Detailed Emperor Difficulty Game, Ancient to Classical - Need Guidance [image heavy]

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Hi, long time lurker, first time poster, blah, blah, blah. I don't do intro threads.

The strategy articles and tips at CivFanatics have taken me from struggling on Monarch difficulty to owning it's face on a regular basis. I would like to thank you all profusely for the help - this is a great site! Now that I have stroked your egos, I am going to ask you for more help. What? I'm needy.

I feel I am ready for Emperor difficulty level, but my first dozen or so attempts have been uber-epic fail. I've tried doing SE and CE, a number of leader traits... noting seems to work. It is getting very frustrating. I decided to start a new Emperor game with fairly run of the mill settings and document all of my decisions in the early game. My previous defeats have all been during the Middle Ages or Renaissance - or at least that is when it became clear I could not win - so my early game is obviously what needs work. I have played 128 turns and have come to what I see as a crucial decision point. I invite you guys to critique my game so far and maybe point out where I went wrong (if I have gone wrong).

I am going to ask a lot of questions throughout my narrative of this game. I don't expect anyone to address every question - though that would be freaking awesome - so feel free to just answer a few specific questions (quoting them would help), or simply make general comments/recommendations. If you can't beat Emperor either, please refrain from trying to give advice, or at least make a caveat. All of my questions are in Blue text. (to appease those with white backgrounds) The screenies are mostly to help me remember what I did; you probably only need to click on them when I am referencing terrain.

Here goes - leader and game settings:

Willem of the Dutch, Continents, Medium Sea, Temperate, all defaults on, Epic speed, and of course, Emperor difficulty. Are there any optional settings like "No Huts" or "No tech brokering" that I should consider to help me ease into Emperor? I am worried about developing bad habits by selecting them. Is Pangaea or some other map type easier/harder than the others? I seem to get raped no matter what I choose, with my closest game on Archipelago (as Hannibal - hax!). I have decided to try the dutch out on emperor for the first time. UU and UB come too late to help my early game, but I have a good feeling about Financial/Creative. I plan to focus on a cottage based economy this game; is this a good idea? I am playing on epic gamespeed because it is my favorite from lower difficulty levels. Do gamespeeds significantly effect the difficulty on Emperor? Should I consider a faster/slower game?

My starting location:
I moved my warrior south to see what he could see, and he saw sparklies. I decide to move my settler south to get the gems in it's radius. I am usually reticent to move my starting settler - loosing a turn is a big deal - but this seems worth it. Was giving up my first turn a good idea?
I still got the corn I didn't know was there, and there are plenty of trees and hills and river tiles. When the borders pop I will see if I missed out on anything to the north. I start building a worker right away because I want those gems sooner rather than later. Was this wise? Should I have waited until the city grew before building a worker?
Turn 4: I have already met my first neighbor. He must be close. I hate that.
Turn 5: Borders popped - no resources north. I believe my decision to move has been vindicated. I am researching mining obviously. Should I be working the gems tile for the extra gold, or the corn tile for the faster worker (as I am)?
Turn 8: I meet the Greeks. Damn it's cramped in here. I think he started south of the jungle region. I'm going to steal this hut from him. With my luck, they will be hostile, or give me some lame map of the ocean.
Turn 12: I decide to go Bronze Working next, for the usual reasons. I typically go strait for BW; is this an appropriate research path?
Turn 13: Buddhism founded.
Turn 17: Lucky! A hut I almost lost to Saladin gives me hunting.
Turn 19: Stone discovered, not too terribly far from my capital. I consider a wonder rush, but none of the early stone wonders seem appealing. If I discover an early stone resource like this, how should I leverage it to my advantage?
Turn 26: Hinduism founded. But not by Saladin. Isn't he normally a religion whore? The Greeks are pretty agnostic, maybe I can found the only religion on this continent. Is pursuing an early religion worthwhile on Emperor, and under what conditions? My worker is starting on the gems, I am building a scout to learn more about the world. Are scouts even worth building on this difficulty level; should I have built a warrior?
Turn 29: Lost my warrior to a freaking wolf. Typical. I now have no military whatsoever.
Turn 33: Finished BW. I revolt to slavery immediately; should I have waited? I am researching Animal Husbrandry next. I am concerned that there is no copper on my map. Maybe I can hold off the barbarians with a few chariots. I don't usually depend on archers for defense; is it smart to skip archery like this in favor of techs for resource dependent units?
Turn 39: Scout dispatched, warrior next. My dumbass ambassador has gone and pissed off the Greeks. How do I even have an ambassador to Greece? I don't know where it is!
Turn 45: There is Mecca; I was right about it being close. I am improving the pig tile and researching the wheel now.
Turn 50: Wheel done. I am moving on to pottery. I need to get my cottage economy off the ground.
Turn 52: I dispatched the warrior I built earlier to find Greece so I can apologize for my ambassador. I switched my production to a settler at size 4; should I have started my first settler sooner or later than this?
Turn 55: found Greece. Barbarians are spawning, did they start at turn 50?
Turn 57: got pottery, going for writing. I considered iron working next, was IW or some other tech a better choice than Writing? So much for my scout, BTW. This is why I asked about the utility of scouts; a warrior could have survived this encounter.
Turn 60: more info about Greece. They will get marble unless I can steal it from them. The Arabs second city founded in a less than optimal location touching my borders. I don't think we are going to be friends.

