Wining the game on king....

OsmarChito

Warlord
Joined
Aug 12, 2006
Messages
145
Hey guys i find it very difficult to beat the game on king mostly because of happiness. my happiness goes negative the AI always has very good happiness and very high points and gold also, i always found a religion and chose good happiness beliefes, but still my happiness ends up negative over time any suggestions on how to get good happiness or how do you guys do it to win on king?....I play on huge continents with 24 civilizations....
 
First off, don't compare your happiness and gold to that of the AI players. One of the running jokes in this forum is the infinite happiness the computer players get.

As for happiness, we might need more info to help you. But here are some tips:
- Lots of city means lots of unhappiness. First tip then: settle less cities.
- Don't settle new cities just to grab land, settle to get new luxury items. On a huge map that's tough because you will probably get a lot of one kind - so make friends with the AI players and trade lux for lux.
- Settling nearing horses, elephants, and stone allow you to build Circus/Stone Works in those cities, which is a nice way to scoop some cheap happiness.
- Just because you pick happiness religion components doesn't mean you are exploiting them. Make sure you meet the condition of the religion option (e.g. settle on rivers, or have a population of at least 3, or whatever).
- Are you conquering a lot of cities? Raze them and re-settle to avoid costly unhappiness issues.
- Are you exploring the map early on? On a huge map you should be able to pick up +10 happiness just from finding all the Wonders on the map.
- Build stadiums.
- Choose the happiness policies in the policy screen - especially the one under Honour for defensive structures or the ones in the Piety tree.
- Make friends with Mercantile city states or any city state with a lux you don't have.
 
Your happiness is exactly the same as it would be on Prince. The AI is getting a bigger bonus now, but everything for you is exactly the same as before. The difference from Prince to King is that the AIs will expand faster/build more and be more agressive. There is no difference in your happiness.

So... go back to whatever you were doing on Prince. Fewer cities, more happiness buildings, whatever the difference was.

How are you playing with 24 civs? The limit is 22. And how many CSs are in the game? The more CS, the more chances for more happiness from them.
 
Try playing tall instead of wide, the games I win on king are usually won by a culture or science vic.
 
First off, don't compare your happiness and gold to that of the AI players. One of the running jokes in this forum is the infinite happiness the computer players get.

As for happiness, we might need more info to help you. But here are some tips:
- Lots of city means lots of unhappiness. First tip then: settle less cities.
- Don't settle new cities just to grab land, settle to get new luxury items. On a huge map that's tough because you will probably get a lot of one kind - so make friends with the AI players and trade lux for lux.
- Settling nearing horses, elephants, and stone allow you to build Circus/Stone Works in those cities, which is a nice way to scoop some cheap happiness.
- Just because you pick happiness religion components doesn't mean you are exploiting them. Make sure you meet the condition of the religion option (e.g. settle on rivers, or have a population of at least 3, or whatever).
- Are you conquering a lot of cities? Raze them and re-settle to avoid costly unhappiness issues.
- Are you exploring the map early on? On a huge map you should be able to pick up +10 happiness just from finding all the Wonders on the map.
- Build stadiums.
- Choose the happiness policies in the policy screen - especially the one under Honour for defensive structures or the ones in the Piety tree.
- Make friends with Mercantile city states or any city state with a lux you don't have.

I exactly correct.
 
thanks for the tips, i play with 22 civilization on huge continents map with 35 city states, but theres one problem the ai easely wins a diplomatic victory because he allied with most of the city states
 
thanks for the tips, i play with 22 civilization on huge continents map with 35 city states, but theres one problem the ai easely wins a diplomatic victory because he allied with most of the city states

You'll just have to outdo him then. Build tons of trading posts, take Commerce or Patronage, and try to have spies in all city-states you are allied with. Wonders and policies that boost your espionage isn't bad, either.
 
IMO you dont have to go tall, wide is still a very good approach on the right map.

general rule of thumb - in the initial expansion phase, expand only to city sites that offer a new UNIQUE luxury.
Also get a good religion that gives some happiness benefit per city, at least 2 or 3 per city. pagodas is the best.

you can basically go as wide as the map allows, if you stick to these 2 guidelines.
 
I keep mostly puppets. But mid or late to mid game I have lots of money and I will 'unpuppet' a city. Then I can buy a courthouse, buy a theater, buy a stadium, buy a Pagoda.

Bang, happiness goes way up.

Also, raze the little cities that don't have much in resources. If they aren't giving you 3-4 useful resources they aren't worth the unhappiness.
 
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