Roman problems in noble

[urbanknight]

i began this game, domination,low sea level, noble,as Caesar of Rome; i believe my major problem is not fully understanding the micromanaging of my cities, i.e. moving workers around to their best job; i got into Civ. in Civ.3, and never played the first several Civs; i attempted to rex and avoid war until my economy would support the venture; as Rome, i suppose i could have rolled over my opponents early (Charlemange,Frederick, Gilgamesh, and Summy ? ) but chose to attempt to be able to fund my expansions first; however, slowly, my opponents began to outstrip me in techs and, by the end, i as woefully behind; i have included three of four saves, the last being too painful to list here; any advice would be greatfully appreciated

 

[z0wb13]

post screens, because many here won't take the time to open saves. just use F12 and photobucket.

the opponents that you list are generally pretty powerful. let them tear each other down with careful diplomacy.

 

[Foamy7]

Only looked at the first save. At this point you still have a tech lead, but you are researching Priesthood, a tech that every other civ in the game is willing to trade you. In fact, you ought to be able to get at least three techs thru trades almost immediately.
Research Code of Laws immediately to build Courthouses.

Also, you need Monarchy ASAP for Hereditary Rule. Trade for Priesthood and tech this.

I'm assuming you researched Bronze Working quickly on a beeline to Iron Working for Praets, but you haven't enabled Slavery yet, in 760 AD. All of your cities are at or above their happy cap and you can use the whip to get rid of unhappy citizens. Slavery gives you one unhappy citizen for X amount of turns, but they're already mad due to overcrowding.

In sum : Trade techs, switch to slavery ASAP. Research COL to get courthouses and whip em out. Then research monarchy to add +1 happiness for each unit in a city; it looks like you have several per city.

Edit : Your workers have done a good job of cottaging the CRAP out of your land. But, building all those cottages does nothing if you don't have the pop to work them. You need to put more of an emphasis on production early on and get them units out to go get more land! You have WAY too many unchopped trees, especially around your capital. Chop out some buildings/units along with the whip and get those cities rolling. You need more than 5 or so mines in your entire empire at this point too.

Edit : Looked at 1780. You need to use Civics. You are still in Barbarism and Paganism, which provide no bonuses to your empire. Also, you are in the civic which gives +50% to worker speed, but your entire empire is improved almost to the max. With the notable exception of Rome, which has a LOT of forest remaining with hills underneath.
Some useful civics include Bureaucracy, which improves your capital's performance significantly, and Caste System, which allows unlimited specialists. These would be much better than what you have at this point. Press F3 in-game to see the civics you are currently in and mouse over to see their effects on your empire. One or two turns of anarchy is a fair trade for the bonuses they provide.

I hope all this helps.

 

[Amao]

Roman's strength rely on its Prats. You want to get iron early and have some prod cities up and start rolling over other AIs and use their capitals for better economic centers. Otherwise, it really really a waste.

 

[mzprox]

looked at the first save as well, my advice is more or less the same as above:

1, trade techs
2, stop building monuments and useless buildings build more cities or more military and go to war
3, switch to slavery and use it (for example whip the temples after priesthood)
4, tech to monarchy and change to hereditary rule
5, in cities with library get some scientist specialists and use the great scientists to build academies or discover technologies.
6, converting to judaism probably a good idea
7, never go over the happy cap unless you plan to whip the useless population or expect to get more happyness soon. So stop working on farms and switch to mines and cottages when you have reached the max happy pop.

 

[Leveler]

Some my opinions:

760:

• 3680 BC Rome has been founded? First city should be founded on 1st or 2nd turn.
• Rome and Antium are building monuments, which is usually needed only for the first border expansion. Waste of hammers (if not Charismatic leader).
• Quite much unhappiness. If you don't have happiness resources available, research Monarchy.
• Switch to Slavery and whip those unhappy citizens away
• Great Persons: If you don't have any wonders generating GP points, use specialists in one city to generate GPs.