Image tag limit reached. To be continued...
 
Turn 62: My first settler is done. I am considering the following potential locations:



I weigh all the factors - agonize over them, really. The first two are possibilities to grab stone early, but I can't form a strategy in my head for any of the stone supported wonders. Pyramids are more useful for SE and/or Spiritual builds, Stonehenge is worthless for creative leaders (and built already, I think), Great Wall just sucks (and always looks stupid when you rush it). Also, it fails to block my neighbors. I like to settle aggressively towards my neighbors; especially as a creative leader since I have an edge in border disputes. That consideration rules out the first 4. I eventually decide on the 6th location, to snag another gem and block Saladin. I may even be able to grab the corn and pigs, depending on how much emphasis he puts on culture. Come calendar it will have sugar. There is jungle down there, so I need IW ASAP. This first city placement is a crucial decision. I am especially interested in feedback on my choice. I follow up dispatching the settler with building another worker. I know I don't have any military. I'll get right on that I swear. The path to my city location is mostly along cultural borders, and I have a warrior near there, so the fog is busted and the likelihood of encountering barbs is low.

Turn 65: I just had to say it and jynx myself. Barb warrior right next to the tile. Settler dead.
Turn 66: Screw that - rewind to turn 65. I normally frown on doing this, but when the game bends me over a chair like this I see it as a forgivable. Plus, I already put a lot of work into doing this as a demo game, so I'm not about to scrap it all.
Turn 66 (take 2): I let my settler chill for a turn and move my warrior differently. The barb attacks him because he doesn't know there is a juicy undefended settler just over the hills. My warrior wins and there is much rejoicing.
Turn 67: Writing done, IW next, obviously. I negotiate open borders with both of my neighbors. Pericles seems to have forgotten about my ambassador deflowering his 16 year old daughter. Is there a reference for how long it takes for diplomacy bonuses/penalties to wear off? Utrecht builds a warrior because this whole "not having a military" thing is obviously a huge risk.
Turn 68: Worker done, time for a granary in the capital. 2 food resources + Granary + Slavery = uber production. It will help me solve this military deficit.
Turn 74: First cottage up. I was able to postpone because of the gems, but did I wait to long to start building cottages? I have been happy with the tech rate up to this point.
Turn 80: look at the borders of Utrecht. I love being creative. It finished the warrior and has moved on to granary. Worker gets a head start on roads while waiting on IW to get those gems. Other one farms corn that Saladin probably thought was going to be his.
Turn 81: I don't remember where this warrior came from. Maybe Utrecht built 2? Anyway, he has found the third Arab city in a sub-optimal location. I am perfectly fine with Saladin founding crappy cities. At least until I conquer him - then it is kind of annoying. Speaking of which, Saladin has a military that could rape mine. I know I need to get better defenders on line ASAP. I am crossing my fingers that I have Iron nearby so I can build Axmen.
Turn 83: whipped the settler. Next city is going to block the Greeks and get me some Marble. Also horses, in case I don't get iron right away. Switched capital to library. I know I don't have an escort for the settler, but this time the fog really is busted. Really. Also, look at those idiotic city placement recommendations. Am I missing something, or are those things always dumb?
Turn 84: Iron near the capital, thank the goddess! I even have a route to it already. My choice to move the starting settler south one has proven to be prescient. The iron would not be in the city radius if I hadn't moved. Judaism has not been founded yet. I decide that it is time for my people to get religion and my neighbors are obviously not interested in helping me with that. I research Mysticism.
Turn 87: The Hague has been founded, much to the chagrin of war criminals everywhere. I feel relatively safe with it being undefended; barbarians can't spawn near it and their bloody minded AI will likely take them elsewhere. Fingers crossed. I start on a library. Normally I would do granary first, but this city is intended to block Pericles, who is also creative, so I need the culture. Is building a library first justified?
Turn 89: My capital is growing back from whipping too fast. I find that my fastest growing cities tend to be stuck with an unhappy citizen about half the time during much of the early game (pre-calendar/religion). Do I depend on the whip too much; would my empire benefit more from not working the food tiles and having more cottages/mines up?
Turn 90: Hi ho, Hi ho, it's off to work we go. Building iron and gem mines.
Turn 93: Library finished, riots in the streets, building another worker.
Turn 95: Iron mine finished, hooking the Hague up to my trade network. I notice that I am in the lead in score. This is unusual for me in Emperor. It would be kinda lame if my "what am I doing wrong" sample game turns out to be going perfectly.
Turn 97: Third worker done, switched to settler, then saw that the barbarians are on the march, so I hurry an axmen instead. Got that iron just in time. I thought they had to wait until turn 100 to attack civilizations.
Turn 98: Judaism Founded. @#$%! Just kidding, I didn't realistically expect to get it, but the research path to get it is very close to the research path for Oracle slingshot to CoL. That is the other reason I founded the Hague where I did. The Oracle with marble takes less time to build than a settler. In other news, vermin have eaten all the grain in Medina. Heh heh heh.
Turn 100: Thankfully, the barbarians are not interested in pillaging my improvements and are instead going to suicidally attack my city. You can also see off to the west they have founded a city. It has been there since at least turn 98. Is there a reference that explains barbarian behavior?
Turn 101: St. Augustine (not born for another 2000 years) has ranked the civilizations based on size. I am in the #2 spot, far above my neighbors. Really? I seem to be doing well. Glad this wasn't a power comparison.
Turn 102: One of the barbarians makes like it is going after my iron mine. My second axmen is done, so I send one out to kill it. I start on another settler.

