General "hunting tips" rules may be found in the Hunting Tips thread. Please read the first post in that thread before posting here.

Any conquest-class player is free to post their saves in this thread. Ideally, they should have reached the start of the industrial ages, but if they feel that they are really struggling, they can post earlier.

Saves and screenshots from after the end of the middle ages should not be posted.

Any player from any class who has posted their middle-ages spoiler is free to download the saves, analyse them, and post feedback.

Renata

Ok, I'll start again :D

Let me start of by saying that this is my 2nd Deity game (with my first being an AWD in SGOTM 7 where I'm on Team Darkness and we suffered a pretty quick lost :blush: ), and all the games I've played previous to these 2 have been Chieftan/Warlord level ... so you can say I'm pretty much a newb, which is why I'm playing Conquest :blush:

So, I'm in the middle of the Middle Age Era. Everyone was at war with Arabia about 5 turns ago, now at 950AD everyone except Aztec and Portugal are still at war with Arabia. I'm guessing Arabia would last past the next 5 or so turns. I'm doing pretty well in this war with a cavalry army and I could easily crush use it to help crush Arabia by the 4-5th turns from now.

However, I'm seeing Aztec already at the infantry stage and my strongest troop is still the cavalry. So, unless I do something quick to improve my military strength I'm afraid I'll be the next in line for a dogpile (which my most likely be started by the Aztec since they're the one that started most of the wars in the game so far).

My plan is to try and trade as much techs from the other civs as I can, then sue more techs from the Arabs for peace. Also, the Arabian cities I just took over that are bordering Arab have a very high chance of flipping, so I plan on giving one of it to another civ to get them gracious with me and to build a lib in the one with the horse in it's border to prevent flippance. What do you suggest?

So ... I implore you peeps ... help!!!

BTW, how the heck do you create the animated minimap gif with CivAssist2? I have CivAssist2 and have read through the help doc online and have reloaded my current save several times trying to get it to work, but unfortunately the interface doesn't look very much like what the doc is saying :(

Edit: I meant Middle Ages. Sorry. :p

Is that save from the middle industrial era? That's not allowed by the thread rules. Please read the thread-starting posts; this is the second time.

Renata

Also, the Arabian cities I just took over that are bordering Arab have a very high chance of flipping, so I plan on giving one of it to another civ to get them gracious with me and to build a lib in the one with the horse in it's border to prevent flippance. What do you suggest?



Building a library will do little to prevent a flip. The number of foreigners, esp resistors, the cultural level of the city before you took it, and its relative proximity to the Arab capital will have the greatest effect (besides the Arabs having more total culture than you to start with). Build workers and then military or whatever you need.

Conquest Class

1110AD Start of the Industrial Age
Score 2115
Culture 6232
Culture per turn 113
Gold 552 2nd
Cities 31 1st
Land 451 3rd
Units 135
18 workers,
10 slaves,
14 cavs,
34 knights,
17 musketeers,
7 horses,
15 pikes,
6 spears,
4 warriors,
3 trebuchets,
2 swords,
2 mid inf,
1 galley


Behind on tech, but not much. I spent a nice Golden Age with research turned off and building units to expand by conquest. Arabia is down to 4 cities, but they are stilll powerful. I never got any Leaders, so my FP remains near the capital. With a leader I might have moved it. Portugal declared on the Aztecs and sent over 80 units south through France. When they made peace, I blocked the units from returning. I'm not crowding the border, but there is a line that they can't cross. I'm not sure if thats a good idea or not. I'm holding onto some cash to continue some upgrading. Obsolete units are slowing being replaced.

You can see my minimap in the other thread.

I'm looking for some general advice. You might not even need to download the save.

Normally, I'd go for a ToE slingshot. Research to it first, then Rep Parts. If I can get 5 banks, Wall St makes a good pre-build. But, in this case, I'll try that, and keep researching along one line to get trade options. Hopefully I'll have coal to build lots of railroads on the premium tiles.

How do I get to the Modern Era and take a shot at the SpaceShip? Or, isn't that reasonable? ANyway, general tips to make progress at this point are very welcome.

@berserks01:These are things I would do differently.

1. Defenders in your interior cities - unnecessary. They are really only needed for borders. If AI units start to waltz through my territory though, I would put some defender there just in case.

2. Don't research Economics - the Inca have Adam Smith's Trade Co.

3. Generally use scientist before taxmen. Taxmen may be worthwhile though if you've determined that.

4. Almost all your cities have barracks.

5. Your low production perimeter cities are building units. Have them build workers, settlers, harbors, aquaducts, marketplaces, courthouses. Temples or Libraries for border expansion. Paris is building a settler. :shakehead The productive core cities should build military.

