produce much for a while.  I set it to build an archer and hope Genghis isn’t too upset I stole his site.

750BC - Moses, a Great Prophet, appears in London. 

This is the result of building Stonehenge and can let me do a number of things.  I can immediately research meditation; I can add Moses to the city as a super specialist giving me a boost of gold and production or I could build a shrine for my religion.  This is most lucrative...or it would be if I had a religion.  I don’t so I add Moses as a Super-specialist which means he stays in London and his prophet stuff only affects that city.  Still it does mean an extra receive 5 gold per turn; which makes my bank balance look better.

950BC – Genghis is on the blower.  He wants me to cancel my deals with the Malinese and I have to offend one or the other.

I choose to suck up to the Mongols and annoy Mansu as I cancel our Open Borders agreement.  Maybe those two will be going to war soon?

(Pic 4 – “our close borders spark tension”.  My territory is bordered in white and the Malinese in yellow.  The relative spreads indicates that Nottingham’s cultural influence in greater than Kumbi Saleh’s.)

500BC – Everyone gets religion.  Caesar turns Buddhist (which means that the founder of Buddhism must be close by), Mansu goes all Confucian on me and, finally, I research Theology and found Christianity in York.  I immediately convert and send my missionary off towards Genghis to try and make him see the light.  Mansu is certainly not happy and refuses to talk to me – I strengthen my army in Nottingham just in case.  I also become a Theocracy, protecting my people from heathens and blasphemers and making my soldiers fight better.

400BC – The founder of Buddhism is Saladin and he is on the continent too.  I must think about getting on a boat and going to look for other territory because this is too weird.  As predicted my Missionary arrives in the Mongol capitol and loses no time in converting them.  Genghis Khan the Christian, eh.  That will improve our relationship and upset Mansu even more.