What is? And how do I get more?

[LickaMahfeetz]

I've played the demo but it's pretty unclear about the following things for me:

What is Production? What does it officially allow you to do? I take it these are the "hammers?" How do I get more production through regular means?

What is Science for? How do I get more of it through regular means?

Gold is kind of obvious but if Production is what I think it is, how does Gold factor into this? I know you can flip flop your cities between cultivating different things (Gold, Science, etc) When is a good time to switch to Gold? Or a good time to switch to the others?

How is Food helping me? It would seem obvious but this is a game and it has a specific function. Can someone explain the technical details? How do I get more Food production?

Last one. I know I can use a settler to make a city. What does having more than one settler in a city do though?

Thanks for any replies. Sorry for the basic questions but this is all new to me and I'm the type of guy who needs to know the gory details.

[eireksten]

I think that by trying out the demo a little more, this should become quite clear to you, but here goes:

- Production is the hammers. The regular way of getting more production is getting the workers to work on tiles (around your city) that gives hammers. On the city screen, go to manage workers and choose for instance "Production". Personally I prefer the "Custom" option though, it lets you place the workers wherever you like.

- Science is generated by workers through trade. First of all, in your city, set the focus to be science instead of gold (using the triangle button on PS3, Y or smth on 360?). Then manage workers, setting them to the beakers (choosing science or custom). Science is good for researching technologies, thus making your civilization more advanced. This lets you build better units, buildings, wonders, and you might also pick up some other bonuses along the way.

- You generate gold the same way as science, setting the city to gold instead. Gold lets you instant-buy hammers, meaning you can finish your production faster. It is also needed if you want to win the economic victory.

- Switching between science and gold is one of the finer aspects. You should produce gold when you need something built fast, or if you are going for the economic victory. If you'd like to advance in technology, produce science. Generally, if you're not sure, science is a good choice. If you're under siege, and need defence, gold might be a better one. This will be a lot easier to grasp when you've played a little bit.

- Food is necessary to make your city increase in population. When you've produced a certain amount of food it increases. This lets you work more tiles around your city, thus generating more hammers, gold and science. Population is also needed if you want to build settlers, which are used to build more cities (or move population to another city).

This is the basic details. To get to the finer points, experience work a lot better than a textual explanation. So I recommend playing If something remains unclear then, feel free to ask more.

[lojurive]

This was a GREAT Q&A! I had some of these basic questions to and didn't know WHAT I needed to ask.

[frank_littleff]

a small addition to a great earlier reply:

with gold and science i find it easier to designate certain cities as science or gold producers. Say I have 5 cities i will make 3 science and 2 gold. This means that you won't waste time building both a library and a market, for example, in the same city. A gold xity wouldn't need a library. It also means when you get special people that relate to increasing gold or science, you have a pertinant city to place them in.

It also means that you have a steady income of gold and science which will keep increasing as the cities get bigger and you build certain buildings/add people/build wonders.

It is a trade off, as in all cities producing science means you'll advance techs quicker, but having a gold reserve can be hugely important when suddenly attacked, or wanting a great wonder asap (such bas Leonardo's or Manhatten Project). Also at:

100 gold, 250, 500, 1000, 2000, 5000 and 10000 you get bonuses (settler, Banking, Great Person, Granaries, then I think Great Person, Aquaducts), so hitting those targets can help (personally I love granaries in all my cities... great help).

Hope that helps

[LickaMahfeetz]

Excellent replies guys, thanks. That answered a lot of questions. I'm going to go play the demo out with this new found knowledge and I know I'm going to end up with another question or two when I come back.

Thanks again!

[frank_littleff]

Excellent replies guys, thanks. That answered a lot of questions. I'm going to go play the demo out with this new found knowledge and I know I'm going to end up with another question or two when I come back.

Thanks again!

you're welcome

[MorteEterna]

100 gold, 250, 500, 1000, 2000, 5000 and 10000 you get bonuses (settler, Banking, Great Person, Granaries, then I think Great Person, Aquaducts), so hitting those targets can help (personally I love granaries in all my cities... great help).

Hope that helps

Remember that you take Value not Banking. Only if you have Value you take Banking.