War is a matter of vital importance to the state; a matter of life or death, the road either to survival or to ruin. Hence, it is imperative that it be studied thoroughly. — Sun Tzu
UPDATE: 4TH OCTOBER 2017 – The War Academy is seriously out of date, over the winter we intend to update it – in the meantime we encourage you to visit the Forums to ask question and have your queries answered.
Welcome to the Civ4 War Academy! Here we have selected dozens of strategy articles that can help you become a better player at Civilization IV. You will find strategies that help you wage a successful military campaign, win the space race, and build the most prosperous civilization!
The articles have been organized into several broad categories to make the academy easier to use. Within each article, the article’s date posted/updated is included along with a version icon to indicate the Civ4 version at the time the article was written. Here are the version icons and the release dates.
Civ4 v1.00: October 25, 2005Â Â Â Â Â Â Civ4 v1.09: November 23, 2005
Civ4 v1.52: December 22, 2005 Â Â Â Â Civ4 v1.61: April 13, 2006
Warlords v1.00: July 24, 2006Â Â Â Â Â Â Beyond the Sword v3.13: July 23, 2007
Like all other pages on the main site, the strategy articles can also be printed out nicely for offline viewing, without the logo, ads, and side bars. Just use “Print Preview” on your browser to see how it will turn out.
Here are some other things you can do to become a better Civ4 player:
- Visit the Civ4 Strategy & Tips forum & the Civ4 Strategy Articles forum for more great strategies and discussions. Nearly all the articles in the Academy were posted to the Strategy Articles forums first.
- Participate in the monthly Civ4 Game of the Month competitions. You will have lots of fun playing and learn a lot from fellow participants.
- Check out the games in the Civ4 Hall of Fame and perhaps submit your own (if you are good enough!).
- The Succession Game threads are also a great resource for learning the game. After lurking for a while, you may want to join a SG or start your own.
You may want to familiarize yourself with this list of common acronyms in order to fully understand the following articles.
Table of Content
- Civilization IV: Introductory Courses
- Civilization IV: Empire Management
- A Beginner’s Guide to the Specialist Economy (SE)
- An Advanced Guide to the Specialist Economy for Emperor and Above
- Balancing Growth and Warfare in Civ IV
- BTS: A guide for higher difficulties for standard speed and maps (emperor+)
- Choosing the Right Kind of Power Plant
- City Specialization: Where I do it
- Comprehensive Guide to Terrain, Improvements, Resources, and City Placement
- Comprehensive Unique Building Guide (BTS)
- Espionage Guide 1.0
- Getting the Most From Your Cities: A guide to Industry and Economy
- Gold, Beakers, and Deficit Research
- Guide to City Specialization and Land Improvements
- Hammer Overflow
- Intermediate Tactics and Gambits
- Micromanagement is alive and well in Civ4
- Optimum Early Growth Strategy
- Religions in Emperor and Above – Observations and Thoughts
- Specialist Economy – Post Emancipation Tech Success
- Specialization of Cities
- Subsidies and Aggressive Trading Practices
- The Hybrid Economy
- The Types of Economies
- Triangle Diplomacy
- Vocum Sineratio: Dona Eis Relions
- Vocum Sineratio: Evaluating Production
- Vocum Sineratio: The Whip
- Ways into Happiness
- Ways into Health
- Ways into Production
- You , Yourself, and Your Shadow: Some lessons on isolated starts
- Civilization IV: Game Mechanics
- Air Combat in BtS Explained
- City Growth
- Civic Upkeep Explained
- Combat Explained
- Complete Espionage Mission Cost Guide (BTS)
- Corporate Maintenance Explained
- Corporation: The Power of Sushi (BTS)
- Culture Mechanics Disassembled
- Explaining the Vassal System
- Great People Points Explained
- Great People Points: Focus in One City, or Distribute Across Many?
- How Simple Combat Works in 1.61 Vanilla
- How to Pop your Borders Quickly
- Technology Research Explained
- The Apostolic Palace Guide
- The Curious Cat – City Upkeep Explained
- The Inner Mechanics of Food, Growth, Granary and Whipping
- The Inner Workings of the Demographics Screen Explained
- Trade Routes
- Unit Maintenance Explained
- War Weariness Mechanics
- Civilization IV: Civilization Specific Strategies
- Ancient Blitzkrieg: –Cyrus’ Immortal Rush Guide
- Bushido – The Use of Samurai
- Comprehensive Leader Guide: Julius Caesar
- Comprehensive Leader Guide: Justinian
- Comprehensive Leader Guide: Pacal
- Deity Introduction Guide for Julius Caesar
- Deity Level Quechua Rush on Huge Map
- Huge Immortal Domination Win
- Mao: Diplomacy, Trade and Trade Routes
- Montezuma’s Revenge (BTS)
- The Great Wall of Suleiman: A Warmonger’s Guide to Espionage
- Civilization IV: Military Strategy & Tactics
- A Comprehensive Unique Unit Guide
- Conquest-Oriented Diplomacy
- Drafting for Fun and Profit
- Guide to Using Military Units
- Highlands Keshik Konquest
- How to Use Dog Soldiers
- Let’s Make a World War
- Modern Naval Strategy for Beyond the Sword
- Modern Warfare in BTS
- On the Finer Points of Tank Warfare
- Pete’s Guide to Emperor Level Domination Wins
- Privateers for Dummies…
- The Early Rush
- The Stack o’ Doom: Effective Composition and Use of Offensive Military Stacks
- Unit Healing
- Warmonger’s Guide for Industrial/Modern Era World War of Conquest
- Civilization IV: Peacemonger Strategy
- A Different Measurement of Culture: Percent of Victory Obtained
- Beginner’s Guide to One City Challenge (OCC)
- BtS One City Challenge Strategy Guide
- Cultural Victory on the Higher Levels
- Cultural Victory: Notes and Tips
- Diplomatic Victory – Observations, Notes and Tips
- Godotnut’s Guide to Totally Peaceful Deity Cultural Victory
- Isolated Start – Strategy for Diplomacy Win
- Julius, Space Cadet, or, Do AIs Dream of Electric Sheep?
- My Religious Experience
- One City Challenge: Diplomatic Victory
- The Beginners Crash Guide To Cultural Victory
- Winning the Space Race Peacefully: The Endgame
- Civilization IV: Multiplayer Strategy
- Civilization IV: References
- Civilization IV: Miscellaneous