Starting problems on Emperor and above

themoffster

Chieftain
Joined
Jan 2, 2002
Messages
72
I read this forum for the first time in years yesterday and it made me try a duel game on Emperor (or Immortal, I forget). Anyway, suffice to say it was at a level greater than my usual Prince/Monarch.

I had a good capital placement, but I just could not produce settlers quickly. In the time I had one settler built, the opposition had three cities already in place. How are you meant to compete with such a disadvantage?

I normally start by building a warrior, then move on to a settler but by the time the settler had been built, the two warriors (one is one that I start with) had been off exploring and had seen three enemy cities already.

I either continue and get three cities built and get attacked as I have such a poor military, or I get two and build up an army - in which time I have lost room for expansion.

I did try building one city then going on the offensive, but the opposition took out my attackers with ease, then walked into my capital.

How do you compete?
 
AFAIK you will always be at a start disadvantage. On Emporer+ its about starting small and growing large. Or just staying small to compete. I personally would rather grow in empire size. Usually I dont start trying to out settlers on higher difficulties until my capitol is at least a 3-4. I emphasize food as much as I can until then. My building queue is usually like this:

-Workboat if coastal with resources.
-Barracks next or first if inland.(I usually play agg civs)
-Research beeline for archery.
-Archer comes next after barracks if I can. If not, I kind of give the city busy work. Like a Work boat if coastal and have a resource to hit or warriors or something.
-If city still isnt a 3-4 by this time, time for more archers until it is.
-I dont make workers until I have 3 cities. You can live off the land fairly well.

Now the AI will have 5 cities by the time I have 3. But I do another settler rush to follow this once I begin connecting the cities and having them defended well. If you play raging barbs like me, they can get annoying and slow your 2nd rush to a crawl. The safest route here is to have you settlers duck and hide in cities and such on their way to the next spot. Also make sure they have an escort.
 
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