Okay. So I've mastered war. I no longer just send a load of horse archers because the're cool, or send stacks with about two seige weapons. I build huge stacks of doom with 20-30 units normally, sometimes with 60-70. Once even 114 (it conquered half the world!). I use advanced tactics such as cavalry screening, I plan blitzkriegs, I use the strategy layer to draw out battle plans and I name my ships to help co-ordinate an intercontinental assault.
I've also got off wonders, I never built too many of them anyway. I only get one or two early ones like stonehenge, the oracle or sometimes the Great Wall.

However, all that doesn't really matter if you have no idea how to manage an economy! Currently I work on an SE most of the time. No, that's not a Specialist Economy, that stands for 'Shrine Economy' in this case! I depend on founding an early religion to get gold from the Shrine in order to finance my psychotic aggression and expansion. If I don't have a good shrine, then I just end up not being able to build more cities and units, which leaves me way behind. I also have to reduce the research slider to low levels to be able to cope with it, so I end up technologically behind as well.

The only exception to this is when I play the earth map (which I do alot, I find random maps boring), and I know there is going to be a religion founded nearby, by Spain, say, or the Arabs. In that case I research better technologies and develop really fast, then rush whoever has the shrine with with my good technology and take it.

I play noble, and have played many, many games. I've only won once, but that's because I have a tendency to get bored of the game and not come back to it. If I wanted too I could finish off some of the games I have where I am near a conquest victory, but I just don't.

Cottages!!

Cottages!!
They don't seem to help me much. Tiles with more commerce speed up the reseach of early techs and increase the amount of gold I earn a bit, but they don't seem to make much of a dent, even if I build commerce cities on flat grassland completely surrounded by cottages.

raze cities, gift old units, and reclaim razed cities land with your own settler.- in a slow build,
pillage/raze - avoid keeping wonder-laden cities these are the best to burn to the ground and collect a science bonus from the rubble.

You do know that cottages eventually become towns that make a lot more commerce - like 7 or more - and only if you are working them which you may not be doing if you're building huge armies.

What difficulty are you playing at? My stacks are usually only at most 20 units on Monarch pre industrial. Maybe you're building too many units?

avoid keeping wonder-laden cities these are the best to burn to the ground and collect a science bonus from the rubble.

Ummm, keep cities with wonders in them as the benefit from the wonder will most certainly outway 1 random event of finding scrolls in the rubble.

Cottages are only good for science if you can keep your slider high, that being said I use a mix of cottages and specialists. I work cottages in times when my empire's economy is in the crapper. Once I have all the needed resource improvements and mines ill lay cottages whereever I can afford except for in a few cities where I will solely run specialists (GP farm(s)). One of these tends to my capital with a few wonders and the national epic, if I'm running low on gold, to the point of where my units are about to strike, I will run merchant specialists. Sometimes at this point in the game I'll use my first golden age, and last but not least I will have a high production city build commerce.

What difficulty are you playing at? My stacks are usually only at most 20 units on Monarch pre industrial. Maybe you're building too many units?
I am on noble. I only normally build massive armies if:
1. I am in the industrial age, which is when I tend to unleash massive stacks on the world;
and/or 2. I control really good land and several shrines, basically when I've won all ready.

Economy is always the hardest part.

I think the key is city-specialization. Build a couple of cities that basically just work cottages and nothing else and that will help. The shrines are always a good way to keep deficits at bay, but don't generate any actual commerce. But they'll let you run the slider at 90 or 100 and get the most out of those cottages.

And of course, if you can pull of those pyramids, it's all about representation+caste system. You'll have more beakers than you know what to do with, at least for a while.

Are you building Marketplaces, Grocers, Banks in your Shrine city? All three combined will double your shrine income. Have you propagated your religion to the world?

Cottages are pretty hard to screw up if you build lots of them... as long as your citizens are working them...

Specialists can also drive your economy, but there are already lots of threads and articles on how to use them effectively.

raze cities, gift old units, and reclaim razed cities land with your own settler.- in a slow build,
pillage/raze - avoid keeping wonder-laden cities these are the best to burn to the ground and collect a science bonus from the rubble.

Somebody seriously needs to ban you.

I am on noble. I only normally build massive armies if:
1. I am in the industrial age, which is when I tend to unleash massive stacks on the world;
and/or 2. I control really good land and several shrines, basically when I've won all ready.

There's your problem. I can go to war at any time whenever I want.

Why? Because I go to war early, and I capture enemy capitals /w shrines - This helps catapult me, and I'm making 50-100 gold per turn before I declare war in the Renaissance or Industrial age.

