Got a ~1250 domination win on Immortal with this strategy. It may be a fluke since it's the first time I've beat this level. Drew some easy opponents: Gandhi, Isabella, Napolean & Tokugawa. Never had a chance to build pyramids but I was able to get Ganhi's shrine early and only Isabella declared on me.
Pete's guide to Emporer level domination wins.
- Thread starter Pete2006
- Start date
arf, my current game on immortal small pangea epic speed, i ve got alex, mocty, julius and roosevelt. Never seen a so violent early game before. Alex dead by axes, julius is dying, 've got 9 cities already, with several gold mines but without CoL yet so i survive on pillage hoard, trying to max income without crippling my prod so i ll be able to romp through mocty and grab his juicy pyramid. Roosevelt will be catherine cossacks spammed last i think.
Murky
Deity
Excellent article. I gave it 5 stars.
I wonder how you would approach Immortal or Deity.
I wonder how you would approach Immortal or Deity.
dh_epic
Cold War Veteran
This is a great article. I found it really helpful. I tend to get stuck around emperor, and I've been trying to find a way to up the ante. These tips have helped refine some of my tactics with immortal. I realize I do a less than optimal job with even something like founding cities -- some of my cities are all food, and other cities being all luxuries. A balance is important.
ArnoldSiemsen
Chieftain
- Joined
- Nov 27, 2003
- Messages
- 20
Please explain what "Chop the settlers" means.
Thanks,
Arnie
Thanks,
Arnie
Mr. Civtastic
Prince
- Joined
- Jan 2, 2006
- Messages
- 488
Vic is imp/fin
Sir Janus
Warlord
ArnoldSiemsen said:
When your workers chop down some trees you get a production bonus in the nearest city. So set the nearest city to produce a settler and chop some trees - this speeds up production of the settler.
In my attempt at the Quattromaster's Challenge I needed to get better at the higher difficulty levels (primarily Emporer and up) and was reading through the War Academy when I came across this guide. After reading it through several times I gave it a shot on a Monarch submission I had for the Quattromasters Challenge. I thought I'd post my thoughts on your guide.
Map Settings I used: Tiny Pangaea (high water) Marathon speed (Warlords 2.08.003 HoF Mod) 4 opponents
First off, I made a few adjustments in my game.
My initial build was worker, settler, settler and immediately began research on BW. The worker did two chops to speed up the settlers. Even as fast as I got both of them out I still had to adjust my third city as one of the AI's already grabbed the site I wanted. I can see why the initial builds are this way. I was able to grab the copper with my second city though.
My basic builds were:
City #1 (Worker, Settler, Settler, Barracks, Units)
City #2 & #3 (Worker, Barracks, Units)
First War: As mentioned in the guide I aimed my first early war after two cities. My initial attack called for two attack groups. I actually went after three cities with the intention of razing one. The razed city fell quickly, but the main city I wanted my attack force fell due to some horribly unlucky range rolls. I lost two consective battles with a success chance of 84% and 93% respectively. I turned my second attack force around and sent it back to the city I really wanted and was able to take it. The city I was going after would make a great research city.
Now with four cities I began building units up as well as some light infrastructure.
Second War: Once I had two massive stacks built up I declared again on my opponent from earlier. At this point I was one turn shy of researching CoL, which is approx. when the guide suggests for the second war. I had intended to take all cities except the capitol. I wanted to wait until I had cats to counter the capitols' 60% cultural defense. The thing was the capitol only had two archer defenders so I was able to take it without much difficulty during the second war.
At this point I controlled 48% of all land with the next closest AI at 20-22%. It was fairly obvious this game was over. Long story short, I took out my next closest and weakest neighbor bringing me to within 5% of the domination limit. Than I whittled a little off my other neighbor to put me over.
Comments:
I really liked this guide and it was a really fun game. Again, I'm more the builder type so this was definitely an unusual game for me. Hopefully I'll try this soon on Emperor and/or above. Sorry Pete, but I was informed by other HoF players of another way to peacefully beat the higher levels and since that's more my style, I plan on attempting that way first. But I plan on keeping this in mind, as it was very effective and a lot of fun.
One final note, I never finished researching Civil Service for the Macemen. I had all the requirements except CS, but two things; 1) due to maintenance costs I couldn't afford to research CS, and 2) I didn't need CS. I won the game using only swords, axes, and cats in 700 AD.
Thanks Pete and great job on the guide!
Map Settings I used: Tiny Pangaea (high water) Marathon speed (Warlords 2.08.003 HoF Mod) 4 opponents
First off, I made a few adjustments in my game.
- Monarch difficulty level: I've never beat Monarch before though I've played it in SGOTM and SG games. I've always figured I could beat it, but decided to break Monarch in with your guide, even though your guide is meant for Emperor games.
- Catherine: Though I used Catherine as mentioned, I played the Warlords version where she is imperialistic and creative. This was totally different than the reasons the guide had, but figured what the heck.
- No Pyramids: I didn't wish to spend the hammers and/or chops on it and ignored it entirely. I realized after that above Monarch it will be needed for happiness purposes. On my game my cities didn't get over size 4 or 5 until Calendar. I can see the reason for wanting the Pyramids.
- Research: I skipped Masonry/Mysticism since I wasn't going for the Pyramids, though to be honest I was curious why Mysticism was mentioned in the guide as a tech to research. Am I missing something here? Also due to the map I went Sailing after the wheel.
