Okay guys, I'd really appreciate some advice on a couple points related to early game setting up. Here goes...

+ In the early game expansion phase (1-6 cities) how do you best accomplish this (tech order or priority, worker use, per-city emphasis automation settings, etc) such that you can expand as fast as possible without blowing your science budget. Specifically I'm looking for how to best manage an expansion that is as fast as possible.

+ What is the best way (units, how many cities you need, wonders, techs) to attack an opponent VERY early, like an early game rush. This is for use against AI players Prince-Monarch, not real players.

+ What are the best tips you have on managing cities for specific emphasis in your empire. Assume a small empire, maybe 5-6 cities. Specifically: How much do you manually control workers, do you use the citizen automation, if not how do you manage the citizens, how do you best use the Food<->Production<->Commerce toggles.

+ (I'm not sure if this one even has an real answer) How do you sustain any war in the ancient-earlymedievil eras without letting the other AIs blow past you in tech.
How do you stay competitive?

Thanks for any and all tips, I'm looking to improve my game and I really think better mastery of the above is key to advancing.

+ (I'm not sure if this one even has an real answer) How do you sustain any war in the ancient-earlymedievil eras without letting the other AIs blow past you in tech.
How do you stay competitive?



Actually I find this the easiest to answer so I'll take a shot: You don't, you will fall behind most likely. But that's ok because hopefully you just gained some land which in the long term will translate into lots of beakers because of more cities and citizens and hence more commerce and/or specialists.
To catch up after a war, try researching techs that the AIs don't go for early (this takes experience to know, so try to pay attention to that detail), use the war booty to run research at 100% to quickly aquire a tradeworthy tech. Lightbulbing with great people is a good method as well, for example bulbing Philosophy early and trading. Otherwise the fact that techs the AI already knows becomes cheaper for you coupled with the abovementioned advantage in land will let you catch up sooner or later thought the amount of land advantage you'll need will vary significantly, at the highest levels you might need twice the land of your best opponent to win "fairly".

Gliese already touched on that you will fall behind. But, the quicker you knock the other guy out the better. And obtaining all that gold from capturing cities helps you cope with leaving the slider high (plus you won't have to waste hammers on settlers). If you do things right, on those difficulties you should have caught up by CS (and probably sooner). Alphabet/Writing, Currency, and CoL are important tech to get. They can help to prop up your empire from massive expansion (whether peaceful or not) until your land develops. If you follow along community games, you are bound to understand the important concepts easier.

The tech path to follow is the one that lets you improve your land the most. It's almost entirely map dependent.

I don't think that you need to be particularly strong in micro-managing on Prince or Monarch to win. You can still get by with mistakes. I don't see why you would restrict yourself to only 5 or 6 cities if you can have more. Land (and the quality of that land) is the most important thing in this game. I tend not to micromanage the tile too much, unless I want to emphasize something, in which I'll manually direct which tiles to work.

Land (and the quality of that land) is the most important thing in this game.
I realised that yesterday. Land is power, but good land is the most powerful.

I don't see why you would restrict yourself to only 5 or 6 cities if you can have more

Yeah I always get the best land and have the best cities without huge overlapping area, that have resources and develop cultural areas around them as a buffer. I usually play standard and sometimes add an extra AI, thats why so few. You can't get more before all the land is gone.

As per the micro-managing, i specifically want to know when you then on "emphasize great person" and "emphasize science", as well as if / how much you manage the SPECIALISTS, which is something I am just getting in to.

Its a completely non-obvious facet of the game where you actually have to zoom to a city, take people off their work tile and set them as a specialist. I bet most beginner-intermediate players have never even done this once. Its only the core peeps taht really get into this game that really unearth how to use that stuff to max effectiveness. Thats really what I am working on right now.

Okay guys, I'd really appreciate some advice on a couple points related to early game setting up. Here goes...

+ In the early game expansion phase (1-6 cities) how do you best accomplish this (tech order or priority, worker use, per-city emphasis automation settings, etc) such that you can expand as fast as possible without blowing your science budget. Specifically I'm looking for how to best manage an expansion that is as fast as possible.

+ What is the best way (units, how many cities you need, wonders, techs) to attack an opponent VERY early, like an early game rush. This is for use against AI players Prince-Monarch, not real players.

+ What are the best tips you have on managing cities for specific emphasis in your empire. Assume a small empire, maybe 5-6 cities. Specifically: How much do you manually control workers, do you use the citizen automation, if not how do you manage the citizens, how do you best use the Food<->Production<->Commerce toggles.

+ (I'm not sure if this one even has an real answer) How do you sustain any war in the ancient-earlymedievil eras without letting the other AIs blow past you in tech.
How do you stay competitive?

