Hi all,

Well, I've finally decided that my fav civ is mongolians. I like their aggressive nature and I like Keshiks a lot. With their first strike ability and ignore movement penalties, they are excellent raiders and are also good for taking a city once my catapults have worn the defenders and defences down.

But, here's the thing. I find when I play them that I end up not making very many wonders and I also usually don't get that many great people. Is this a problem?

I usually make my first city a commerce city so I have enough $$ to support my early war efforts. My next 2 cities are production/commerce depending on the resources and then from there I am either in an early war or else make 2 more cities wherever the resources are. I usually find that there isn't really a good gpp city spot once I start looking for one and I'm also usually engaged in an early war effort.

I'm playing on prince right now and am actually having great success for the first time ever!! I started off in last place, but...oh heck, I'll just share my war-story so far:

I started off on a penisula with water to the east and south. Cyrus was to my W/SW and China was to my N/NW. Unfortunately, there were no horses that I could see anywhere :( :( :(

Cyrus was a pain in the arse early on and planted a city right where I was about to plant one to the west of my capital. Thus I was forced to expand in a NW direction, toward China. At first I thought this was terrible because I was planning on warring with Cyrus. However, my first two city placements were pretty awesome imo. My first one forced Cyrus to expand in a NW direction parallel to me, but away from China and toward Russia. He then got angry and focused his attention on Russia and away from me.

This allowed me to ally with Cyrus and eventually he traded me one of his extra horses :) ahh...keshiks, finally!

My second city placement messed China over good because its borders prevented China's first city's borders from connecting with its capital's borders! This made his city easy meat. I razed this city and built my 3rd city in a better location nearby.

And then, woot! I saw a barb city nearby, which I subsequently took as my 5th city. I then sued China for some tech, built up my cities, and then after a bit of a bloody battle, I took his capital, crippling him! This launched me from the middle of the pack into first place! And this is where I am at right now pretty much, except that I have sued China again for tech, making peace, and have agreed to aid Cyrus in an assault on Russia since I can bag one of Russia's cities to the W of the Chinese capital and my 3rd city thus solidifying my position and also further allying myself with Cyrus so that he keeps trading me horses (I still haven't found any of my own). I've also accepted Judaism as my religion (it is the dominant one in my game) and am pumping missionaries into Cyrus's cities and also Victoria's who is NE/E of the Chinese capital.

So, anyways, I'm in first place and am doing quite well!

However, like I mentioned above, I haven't really been building any wonders and don't get many great people. Should I not be worried about it? If so, ok. Should I be trying to do this more? If so, any tips for how to integrate it into my gameplan?

Thanks!

If you like to warmonger, it's better to spend your hammers building units (and infrastructure so you can afford those units), rather than building wonders. Let the other civs build the wonders, then take your keishiks and make those wonders yours.

If you like to warmonger, it's better to spend your hammers building units (and infrastructure so you can afford those units), rather than building wonders. Let the other civs build the wonders, then take your keishiks and make those wonders yours.

Ok, glad to know I can be ok not making a lot of wonders. In my game I took over the chinese capital which had the pyramids. the only thing that is unfortunate is that if i take over the pyramids, i don't get the benefit of being able to pick any civic since i wasn't the one who built it, or am i wrong?

You still get the benefits of the wonders, including GPP, Culture, Effects, as long as the wonder isn't obsolete. That's good for you because having police state really helps the war machine. GOOD LUCK:king:

Also: are you playing as Genghis Khan or Kublai Khan?

Ok, cool! I'm playing as Genghis Khan. I love aggressive + expansive, it's a pretty cool combo.

I've only played one game as the Mongols (Genghis), on Prince. The Keshiks are indeed wicked fun and, if you keep building enough of them, every bit as good as Rome's Praetorians as an early UU, thanks to their swift movement and that free promotion. Barracks make them even better.

But I found by mid-game that the Keshiks slowly became obsolete and that I was having trouble keeping up in tech and commerce. Aggressive is great for war, but it doesn't pay the bills. I found I was locked into a cycle of never-ending war in order to (a) collect war booty and (b) bully other civs to cough up techs. Then the war weariness began to set in... :(

free promotion is only for melee and gunpowder type units.

I've only played one game as the Mongols (Genghis), on Prince. The Keshiks are indeed wicked fun and, if you keep building enough of them, every bit as good as Rome's Praetorians as an early UU, thanks to their swift movement and that free promotion. Barracks make them even better.

But I found by mid-game that the Keshiks slowly became obsolete and that I was having trouble keeping up in tech and commerce. Aggressive is great for war, but it doesn't pay the bills. I found I was locked into a cycle of never-ending war in order to (a) collect war booty and (b) bully other civs to cough up techs. Then the war weariness began to set in... :(

That's why you just change to police state and just keep driving your war machine! As for commerce, I find I struggle with it sometimes too, but as long as you crank out enough cottages early enough + RAID (Keshik's main strength imo) you should be just fine...

But I found by mid-game that the Keshiks slowly became obsolete and that I was having trouble keeping up in tech and commerce. Aggressive is great for war, but it doesn't pay the bills. I found I was locked into a cycle of never-ending war in order to (a) collect war booty and (b) bully other civs to cough up techs. Then the war weariness began to set in... :(

Hmmm, sounds like you weren't pushing your horde hard enough. ;) If one uses Keshiks to their full potential one can wipe out foes from the face of the earth right and left. I actually got my highest score with Kublai (first conquest victory). Quick border pop and quicker UU makes the Mongols a force to be reckoned with. It's also nice to be able to pull in raiders from across the enemy's empire to strike a city from all directions, no movement penalty is :king:

Just burn and move (repeat indefinately)

Tips for affording the war machine:

- Don't concentrate completely on war production, neglecting all commerce infrastructure. Have some cities (I almost always do this in my capital) that are dedicated to commerce, spray them with cottages and build markets.

- If possible, immediately forest-chop courthouse in newly conquered cities to cut down on city maintenance.

- If you've really overdone it with conquest and are running a deficit at 0% science, Caste System with merchant specialists in all of your new cities can help keep your military from being disbanded. Farms are quicker than developing cottages, and you'll get more immediate $$ from several small cities running merchant specialists.

- When War Weariness set in, call for a cease fire (while demanding some techs if possible). Take the break to reinforce units and apply a few fixes to your poor economy, plan your next attack, then declare again when the cease-fire ends.

You still get the benefits of the wonders, including GPP, Culture, Effects, as long as the wonder isn't obsolete. That's good for you because having police state really helps the war machine. GOOD LUCK:king:

Also: are you playing as Genghis Khan or Kublai Khan?
Actually, you don't get the culture. Everything else transfers though.

Im not sure GPP transfers.

In a recent game, I built stonehenge but neglicted my military. 2 barb archers came out of nowhere, and took my capital city - which had stonehenge. 4 turns later, I reclaimed my city, but got none of the effects from the henge even though I built it.

No culture. No GPP. Im not even sure if my cities got the oblisk back.

my capital city - which had stonehenge. 4 turns later, I reclaimed my city, but got none of the effects from the henge even though I built it.

No culture. No GPP. Im not even sure if my cities got the oblisk back.

Did you discover Calendar?