To be continued...
 
Turn 102: Hurry library in Utrecht - want those pigs back. Axmen dispatched in advance of new settler. Gem mine done, sending all 3 workers to grab marble for a quick Oracle.
Turn 106: Advance axmen discovers Greeks have expanded to get sugar. How sweet of them. Decide to build city near elephants instead. That will do it for blocking greek expansion into what I consider my territory.
Turn 107: I notice than despite having open borders and trade connections with everyone, I don't have any foreign trade routes. Saladin and Pericles must be trading with each other, and bypassing me entirely. The bastards, THEY MUST DIE!
Turn 109: Marble quarry finished. Dispatched workers in different directions to get my core cities upgraded. I still only have three. What is the best worker to city ratio for this stage of the game? I think I am behind. I still need to get more cottages online.
Turn 110: Priesthood done, ready for Oracle to CoL. This is where I get confused about what to research. Neither of my opponents have Alphabet yet, but I am tempted to go strait to literature to get the Great Library - gotta milk that marble for all it is worth. Not running a SE, so that is less important than it could be. I tentatively decide on Alphabet. Maybe I can broker between these two yahoos. What would you have researched at this point?
Turn 111: Settler dispatched, Oracle started. Two workers have come to chop forests to speed it along. It would only take 10 turns otherwise, but still. I have hardly touched the forests yet.
Turn 113: The Arabs founded Baghdad in an inconvenient location. I am sending out an axmen to scope out where else they may have expanded to and pick out my next city location to block them. Everything west of this river (which I hereby dub the river Izzy) is mine!
Turn 117: Oracle finished, CoLs discovered, Confucianism founded, in Utrecht no less! That will help with the culture battle against the Arabs. You can see in this screenie that I have lost the corn to them. Free missionary sent to capital to help with happy cap. The revolution has begun.
Turn 120: Three turns after it has founded Confucianism has spread to BOTH my neighbors. These people are desperate for my divine guidance. Or something. Confucianism doesn't actually have deities, does it? Both convert. The Hague is coming along. Its growth has been stagnant because its only improved tiles produce 1 food, but my worker is going bushwack a farm next to the river and fix that. It finally has a defender courtesy of Utrecht.
Turn 121: No further signs of Arabian expansion detected, but the barbarians are another matter. They have screwed up my city placement plan for that area. Should I burn barbarian cities with sub-optimal placement, or do I just have to conquer them and work around it?
Turn 125: Pericles is a douche. He founded a city in a horrible location just to get those gems, and to try to steal my ivory. His creativity will make this a harder border battle than Utrecht. I realize that I should have build my 4th city one north of where he built his, and then another could have gone one NW of where mine is now. No need to tell me I screwed up here, it is obvious to me in hindsight. Oh well, live and learn.
What time is it? Tech brokering time. Someone discovered alphabet three turns before I did, and traded it, or they both discovered it, whatever. Either way, I see that they both have archery, alphabet and sailing. Saladin wants Priesthood, and Pericles lacks all the religious techs, and can trade for Mysticism. I know I need to refine my tech brokering. I try to remember to check the trade adviser screen every turn, but sometimes I forget. In fact, they may have had Alphabet for a few turns already, but I hope not.
Saladin won't give me sailing or archery for Priesthood, just alphabet. Screw that.
