Hey everyone, I have been having some problems with playing the game on anything higher than the Chieftain difficulty level. For instance, my last game, I was barely into the game on Warlord level, had a decent sized army, and a good culture rating. Out of nowhere, the Mongolians declare war on me, and send around 10-20 troops to me. Fine, I can deal. I finally declare peace, and then, 10 turns later, he declares war on me again!

This time, he kept coming with waves of 5-10 people (this is in the period of the game when you JUST get macemen, BTW). I swear, I think I counted around 30 men that I either killed or eventually overcame my cities. He also had a culture impeding on my cities AND around 10 boats.

This ALWAYS happens to me on anything above cheiftain. No matter what type of game I try to play (cultural, military, balanced, etc.) it always seems as if the computer is one-upping me.

Also, when he sent his troops over, a lot of the time I would have say, a maceman fortified on my city, he would have an archer or longbowman, and he would win! (even though his odds were about 3%!!!!!). This also happens when I declare war on someone else.

Can someone shed some light on how the computer goes about this? And why when I go to take a city that only had 2 men, then I go one space, and 15 men suddenly appear on it, when I can see ALL THE SQUARES around the city?!?!?!

Thanks again.

computer doesn't cheat ;)

Though I say the same thing on Noble level. I often wonder how they can build that many units.

On your level, it's most likely the computer is building units and not buildings. You'll find you can do the same thing if you wanted. You'd be amazed how many units you can crank out in a short time. In fact, I recommend it. If your army is too small, they will build lots of units and atack.

I fel your pain with the aztecs and mongolians. They are like this. Best solution is to wipe them out. Take their cities or raze them all to the ground. You can't rely on one or two defenders in each city. You need a substantial attack force.

Try immortal/deity levels.

I think In one of game I kill more then 2-3000 computer units.
but computer does not cheat.
It does has some bonuses on higher levels, but they are known and not that big.

On deity it cost it 30% less to build unit and buildings.
Wanders cost is the same.

For the AIs to be declaring war on you so readily you must be neglecting your military, you probably just stick 1 unit in every city or something? Build a standing army that is not based in any city. When a war starts, send it to the front and kill stuff.

The AI has many advantages, even in deity unit maintenance and unit upgrades cost it only 30%.
On noble it gets a few technologies for free.
The largest disadvantages of the AI is that it totally lacks a flexible long term strategy and a long experience.

Thanks everyone! I guess instead of having 3 to 4 guys, I need to start making 5-6 or more on each city. It's hard in the beginning!

-Carrie

PS- I know the computer actually doesn't "cheat". It was just a figure of speech so people would kind of know what my thread was about. I'm not that stupid! :lol:

Thanks again!

make sure to have offensive units. Staying on the defensive isn't very useful (they will pillage your improvements)

I usually only keep one archer or axeman per city. But I make sure I have a strike force capable of taking out enemy stacks. The tough part is having the strike force in the right place at the right time. You never know where they will strike. Esp. tough if you are surrounded on all sides by the ai. Then you need multiple strike forces.

My strike forces usually consist of swordsmen, because I wage offensive wars and take cities. Later on it's macemen and then cavalry. (if I'm being attacked, I'll build war elephants or knights- but I normally don't fight during this time period). And then tanks later on. But you want to maintain a mix of units. So I'll keep a few axemen around to counter their axemen and melee units. And depending on the civ, may have spearmen around as well (like if the mongols are nearby)

That reminds me of a game where (I was winning) and then of a sudden I was invaded by nasty ole Spain. Oh I had an outstanding military. I could hold out in ANY city that little hussy attacked.
Well, unfortunately she sent the troops in to pillage. I had no assault units to fight her off. Talk about reamed. It was terrible. She pillaged my stuff, punked me around at her leisure, then blamed it all on me. All I had was defensive units- at that point
Yea I end up winning with a LUCKY space reace, but the frustration and "hatred" of spain remains.
Point being that I had a nice- experiencecd military, I was good on the power chart, but whoooooooops. All wrong. No counter-attack units.
The hussy rolls in and pillages, crashes my economy, taking away my ability to fight her off.. Pillages some more, winks at me, pinches my behind and takes a peace.
Oh man, Im just thinking abot it andnow Im ticked off all over again. Time to slash her up again.

Hey everyone,
Hey you, welcome on board.[party]

I have been having some problems with playing the game on anything higher than the Chieftain difficulty level. For instance, my last game, I was barely into the game on Warlord level, had a decent sized army, and a good culture rating. Out of nowhere, the Mongolians declare war on me, and send around 10-20 troops to me. Fine, I can deal. I finally declare peace, and then, 10 turns later, he declares war on me again!
Sorry for what I'm about to say...the truth sometimes may hurt a little bits. Basically, there is definitely something wrong with your tactic because you should have easily beaten the craps out of the computer at the Warlord level. Instead accusing the computer "cheater", it may be better if you try to figure out what you did wrong.

This time, he kept coming with waves of 5-10 people (this is in the period of the game when you JUST get macemen, BTW). I swear, I think I counted around 30 men that I either killed or eventually overcame my cities. He also had a culture impeding on my cities AND around 10 boats.

So what if they come in waves of 5-10 units. Even if they come in waves of 100, it's really no big deal. The quantity of the troops is irrelevant in this case, the quality of troops is everything. For example, 10 spearmans can easily withstand against 50 horsemans without any problem. On the other hand, 10 macemans is no match against 50 horsemans. Maceman is a lot more expensive to build than spearman.

Also, when he sent his troops over, a lot of the time I would have say, a maceman fortified on my city, he would have an archer or longbowman, and he would win! (even though his odds were about 3%!!!!!). This also happens when I declare war on someone else.

I think you may have overlooked something...For example, his first archer may have only 3% against your longblow. His first archer attacked and died, but he damaged your longblow a little bits and eliminated your fortification bonus. Now, his second and third archer would have a great chance against your longblow. In this case, quantity do count more than quality.;)

Can someone shed some light on how the computer goes about this? And why when I go to take a city that only had 2 men, then I go one space, and 15 men suddenly appear on it, when I can see ALL THE SQUARES around the city?!?!?!
I used this tactic all the time. Just because I defend my city with only 2 men, that doesn't mean I don't have 15 men standing near by.;) The bottom line, any tactic the computer can come up with, we, humans, have already thought about it long before the computer can. Why? Because it's just a computer program created by humans. Btw, for this reason alone, you can't really call the computer a cheater. Even if the computer can cheat, they do nothing wrong because they have been programmed that way. Therefore, it's their creator that is to blame, not them. Unless, his creator has given them "freewill".

And why when I go to take a city that only had 2 men, then I go one space, and 15 men suddenly appear on it, when I can see ALL THE SQUARES around the city?!?!?!

welcome to CFC :) part of that one is probably that he had units out of sight, but on the roads. it's easy to forget that he can move much faster in his territory than you can, since he can use his roads, and you can't.

In this case, quantity do count more than quality.;)

you will see the ultimate example of that when you meet everyone's favorite psycho, Montezuma ;). that guy wins some battles through sheer willpower i think! throwing insane numbers of out-of-date troops, but it works for him sometimes.

it can take a long time to learn this game, i'm still learning, that's for sure. and a lot of my learning has been through mistakes -- no way am i going to admit to how many *giggle*