few general strategy questions

[sporkcrx]

*Do you always have population building throughout the whole game?

*What do you do when a country is close to a win (launching shuttles, etc.) Just try to take out their capitol at all costs?

*Do you save a lot of great people till it's near the end for the long research or builds? I'm retarded and just figured out saving them for building the big wonders etc is something I've been missing out on.

*Do you always build walls around your city? It seems like a must to me, but then again I usually lose.

[calevenice]

*Do you always have population building throughout the whole game?
Yes, you do. Max. population in a city is 31. After that I think the extra population growth is wasted. More population is usually a good thing, but don't sacrifice too much gold/research/production out of a city just to get it to grow quickly. If you have taken an economics class, this is a very basic concept (balancing your economy). If you are balancing your economy like the USA (Moderator, delete this line if you want), then you will have trouble with this game. Fortunately, I still have hope for the US economy.

*What do you do when a country is close to a win (launching shuttles, etc.) Just try to take out their capitol at all costs?
Haven't lost yet, then again I'm still only playing at King level and on single player. I would say use your money to bribe other civs to attack them also. Build up your military (including planes) and wish yourself good luck.

*Do you save a lot of great people till it's near the end for the long research or builds? I'm retarded and just figured out saving them for building the big wonders etc is something I've been missing out on.
I haven't thought to do that. Usually I have a city that can use every great person. By looking at the savings you make (50% off all buildings for example), its better to settle your GPs instead of using them up, unless its late game and you don't have a place for them.

*Do you always build walls around your city? It seems like a must to me, but then again I usually lose.
Walls give a defense bonus and prevent a city from culture flipping. No need for walls if the city in question is defended well enough, away from the fighting (and safe enough from sneak attacks), and not in danger of being culture flipped. If I remember the tank's cost correctly, 1 wall = 10 archers = 3 tanks (roughly)

[TehTil0r]

Do you always have population building throughout the whole game?

31 is max. but imho its not a need to reach there although it helps in your gold/science city

What do you do when a country is close to a win (launching shuttles, etc.) Just try to take out their capitol at all costs?

uhm ... never been up to this ^^ ... just put them to an early war with you and they dont use resources for tech/eco/cultural victory

Do you save a lot of great people till it's near the end for the long research or builds? I'm retarded and just figured out saving them for building the big wonders etc is something I've been missing out on.

yes ... ill usally save one scientist for combustion and 2 builders for leonardos and samuraicastle

Do you always build walls around your city? It seems like a must to me, but then again I usually lose.

i build cities which are just for defence (on a hill and near the ai). in this cities i build walls and a strong defence. in my backland i dont

[Syiss]

*Do you always have population building throughout the whole game?

Yes. I tend to focus heavily on population at the start of the game and leave just enough people working on science to stay ahead of the competition. Granarys are usually my first building if theres more than 1 plains square and I try to get harbors in ASAP as well when theres a significant number of sea squares in range.

*What do you do when a country is close to a win (launching shuttles, etc.) Just try to take out their capitol at all costs?

If you are far enough behind that this is a problem for you, there likely isnt anything you can do about it. You need to keep an eye on where the other people are as far as sci/gold/culture progress so you can combat these issues ahead of time. If you notice a certain civ is getting a tech lead then I would start warring them and bribe the other AI players to war them as well. This should slow them down if you act quickly, but wont do you much good if they are only like 10-15 turns away from winning. You could also try to blitz all the enemy capitals if you want, but this generally will only work if you have a large tech lead and the AI is going for like a culture victory or something.

*Do you save a lot of great people till it's near the end for the long research or builds? I'm retarded and just figured out saving them for building the big wonders etc is something I've been missing out on.

I try to use my great people as quickly as possible because the quicker you get ahead the more you will be ahead later on in the game. Most of the wonders in the game are 150-250 hammers which is a big deal early in the game, but not so much later on when your cities are producing 20-50 hammers a turn, so I definitely prefer using builders early for wonders, particularly the Hanging Gardens even though it is only 100 hammers. Dont waste them on a wonder you dont need though, so saving them for a wonder you know will be available in 10 turns or something is fine. Scientists I usually settle in a city with alot of desert/sea squares, the overall benefit you will get is much greater than those 170 science points you will get from using him to finish an early tech. I might use it for techs like Irrigation (if I have alot of cities) or Monarchy (which will spawn me another great person), but only if I suspect someone else is going to finish it before me. Later on I might use a scientist to finish techs if I am not going for a tech victory because I won't be producing much science. If I am going for a tech victory though I'm usually producing enough science that even the last techs finish in 3-5 turns.

*Do you always build walls around your city? It seems like a must to me, but then again I usually lose.

I rarely build walls. When a city is about to get culture flipped I will rush them if necessary, or if I know a certain city is going to come under a lot of fire then I might build them as well. Usually though I have a pretty significant tech lead and I can bribe the AI into leaving me alone or I can just rely on my more advanced units to defend the city without walls. Legion armies aren't very scary to pikemen even when coupled with spies. All in all though, they are a waste most of the time, especially for your inner cities, so I don't recommend building them until you KNOW you will need them.

[guinness]

*Do you always have population building throughout the whole game?

--No. At the beginning of the game, I put all my squares on science (custom work management) to research horseback riding. Once I have that, I put all my squares on the hammers to pump out an army of horses. I use this to wipe out all the nearby civs. I can go on but at the beginning you don't want population if you are using this strategy.

*What do you do when a country is close to a win (launching shuttles, etc.) Just try to take out their capitol at all costs?

I quit, go back to my last save point, and change my strategy.

*Do you save a lot of great people till it's near the end for the long research or builds? I'm retarded and just figured out saving them for building the big wonders etc is something I've been missing out on.

I don't but I guess that's a good strategy if you really have no use for them at the moment.

*Do you always build walls around your city? It seems like a must to me, but then again I usually lose.

No. I only rush walls when I have a lot of money and they're about to get flipped by culture. An army of archers, pikeman, or rifleman is always plenty in terms of defense for me.

[I have beat this game all four ways on deity.]

[wmateam]

on Diety, India were 3 people/wonders away from winning culture, so i just sent a spy ring in and stole a great person from (not Delhi another City that had about 9 wonders) then nuked it and scrubed them off the map.

[sporkcrx]

Good advice! I played a couple of games comfortably on king over the weekend. One thing that MAJORLY helped me out was taking out a civ or two in the very beginning with horsemen, you get way more breathing room and only have to worry about a couple other civs after that. Much more manageable.

I don't go gung-ho on walls anymore either, finally getting a good grip on the game

[OCDeity]

Nothing will save a game like the nuke, especially if it's culture, tech, or eco victory that someone else is trying to achieve.