The only trade I can get from helmet boy is Alphabet for Mysticism. I almost reject it out of hand, but then I realize that Mysticism is so cheap that it's research cost is only a little more than what I have left on Alphabet. I agree, hoping it might give me "fair and forthright" bonus. It doesn't. I see that he is pleased so I can ask for tech rather than demand it. I ask for archery and he agrees. I was not expecting that. Maybe I should have asked for sailing. Is there a reference that explains AI trading behavior in detail? I never understand what they are willing to gift/tribute and why.
Turn 127: Utrecht finished it's worker, and is going to build a chariot to finish exploring the continent. Exploration of Greek territory is long overdue. For all I know there is another civ south of his territory, though I doubt it, I would have seen a scout by now. I got the corn tile back. Those poor Utrechtians have no idea which tiles to work with all this border shifting.
This is an old screenie, but it is to show you where I built my 5th city, as part of the "prevent Arabian expansion" directive. One of the hills has iron. This was an unwise choice, as you can see from this next one:
Turn 128: Saladin, may infected boils grow on his ass, has founded a city to the north that puts a serious damper on my efforts to halt his expansion. How can I block the Arabs now? Should I even try?

This is the critical decision point I was talking about. I am pretty good at Wei Qi (Go), but I don't see how blocking him now is realistic. It would require at least three cities - four if I want to prevent the isolation of my northern outpost - and I would have to build them FAST. I have forests I could chop, it might work. Several of them would be in crappy locations, though. Should I just expand west and share the northern part of the continent with him? Should I go for Construction and then rush an army of elephants, axmen and catapults to stop his expansion at the point of a sword? He lacks horses, can I bend this to my advantage? I don't know if I can build the required army fast enough. What is the next step? How would you play from here?

My saved game is in the first post, feel free to play from here and tell me what you did and why. Otherwise, do you guys think I am off to a good start, or have I screwed myself already? What would you have done differently? All advice (from people who can play on this difficulty level) welcome.
 
What victory are you planning to achieve?

Do not hesitate to steal workers at monarch+. This will accelerate your empire's growth. Neighboring civs are opportunities for an early rush. Crushing opponents early on works well for all victory targets (maybe not on diplomatic, depending on what diplo win strat you are trying to pull off).
 
What victory are you planning to achieve?

Well, at this point my goal is mostly to not be crushed under a huge stack of macemen in 1000 AD, but so far I think the door is still open to every victory type. If I wind up with less territory than my rivals I can try to hunker down for a cultural. I already have several cities involved in culture disputes where I might even build monuments eventually. Two of them have decent production, so those plus my capitol for the three legendary. Also, as the sole religion founder on this continent, I may be able turn this continent into a diplomatic lovefest and play the other religions against each other on the other continent for a diplomatic victory.

If I get my fair share of territory I can leverage my financial trait to try to keep just far enough ahead of one of my neighbors to conquer them quickly, then outech everybody to space. Or if I can't keep up that much of a lead, just go on the warpath. Dikes will make my coastal cities unusually productive. Hell, I could even make Confucianism the one true religion of the world.

Overall, though, I don't think I am at the point where I need to choose. Religious will be ruled out soon if I don't tech towards it, but otherwise it is still early enough.

