[PC]Civilization V coming!

[Viking]

Playing marathon makes the game easier. The human player generally has a better tactical and strategic command over his units and as everything else slows down but units keep their speed, they become a more important component of the game and you can outsmart the AI on the battlefield easily.

I disagree that it makes it easier. The big difference s not a case of tactics being more useful, but rather that wars are decided by forces in the field at the start of the war rather than production. Marathon pace means the player cannot resort to a production reserve style defense where the army you win the war with is produced during the war. At any sensible difficulty level the a.i. is going to have a military many times larger than the player and all the players tactical skill must compensate for that difference. Even the a.i. can take a lightly defended cluster of 3-4 cities in 20 turns starting with 20 units against 5 in reasonable terrain. On marathon your first scratchbuilt unit doesn't get deployed until after all those cities are lost, while on quick or standard you can build a unit in each of those cities before the first city falls.

I can't really afford to keep the cash reserve needed to rush build an army or set aside the army needed to actually defend my core against an a.i. rush while doing something else. The advantage the player actually gets is the counter attack since when the a.i. has spent it's power then it will not have a decent ability to defend itself for 20 turns. The issue isn't movement it is production.

There is also a bit of a psychological effect of spending 20 turns to get that warrior means that you take extra good care of him. Spending 2 turns on him means you can use him as cannon fodder. There are mods that reduce production time on marathon that balance this out, I use them.

[DGuller]

What is everyone early-game strategy like?  I tend to wonder-whore early, and try build as many as I can, since they can be such effective force multipliers.  I now wonder whether I'm missing out on too many of the other necessary activities early in the game, since your capital tends to be constantly busy.

[Viking]

What is everyone early-game strategy like?  I tend to wonder-whore early, and try build as many as I can, since they can be such effective force multipliers.  I now wonder whether I'm missing out on too many of the other necessary activities early in the game, since your capital tends to be constantly busy.

On the whole in the short term building regular buildings is a better use of resources for any city. Go for the multiplier wonders rather than the straight additive wonders. Do note that conquering the city that built all the cool wonders is just as good a method of getting wonders as building them yourself

Early wonders to get

Artemis - the 10% growth rate is usually the main reason to tradition, here you get it in one wonder.
Stonehenge - because it is cheaper and faster than building 5 settlers and 5 shrines, the only real way to get a religion
Library - Because the AI usually  beats you on science
National Academy - Because the AI usually beats you on science
Colossus - to get that trade rout and extra cash from sea tiles

Nice

Petra - because that nearby desert just turned into the best terrain around (only found the city when you have a great engineer AND the tech for petra)
Oracle - that policy is usually the one I get to get my great engineer that I use to build petra
Gardens - 6 food is nice, but two maritime city states are better

Meh

Zeus - 15% bonus against cities? I don't think that I've ever really needed it - in the sense that it made the difference between taking and not taking a city.
Terracotta - extra troops is nice, but it's cheaper to build them yourself
Lighthouse - marginal extra utility, if you really want it... capture the city that built it, it will be on the water and vulnerable.
Pyramids - much more expensive than 2 workers and the 25% bonus? That is the same as having an extra worker for every three you have. If I need workers I enslave one of my neighbors or bully a city state.



What is probably more important than anything else is to get that early terrain - either the defensive terrain or the good economic terrain depending on your map. Wonders are nice but there really isn't a formula that works each time.

[DGuller]

Artemis? 

[Viking]

Artemis? 

Temple of Artemis +10% growth +15% production of ranged units, same tech as bowman.

[DGuller]

I've never seen that wonder.  Is that from some kind of a mod?

[Viking]

I've never seen that wonder.  Is that from some kind of a mod?

http://www.dndjunkie.com/civilopedia/BUILDING_TEMPLE_ARTEMIS.aspx

eh, no... BNW and G&K both have it...

it's one of the original 7 wonders

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Wonders_of_the_Ancient_World

[DGuller]

Just discovered theming bonus, and how you can go about getting them.  It puts the "retarded uber micro" into "retarded uber micromanagement".

[DGuller]

I've never seen that wonder.  Is that from some kind of a mod?

http://www.dndjunkie.com/civilopedia/BUILDING_TEMPLE_ARTEMIS.aspx

eh, no... BNW and G&K both have it...

it's one of the original 7 wonders

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Wonders_of_the_Ancient_World

I don't have it, my Civilopedia doesn't have an entry for it.  WTF?

[Viking]

Just discovered theming bonus, and how you can go about getting them.  It puts the "retarded uber micro" into "retarded uber micromanagement".

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=501170

though... I'm not going to wait ... I'm gonna rush build that slot and get the artist into it.. if not.. some barbarian or revolter is going to take him

[DGuller]

Just discovered theming bonus, and how you can go about getting them.  It puts the "retarded uber micro" into "retarded uber micromanagement".

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=501170

though... I'm not going to wait ... I'm gonna rush build that slot and get the artist into it.. if not.. some barbarian or revolter is going to take him

What are you pointing to in that thread?  I know it's about era and nationality, but maximizing the theming bonus when there are at least three different requirements depending on the building is an impossible optimization task.  It offers very little in the way of gameplay either, just tedium.  It almost seems like someone had a fancy pet idea, overcomplicated it, and failed to pull the plug on it before releasing the game.

[DGuller]

Did you guys know that Inquisitors don't just remove religion, but if stationed in a city, they protect against religion bombing by others?  I didn't.  I sure wish I did know that basic fact, all this time I thought that the only defense is strong offense when it comes to religion.  Most of the time I don't really care about spreading my religion, I just want to enjoy it in peace (which is kinda fitting, since I always pick Judaism).

[Grey Fox]

The wonders are from a DLC DG.

[Solmyr]

I've never seen that wonder.  Is that from some kind of a mod?

http://www.dndjunkie.com/civilopedia/BUILDING_TEMPLE_ARTEMIS.aspx

eh, no... BNW and G&K both have it...

it's one of the original 7 wonders

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Wonders_of_the_Ancient_World

I don't have it, my Civilopedia doesn't have an entry for it.  WTF?

Wonders of the Ancient World DLC.

[Solmyr]

The theming bonuses are spelled out for you if you mouseover the +0 on each wonder or museum. It does require some extra fiddling with, but it is necessary if you want a cultural victory. Plus, you can swap great works with other civs to get what you need, if you are missing something.