Newbie needs tips on taking good nightshots

I have a basic 3 mp digicam (SD200 or IXUS 30). When I take pictures
of the skyline at night, it's blurry and sometimes it has fuzzy dots.
After reading the manual, I understand I have 3 choices in fixing my
problem. Turn on the 'long shutter' option, but the manual states that
it would add noise to the picture. The next option is the ISO speed.
I understand that the higher the ISO speed, the more image noise it
creates. The third option is 'exposure compensation', I'm not sure if
this applies.

I think I would need a tripod for night shots don't I? Then turn on
the 'long shutter' mode then move the ISO speed to the slowest speed as
possible. Is this all I could do for now? Thanks for the help.