I've really been having a tough time adjusting to the much more aggressive AI in BtS (which I just bought, finally, last week). I usually played Prince in Vanilla, but I have been beaten repeatedly on Noble difficulty in BtS.

My main problem seems to be that the AI expands much faster than I am used to, and is much more focused on military than before. I'm usually a warmonger myself, but I have found myself reluctant to go to war because of other countries power ratings. I can keep technological parity, but it seems that I am outproduced by every other nation.

Here is my current game, which is rapidly going downhill. I had recently declared on top dog Zara after finally bringing my military up to his level, only to have Napoleon (an ally) and Bismarck attack me one after the other, forcing me to suspend my war with Ethiopia. Adding insult to injury, the Apostolic Palace, which until recently I was the head of, forced me to return a city to Zara.

I believe this particular game is no longer winnable, but I could use some specific pointers on preventing this from happening again.

One last thing: is it just me, or are siege weapons no longer that effective against cities? In my war with Ethiopia I built what I judged to be an adequate amount of artillery (about 9-12 catapults and 4 trebuchets), only to have it take more than 3 turns to break down the first city's defenses (which I might add, were around 70% according to the counter near the name of the city, but the information bar at the top left of the screen recorded its defenses being above 100%.

One last thing: is it just me, or are siege weapons no longer that effective against cities? In my war with Ethiopia I built what I judged to be an adequate amount of artillery (about 9-12 catapults and 4 trebuchets), only to have it take more than 3 turns to break down the first city's defenses (which I might add, were around 70% according to the counter near the name of the city, but the information bar at the top left of the screen recorded its defenses being above 100%.
It sounds like Zara had the Chicken Pizza. It's odd that the % numbers changed like that when there were no gunpowder units in your stack. The % defense changes when you have selected a gunpowder unit (because walls/castles no longer apply to them).

My advice is to specialize your cities. Have your capital be your military producer until you can settle a city that is massive :hammers: heavy. Whip units in your cities more, now. And prepare to invade an AI real early if they are too close for comfort. I don't even remember Vanilla as I played Warlords for almost 2 years before getting BTS. I guess I adjusted in Warlords.

It sounds like Zara had the Chicken Pizza. It's odd that the % numbers changed like that when there were no gunpowder units in your stack. The % defense changes when you have selected a gunpowder unit (because walls/castles no longer apply to them).

My advice is to specialize your cities. Have your capital be your military producer until you can settle a city that is massive :hammers: heavy. Whip units in your cities more, now. And prepare to invade an AI real early if they are too close for comfort. I don't even remember Vanilla as I played Warlords for almost 2 years before getting BTS. I guess I adjusted in Warlords.

Actually, Bismarck had the Chichen Itza wonder (though when I wheeled my forces around to attack him I noticed the same effect).

To your second paragraph, I've been accused of whipping too much at times to pump out units, which hurt my population level.

Just how early should I rush the enemy in BtS? In Vanilla I usually tried to pump up my forces and see who was vulnerable around 500-0 BC. It seems in BtS that by that time everyone is pretty well established.

I've tried being more aggressive and REXing, maybe I just haven't taken it far enough.

Rush waay before 500-0AD. Rush is literally rush to BW, rush to copper, rush whip units to rush to enemy borders. Only do this if the enemy is close enough to stifle your peaceful growth which would warrant an early war. Other than that, wait until you have cats/swords or even post medieval