I moved up to Warlord today. Islands, Huge, Epic

I was playing as my favourite Civ, Gandhi of India and I thought everything would be fine.
Built Great Wall, Pyramids, Founded Hindu and Judaism, and couldn't found any more religions. Tried to focus on a mix as it was Warlord, not Chieftain or Settler, so I had to focus on other things.
I circumnavigated the globe and also was planning on a stack of Musketmen to invade Persia who was the closest island accessible by Galley.
I already had a forward base in Persia, but in crappy land.

I lost the race to the Oracle and I had to research Civil Service :(

Cash is an extreme shortage. I'm running at 70-0% in science.
It's now 1917 and I'm still in the Industrial age, researching Biology. Everyone else is close, but still using Longbowmen.
I've attacked Persia 3 times now, all victory, but I don't have massive tracts of land like the Byzantines or the Khmer empires.
In fact ,they keep demanding tribute off me. I tell them to go away. They tried invading before, but I pushed them back and got gold for peace :)

One time, Justinian tried sending Cataphracts... at my Machine Gun! He lost his entire stack to the Machine Gun, who wasn't fortified or even promoted (just slave rushed him)

Random events take hell on my gold, my conquests still have to go on Persia and I've got Mining Inc and a quest to spread it.
I'm hoping to win a space race as a warpath seems unlikely and Culture is disabled. Everyone else seems to be better than me but they are no match for my troops.

Apparently, everyone wants a piece of me and demands tribute. Their war stacks are annihilated by my Privateers (no longer now, only got a Destroyer and 4 Privateeers taking gold off Portugal)

I hate it when they build a city on a small island near my territory. I want to remove it, but I can't without declaring war and I've got the cultural improvements. I'm waiting for Sid's Sushi.

The only reason I'm here and not continuing is that my game got corrupted or went haywire because I accidentally pressed the windows key and not ctrl. So now cities don't show up and all animations are fuzzy and crappy, slowing down the game as they don't want to load properly.

Am I playing the game right? Any tips on how I should proceed. I don't use the SOD, unless you count the 3 GG Infantry with Commando and 5 strength and the puny 3 strength Riflemen and cannons following behind. I also have a GG Destroyer with 6 Stength promotions who likes smashing Caravels who stay outside

First, what Addon are you using? Second, post a savegame so we really get the picture of your game.

I circumnavigated the globe and also was planning on a stack of Musketmen to invade Persia who was the closest island accessible by Galley.

You wanted to invade with... Musketman ???
Try invading with rifleman, you can build Musketman but you'd have to upgrade them.

I lost the race to the Oracle and I had to research Civil Service


You prosponed The Oracle until you can get Civil Service? Well then you kinda earned it ;)

I'm hoping to win a space race as a warpath seems unlikely and Culture is disabled.

What about dimplomacy/your power in the (probabely not yet built) UN, meaning your population?

I hate it when they build a city on a small island near my territory. I want to remove it, but I can't without declaring war and I've got the cultural improvements. I'm waiting for Sid's Sushi.

Why care about them? They usually only cost a hughe amount of upkeep until they are made a colony (again, are you playing BtS?).

The only reason I'm here and not continuing is that my game got corrupted or went haywire because I accidentally pressed the windows key and not ctrl. So now cities don't show up and all animations are fuzzy and crappy, slowing down the game as they don't want to load properly.

Screenshots? Just restart your PC and try again ;)

I don't use the SOD, unless you count the 3 GG Infantry with Commando and 5 strength and the puny 3 strength Riflemen and cannons following behind. I also have a GG Destroyer with 6 Stength promotions who likes smashing Caravels who stay outside

I count 4 GG there. Why dont you settle them or build a military academy? That really pays off in longterm military producing.

Hope this helps

mystyfly

save the game, exit Civ, restart computer, enter Civ, load game

everything should be just fine! :)

well if u get it gl on warlord- remember Warlord is centered on war (WOW!!!) so u need to prioritize. Play on Noble myself

You need to watch your cash. Build more cottages and other improvements to boast your commerce, as more $$$ ---> more research, and research is very important since the AI will not usually trade techs unless they rip you off.

Also build more military units. AI armies are huge and very diverse, so you need to diversify your range of units and build more of them (musketman is quite a weak unit. At this stage maces and knights are still more useful. The one benefit musketman have over the rest is that the AI usually have no counter for it at this time.)

Last point, don't wait too long to build the oracle. Try to grab CoL instead of civil service, much easier and safer.

That's the funny thing. I was building the Oracle and COL was on the list. I could have researched that with it, but I lost even to that.

I'm not very diplomatic. If they ask me for tribute, I tell them to bugger off...

I also don't prioritise my improvements well. I had a massive amount of Grassland, so that translates to a lot of Farms. Cottages go on Plains. I want my Flood Plains to be massive on food.

I also left a whole set of forests untouched until I got preserves. I could build a National Park to reap the rewards of it. That'll probably set my economy right.

I would post a savegame, but you know, I'm a bit lazy to give you all the screenies and savegames as I have real life matters to deal with :lol:

Crazy, I know

EDIT: And for those who doubt I'm playing BTS, I'm pretty sure Privateers and the Byzantine Empire were Warlords/Vanilla things. I did also upgrade some musketmen to Rifles, but I drafted or rushed a few rifles and shipped them over with two trebuchets, now cannons. Warlods always become a GG because they're more useful than sitting in some city, perhaps that will build a unit every now and then because I draft a lot

That's the funny thing. I was building the Oracle and COL was on the list. I could have researched that with it, but I lost even to that.

