I played (and won) my first Noble game today. Warlord was ridiculously easy, but this particular Noble game seemed no more difficult. However, I did use the Incans :mischief: and got a crushing lead with a quick Quechua rush that netted me three civs' capitols and a holy city.

Anyway, my question is: Can a game with the Incans really be a gauge for how easy a difficulty setting is? It seems like, at low difficulty settings anyway, the Quechua rush is just an absurd advantage that couldn't be easily replicated with most other civs.

I also enjoy using a Malinese skirmisher rush. Surprisingly effective. If you cannot capture a city by 2000 BC with it, you can atleast halt the progress of a civ or two.

Indeed, even just halting progression of a few neighbouring civs by capturing workers and destroying improvements can really hurt them in the long run. However, I find this strategy doesn't really work on Monarch and above, since the AI starts with some nice defensive units, not to mention the fact that I'm too busy building wonders and settlers to pull it off.

Quechua rushing works even better on Monarch since the AI defends with archers instead of warriors, and quechuas get a 100% bonus vs archers. Any other rush strategy (except maybe Immortals) gets blunted significantly though.

I played as Inca once. I took one AI capital, and then found there was no one else on the continent :sad:. Easy Culture win though :D

Quecha rush is very effective at, if not killing, slowing down the AI.

The Inca might be the best civ in the game with there UB, a granary with +2 culture so the Inca are almost the same as creative civs. A UU that you can use to capture enemy capitals on low levels, and at least slow them down on upper levels. And two fantastic traits with industrious and financial.

I won't play above Noble ever (unless I get so good that I'm dominating constantly... which won't be happening anytime before Civ 5 comes out :lol:) because I never want to HAVE to trade techs because the AI simply has an advantage via a multiplier in the code. I like being able to be alone on a continent and still be ahead of the tech race. Specialist economy always helps with this. I find that my cottage economy isn't fast enough to mature by the time I get optics/meet people.

Is it impossible to be the tech leader as an isolated civ on Monarch and above?

I won't play above Noble ever (unless I get so good that I'm dominating constantly... which won't be happening anytime before Civ 5 comes out :lol:) because I never want to HAVE to trade techs because the AI simply has an advantage via a multiplier in the code. I like being able to be alone on a continent and still be ahead of the tech race. Specialist economy always helps with this. I find that my cottage economy isn't fast enough to mature by the time I get optics/meet people.

Is it impossible to be the tech leader as an isolated civ on Monarch and above?

I believe that it is. The first thing is to recognize that you are isolated or nearly isolated. If that fact becomes apparent early, I would make libraries a priority and put the two scientists specialists in each city. The science specialists should get you Great Scientists pretty quickly, allowing you to either settle or bulb.

The other thing I've found that if I am able to get commerce resources early -gold, silver, gems - I can keep my tech rate near 100% a good long while. The AI expands so quickly, that its tech rate goes down quickly.

Shoot for The Oracle and Liberalism for the free techs. In the case of the Oracle, the Priest specialist that usually follows when settled provides a significant commerce boost.

If you have other commerce resources that require Calendar, obviously it must become a priority.

It seems like a high tech rate and Scientist Specialists are the key. The Oracle and Liberalism are the icing on the cake, so to speak.

This has worked for me in the past, and I play on Monarch. I cannot speak for the higher levels.

Correction: I believe it is possible to keep up and surpass the AI in tech with an isolated start.

Perfect. Thank you.

Don't forget the Pyramids. Representation practically doubles your tech rate in a Specialist Economy. That said, I'd favor a CE on an isolated start if there is at least a reasonable amount of land available, especially as a Financial leader. You might be behind when you first meet the AI civs, but what really matters in isolation is that you're up to speed when the AI gets Astronomy and can actually get to you. By this time you'll have towns so you won't be behind. The CE wins out in the long run, and if you're isolated, that's all that matters.