Do not hesitate to steal workers at monarch+. This will accelerate your empire's growth. Neighboring civs are opportunities for an early rush. Crushing opponents early on works well for all victory targets (maybe not on diplomatic, depending on what diplo win strat you are trying to pull off).

My experiments with this from before tell me that it is a bad idea if they have more than one city. So in this game I missed my opportunity, mecca was discovered by a scout, not a warrior, and I didn't even find Greece until he had at least 2 cities. I've had mixed results from worker stealing. Maybe I need to practice it more.

As for rushing Saladin, I didn't have copper. Not sure I could have gotten the necessary axmen online if I had to wait for iron. As it stands, my first axmen rolled out just in time to fight off the barbarian horde.
 
Are there any optional settings like "No Huts" or "No tech brokering" that I should consider to help me ease into Emperor?

No Barbarians makes worker stealing easier

I plan to focus on a cottage based economy this game; is this a good idea?
Yup.Just fine. Though you may have to resort to food economy at some point/s (most of the time, at the beginning)

I am playing on epic gamespeed because it is my favorite from lower difficulty levels.
IMO, this is the most balanced speed. But if you have the patience, try Marathon, it's (almost) the best.

Do gamespeeds significantly effect the difficulty on Emperor? Should I consider a faster/slower game?

depends on target victory. domination and conquest --> marathon
the rest--> any speed

Turn 4: I have already met my first neighbor. He must be close. I hate that.

If you plan peaceful expansion, that is.
But your neighbor that near, an early rush will be easy and if I were in your shoes, I would be grinning. :D

Turn 33: Finished BW. I revolt to slavery immediately; should I have waited? I am researching Animal Husbrandry next. I am concerned that there is no copper on my map. Maybe I can hold off the barbarians with a few chariots.
Hmm.. Try scouting some more, you might find it somewhere. If there are really none, it means you might have iron or horse.

I don't usually depend on archers for defense; is it smart to skip archery like this in favor of techs for resource dependent units?
You have barbarians on, you may still have to research it so you're prepared for the barbarian spawn thing event (a stack of barb archers coming near your cities). (You didn't find bronze, right? so no axe to defend your cities...)
 
My experiments with this from before tell me that it is a bad idea if they have more than one city. So in this game I missed my opportunity, mecca was discovered by a scout, not a warrior, and I didn't even find Greece until he had at least 2 cities. I've had mixed results from worker stealing. Maybe I need to practice it more.

Build 3 warriors ASAP. If you have to sacrifice city growth so be it.

As for rushing Saladin, I didn't have copper. Not sure I could have gotten the necessary axmen online if I had to wait for iron. As it stands, my first axmen rolled out just in time to fight off the barbarian horde.

well, you are in a bad start. If you don't have bronze and do not want to start a new game, go steal workers then chop a lot of settlers and warriors/archers. In this way, you won't get boxed by your closest neighbor.
The A.I.s are quick on building settlers, so you have to be really fast.
 
If you plan peaceful expansion, that is.
But your neighbor that near, an early rush will be easy and if I were in your shoes, I would be grinning. :D

I would have liked to eliminate Saladin early. Maybe that would have been a better use for my first 100 turns. I probably wouldn't have been able to stop Pericles' expansion as far south as I did, but I would have the whole north to myself. Not sure how I could have pulled it off. I need to practice rushing, too. Is it feasible without nearby copper? Saladin is Protective, which makes it that much harder. Not sure I could have done it.

If I want to take him out now, what should I do? I am bad at ancient/classical wars. I have Ivory, and he lacks horses. Pericles is blocked from expanding, so I can halt expansion now if I want to go for Saladin's throat. Still, that whole protective thing... not sure it's worth it at this point.

Hmm.. Try scouting some more, you might find it somewhere. If there are really none, it means you might have iron or horse.

Turns out I didn't have any. I went for iron working earlier than I normally do and it paid off.

You have barbarians on, you may still have to research it so you're prepared for the barbarian spawn thing event (a stack of barb archers coming near your cities). (You didn't find bronze, right? so no axe to defend your cities...)

It almost bit me in the ass, but I got my iron hooked up just in time to make an axmen to fight off the first batch of barbs when it became possible for them to enter my territory. I assume that event can't happen until after the normal barbarians are already allowed to enter your territory. Never researched it at all. Pericles gave it to me out of the goodness of his heart. I thought it was weird. Probably won't build a single archer, though. As far as I can tell, Axmen are superior in every way except cost.

well, you are in a bad start. If you don't have bronze and do not want to start a new game, go steal workers then chop a lot of settlers and warriors/archers. In this way, you won't get boxed by your closest neighbor.
The A.I.s are quick on building settlers, so you have to be really fast.

