Requesting a critique...

[Sammcs]

Hello everyone! I'm just trying to become a better civ player.

Anyways, I'm attaching a save file with me as Mansa Musa. I like to play CE with financial civs. However, my war efforts usually go up in smoke after my initial offensive. I can usually steam roll someone when I get cataphants, but after that I usually lose steam. If someone could just download the file and assess my current situation with the best course of action to take I would be truly indebted.

Settings:
Prince
Terra
Large
8(ish) other civs (Can't remember exactly )

[Bhruic]

Your only real chance of victory at this point is beelining to the New World. You're behind on military techs, your military is virtually non-existent, and you are completely blocked in by Cyrus - who has Cavalry. The land around your cities isn't really great, so I'd say you have no chance at a victory unless you can expand - and the only real chance of expansion is via sailing. Build some Galleons and Settlers, and head over ASAP. You've got "No Barbarians" on, so you don't need any military units with them, so pack the Galleons full of Settlers. Switch to Slavery and whip them out if you have to. If you beat the other Civs there, the extra land will help a lot - making a Space Race victory more probable. Domination would be theoretically possible, but I doubt you'll get enough of the New World to qualify for that.

Still, I think that's the only realistic option you have at this point.

Bh

[Sammcs]

Ok. Thank you. I started a new game as Cyrus, and I'm COMPLETELY dominating right now. I think it's because he's not financial so I focused more on my military. It all just kind of hit me at once. Thanks for the comments though.

[hou jing]

Originally Posted by Sammcs

Hello everyone! I'm just trying to become a better civ player.

Anyways, I'm attaching a save file with me as Mansa Musa. I like to play CE with financial civs. However, my war efforts usually go up in smoke after my initial offensive. I can usually steam roll someone when I get cataphants, but after that I usually lose steam. If someone could just download the file and assess my current situation with the best course of action to take I would be truly indebted.

I can't offer much help, but I do have a question. If you look at Athens, it's settled on a tile containing silk. Don't you lose the full advantage of that resource if you settle a city there, as opposed to building a plantation on that tile?

[GoodGame]

Cyrus is actually very easy to wage early war with. His UU and traits are perfect for it. His main weakness is actually that all those cities conquered are very expensive, and if the enemy gets spearmen.

I think your financial trait problems may be more that you need to prioritize your post-Construction research to military traits if you're going for conquest.

Originally Posted by Sammcs

Ok. Thank you. I started a new game as Cyrus, and I'm COMPLETELY dominating right now. I think it's because he's not financial so I focused more on my military. It all just kind of hit me at once. Thanks for the comments though.

[Cam_H]

Originally Posted by hou jing

I can't offer much help, but I do have a question. If you look at Athens, it's settled on a tile containing silk. Don't you lose the full advantage of that resource if you settle a city there, as opposed to building a plantation on that tile?

Hou Jing,

Once you acquire Calendar, you automatically get access to the resource (that is, those cities connected to the trade network), but you lose the tile's normal -- bonus that would be attributed to a Silk Plantation.

Unfortunately I'm unable to look at the game from my current location, but if Athens is on a river it would get a bonus when compared to a 'normal' city site.

On occasion - and again, I can't address this current instance - plonking a city on a resource can occasionally be the optimum city placement in light of other resources, Lakes. Mountains, chokepoints, etc., although typically it's better to be able to leverage the value of the resource through a Worker improvement. Again, a consideration might be to place a city on a Strategic resource deliberately to prevent pillaging.