A little guidance please.

[FlyingSwan]

I seem to end up building markets everywhere for the GPT and happiness boost with consumption,when not playing calabim I build elder councils too.Then I build 1 training yard/archery range/hunting lodge/seige workshop/mage guild in the most productive citys.Im thinking for the smaller citys you would just build wealth or research-maybe run some specialists and leave them stagnant.Things like gambling houses/public baths etc are very expensive.I like the way you can use slaves to hurry production though.

Ive been reading alot about aristoagrarinism,I cant imagine this would be the best civic combo for the elves as they would lose a hammer from their farmed forests,or for FIN civs with alot of cottages as you lose 1 food from your farms by running aristocracy-meaning you can work less cottages.

In the early game Godking seems the best civic to run,but is it worth b-lining if you dont start with ancient chants?or even if you do?The way im playing at the moment its usually AGR or CRAFT 1st to improve food tiles then I tend to go calender or MIN depending on resources.MYST I tend to put on the back burner-should I make this tech more of a priority to run Godking earlier?

EDIT-unrelated,but have the Dark elves ability to have captured animals with hidden nationality been taken away from them?

EDIT-it seems I get hidden nationality with bears and wolves,but not giant spiders

 

[Qgqqqqq]

You should avoid having more than one unit-type building per city. It works...but you want to minimize it (so your cities are specialized).

Other buildings are generally not worthwhile, unless you have the doubler (or want a GP, etc.). All of these are variant based on events in the game.

You should absolutely never build wealth/research, unless it is for an extremely specific case for a very short time. It is very inefficient.

If you're playing FIN in base, aristograrianism is absolutely 100% the right decision, and you should build no cottages post CoL. This is because aristocracy applies the FIN bonus to every farm.

GK I tend to avoid unless SPI. Depends how long before you can adopt Aristocracy/how good the terrain is.

Animals spawn without the HN promo if they come from lairs/events.

 

[FlyingSwan]

thanks for answering my questions.I loved this game 5 years ago,and I love it even more now with the MNAI mod-feels like a new game.

With FIN trait I figured it wouldnt affect riverside farms as they start with 1 commerce then go to 3 anyway with aristocracy.I thought cottage riverside and farm grassland with FIN.Having said that im playing the dark elves at the moment and ive noticed some riverside farms have 4 commerce(il check though-maybe theres a tech ive missed that gives farms 1 more commerce)

Speaking of dark elves,the kidnap promotion how does that work?do you just have to go from city to city until you find one with a settled great person in it?Ive founded CoE,if I spread that to opponents citys can you see inside them?maybe its a false memory but im sure you could do something like that,or I could be thinking of BTS with Espionage points.

Yes you were right about the animals,I was trying to get a little army of spiders together but I found even the baby spider dont get the HN promo.Ive caught a spider in the wild since and that had a baby spider with HN promo.

Im building a training yard in 1 city,a mage guild in another city etc If thats what you mean for city specializaion.

 

[Qgqqqqq]

Some units can investigate cities they're in. I forget which.

FIN adds +1c to any tile with 2c or more. So riverside farms go to 4c, but more importantly non-riverside farms (from lakes, and chain irrigating) go from 2c -> 3c.

 

[FlyingSwan]

thanks.aristocracy is an awesome civic early game.Ive played quite a few games with the MNAI mod now and I dont recall Archeron appearing,where as on unmodded FFH he seemed to appear evey game,very early (and usually right next to me..) and you would always have a message come up to say so,has something changed with the latest patch?The only settings I add are Living world and advanced tactics,I keep eveything else normal.

 

[Qgqqqqq]

I don't believe anything's changed. In fact, I recall a tag being put in to make sure they build him if available...

Important to remember though, that Acheron isn't spawned. He's built by a barb city, which can happen any time after ~t70 quick speed, so he needs that city to spawn.

Anyway, better to put that message in the appropriate bugs thread.

 

[Qgqqqqq]

Oh and (generally) aristocracy is a awesome civic late game, as well. As in, nothing really beats it for economy apart from city states in specific circumstances. Republic is generally never the right decision.