My initial build was worker, settler, settler and immediately began research on BW. The worker did two chops to speed up the settlers. Even as fast as I got both of them out I still had to adjust my third city as one of the AI's already grabbed the site I wanted. I can see why the initial builds are this way. I was able to grab the copper with my second city though.
My basic builds were:
City #1 (Worker, Settler, Settler, Barracks, Units)
City #2 & #3 (Worker, Barracks, Units)
First War: As mentioned in the guide I aimed my first early war after two cities. My initial attack called for two attack groups. I actually went after three cities with the intention of razing one. The razed city fell quickly, but the main city I wanted my attack force fell due to some horribly unlucky range rolls. I lost two consective battles with a success chance of 84% and 93% respectively. I turned my second attack force around and sent it back to the city I really wanted and was able to take it. The city I was going after would make a great research city.
Now with four cities I began building units up as well as some light infrastructure.
Second War: Once I had two massive stacks built up I declared again on my opponent from earlier. At this point I was one turn shy of researching CoL, which is approx. when the guide suggests for the second war. I had intended to take all cities except the capitol. I wanted to wait until I had cats to counter the capitols' 60% cultural defense. The thing was the capitol only had two archer defenders so I was able to take it without much difficulty during the second war.
At this point I controlled 48% of all land with the next closest AI at 20-22%. It was fairly obvious this game was over. Long story short, I took out my next closest and weakest neighbor bringing me to within 5% of the domination limit. Than I whittled a little off my other neighbor to put me over.
Comments:
- I was rather impressed with the guide, especially since I'm not much of a warmonger. My style is a builder, so this guide really helped me out.
- With this style infrastructure is at a minumum. Barracks in any city that can build units with any speed, a courthouse, and a library only if it can pay for itself. Slow growing cities need a granary to help them build up.
- I was behind in a lot of techs, but it didn't matter. A very focused research path is the only way to go using this guide. If you stay focused on military techs as the guide suggests, the rest don't really matter. I did trade for Calendar though for the increased happiness. That was definitely a plus.
- Maintenance costs really get you. All cities I took initially hired artist specialist to expand my cultural borders. After that if the city wasn't very productive I hired its citizens out as merchants. Caste System is also a requirement for this game from what I experienced.
- I was amazed at how easy this game was. By the middle of the second war I knew this game was won. I don't know if your guide seriously made this game easy or if Monarch just isn't that difficult for me. Remember, this is my first solo Monarch game. I've played both Monarch and Emperor SGOTM and SG games, just never a solo game.
I really liked this guide and it was a really fun game. Again, I'm more the builder type so this was definitely an unusual game for me. Hopefully I'll try this soon on Emperor and/or above. Sorry Pete, but I was informed by other HoF players of another way to peacefully beat the higher levels and since that's more my style, I plan on attempting that way first. But I plan on keeping this in mind, as it was very effective and a lot of fun.
One final note, I never finished researching Civil Service for the Macemen. I had all the requirements except CS, but two things; 1) due to maintenance costs I couldn't afford to research CS, and 2) I didn't need CS. I won the game using only swords, axes, and cats in 700 AD.
Thanks Pete and great job on the guide!
Harbourboy
Deity
I too am interested in what changes might be made to this strategy, if any, for the latest version of Warlords.
We are so close to the release of BtS that it would be best to wait for that. I guess most people will be playing that once it's out. The changes to how Siege works among other things such as improved AI would cause many aggressive strategies to be revised.
Unless I'm mistaken, I believe Harbourboy is curious about it due to the current G-Major 13 game as linked in my sig!
Harbourboy
Deity
Methos, it's like you are some sort of mystical psychic. I could you have possibly read my mind like that.
But yes, the tactics in this thread did not work for me at all in G Major 13, whereas the more military ideas from The-Hawk, Moonsinger, Thrallia etc seemed to work much better for me. I never managed to build the wonders proposed in this thread and even when I did, I still found myself miles behind.
Whereas when I gave up on wonders and build axes and swords instead, I was able to more directly hamstring my opponents and therefore stay in the game that way.
I was curious whether this was to do with patches or Warlords, or due to my poor execution.
But yes, the tactics in this thread did not work for me at all in G Major 13, whereas the more military ideas from The-Hawk, Moonsinger, Thrallia etc seemed to work much better for me. I never managed to build the wonders proposed in this thread and even when I did, I still found myself miles behind.
Whereas when I gave up on wonders and build axes and swords instead, I was able to more directly hamstring my opponents and therefore stay in the game that way.
I was curious whether this was to do with patches or Warlords, or due to my poor execution.
It comes with the job.
Excellent part about our little HOF community, is the willingness to help others.
Yeah, I didn't go for the wonders either, though I must also admit I tried this on Monarch, not Emperor (you can check my earlier post on my game using this guide). I never tried this on Emperor, since I found a more builder style way to beat the higher levels.
@Harbourboy: Just curious, but what differences are you seeing from your attempts using this guide and the advice from the G-Major game?
Harbourboy
Deity
Methos, main difference was that I didn't bother with any wonders, because I found I wasn't good enough to be able to build wonders AND military. When I chose military, I found the game easier.
But I think game speed and map type are crucial variables in how you approach an emperor game as the same tactics probably wouldn't work in all situations.
But I think game speed and map type are crucial variables in how you approach an emperor game as the same tactics probably wouldn't work in all situations.
(not 30H...which was when this was written) from chopping forest until Math.Ghpstage
Deity
I would, we've learnt a lot since the time this was made, and BTS has quite a few differences to early vanilla.
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