6. Looks like you are taking out the Arabs. :goodjob: Have a bunch of settlers following the army to build cities as you raze and replace. Faster, easier, and less risky than starving.

That's all I can think of, otherwise everything looks good. If you know how to use artillary, you can start taking over the world at Replaceable Parts.


@Markus5:
1. Too many defenders in interior cities. Same as berserk01 above.

2. You have a lot of military units that are just sitting there. You could probably take out Arabia in 15 turns. Also, capture Poiters and Naissus.

3. Upgrade non-Elite horsemen and knights.

4. Disband warriors

5. (*warning:may not be good advice*) The Aztecs seem very strong. If they attack one of their neighbors, I would consider going to war with them just to sign Inca, Egypt, and Rome vs. them to keep them in check. You will have your hands full getting rid of Portugal and another superpower wouldn't be good.

Thanks for the advice. I plan to disband the warriors ASAP. I'll upgrade horses and knights, reserving elite units for leader fishing. I'll move interior defenders to the borders. Should I keep MPs (2) in each city?

Should I mass a Stack of cavs and attack Arabia? To what end?

Will I need to take out Portugal to have any chance? War-weariness affects me more than my civ.

Thanks for the advice. I plan to disband the warriors ASAP. I'll upgrade horses and knights, reserving elite units for leader fishing. I'll move interior defenders to the borders. Should I keep MPs (2) in each city?you're in republic so there is no MP.

Should I mass a Stack of cavs and attack Arabia? To what end?To Arabia's end. :D I would spy their cities to see how much defense they have, postion your Cavs and knights at the border, declare war, then attack.

Will I need to take out Portugal to have any chance? War-weariness affects me more than my civ.You could stop expanding and go for diplomatic or space. Space may be harder because you'll need to catch up in tech. Diplomatic might work though. You would need to build the UN first or capture it.

I'm thinking of either:
- Space
- Diplo
- quit and play GOTM44 :-)

Wiping the Arabs out would be satisfying.

Republics don't have MPs. "Click"
I knew that. :rolleyes:

I'm thinking of either:
- Space
- Diplo
- quit and play GOTM44 :-)

Wiping the Arabs out would be satisfying.
As long as the Portuguese don't send a massive army your way, you are fine.

Okay, I'm not quite through MA yet, but I have an interesting dilemma.

Game situation: It's 1070 AD. Arabia has only their capital, Egypt dead. Portugal is #1 to the North, Inca is a close #2 on the other continent. I'm a distant 3rd, with the weak Aztecs owning 9 cities to my SW (and only 6 left on their own continent) and the rest floundering.

I am far behind in the tech race (3 turns from Metall., still need Astro., Physics, ToG and Magn.) with Inca and Portugal already in IA and the others close. I also am still a monarchy, which I half panicked into because of all the wars around me. (I'm also more confortable dealing with Deity lvl happiness using MP)

Question: I just took a 2nd Saltpeter near the Portugeuse border. Inca is absolutely loaded with gold, and offers me 60gpt for it. Do you accept?

Positives: 60gpt would go a long way towards helping me catch up in tech. Inca might also war the Aztecs again, which would be a prime opportunity to wipe them off my continent as well.

Negatives: I'm trading saltpeter to an already strong nation, which may prevent me from ever catching them.

As long as the Portuguese don't send a massive army your way, you are fine.

Guess what? About 3 turns into the Industrial Age they did just that. :(

Edit: And they are coming from both sides. About 80 units passed through to battle the Aztecs, so they are coming back from the south. And a new horde is coming down from the north.

Guess what? About 3 turns into the Industrial Age they did just that. :(

Edit: And they are coming from both sides. About 80 units passed through to battle the Aztecs, so they are coming back from the south. And a new horde is coming down from the north.That can work out in your favor, as long as they are not attacking you. :D

That can work out in your favor, as long as they are not attacking you. :D

But, they are attacking me. They politely declared and sent units from north and south and ships are heading up the coast. :sad:

I think he's implying that they are. Sorry, Markus. :( If you don't have Steam yet, you could post a save in this thread to see if people think the situation's salvageable. Just as a question, not that it'll help you this time out, did you have lux or resource (or gpt from you to them) trades going with Portugal at the time? Maintaining those at all times is the best way I've found to keep a superior AI from declaring, but occasionally they will anyway, and if you're weak, there may not be anything you can do.

Renata

Ouch. I thought they were just using your territory to attack the Aztecs. :blush:

You had a lot of units in the previous save, and were a few turns from Cavalry. Hope is not lost, especially if you can get a MGL. Try to hold out and see if he will give you peace soon.

Another good thing is that they are at war with the Aztecs - the other superpower in your game. Try to help the Aztecs out (this goes against what I dsaid previously, but you need it). Give them a RoP if they'll take it.