I was doing a pretty good job blocking both of them without stealing workers until I botched that last city placement. I really don't know what I was thinking. Blocking his westward expansion was more important that blocking his northern expansion.
 
MY EYES MELT WHILE READING THAT YELLOW TEXT, please just use bolded text instead!
 
I agree with the bolded text. Actually, right now my computer is really slow so it takes a very long time to get the screenshots to show up bigger on a separate window if I click on them. Is there any possibility that you could make the screenshots bigger? It's just becuase I can't view the small ones and if I click on them, as mentioned before, it takes a VERY long time to load them. :)
 
MY EYES MELT WHILE READING THAT YELLOW TEXT, please just use bolded text instead!

It looks great on the skin "Black CFC." When I picked it, it didn't occur to me that other people are using different background colors. Try the black skin. Dark backgrounds for websites are easier on the eyes in general.

I am changing it to Blue. That should look fine on both light and dark backgrounds.
 
Actually, right now my computer is really slow so it takes a very long time to get the screenshots to show up bigger on a separate window if I click on them. Is there any possibility that you could make the screenshots bigger? It's just becuase I can't view the small ones and if I click on them, as mentioned before, it takes a VERY long time to load them. :)

Not without downloading them all from imageshack, resizing them, re uploading them and changing all the links. Sorry.
 
My computer is working semi-ok so I got to see the first 2 images of your game.

1. Settling 1 south was the right decision. Good job. This is epic speed so 1 turn lost isn't major compared to normal speed.

2. Worker first was right as well. You started with mining as your first tech choice and inherently agriculture so the worker should have farmed the corn then mined the gems.
 
I would have liked to eliminate Saladin early. Maybe that would have been a better use for my first 100 turns. I probably wouldn't have been able to stop Pericles' expansion as far south as I did, but I would have the whole north to myself. Not sure how I could have pulled it off. I need to practice rushing, too. Is it feasible without nearby copper? Saladin is Protective, which makes it that much harder. Not sure I could have done it.

If I want to take him out now, what should I do? I am bad at ancient/classical wars.

Possible even without copper. However, the city you are rushing must not be on a hill (for protective civs). The Dutch starts with fishing and agri so you may want a chariot rush. AH first - find the horse, if it is in your area, build worker. If somewhere near, build settler. While doing this, send your warriors (you should have built some of them while teching AH) to steal 1-2 workers, preferably on the civ you will be attacking. (yes, even if you are building a worker yourself). Research mining > BW > wheel. When you are stealing workers, you should have taken a good glimpse of the location of the enemy city (make sure your warrior walks on hills/jungles/forests so if the A.I. retaliates, the warrior will survive). If you see 2 archers, chop-rush 8 chariots; if 3 archers, 10-12; if 4 archers, forget it - just work on peaceful expansion and wait until construction or iron working.

Before attacking: Since you have already researched BW and AH, check enemy civ if it has copper or horse. Have 1-2 chariots (the first ones you chop-rushed) station near the bronze/horse site. Capture the worker that is trying to build the improvement ASAP (remember to sign cease fire agreement after worker stealing; else, the A.I. will build additional archers and it will be a pain).

On attack: Declare war once you are about to enter the enemy's territory. Make sure your units are on the shortest route possible to the city site and they must not cross a river when attack time comes.

Take note this is if you don't have copper and planning to attack a protective civ. If you do have copper, just build barracks and chop-rush 7-8 CR1 axes.
 
I plan to focus on a cottage based economy this game; is this a good idea?

No. Don't pre-decide on your economy before seeing your map.

Do gamespeeds significantly effect the difficulty on Emperor? Should I consider a faster/slower game?

Yes. The slower the gamespeed, the easier the game. Epic is a good choice for starters.

Was giving up my first turn a good idea?

Yes. Don't be afraid to move your settler for better land or early blocking, especially when playing slower speeds.

Was this wise? Should I have waited until the city grew before building a worker?

No.

Should I be working the gems tile for the extra gold, or the corn tile for the faster worker (as I am)?

Faster worker. An improved gem tile will pay off.

I typically go strait for BW; is this an appropriate research path?

Typically, no. It's more important to improve your best tiles as soon as possible. BW comes next.

