Post by SirPartyMan on Nov 23, 2005 15:24:44 GMT -5
A GUIDE TO WINNING GAMES BY POINTS
PREFACE:
I wrote an article like this for CIVILIZATION III which was widely read, so I thought I would do the same for CIV IV.
I have been enjoying the new game and studying the points algorithm. Caveat #1: I was a beta tester, but the points logic was undergoing change all throughout testing up until final release. Caveat #2: I am sure I am not aware of everything that goes into the algorithms still and that I will improve this article as time goes on. With that said, let me begin:
INTRODUCTION:
I would like to share with all who are interested what I have learned about winning CIV IV games by scoring the most points. Of course, a points victory is just one of several ways to win. Points only matter, after all, if you survive to the end of the game.
HOW SCORE IS DETERMINED:
Let’s begin with the exact point scoring algorithm, which has changed considerably from CIV III.
In CIV IV, score calculation is done at the end of every turn. You can score points in 4 different ways. The sum of these four elements is your total score.
1) First element is Population. Depending on the size of the game map and the number of players, each citizen you have is worth between 4 and 10 points, typically 5. It may be a fraction like 4.38. You can check this by hovering your mouse over your name in the bottom right hand "score total" area. It will reveal your (and only your) point breakdown (look to the left side of the screen). Note the amount of points being awarded for population as this is a variable in each game (but the same for all players, of course). I have seen it fluctuate quite a bit. Warning: unlike CIV III, happy citizens don't reap a score bonus. A citizen is a citizen.
2) Second element is Land. This is also a variable number based on map size and number of players. Your initial city usually gives you between 12 and 14 points. Your initial city is 9 squares or tiles. This is Level 1. Once it expands (from 9 squares to 21 squares after 5 culture points are acquired), you will have about 27-29 points. Call this Level 2. So roughly you are getting some number in the range of about 1.3 to 1.5 points per land tile you occupy (not counting sea or ocean, but including coast). I imagine the bigger the map the lower the points per tile.
3) Third element is Technology. This is fairly straightforward. You get 6.5 points per tech. When the game begins (even before planting) you have 13 tech points since everyone starts with 2 techs. It will then grow by 6.5 points rounded off. so your Tech score progresses like: 13, 20, 26, 33, 40, 46, ... These are the numbers anyway for the Ancient Technological Era Period I. In Period II (the next technical era) points are 13 points (such as Alphabet, Code Of Laws, Literature), and in the era after that, Period III they are worth 20 points (examples: Banking, Divine Right, Feudalism or Philosophy). There are three more Periods IV, V, and VI. Once I've determined those I'll update this article. Note now later eras are worth more, but within each era all techs are the same number of points.
4) Fourth element is Wonders. You'll start with 21 and a fraction wonder points (Your Palace is considered a national wonder). You will then advance 21 and a fraction points for your next wonder, rounded up. So Palace and Pyramids, for example would be 43. So far it seems to me that all wonders are the same number of points, regardless of their significance or value to you otherwise in the game. I haven't seen a wonder that's different, but perhaps some are.
AN EXAMPLE:
So, for example in one game I recently played, I had 319 population points (77 citizens), 204 land points (8 cities), 300 tech points (45 techs), and 43 wonder points (palace and Pyramids) for a total of 866.
Note that *UNLIKE* Civ3, your score is not a rolling average of 100+ turns. Instead it is a score of the moment in real-time. So for example if you plant a new city at the end of the game (or if you lose a city militarily) your score will jump by 20 or more points. This is important to understand. You don't have to jump to an early late as long as you can expand enough eventually by end of game. You can start slow without penalty. It's not where you start its where you finish.
TIPS FOR HIGHER SCORING:
So now let's go back over each of the four score categories and suggest some pointers and strategies for producing a high score:
POPULATION:
A) Obviously the more people the merrier (and the better score). So promote growth with techniques like: build granaries, send those work boats out to harvest clams, have workers improving food capacity of city through farming, select your city sites with growth in mind.
B) The more cities the more people. Keep growing throughout the game. Keep those settlers coming.
