Recent content by pfo

Yes, if I have someone blocked in where they can't expand without going through my land, I definitely do not OB with them. I leave them in their pitiful land so I can take it over later when my economy has become more developed. I don't want to OB with them so they can move through my land and...

Cities that share the religion of the AP get the punishment, only.

Courthouse, hands down. Confucianism is a religion I do rush for, so I usually get courthouses first, which means my espionage takes off first, and my city maintenance is decreasing first for the next round of settler expansion. I find that this is key when REXing if you want to maintain a...

Cottage the hell out of it, since it has a food resource, using slavery to get stuff built in that city will work in the early game. Once you can use universal suffrage, you'll get some production out of those towns. A city like that will do well to bring commerce into your empire, generating...

You can turn your research slider down, and devote more money to culture or espionage, or just collect it and stash it in the treasury.

Yeah, archers can stop a dogpile if their are enough of them. If you're going to rush with SB, you have to do it really quick on a non-protective opponent that is very close to you. I've had better luck playing up SB's protective trait to defend my empire at first and then going for catapults...

I've experienced this, it means you over expanded and you can't afford your empire. You should have built more cottages, or found some other way to get money. Researching currency and building wealth in some cities is a way around this, if cottages or religion income is not possible.

You should build them as you need them. As you notice many of your cities working unimproved tiles, this is a sign you need more workers. If you anticipate expanding soon and your workers are plenty busy, you'll need more. I figure the best is to have enough workers to be able to complete...

Yeah, within 8 turns on an archipelago, I decided the land (which was practically a continent size) wasn't big enough for the both of us, and that Gandhi had to leave :) I settled 13 cities on the "island", needless to say I won that game.

If you're building wonders early, then you won't be warring early. What you should do instead is focus on defending your empire while you build wonders. Put an axeman, a spearman and an archer in cities you need to defend while you buckle down and build (don't always build those 3, an axeman...

The advantage of specializing cities is that you get the most out of them. Consider in the early game, if you have 3 cities: a capital, a production / military city and a cottage city. It makes the most sense to put the barracks in the military city and just build units. Later, it makes sense...

Larger, more developed empires, benefit the most from golden ages. You will see a dramatic increase in gold most times, across the board better production, and you can use them as an opportunity to change civics w/o anarchy. They aren't always good, their are better times to hit a golden age...

Whoa dude, coastal starts rock. If your first build is a work boat, you're in good shape, especially if it's right on the coast. Because you get commerce for seafood resources, which can shave turns off of early research. You can and should always move the capital later. I recommend not...

I guarantee you, Byzantines vs. Rome heads up, Rome would win. You'd be all smiles as you research towards guilds, until the army of praets comes in and ruins you. Not saying that Cataphracts aren't good, but you have to consider the time you spend getting to them. I found them to be a great...

Sometimes the AI won't take back cities, my guess would be because they don't make enough money to maintain that city. I usually find they won't take crappy cities that are likely to lose money in maintenance costs. Once I gifted a great merchant to a vassal, just so they might settle it and...