1780:

• Rome is stuck at size 7. Forests should chopped long time ago and tiles farmed for more food.
• Civil Service is very important tech because it enables powerful Bureaucracy. I wouldn't ever research Gunpowder before CS.
• Two Great Persons have been sleeping in Rome for a long time. If you don't have plan for GP, use them to lightbuld techs or join them to cities. Don't keep them just waiting.
• You have over 1000 gold and science slider is at 40% and you are getting +60 gold per turn. If you don't have any special plans that require much gold, science slider should be at 70%.

 

[Foamy7]

Just another quick response - I played your game up to 1200 AD from the 760 save.

You have a rather large military at this point, and praets are one of the best UU's at this point in time. I used it (large mil also eats gold, this could have some effect on your maintenance as well)

Tech trades were huge. Finished Priest and then traded, got Monarchy in a trade right away, so there's that. Switched to Hereditary Rule, Slavery, and picked a religion.

Looking at the AI's, there were two basic blocs in play, so I picked one to ally with and switched to their religion.

Got Code of Laws and went for Construction to get some Catapults. Got that done and whipped/chopped out 8 of them.

Sent two stacks into Sury's land to your west and had him down to two cities by 1170 AD or so. Sued for peace and got 4 techs, which was huge to help you catch back up.

Also whipped out courthouses immediately after CoL to get your maint down.

Basically, by 1200, I had it caught up in tech, at 60% science slider, and had gotten Rome and Neapolis turned into pure unit pumps by chopping and mining all those hills. Also converted many cottages to farms to pay for working the mines.

No save, but the game was clearly winnable from that point, even though you were starting to dig a hole.

Focus on food/production in 3 cities dedicated to building units and happy buildings, and cottage the rest if you want to run a cottage economy.

Watch your civics. The beginning ones do nothing for you.

Start making trades as soon as you get Alphabet. and ALWAYS try to negotiate the price if you can.

Best of luck!

 

[urbanknight]

first off, thanx to all responders ( zowb13, foamy 7, amao, mzprox, leveler ); in past games, when i attempted to roll over my opponents w/ prats, i managed to eliminate one but soon had no gold but did have a lot of units on strike; my thought was to get cash and stomp everyone later ( i didn't choose conquest win but rather domination for this reason ); when i have chosen a financial leader ( Willem Van usually ) i made money but bullies like Monty, Genghis, or their ilk cleaned my clock; usually, opponents refuse to trade anything meaningful ( Foamy, you must be using hypnosis ); i also suppose i was saving the trees to rush wonders and also for replaceable parts; i am just beginng to ' bulb ' the idea of moving workers, on the city screen, from one resource to another ( i still don't quite get the concept ); again, HUGE thanx to all; i am about to go back in to 760 and see if i can replicate Foamy's success; results to follow

 

[Foamy7]

Diplomatic relations are the key to successful trading. In this scenario, there are two blocs of AI's near you. Sury and one other vs other two. Having a religion in common with an AI improves your relations, which makes them far more likely to trade with you.
In 760, you do not have significant penalties with anyone yet, so you can trade with all 4 AI's at this point.

In other words, pick the religion that is common to the group you want to be friends with. I picked Sury as a target pretty much at random. Not only was he a conveniently close target, the Jewish holy city (ie mad money producer) was the 3rd target city that I nabbed.

By researching Code of Laws, you get Confucianism, but this would give you significant diplo penalties against all AI's - i.e., best not to go with this until you are doing well enough on your own.

Basically, by 760 you should know the major alliances between AI's. Religion usually plays a key factor in this, but there are other things as well.

Every couple of turns look at the F1 thru F12 screens to see how you are doing. Learn how to read them and what it all means.

In the forums, there is a sticky for Strategy guides. I highly recommend Sisiutil's guide for beginners. I was stuck on Noble for a long time until I read that guide; it really helped me jump up.

Best of luck!