You should be able to fund your war through conquest. You get gold everytime you take an enemy city. Raze the cities that do not benefit you (if they are not in a good location or do not have necessary resources). For evey city that you keep, your upkeep costs increase and you have to drop off some units from your stack to defend. I typically keep enemy capitols, cities with wonders, and cities that have resources that my empire lacks. The rest get burned to the ground so that my stack can continue marching and the gold earned finances my contunied conquest.

On prince and above its almost impossible to get 2 shrines in one city. Good idea might be to start playing specialist economy and run lots of merchants when you need money. They still make 3 :science: under representation, but building the pyramids yourself will cost you early expansion. But if you're already used to teching religious techs before worker techs, it shouldn't throw off your game. And specialist economy is viable at higher dificulty levels. Shire economy isn't.

On prince and above its almost impossible to get 2 shrines in one city. Good idea might be to start playing specialist economy and run lots of merchants when you need money. They still make 3 :science: under representation, but building the pyramids yourself will cost you early expansion. But if you're already used to teching religious techs before worker techs, it shouldn't throw off your game. And specialist economy is viable at higher dificulty levels. Shire economy isn't.

Still very doable on prince, and even monarch. It's emperor when it starts getting hard.


I got a triple holy city capital in the Charlemagne lonely hearts game on Monarch.
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6854194&postcount=6

Still very doable on prince, and even monarch. It's emperor when it starts getting hard.


I got a triple holy city capital in the Charlemagne lonely hearts game on Monarch.
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6854194&postcount=6

It's only hard if you don't cook the custom settings ;). I don't do this, but I'd imagine if you put ONLY AI's that don't start with mysticism in, played as a civ that does, and then just beelined monotheism you'd have a 2 holy city capitol before you knew it even on emperor or immortal ;).

Shrines are more for support. I love to have them and they typically dictate where my gold city is but other than that it's cottage spam. I will make 1-2 production, 1-2 GP, and the rest are just Cottages. Plus those conquered cities in Renn. can be brought online quicker because Emancipation and Printing Press make your Cottages very powerful. Specialist economies would mean more of a focus on food but that requires more rivers.

Oh yeah, my comment on shrines was off-topic. Sorry about that. I recommend you dump relying on shrines entirely for a bit to get used to the other mechanics of generating gold and beakers in this game - namely using specialists or working cottage tiles (and getting the appropriate multiplier buildings into cities emphasizing these).

Cottages should work well on all levels and are extremely straightforward to use. You make sure you have enough food so that you can work the cottages, then you grow the city and work them. Build libraries/universities/observatories in such commerce cities, or if on the warpath and running the slider more for gold markets/banks/grocers (markets and grocers are good for the happiness and health anyway)

Cottages are a tad weak early so be sure to run some scientists off of libraries in the early game to keep science going via trades and whatever while your cottages grow.

SE is a bit more complicated and there is a guide in the war academy devoted to it.

Still very doable on prince, and even monarch. It's emperor when it starts getting hard.


I got a triple holy city capital in the Charlemagne lonely hearts game on Monarch.
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6854194&postcount=6

Isolated starts are a completely different animal. You don't need military techs because the only threat comes from barbs, and they don't put up much of a fight.

I don't think warring is that simple (especially at higher difficulties), if you have to plan the technologies and quick unit buildup.

Economy, CE: cottage every grassland, for the most part. Capital, cottage even plain tiles, try to get your other cities to do your production as soon as you can, get hereditary rule, grow really big working lots of cottages, add an academy and a library. Then switch to bureacracy.

SE: farm everything. Grow until you can support all the scientists/merchants you can run. Run specialists. Bulb useful techs and trade carefully.

;6917730']There's your problem. I can go to war at any time whenever I want.

Why? Because I go to war early, and I capture enemy capitals /w shrines - This helps catapult me, and I'm making 50-100 gold per turn before I declare war in the Renaissance or Industrial age.
I still go to war before this, I just don't use such massive numbers, I just use about 15-20, rather than something over 50.

The only exception to this is when I play the earth map (which I do alot, I find random maps boring), and I know there is going to be a religion founded nearby, by Spain, say, or the Arabs. In that case I research better technologies and develop really fast, then rush whoever has the shrine with with my good technology and take it.

I play noble, and have played many, many games. I've only won once, but that's because I have a tendency to get bored of the game and not come back to it. If I wanted too I could finish off some of the games I have where I am near a conquest victory, but I just don't.

Overexpanding is an easy way to kill you economy, I prefer to stay at some 6-8 cities until I got a stable economy.

For better economy:
research currency (+trade route for no hammers)
research code of laws (some claim courthouses are too expensive in hammercost)
Sailing, if you don't have time to build roads, it helps with traderoutes on coasts and rivers.

Make sure you are working the high commerce tiles avail (ex gold, gems, dye), the automation seems to value food tiles to the extreme.

Cottages are nice, especially when financial but you can do well w/o them also.