 

[FlyingSwan]

Yeah republic I switch to during a golden age,I guess its good to run when going for a cultural victory.City states I imagine is good for a massive immature empire.

You were right about Archeron btw,it was because of my map set up I think-im playing erebus,standard size with a low sea level and adding 3 extra civs.The barb citys obviously didnt have chance to spawn.Im playing erebus maps because I still cant get the maps to work in the "maps and scenarios section",it says load failed or loads BTS instead,which is a shame.The only maps Ive generated that still have that "erebus" feel are highland and rocky tectonics.Oh and I did a terra map with the clan of embers,of course I got goblins in the new world,which was fun.

 

[Qgqqqqq]

Sorry?

Can you generate maps or not? Obviously you can't play BTS scenarios.

Yeah, Republic would be good for that. But I wouldn't revolt for GA - that's when you want the farm commerce to get the GA bonus.

 

[FlyingSwan]

I cant seem to load the maps in the "ffh2 scenarios and maps" forum,theres a post vernaculars maps,but when I click the zip file it open up bts-the post is 2009 mind you.Also the maps in the "challenge series" I through to V wont load for me either.

I can generate maps just fine.Ive found erebus map script with a low sea level works well,although still maybe 1 in 5 maps it throws out ridiculous starts-like isolated by the sea and mountain ranges with like 2 resources.

I have done a culture victory years ago,I think I got it as you do in BTS-spamming great artist/bards.I also got the grand menagerie legitimately,the 1 and only time.Got the gorrilla from a travelling salesmen event-I digress.

Maybe Ive been playing BTS too long,but the GA in my current game I went into republic/pacifism/guilds and maxed out on the engineers in the biggest citys,smaller citys that would have no chance of getting a great person I leave alone so they get the commerce/hammer bonuses.Thats pretty much how you deal with a golden age in BTS-switch into caste/pacifism/merchantalism.You get the +100% GPP for the golden age so it seems like the perfect time to revolt to me.

 

[FlyingSwan]

In a game as the Sidar in which the Calabim have summoned Basium.Im planning on taking them out next so Im converting mana nodes to LIFE for destroy undead spell but also because the 1st pestilance has just hit.This will work against the vampires but what about the Mercurians?If their holy then what type of magic works best to fight the angels?I think Basium himself got killed by Acheron-which Ive captured.

View attachment flyingswan AD-0307 plague hits.CivBeyondSwordSave

Also the Sidar are my new favourite civ,I never rated them for years but I love the shades/ghosts and divined souls.Ive been trying to work out a way to use the divined souls as a rush unit to attack citys,but they are useless without some back up.

The best I can come up with is mages with movement promotion and fireball.This way the mages rush in launch fireballs at the city,then the divined souls sever soul on top of the mages and use their 2 movement points to attack the city.Any other ideas on how to buff this unit early on for attacking citys?

Also is there a way to get them to sever soul automatically when moving?It seems to turn into a CLK fest of severing soul,moving soul,click on soul to teleport divined,move divined soul...Maybe theres a quicker way and im missing it?

 

[A Moon]

I think the Air II spell, Malestrom, would be best for fighting the Mercurians; angels resist a lot of damage-types, but that should work.

Destroy Undead won't do too much against the Calabim though, unless perhaps you're facing a lot of spectres. Vampires aren't undead.

 

[FlyingSwan]

Vampires aren't undead.

Didnt know that,I just assumed they were going to be vunerable to destroy undead spell.As it happened this game the vamps were away fighting the Lanun and by the time I got to the angels I had blasting powder-and a big red dragon-so spells didnt come into it much.

Started another game as the Sidar.Im wanting to run conquest civic but I dont understand how it works exactly or when to switch too it.Do you let citys grow to max size?or keep them small with excess food?wait till you have sanitation then switch out of aristocracy maybe?



View attachment flyingswan AD-0197 how does conquest work.CivBeyondSwordSave

 

[Qgqqqqq]

Growing to max size which uses available non- tiles is generally the best strategy. The AI stagnates, and that's one of its biggest failings.