If I discover an early stone resource like this, how should I leverage it to my advantage?

Look for opportunities, but don't go out of your way. Stone can be leveraged in mid game too, i.e. by building early Oxford.

Is pursuing an early religion worthwhile on Emperor, and under what conditions?

Under one condition: you know why you need it. For people learning the game, I'd say trying out diplomacy manipulation via foreign religions is more useful. Diplomacy is hugely important on the high levels.

I revolt to slavery immediately; should I have waited?

Yes. Don't revolt before you need to whip. For one, you risk the slave revolt event under certain conditions.

I don't usually depend on archers for defense; is it smart to skip archery like this in favor of techs for resource dependent units?

If you can get them in time, time defined by projected barbarian activity.

I switched my production to a settler at size 4; should I have started my first settler sooner or later than this?

It's good to grow before producing settlers. Early pop points are worth just a fraction of a settler. However, when you need to beat the AI to a particular spot, you have to focus on the settler.

I considered iron working next, was IW or some other tech a better choice than Writing?

IW is good for rushing or occasionally jungle removal for key resources like gems and pigs. The AI has high priority on IW, and normally you can get Alpha and trade for IW, while enjoying the various benefits of Writing.
 
Originally Posted by Izmir Stinger
I plan to focus on a cottage based economy this game; is this a good idea?

No. Don't pre-decide on your economy before seeing your map.

Hi USun (and Izmir, i hope i do not steal your thread),
may i ask you how to decide which economy to run? I read your posting in the BOTM 10 thread but (i am not a very good player) from your short description i couldn't figure why you decided to run a hammer economy. (and i failed loading the save, maybe because of vista or blue marble/bug or something).

guess it's not only interesting for me or at least i hope so
 
He already had a strong tech pace from mids/rep scientists in his capitol...and a lot of land to expand in peacefully, way more than normal in deity. Deity cities are usually very developed when captured, but new cities are not. Considering he hit state property pretty fast, expansion wasn't going to kill him. Hammer cities, specifically workshops, only need hammer improvements and multipliers (and possibly :)/health modifiers once they grow). They are up and pounding out units very quickly if you're building them at that stage in the game, and he took full advantage.

What bothers me is after seeing that, I still have extreme difficulty replicating the ridiculous base BPT he gets and size of the cities (especially the capitol) in the early game. While I usually prefer cottages it's not like I don't make suped up specialist GP farms, and that's what that capitol was set for. But he gets AHEAD of the AIs and trades. I have trouble keeping parity even with bulbs/trades. Maybe my trades or bad, or I'm not managing deficit research enough, or I'm expanding too slowly, or something, but I just can't seem to put up those #'s in the early game on emp/immortal. I know that's reasonable to some extent because the AIs don't advance as fast, but I usually fall behind on immortal and have a lot of trouble catching up. My only wins so far on immortal have been AP cheese, marathon abuse, or taking/getting enough early land to just cottage spam and outrun the AI with pure cottage #'s advantage. That's not gonna cut it on deity (ok, maybe if I use marathon war chariots and get a lucky roll where the AI doesn't have metal but I have horses in the BFC, but under NORMAL circumstances it won't). When I try to tech fast I lose expansion, and that in turn slows down long-term tech (even short term to an extent). I'm probably specializing too many cities one way or something.

I haven't really posted a detailed, turn by turn display of my game with saves every 500-1000 BC years yet, but it might be necessary if I can't piece this together.

Although practice in my attempts @ immortal EQM have been promising - I'm improving at least.
 
Thank you Unconquered Sun, your input was very helpful! If you don't mind, could you expand on how to choose your economy?

Hi USun (and Izmir, i hope i do not steal your thread),
may i ask you how to decide which economy to run? I read your posting in the BOTM 10 thread but (i am not a very good player) from your short description i couldn't figure why you decided to run a hammer economy. (and i failed loading the save, maybe because of vista or blue marble/bug or something).

guess it's not only interesting for me or at least i hope so

You are not really hijacking, I would like to read a description of what factors indicate which economy is the best choice.

The only criteria I know for what type of economy to run is that the Philosophical (and to some extent, Industrious) trait lends itself to SE, while Financial lends itself to CE. All of my favorite leaders have one or the other. What other criteria should I consider? In this game I don't think I am to the point where there is much difference. So far I have mostly only improved special resources, so I could go for farms instead of cottages if strategy dictates.
 
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