I think the next spoiler should be up soon, I don't know if you can post in it though.

@ Renata: Is there a way someone like Markus5 can post a save if they are midway through an era like this?

I'm not sure how, without spoiling either Markus (if he posts in the next thread) or other people (if he posts in this one). There has to be a break-off point somewhere. It didn't sound like he did have Steam, though.

Renata

No. Only 3 turns into the IA. I'll stop posting, though. I'm running out of time anyway. I will probably resign, submit, and play vicariously through the others.

Genghis: I gather that every civ on continent 2 is in IndAge, so they will have rifles. Giving saltpeter to Inca shouldn´t be too hard then. 60 gpt is a lot! It will hamper incan research and fuel yours. But be careful: the AI might try to avoid paymant - by attacking you...
If you have former arabian cities, see that Abu get´s out of the game to prevent flips and WW. If you can´t do it alone, try to persuade Henry to do it.
Maybe you could take on the Aztecs. Cavalry might be advisable for that. Once you have cleaned your backyard of nasty green, you might get a tech for peace. Afterwards, you can concentrate your troops on your northern front.

Twonky, thanks for the response.

Results: I ended up at war with the Aztecs... the following turn. :lol: Shortly thereafter, Inca and Portugal went at it, so I figured it was a safe time to trade him the Saltpeter. (Inca had LOTS of gold = easy upgrades to cavalry? That's what I was worried about most) Long story short, Aztecs triggered my GA and have been removed from my continent, and I researched most of the later-MA techs at 4 turns a piece. :goodjob: Arabia also jumped in against Portugal and got removed. The RNG has been kind this game...

...with our high tech-neighbours???
Hi!
I'm sorry, I'm in a hurry (have to go to work), but I have a few questions and no idea how to answer them.

Situation:
I'm still alive (690ac) ;) , but I just bought Chivalry while everyone else is in the IA now! :eek: (Julius builds Universal Suffrage)
I declared on Arabs, razed one city (gems and Iron), he'w coming up with Cavs and Muskets, I'm haveing just a few Horseman, Pikemen and Medieval Infantry.
I have 29 cities
Republic
50 lux right now, I only have a few horses, 1iron, 2 fur and 2 incense available
The other continent is pretty pari. No civs gone yet and everybody has it's share of power...
Abu is fighting a powerless Henry on the other side, but coming for me.

Questions:
1. Should I crank out knights now asap and try to withstand Abu or should I sign for peace asap?
2. Can I win a war in this situation anyways? Should I focus on knights, trebuchets, Pikemen or concentrate on improvements and stay there like a sitting duck? I have a feeling I COULD survive an attack but I'm not in the situation to attack myself...
2. What should I do to get back in the tech-race? Is there a way anyways?
3. Somehow I messed up my reputation (I have seriously and absolutely no idea how this happened, since I tried hard to have it clean! :confused: ), any suggestions?
4. What should be my goal from here? Survival until one of the other guys win??

Thanks, folks!

Hi, I remember reading about your ancient age. From my viewpoint you were doing nicely except that you had been rather unsuccessful in the tech department.

On deity level I doubt that you can come back from this without drastic measures: You should capture the Great Library. Judging from what you say about just getting Chivalry you do not have Education yet. If so, controlling the GL would give you a great number of techs.


Depending on where it is, you either try to hang on to the Great Lib for one turn or for the rest of the game. If the tech leaders have the Great Lib, or if it is on the other side of the world, I very much doubt that you can hang on to it for the rest of the game. You would need to send such a huge amount of knights that by the time you are ready to attack they will have infantry.

A few pointers:
* Yes, make peace with Arabia for now - even if they are the ones that have the Great Lib! A defensive war now would drain your supply of knights and you would lose precious time.
* Don't forget to sign ROP with the owner of the Great Lib. Doing this is definitely worth getting you rep stained over.
* If you're really going to do it, shut off research. You must assume that you will succeed anyway, so the extra cash will come in handy.
* AI cities with wonders tend to have extra defenders. It could be worthwhile to investigate the Great Lib city.

(Continued) After this I recommend a hustle for a diplomatic victory or possibly space race. You have a good number of cities and so should be able to reach a decent tech pace.

Ok, thanks, Megalou! :)
It's 900 a.d. now.
I signed with Abu a few turns later. Unfortunately the GL is on the other continent (Memphis) and I'm currently at war with Cleo.
My rep already is bad (no idea, why!), so that wouldn't be a problem there...

Egypt has at least rifles, I don't have education yet... If I manage to get the GL for only one turn, would I get ALL the techs or just the techs which are coming before edu???? If I would get ALL the techs, that truly would be awesome) :eek: , but I can't imagine that this is the case!!? :confused:

I now have gunpowder and chemistry..
How about making trebuchets and musketeers and go with these to go after Abu (and the GL, of course)? Recommended or a stupid idea?