LAND:
C) It's important that you make sure your cities culturally expand. This is even easier to do in CIV4 than in CIV3. You only need 5 culture points to expand from 9 to 21 tiles (growing points from approx. 11 to 29), 50 culture points to expand from 21 to 37, and 250 culture points to expand from 37 to 61.
Name | Culture Points | City Tiles |
Influence Level 1 | 0-4 | 9 |
Influence Level 2 | 5-49 | 21 |
Influence Level 3 | 50-249 | 37 |
Influence Level 4 | 250-2499 | 61 |
Influence Level 5 | 2500-24999 | 80? |
It is difficult but possible to get to Influence Level 5 in a typical ladder game if you build a lot of culture including using Great People intelligently. You can go further than Level 5, but that would require an epic or ironman style game. One favorite technique is to be the first to research Music, giving you Homer the great artist who is worth 2680 culture points whereever he creates his great work. Be sure to use him before the final 20 turns or its too late.
Your capital will expand just based on the Palace - other cities need to either have certain buildings to expand culturally - or need to adopt a state religion (from a missionary for example). Also the creative trait is helpful here in that it automatically generates 2 culture points per city per turn. You can check each city's current cultural output by going to either the City menu or just by hovering your mouse over the city. Build things like: obelisk, temple, library, coliseum, academy, monastery, theater, university to expand culturally.
D) In addition to making each city large, have as many cities as you can manage and defend. Don't be afraid to plant extra cities in "safe" territory as long as your economy can handle it. Be sure you have researched Pottery and have build a sufficient number of cottages before over expanding and finding yourself between a rock and a hard place.
E) Place your cities in a way to minimize overlap as much as possible. You only get credit for a tile once. I understand and appreciate the desire to keep cities somewhat close for defensive purposes, but this can hurt your score. The game requires that cities be more than 2 tiles apart, so 3 is the minimum distance. I would suggest 4-5 tile distance for optimum point scoring.
F) Have the right number of cities. The name of the game is expansion. When expanding, expand in the direction of your opponents. While this may sound counter intuitive, but you are at the same time, increasing your empire size, and reducing theirs. When you lose a match based on points, watch the game replay at the end, and observe the number of cities the winning players built. In most games, the winner of the land grab phase of the game, wins ultimately.
TECHNOLOGY:
G) What can I say except maximize your scientific output. Pop huts. Do everything possible to obtain techs. If working as a team, coordinate research for maximum results. Build libraries, have scientists in your cities, develop wonders which give you more science or free techs (e.g. ORACLE), consider using Great People for free techs that are expensive/time-consuming to obtain.
WONDERS:
H) Don't overlook this category. Choose inexpensive wonders that will also benefit your game strategy. Assign one productive city to wonder duty. Remember building most wonders is a double win because you'll get extra cultural points too which will effect land points. Hanging Gardens is a good early affordable wonder that among other things adds 1 pop to each city. That's a triple win: wonder points, culture/land points, and pop points.
MISCELLANEOUS:
I) Arrange for one or more Golden Ages. GA’s are triggered either by your building the Taj Mahal or your sacrificing 2 great people (of different types).
GA's are great times to produce either Wonders or cultural improvements. They are only 8 turns long now, but you can have more than 1 per game. Like in CIV3, you get 1 extra shield for every tile producing production (shields) and you get 1 extra gold for every tile producing any commerce (gold). By the way, if you sacrifice 2 great people for one GA - you'll have to sacrifice 3 for the next one, etc.
J) Some Civics are more growth or culture friendly than others. For example, Free Speech DOUBLES the cultural output of each city each turn. That's got to help your points. I'll leave it to my readers to discover others.
K) Patch 1.52 introduced a 20 turn delay in obtaining credit for land. Thus you need to time your cities expansion accordingly. It doesn't benefit you score wise to expand in the last 20 turns. Around 40 turns from the end, I double check all my cities and set them so they will grow culturally to reach the next size plateau by turn END - 20.
I hope this article has proven useful. I encourage others to feel free to post your own tips for high scoring as well.
Best,
SPM