Does anyone use any interesting or clever strategies to gain the upper hand on the AI when playing on Emperor or above? I don't mean obvious stuff like CoL slingshots or the standard chop->whip rush... i mean something less universally used. I just want to freshen up my game a little bit, and would like a few fresh ideas. Some ideas I've tried(with varying levels of success) are:
1. Religion Whoring (requires gold/gems in capital fat cross)
Goal: try to found every religion except Buddhism.
Method: race to Monotheism, race to Pottery, CoL slingshot, bulb Theology with a GP.
Advantage gained: Build 6 monastaries in your Oxford city. Shrines will produce tons of gold because AI spreads your religions for you, especially if Buddhism is founded on a smaller and distant continent.
Outcome: seemed like it was working well, but I didn't politic correctly and ended up dogpiled and lost a holy city (with 2 religions).
2. Trade Route Economy (requires coastal capital, good for island starts in BtS, best when playing Carthage or Spain for the UB)
Goal: bolster your economy by creating huge trade routes in your capital.
Method: Build an early 2nd coastal city with a lot of forests, and rush to sailing. Build the Great Lighthouse in 2nd Coastal city while pumping out Artemis in the capital. Build Colossus in 2nd city next, and cottages in every non-food tile in the capital's fat cross. Run beaurocracy, and explore as much map as possible for the trade route bonus, and rush to currency for another trade route bonus.
Outcome: works a million times better than I thought it would. I caught up to tech lead when I discovered Astronomy even tho i was totally isolated (emperor level).
3. Early Diplomatic Victory
Goal: win with the AP early on.
Method: sneak a a missionary to 1 small crap city of every neighbor as soon as you get Optics. I wont go into further detail, there's enough posts on this...
Advantage gained: winning...
Outcome: Not nearly as easy as anyone thinks, the AI will thwart you by doing any nu mber of things, from spreading the religion by whipping missionaries from the 1 city to spawning a colony just before the AP vote... this one I thought would be really easy, but I was mistaken.
1. Religion Whoring (requires gold/gems in capital fat cross)
Goal: try to found every religion except Buddhism.
Method: race to Monotheism, race to Pottery, CoL slingshot, bulb Theology with a GP.
Advantage gained: Build 6 monastaries in your Oxford city. Shrines will produce tons of gold because AI spreads your religions for you, especially if Buddhism is founded on a smaller and distant continent.
Outcome: seemed like it was working well, but I didn't politic correctly and ended up dogpiled and lost a holy city (with 2 religions).
2. Trade Route Economy (requires coastal capital, good for island starts in BtS, best when playing Carthage or Spain for the UB)
Goal: bolster your economy by creating huge trade routes in your capital.
Method: Build an early 2nd coastal city with a lot of forests, and rush to sailing. Build the Great Lighthouse in 2nd Coastal city while pumping out Artemis in the capital. Build Colossus in 2nd city next, and cottages in every non-food tile in the capital's fat cross. Run beaurocracy, and explore as much map as possible for the trade route bonus, and rush to currency for another trade route bonus.
Outcome: works a million times better than I thought it would. I caught up to tech lead when I discovered Astronomy even tho i was totally isolated (emperor level).
3. Early Diplomatic Victory
Goal: win with the AP early on.
Method: sneak a a missionary to 1 small crap city of every neighbor as soon as you get Optics. I wont go into further detail, there's enough posts on this...
Advantage gained: winning...
Outcome: Not nearly as easy as anyone thinks, the AI will thwart you by doing any nu mber of things, from spreading the religion by whipping missionaries from the 1 city to spawning a colony just before the AP vote... this one I thought would be really easy, but I was mistaken.
. The other benefit is that you can found size 1 island cities that start out with over 20 commerce per turn just from trade routes, so they easilly cover their maintenance costs long before maturity.
