This thread was for multiplayer purpose in first instance but i think this may be good for some strategies for single player mode as well.
How about pre-building units?
For example, i want spearmen. I choose X cities to build X spearmen. But at 1 turn left i choose something else to build. I can rechoose it later btw. So, if i really want these spearmen someday, i can change production to spearmen later and finish them in 1 turn.
The nice advantage to this is gold economy. Why keep units on ground when you can keep them virtually in cities with 1 turn left of build?
Ok now i didnt try other situations like : how much time can you keep this on ice, how many kind of units this apply, and the possibility of losing the production for units who need ressources if someone pillage it before you can finish them.
I'm thinking about this strategy to ''hide'' the real power from the demo screen (# soldiers) from your opponents and to save some gold through turns.
Unless the threat is very clear and you HAVE to show him some units to discourage him to attack you.
Any thoughts? (And sorry for my bad english)
Edit : This seems to work for an infinite amount of turn. You can also put hammers from a spearman pre-built in a new pikeman available with the discovering of civil service, making this pikeman faster to build, instead of finishing the spearman, paying extra unit maintenance for some turns and upgrade it. This works for every obsolete pre-built units.
This is nice for Great People too. If you need many GPs for mass bulbing you can pre-build and spawn them in the same turn.
In conclusion, you can therically spawn 1 type of each units 1 at a time for each cities. For example, if you pre-build a swordman, a spearman and an horseman in 4 cities, you can produce a total of 12 units in 3 turns. This make you save a lot of gold in units maintenance for a good amount of turns.
Nothing really new after all but applying this strategy correctly can make you save gold.
Edit 2: I made some tests for units on quick speed. Actually hammers stocked in the unit built begin to decrease at a rate of 1 hammer per turn after 10 turns. Same for building. Not sure about wonders.
In 1 of my tests i built a spearman, a swordman and horseman in 3-4 turns from 1 city. Took me 17 turns after the spearman at 1 turn built. I lost 17-10=7 hammers but i managed to save a total of 25 gold if i calculate 1 gold per turn per unit in ancient era. I got a 3,5:1 gold/hammer ratio which is inneficient. A ratio of at least 7:1 would have been better. But what follow is better.
You can actually save maintenance gold per unit per turn per city from letting a unit suspended for 10 turns in a row. If you have 5 cities for example, you can save as much as 5 gold per turn and maybe more if unit maintenance increase through ages and/or if you manage to build units on a regular basis. It's because you always keep virtually 1 unit in each city for each turns, and without losing production.
In edit #1 i said you can pre-build newer units coming up with almost completed obsolete units. This is true if you think about keeping it in the main production of city for the turn when tech is discovered. If you do not you lose the production.
Critical when you get iron for swordmen(pre-build with warriors), pikemen(pre-build with spearmen), Knights(pre-build with chariot archers), Lancers(pre-build with horsemen), etc.
Riflemen is tricky because 3 units become obsolete at the same time. Longswordmen,pikemen and musketmen. Choose musketmen if you discover rifles the hard way. Choose longswordmen if you bulb through it. I didn't go any farther for another type of units but the pattern is the same.
Last thing i discovered made me smile. You can pre-build units that need ressources BEFORE having the ressource available. You need at least an already worked ressource for this trick.
For example, i possess 2 iron for my empire. I build 2 swordmen in 2 first cities. When i reach 1 turn left, i stop building them and i choose something else to build. Then i begin 2 other swordmen in 2 other cities. You can do that because they are not finished and not being built meanwhile in 2 first cities.
Well this don't do a thing if you dont connect to another source of iron. But when you connect 2 more iron ressources, you just have to finish the swordmen pre-built in the 2 first cities. You can save a lot of turns by doing that!
If a swordman takes for example 10 turns to build for all cities, it can take actually a total of 20 turns to build 4 of them even if you just connected the 3rd and 4th iron at 1 turn before finishing all of them. In fact, you build in 1 turn what normally take 10 more turns to finish. Cool isn't it?
In conclusion, you can lose hammer for letting production on ice, but if you manage to dont take more than 10 turns of waiting for each item you can save a lot of gold. You can also pre-build units with obsolete units, and you can pre-build units before having the ressource but you need at least 1 sample of the ressource.