Thanks for any and all tips, I'm looking to improve my game and I really think better mastery of the above is key to advancing.
to make sure no AIs blow past you in tech you could have one city making all the units or more but not too much citys and the others or whatever others you have could be helping you stay on top of the technologies. Or just build lots of units and take over the enemies citys and because you will have more citys you will be getting more research and have more of a chance to catch up and mybe get ahead.hope that helps:D:D:):D:D:cool::D.

to make sure no AIs blow past you in tech you could have one city making all the units or more but not too much citys and the others or whatever others you have could be helping you stay on top of the technologies. Or just build lots of units and take over the enemies citys and because you will have more citys you will be getting more research and have more of a chance to catch up and mybe get ahead.hope that helps:D:D:):D:D:cool::D.then again if you do decide to rush the enemy and you only produce units in one city you are producing them waaaay to slow.

I prefer to either expand peacefully or to go all out in an early push. Early in the game you will want to kill the AI off completely. If you leave him alive you will have to finish the job later and by then you may get the 'you declared war on our friend' penalties to diplomacy.

+ In the early game expansion phase (1-6 cities) how do you best accomplish this (tech order or priority, worker use, per-city emphasis automation settings, etc) such that you can expand as fast as possible without blowing your science budget. Specifically I'm looking for how to best manage an expansion that is as fast as possible.Early tech priorities would be worker techs and you will want to open with a worker fairly often. Then as soon as the worker pops out you will want to improve your food tiles. What techs you choose depends first and foremost on the food in the capitols BFC.

After the food is secured it is generally adviced to go BW for slavery and chopping or AH. Sometimes you can grab an additional food inprovement from AH, sometimes you want to chop asap so this really depends. When in doubt I'd pick BW.

When the worker is out, get a few workers out to scout and spawnbust the barbs. You will want to find good spots to settle your next city. When your city reached about size 3 or so, start your next worker and then a settler. If your capital has high food, growing to size 5 instead is perfectly valid too.

Grab land by settling aggressively towards the AI. If you grab good spots the AI will not have that great land. Those great sites behind your capitol can wait until you savely claimed the land so that you can settle at least 6 cities. 8 or 9 or so would be better to settle, but as long as you can secure land for 6 cities there is no reason to panic.

+ What is the best way (units, how many cities you need, wonders, techs) to attack an opponent VERY early, like an early game rush. This is for use against AI players Prince-Monarch, not real players.IN the war academy there are some very good articles about the early rush. You can also find tables that let you decide how many units you need per defending archer.

Some leaders will build more units then others. Some are aggressive and may even rush you, some are complete pushovers that you can own with minimal effort. You want to scout the AI land if you will rush because you want to know if he has horses -bring spears! - or copper - axes!

Turning on yields helps to see if an AI has a resource that you cannot yet see. Paying attention also helps. If you have horses and see a mine in a clean grassland you know what time it is. If you see a grassland that produces 2f1h then you also know there will be metal there. You can spot this even before you have BW so pay attenton to the opponent that you will rush!

You can also engage your target in diplomacy. If he says 'fear my axes' or something you know he has copper.

+ What are the best tips you have on managing cities for specific emphasis in your empire. Assume a small empire, maybe 5-6 cities. Specifically: How much do you manually control workers, do you use the citizen automation, if not how do you manage the citizens, how do you best use the Food<->Production<->Commerce toggles.In general I would say not to use the automation of anything. If you do not understand how certain functions work, try to learn by looking it up in the pedia, or ask on these boards. Once you get comfortable managing your cities you will find your game improves a lot.

Do not be afraid to make mistakes because they will help towards you getting a firmer grasp op the mechanics of this game.

1 city runs 2 scientist (capital usually works best)
1 city is a unit pump
1 city is a worker pump/settler pump
other cities are hybrids geared toward production (my preference)

The minimum tech path should be Alpha and Currency so you can build research and then build wealth. Basically, once you have Alpha, every city can normally produce 10+ beakers. As infrastructure nears completion then I start focusing on what kind of economy I am going to run.

Basically it goes something like- working farms, mines, and luxuries while REXing and teching towards Alpha. You then use scientist to fuel research and cottages to pay for maintenance and once you have alpha you also can build research and speed things up.

then again if you do decide to rush the enemy and you only produce units in one city you are producing them waaaay to slow.

I prefer to either expand peacefully or to go all out in an early push. Early in the game you will want to kill the AI off completely. If you leave him alive you will have to finish the job later and by then you may get the 'you declared war on our friend' penalties to diplomacy.

Early tech priorities would be worker techs and you will want to open with a worker fairly often. Then as soon as the worker pops out you will want to improve your food tiles. What techs you choose depends first and foremost on the food in the capitols BFC.

After the food is secured it is generally adviced to go BW for slavery and chopping or AH. Sometimes you can grab an additional food inprovement from AH, sometimes you want to chop asap so this really depends. When in doubt I'd pick BW.

When the worker is out, get a few workers out to scout and spawnbust the barbs. You will want to find good spots to settle your next city. When your city reached about size 3 or so, start your next worker and then a settler. If your capital has high food, growing to size 5 instead is perfectly valid too.

