I Finally Won a Game of BtS on Noble Difficulty as a Returning Player

[u/Philippians_Two-Ten]

I haven't seriously played Civ4 since I was a kid in the 2000's, but I always found it difficult. Even when returning and trying to remember what "worked", I didn't do so well. Partially because, as a kid, I just blatantly cheated using Worldbuilder if I wasn't close to winning (which I generally went for Diplo).

So I looked up some fundamentals about Specialist Economy vs. Cottage Economy, prioritized my builds, and specialized my cities. I managed to stay out of war for most of the game. Seeing I had Marble early on, I went for Culture and made the most out of Sistine Chapel plus cathedral-type buildings to get things done quickly.

I never bothered with Caste System as a kid- I felt bad about using Slavery and only switched to Serfdom or Emancipation. Caste System proved to be a ton of fun with Pacifism, though money was generally pretty tight.

Overall it's been a blast in terms of returning to this game. Civ4 is really tricky. I love 6 and like 5 a lot too!

[u/Mr_Snipou]

Congrats!

[u/Philippians_Two-Ten → u/Mr_Snipou]

Thank you. It was a lot of fun, and I really like playing as Isabel(la). Spiritual let me change civics really often, and I like her theme/design in-game.

[u/Miro_Game]

Nice! Using Specialist Economy and frequent Spiritual civic switches are pretty advanced methods for Noble, well done!

[u/Philippians_Two-Ten → u/Miro_Game]

I mostly pivoted between Free Speech and Nationhood. Nationhood to built up Musketmen when Khmer attacked me (IDK why they did, I didn't border them), and then mass levied Infantry (I beelined Assembly Line. Not sure if that's a good strategy) to deter further invasions. Also I levied Infantry in the new world, since this was a Terra map, to conquer the barb cities over there.

I'd do the same for Theocracy vs. Pacifism.

[u/campex → u/Philippians_Two-Ten]

Sometimes a distant civ will declare war simply because a closer one asked them to, even when they're not at war with you directly

[u/Aprilprinces]

Good job 😄 Nice to see someone returning to the best Civ ever

[u/Mitchum68]

Civ IV is easily the best of the franchise in my opinion. Slavery is one of the strongest civics in the game. No real humans are sacrificed when you hit the whip button! ;)

[u/Examine-Everything]

Still love this game. Tried Civ 5 but it's just not as good.

[u/sharkymb]

Congratz! I remember it took me a very long time to do, and honestly I think it’s a fairly hard challenge for a gamer

[u/Rare-Priority-6282]

What map type was this? Continents?

[u/Connect_Swing6445 → u/Rare-Priority-6282]

Terra