How about pre-building units?
For example, i want spearmen. I choose X cities to build X spearmen. But at 1 turn left i choose something else to build. I can rechoose it later btw. So, if i really want these spearmen someday, i can change production to spearmen later and finish them in 1 turn.
The nice advantage to this is gold economy. Why keep units on ground when you can keep them virtually in cities with 1 turn left of build?
Ok now i didnt try other situations like : how much time can you keep this on ice, how many kind of units this apply, and the possibility of losing the production for units who need ressources if someone pillage it before you can finish them.
I'm thinking about this strategy to ''hide'' the real power from the demo screen (# soldiers) from your opponents and to save some gold through turns.
Unless the threat is very clear and you HAVE to show him some units to discourage him to attack you.
Any thoughts? (And sorry for my bad english)
Edit : This seems to work for an infinite amount of turn. You can also put hammers from a spearman pre-built in a new pikeman available with the discovering of civil service, making this pikeman faster to build, instead of finishing the spearman, paying extra unit maintenance for some turns and upgrade it. This works for every obsolete pre-built units.
This is nice for Great People too. If you need many GPs for mass bulbing you can pre-build and spawn them in the same turn.
In conclusion, you can therically spawn 1 type of each units 1 at a time for each cities. For example, if you pre-build a swordman, a spearman and an horseman in 4 cities, you can produce a total of 12 units in 3 turns. This make you save a lot of gold in units maintenance for a good amount of turns.
Nothing really new after all but applying this strategy correctly can make you save gold.
Edit 2: I made some tests for units on quick speed. Actually hammers stocked in the unit built begin to decrease at a rate of 1 hammer per turn after 10 turns. Same for building. Not sure about wonders.
In 1 of my tests i built a spearman, a swordman and horseman in 3-4 turns from 1 city. Took me 17 turns after the spearman at 1 turn built. I lost 17-10=7 hammers but i managed to save a total of 25 gold if i calculate 1 gold per turn per unit in ancient era. I got a 3,5:1 gold/hammer ratio which is inneficient. A ratio of at least 7:1 would have been better. But what follow is better.
You can actually save maintenance gold per unit per turn per city from letting a unit suspended for 10 turns in a row. If you have 5 cities for example, you can save as much as 5 gold per turn and maybe more if unit maintenance increase through ages and/or if you manage to build units on a regular basis. It's because you always keep virtually 1 unit in each city for each turns, and without losing production.
In edit #1 i said you can pre-build newer units coming up with almost completed obsolete units. This is true if you think about keeping it in the main production of city for the turn when tech is discovered. If you do not you lose the production.
Critical when you get iron for swordmen(pre-build with warriors), pikemen(pre-build with spearmen), Knights(pre-build with chariot archers), Lancers(pre-build with horsemen), etc.
Riflemen is tricky because 3 units become obsolete at the same time. Longswordmen,pikemen and musketmen. Choose musketmen if you discover rifles the hard way. Choose longswordmen if you bulb through it. I didn't go any farther for another type of units but the pattern is the same.
Last thing i discovered made me smile. You can pre-build units that need ressources BEFORE having the ressource available. You need at least an already worked ressource for this trick.
For example, i possess 2 iron for my empire. I build 2 swordmen in 2 first cities. When i reach 1 turn left, i stop building them and i choose something else to build. Then i begin 2 other swordmen in 2 other cities. You can do that because they are not finished and not being built meanwhile in 2 first cities.
Well this don't do a thing if you dont connect to another source of iron. But when you connect 2 more iron ressources, you just have to finish the swordmen pre-built in the 2 first cities. You can save a lot of turns by doing that!
If a swordman takes for example 10 turns to build for all cities, it can take actually a total of 20 turns to build 4 of them even if you just connected the 3rd and 4th iron at 1 turn before finishing all of them. In fact, you build in 1 turn what normally take 10 more turns to finish. Cool isn't it?
In conclusion, you can lose hammer for letting production on ice, but if you manage to dont take more than 10 turns of waiting for each item you can save a lot of gold. You can also pre-build units with obsolete units, and you can pre-build units before having the ressource but you need at least 1 sample of the ressource.