The Oracle is the one of the wonders that all AI try to grab ASAP. (the others are Stonehenge, Hanging Gardens, Great Wall, Temple of Artemis). It pays to build it early.

I'm not very diplomatic. If they ask me for tribute, I tell them to bugger off...

AI don't usually ask for tribute unless they see that your military is weak. Still if you're not going for a diplomatic victory it's not important.

I also don't prioritise my improvements well. I had a massive amount of Grassland, so that translates to a lot of Farms. Cottages go on Plains. I want my Flood Plains to be massive on food.

In my humble opinion, commerce > food. Although it all depends whether you are going for specialist or cottage economies. If it's specialists and great people you want then it pay to farm.

Grassland and flood plains should be cottaged (exceptions include grassland tiles next to rivers and if you're planning to make the city a GP farm).

I also left a whole set of forests untouched until I got preserves. I could build a National Park to reap the rewards of it. That'll probably set my economy right.

You can't rely on reserves to right your economy. You need to start building your economy from the ancient age. Founding religion and building a shrine is a good way to keep your economy strong.

EDIT: And for those who doubt I'm playing BTS, I'm pretty sure Privateers and the Byzantine Empire were Warlords/Vanilla things. I did also upgrade some musketmen to Rifles, but I drafted or rushed a few rifles and shipped them over with two trebuchets, now cannons.

Build more siege weapons. Two trebuchets is hardly adequate, even for warlord level.

I don't need Siege Weapons now. My GG Infantry can have a 90%+ chance of kicking a Longbowman's butt. That's a risk I'm willing to take, especially when random seed is on and if I lose, I try again.
In fact, I have 4 cannons now and I don't use them that much.

I haven't gone back to my game. I was busy playing other games. Yes I can do that you know. It's hard to believe :lol:

EDIT: I'll remember those strategies next game. Cottage grassland, probably cottage plains, but farm most of it... right? Unless grassland is by river, cottage it...
I should enable Cultural Victory. That way, with Sid's Sushi, I can get the victory easily. Space Race is my first priority though

in CE make sure the food you get when working all tiles except the junk tiles of course; desert, snow, tundra, ocean, mountain. that means 2 * the #of tiles in food. now everything you dont need for food put into commerce via cottage.
of course, only do that in commerce cities.

siege units are quite amazing. especially when you research steel/artillery when the AIs don't have most recent unit types. with good siege units, you easily take any city. bombarde the cultural def bonus, attack with as much sieges as possible, give all your sieges CR promotions. then let your other units mob up. when you attack a well defended city, a new siege sacrificed for the benefit of all the veteran and well promoted units is a prize i pay gladly. nothing is more annoying as loosing cr-3 infantry :D:D

well when your infantry recieve 90%+ odds against longbows... you probabely may consider moving up a diff level...

I moved up to Warlord today. Islands, Huge, Epic

Congratulations Stylesrj!

I'm glad to see you've taken the step up, and are advancing!

Am I playing the game right? Any tips on how I should proceed. I don't use the SOD, unless you count the 3 GG Infantry with Commando and 5 strength and the puny 3 strength Riflemen and cannons following behind. I also have a GG Destroyer with 6 Stength promotions who likes smashing Caravels who stay outside

Are you having a good time? If so, then you're playing the game right!

If you want tips, one thing that works for me is to use Slavery and whip your citizens. I used to avoid Slavery, and the rare times when I did use Slavery, I used it ever so sparingly. I was very afraid of the unhappiness that I would almost never whip. Until I tried a game where all I did was whip whip whip! WOW what a difference!

That change in playstyle easily moved me up 1 difficulty alone. No longer was I afraid of attacking. I would whip out a HUGE army, until all my cities were unhappy or very small, then I would go on a rampage with my giant stack of doom. Sure I would get War Weariness, but if all things went well, I would get 1 War Weariness about the same time the first (of many) slavery unhappiness wears off, keeping my citizens at bay until the war gets too rough. But by that time, I'll have decimated at least a few cities of my enemy, and can easily talk them into peace, or even squander some gold and sometimes a city! (Oh, and don't forget to ask for a world map every time you negotiate peace. That can help you plot your next path of destruction!)

Because you are a Warlord player now, you might consider setting the difficulty down to Cheifton while learning new strategies for a game or two. I hone my skills on Noble/Prince, and play at Monarch/Emperor. That seems to work for me. Maybe it'll work for you, too.

Congrats again, and Happy Halloween!

Thank you very much.

I do use Slavery. I whip like there's no tomorrow. I should make a song:

When your city is unhappy, you must whip it!
When the population is in riots, you must whip it!
You whip it!
Whip it good!
Whip it!
Whip it good!

And you know how the song goes. I find Slavery very useful, why else did I aim for it after Hindu and Archery? Nationalism I thought I could use on the difficulty, seems like I cannot.

The population gets so angry that whipping cannot solve it either! So next game, I should stick with bureaucracy or Free Speech. Perhaps I could try a SE on Settler, see how Scientists do with a 0% science rate and a Caste System

EDIT: Also, I have Tech Trading and Brokering disabled. I know that's a bad move, but it's the low difficulties, so it does not matter much and it makes my life easier as the AIs don't try and ask for techs like friends and also trade with each other. Why is it when I'm friendly with someone, I can only request something politely. I want it as tribute! Now gimmie!

And you know how the song goes. I find Slavery very useful, why else did I aim for it after Hindu and Archery? Nationalism I thought I could use on the difficulty, seems like I cannot.

check xanadux' thread "Top X reasons you can't beat noble"

some veeery often, as mistakes declared moves are early religion and researching archery early on...

greez

mystyfly