ALC Pre-Game Show: Playing as Mao

[futurehermit]

^^i agree with this. when i play alex (agg/phil) i use gps on mil techs. works pretty good.

but like i said i think mao and alex will be even cooler once you can use phil for warlord gps. then mao for sure will be rex and alex will have some nice potential for a fast-feudalism/theocracy classical attack w/uber upgraded units and warlord gps (whatever they do, they're supposed to support combat in some way).

 

[Dr Elmer Jiggle]

What about a farmers gambit? Drive the economy with specialists, and shunt the commerce over to culture for the happy? Cities become ultra specialized, as they don't need to be covering all forms of commerce (a good thing, since the whip won't be so readily available). In a sense, the entire civ is a GP farm, parcelled out into individual cities.... Once you reach Emancipation, dial the slider way back, replace the farms with cottages, and explode into the modern era.

This is a very interesting idea and certainly takes the leader's traits into account, but I wonder if you'd really explode into the modern era or if it would be more of a weak fizzle. If you wait that long to start seriously developing cottages, isn't it going to take too long before they become towns?

Got a bunch of new infrastructure you'd like to install? put a turn into each in every city, revolt to slavery (plus OrgRel), whip every turn, revolt back out, let the slider and the theater deal with the happiness issue.

Don't forget though, we aren't spiritual anymore, so although this might be a good one time rush buying strategy, it's not something you can turn to whenever you want to do some building.

 

[Sisiutil]

First of all thanks for the nice thread about Montezuma. Read it all through but got into it a bit late for posting my own thoughts.

I might have missed it but I couldnt find what kind of map you are going to play on, at what speed and what difficulty level. That all makes a big inpact on how you will play the game.

Thanks for the compliment.

I should have listed the map/speed/level in the OP, sorry--all of my All Leaders Challenge games are played on Prince level, continents map, standard speed.

I intentionally chose those default-type settings in order to focus on the leaders' traits each time rather than the peculiarites of the map or speed. Plus I'm just starting to win fairly regularly on Prince; the ALC is my pre-Monarch warm-up.

Lots of great responses, thanks!! I tend to agree with pigswill, that pursuing the CKN is a red herring (though I liked voek's idea of using them offensively in a medieval war). If you have a simply awesome UU (Cossacks, Redcoats, Praetorians), it makes sense to bee-line to the necessary techs. But if the UU is cool but not in the conquer-the-world-with-this-unit-alone category, then it makes more sense to pursue other strategies, use the UU effectively once it's available, and upgrade or retire them unsentimentally when they're obsolete.

I like everyone's ideas for making the most of the Philosophical trait and Great People. I agree, founding or capturing a GP farm, or even two, early on is very important. Wonder planning, if possible, also comes into play. One of the problems generating the GP I've run into in the past is having too many Wonders generating different GP liklihoods all in the same city (usually the capital). It makes sense to expand early and quickly through a combination of settlment and early war, then try to divide up the Wonders carefully between the cities. That early on, the production difference between the cities may not make that much of a difference, especially if I'm chopping; speaking of which, there's more likely to be more forests available at a new city site.

 

[Gnarfflinger]

I've tried to play a couple starts with Mao today. Both times I got Stonehenge and the Oracle in my capital, and founded three religions, but found myself hemmed in badly. Without the free combat 1, it's hard to fight out of it (even worse with no copper).

I suspect that I could beeline for Polytheism then get the Wheel and a few Worker techs (Really nice to get Bronze Working from a Goody Hut though).

One big thing is not to get tied up in a deep queue. You need to be able to build units at a moment's notice. Without the aggressive trait, then there's no reason not to build Archers early on either...

 

[Sisiutil]

Thanks for everyone's input...but don't stop now! ALC Game #2 has begun--CLICK HERE for the thread.

 

[mikezang]

I am aksed to write my strategy because I only play Mao/Prince/Continents/Standard, and I won almost game until now. Here is my play order for every game:
01. Build Capital at spot where Settler is except that spot is too bad.
02. Build Warrior in Capital
03. Discovery Bronze Working, Mysticism, Hunting, Archery
04. Let 1st Warrior to scout
05. Let 2nd Warrior to Scout another way
06. Build Worker, Warrior if two warrior is far away
07. Chop to build Settler
08. Chop to build Stonehenge
09. Build 2nd City at a nice spot and face to enemy, build Worker, Archer, Archer, Archer, send to border cities
10. Discovery Improvement techs base on Resources around Cities, The Wheel
11. Chop/Build Settler in Capital
12. Build 3rd City face enemy, build Worker
13. Discovery Pottery, Horseback Riding, Iron Working
14. Improve Resource Terrian and build road to connect cities
15. Build Settler, Archer, Settler, Archer, Settler
16. Build 4-6 cities (one near Horse)
17. Build Horse Archers
18. Discoevry Writing and Open Border, Alphabet and Exchange Techs, Guilds and Make Knights
19. Discovery Construction and build Catapuls
20. Set State Religion to Neighbour's
21. Catch Holy City of State Religion
22. Make Peace
23. Declare War to the strongest enemy and destroy it, and make peace
...
aa. Conquest The Whole Continent
...
xx. Win Domination Victory if you are at bigger continent
yy. Win Space Ship Victory if at small continent and Tech is advanced
zz. Win Diplomatic Victory if at small continent and have good relationship withother civs

 

[The Tyrant]

Thanks, mikezang. BTW, I asked mikezang to post here because he only plays Mao/Prince/Continents -- the exact settings for the game that's starting. That looks like a good general guide, except that I prefer to use axemen rather than archers. Good point about always trying to settle in the direction of your neighbors and backfill later. I find it interesting that the only units he specifically mentions are archers, horse archers, knights and catapults. No specific mention of CKN. Hmm...

 

[mikezang]

Yeah, like you said, basically I don't use my UU, because its too late when I can get it.

Then I only Attach my enemy when I have a lot of Catapuls, and I I still use Catapuls to attack enemy city until their units only with half health.

At last I attack them by Horse Archer, Knights. Regular Units vs Seige Units is about 1:1 or 1:1.5, might 1:2 in my army.

The most killed unit is seige unit in my army.

 

[voek]

i dont like horse archers, since i dont like archers and think horseback riding is too expensive. I trade for it. Offcourse, when you haven't got bronze (and maybe iron) and you do have horses, i will go for them.

But axe rush is so powerfull, since even city raiders can still defeat wandering units. They come so early.

Anway, about the CKN, i dont get it why you dont use them. No matter what game i am playing i always end up fighting 1 or 2 wars when i have macemen. At least at emperor it often means he got maces (soon) too. To beat his stacks and maces i love to attack with CKN. You don't have to beeline since you only start building them after having CS. You need machinery for maces anyway.

So when i DO have the option of CKN i will fight even more medieval wars. Knights come too late in my game play.

Offcourse it all depends on your playing style and strategy. But i would always built some CKN's.