Playing on Prince

"New to the Game"

OK, I played on Prince and just couldn't win or even come close to winning. So I tried Noble, I won in two tries.

So the question is this, playing on the upper levels; Prince and beyond, what settings are are typically used?

My settings on both levels are:

• continents

• standard world size

• Temperate Climate

• continents

• medium sea level

• ancient starting era

• normal speed

All victory conditions are in play except Diplo

I turned off Space Race Vic. once on Prince, but felt it was like cheating. Though, I did get my best score on Prince that way.

I just wonder if to win on the higher levels you need to tweak the game settings?

I imagine if I played on Prince with archipelago land mass it would be easier, but that just seems like handicapping.

But, Noble seems too easy sooo...

*Not really looking for a "how to", figure that out on my own, just wondering what others play on...

For a long time, the Strategy & Tips forums were stuck on Axe Rush mode, which meant settings were often chosen to conform to that. Happily, they've now moved on to more varied play, if recent threads are any indication.

Winning is possible with any settings. The key is to understand what the settings affect, and why.

For myself, I tend to favor rocky continents with low seas.

It makes barbarians much more of a pain in the butt, but I don't find seafood/water starts to be that fun, so I attempt to minimize them.

Likewise, playing on Rocky means that good cottage sites are in much shorter supply, but I enjoy hard-building things.

Strong Reaction said:

So the question is this, playing on the upper levels; Prince and beyond, what settings are are typically used?

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Anything really. You don't exactly change settings to win; you try to win under the settings. The ones you have listed: a standard map script, of normal size and normal game speed, would be considered a prince difficulty game. Or a deity difficulty game, if the setting was deity. Something like game speed can considered to change the difficulty. Quick is harder than Normal, because there is a premium on good turn-by-turn decisions, warfare is less viable, and if you play a HUGE map on quick, you're sort of racing against distant issues you have no control over. Marathon is significantly easier in some ways, though there can be staggering barb pressure at that speed and it represents a lot of commitment.

Some settings are meta for the forums: leaving all victories enabled is standard practice, and people tend to disable huts and events since they can be annoyingly random distortions. So you're Rome and you pop Iron Working from a hut. Such mad skillz.

Play Warlords on Emperor with Shuffle, random climate, sea level, leader (usually, altho used to be infatuated with Augustus) and opponents, standard map size and normal speed, ancient start. Masochist that I am, oftentimes don't bother to retry with a mediocre start, but will give up around the Medieval Era once things look hopeless.

There is very little difference between Noble and Prince, once you go up to Monarch the AI starts to get strong bonuses. I would strongly advise that you leave all Victory Conditions switched on, otherwise the game can be distorted in surprising ways.

^^^this

I like the Inland Sea map script, mainly because the initial land grab is less of a rush and you generally only have two neighbors at a time. I think I like the terrain distribution a bit more too.

i play on monarch now, 60-70% winrate i think is my limit, try "no technology brokering" option.

diegobueno said:

i play on monarch now, 60-70% winrate i think is my limit, try "no technology brokering" option.

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I tried that a while back. The thinking was I could demand tech from nations I was a war with in the peace terms, but you cant. I couldn't even see what tech they had which was a bit of disadvantage. I guess it makes sense though.

Strong Reaction said:

I tried that a while back. The thinking was I could demand tech from nations I was a war with in the peace terms, but you cant. I couldn't even see what tech they had which was a bit of disadvantage. I guess it makes sense though.

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No tech brokering is different from no tech trading. With no brokering, you can still trade techs, but only techs you've researched yourself. This can make the tech trading game easier, as you won't need to fear that the AI spreads around the techs you give them. But it can also be abused by always trading/gifting the AI whatever they are researching just before they complete it.

elitetroops said:

No tech brokering is different from no tech trading. With no brokering, you can still trade techs, but only techs you've researched yourself. This can make the tech trading game easier, as you won't need to fear that the AI spreads around the techs you give them. But it can also be abused by always trading/gifting the AI whatever they are researching just before they complete it.

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yes! and that make you can catch in tech faster, the other thing is, like, if you need machinery for example, and the only civ has it, is like tokugawa, you need to tech yourself. pros and cons...

some tips that helpme at noble-prince:
1) always try 100% if you need gold early = failgold-pillage-slider, caste system 2 merchants, etc.
2) always try to go for economics techs, like currency, you dont need a stable+baracks on every city, you can make wealth instead and you can trade for alpha, i think, im not sure if is a good idea, maybe other users can verify this xD
3) expand at least 6 cities minimun, and prepare to expand-conquer when you recover your economy
4) plan several turns ahead
5) 1 city to produce troops all time, reemplace warrior for archers,the archers with longbows etc.

and the most important, use bug mod