Grab land by settling aggressively towards the AI. If you grab good spots the AI will not have that great land. Those great sites behind your capitol can wait until you savely claimed the land so that you can settle at least 6 cities. 8 or 9 or so would be better to settle, but as long as you can secure land for 6 cities there is no reason to panic.

IN the war academy there are some very good articles about the early rush. You can also find tables that let you decide how many units you need per defending archer.

Some leaders will build more units then others. Some are aggressive and may even rush you, some are complete pushovers that you can own with minimal effort. You want to scout the AI land if you will rush because you want to know if he has horses -bring spears! - or copper - axes!

Turning on yields helps to see if an AI has a resource that you cannot yet see. Paying attention also helps. If you have horses and see a mine in a clean grassland you know what time it is. If you see a grassland that produces 2f1h then you also know there will be metal there. You can spot this even before you have BW so pay attenton to the opponent that you will rush!

You can also engage your target in diplomacy. If he says 'fear my axes' or something you know he has copper.

In general I would say not to use the automation of anything. If you do not understand how certain functions work, try to learn by looking it up in the pedia, or ask on these boards. Once you get comfortable managing your cities you will find your game improves a lot.

Do not be afraid to make mistakes because they will help towards you getting a firmer grasp op the mechanics of this game.
One the best things to do though are to find a strategie that you like.When i play i just try and have a really good start by destroying a empire fist but to do that i have to first get high in tech and build about 5 swordsmen and then i can do that and once i destroy one empire i make a few more and destroy another one and i do this until everyone else catches up with me. by then i have more citys than anyone else and go further ahead than everyone else.

+ In the early game expansion phase (1-6 cities) how do you best accomplish this (tech order or priority, worker use, per-city emphasis automation settings, etc) such that you can expand as fast as possible without blowing your science budget. Specifically I'm looking for how to best manage an expansion that is as fast as possible.
The simplest answer to this is to build a worker first (or workboat if you have fishing and start coastal). After that, build warriors till the happy cap. Then start pumping out workers and settlers at about a 1.5 workers/city ratio. The 2nd city you found should hopefully get you copper or horses. It can then start pumping troops out for your new settlers. If you don't have copper or horses, you're gonna need to get archery before barbs come, which won't be too early since it's prince/monarch.

As far as tech order, you need to get your worker techs first. This may include AH, if so, great because you want to find horses anyhow. You will also usually want BW early, so you can find copper, chop, and whip. It really depends on your map and your leader beyond that.
+ What is the best way (units, how many cities you need, wonders, techs) to attack an opponent VERY early, like an early game rush. This is for use against AI players Prince-Monarch, not real players.

+ What are the best tips you have on managing cities for specific emphasis in your empire. Assume a small empire, maybe 5-6 cities. Specifically: How much do you manually control workers, do you use the citizen automation, if not how do you manage the citizens, how do you best use the Food<->Production<->Commerce toggles.

If I have a small empire like that, I don't automate anything. 5-6 cities is very easy to manage. In an ideal situation, with 6 cities you'll want 1 GP farm where food food food is all you really want. Maybe "some" hammers so you can build a couple of wonders and the necessary buildings to get specialists. Another 2 cities should be focused on hammers for troop building and/or wonders. Don't be too concerned with wonders until you master other aspects of the game though. Afterall, if you can win without 'em, you know you can win with 'em. And finally the other 3 cities should all be cottaged up.

Like I said, this is an ideal situation. You may want more troops early, replace a cottage city with another hammer city. The other problem you will noticed is a lot of times the map will decide what kind of cities you're making for the most part. If there is food everywhere and no hammers, then you may want to still designate a food heavy city as a "unit pump" and just whip troops until you can find a better hammer site. Or, you may have a ton of hills with little grasslands. Less cottages but more hammers usually equal=build troops and take some grassland!

The toggles are mildly useful if you keep a keen eye on what's happening. Still, with a smaller empire you're better served to "just do it" yourself.
+ (I'm not sure if this one even has an real answer) How do you sustain any war in the ancient-earlymedievil eras without letting the other AIs blow past you in tech.
How do you stay competitive?
Gliese answered this very well already. You are gonna fall behind. Learn to deal with it, it's part of the game. You just need to make sure you improve your land enough to catch you up later on.

Hope that helps ya some!

One the best things to do though are to find a strategie that you like.When i play i just try and have a really good start by destroying a empire fist but to do that i have to first get high in tech and build about 5 swordsmen and then i can do that and once i destroy one empire i make a few more and destroy another one and i do this until everyone else catches up with me. by then i have more citys than anyone else and go further ahead than everyone else.

It's OK to have a favourite strategy, but I wouldn't recommend having the same opening regardless of the map and the AI situation. I would suggest to try different openings that way you'll know what to do depending on the situation.