I had egypt on my continent with 1 city (got it! ;) ). Cleo had 3-4 rifles in it and I lost a quite massive amount of knights and medieval Infantry before I could take it...

I'm not in serious trouble of getting wiped out, but I doubt that I can win... :( :confused:
I can attach a save hopefully tomorrow, but any sooner advice based on my statements is greatly appreciated.

Egypt has at least rifles, I don't have education yet... If I manage to get the GL for only one turn, would I get ALL the techs or just the techs which are coming before edu???? If I would get ALL the techs, that truly would be awesome) :eek: , but I can't imagine that this is the case!!? :confused:

You will get all the techs known by two civs, except a few optionals (there is some strange behaviour there with optional techs).
So delaying the action against the GLib a bit is not a real disadvantage. You say you have chemistry already, in that case I would delay it and acquire military tradition first, to do it with a nice large stack of cavs.

Trebs are pretty weak against rifles. I wouldn't go this route. You cannot afford many turns of bombarding unless you have an army to cover. Even a large musket stack will be killed within a few turns.
Edit:
Ok just remembered it's french musketeers. So that may make it feasible to first let the attackers impale on them. But that tactics is best, if you really want to conquer from the border, not for taking just the GLib city.

And get peace with egypt soon. In the peace treaty you can also add a tech (metallurgy or MT if you already have it then) and pay with gpt or lux/resources, despite your bad reputation.

You say you have chemistry already, in that case I would delay it and acquire military tradition first, to do it with a nice large stack of cavs.
I second that, althogh I'm a bit troubled by the phrase "at least rifles." Still, cavalry against infantry is not much worse than knights against riflemen, so you should probably take a chance with cavalry.

You say your rep is bad - How bad, ie how expensive is ROP? 100 gpt or just 25gpt ? Also, for how long or short a time will you have to pay those gpt? :satan: And how far into the continent is the target? You should take these things into consideration.

You cannot afford many turns of bombarding unless you have an army to cover. Even a large musket stack will be killed within a few turns.If you get another leader you can transport it as an empty or half empty army with galleys. But I think you need a town on the other continent as a place to fill up the army.
Ok just remembered it's french musketeers. So that may make it feasible to first let the attackers impale on them. But that tactics is best, if you really want to conquer from the border, not for taking just the GLib city.Seeing that the Egyptians already have Nationalism, I doubt you will have time to build up a force massive enough to clear out the Egyptians. You may actually want to set up an escape route for your troops - but naturally it would be better if you could bear it out until you got a favourable peace treaty. An extra opportunity may arise if you can buy alliances against Egypt for your new techs. In conclusion, though, I'd say that it's safer at this stage of the game to spend your resources on building libraries, universites and a UN prebuild than to pump additional troops into Egypt.

Final word: Remember that you have to keep the GLib. for at least a turn to profit from it, so if you get low on units, protect the town with every means available, including redlined cavalries.

Sometimes it can also be effective to put captured workers in the way, so that the enemy captures them instead. But there has been a change in C3C. In C3C attacking units can first capture workers and then attack a military unit or a town. In PTW their attacking power was used up when they captured the workers. The workers can still slow the attackers down though. Good luck.

Ok, I see. Thanks!
The idea with muskets and trebuchets was more for my beloved neighbours, the arabs, since I have to build a decent no. of ships first to get my troops over there...

You say your rep is bad - How bad, ie how expensive is ROP? 100 gpt or just 25gpt ? Also, for how long or short a time will you have to pay those gpt? And how far into the continent is the target? You should take these things into consideration.

It's not that bad at all! ROP's are cheap and Egypt attacked ME after I declined a minor demand of Cleo... I assume I messed up a trade-deal or sth. like that 1500years ago...

I'm a little low on troops and anything else, so I have to build up first. A Golden Age triggered by an arab-french war would do the trick, I guess! ;)

My goal with Egypt would be to keep the GL for only 1 turn anyways, not to really let them suffer (I wouldn't be capable of that). Unfortunately I have no idea, if they'll have Infantry, but I very much doubt it... No one seems to have replaceable parts already...

Thanks for your replies! Back to the game this afternoon! (2 hours before I'm outta here ;) )

I'm a little low on troops and anything else, so I have to build up first. A Golden Age triggered by an arab-french war would do the trick, I guess! ;)

If you just want an golden age, but are short on troops, don't start a war with Arabs. You will still have war weariness from your last Arab adventure and that will build up rapidly.
Rather put a few musketeers in Range of Egypt shortly before making peace. With 2-3 musketeers on a mountain, one will win a battle for sure. Even if they die after that, the GA has started.