Another newbie seeks help

[fantsu]

Just started my third normal speed, Warlord game, another 2 didn't last many turns, and this time it happened again. I tried to settle more this time, but still got raped by hording barbarians. The game was in standard sized "shuffle" map with random climate and water level, playing as Elizabeth of England (Phi/Fin).

The problem is that I don't have any time to do anything before the AI destroys me. This time barbarians slowed my progress, and Shaka is also preparing hes SoD of Impis, and is coming in 10-15 turns to conquer me.

I managed to build Great Lighthouse, and got this mission to build 7 Triremes for a fancy stuff, but only got one made, 'cause I need so much defense against those raging barbarian axemen.

Got access to stone, so I'm trying to build Moai Statues also, but time is running out.
Started also pyramids, but going to give up those, 'cause I need to whip more troops and fast.

Any ideas?

Screenshot and savefile attached.
I just want to survive in AD-time even one time...

Thanks!

Oh yeah, I use 3.17 and BAT1.2...

 

[Sian]

off the bat ... to much wonderwhoring, to little expanding (on standard size i'd say 6 cities at 0ad as a respectable minimum ...

downloading to give it a closer look

EDIT: ... please say your using a mod so people aren't downloading unless they've the said mod

it uses BAT 1.2

 

[Jedi_Otis]

I just took a quick look at the screenie and it doesn't look like you have any units out spawn busting. Barbs can't spawn in tiles you can see nor within 2 tiles of one of your units. Park some archers and axes outside your borders on good defensive terrain to lift the fog.

And you mentioned something about Shaka? Wonder-whoring is fine as long as you can do it in relative peace. There will be no such thing when Shaka is near. He's a bloodthirsty maniac. You should be spending all those wonder hammers on something that will accelerate his demise, or at least defend against yours.

 

[Stolen Rutters]

Build units instead of all those wonders. You only have four cities, and they are very small. I see ONE worker on the entire map!!!??? Where are the archers and axes?

First your cities are too small and your production is low. Improving land should be your highest priority. That will turn your small weak cities into production powerhouses. It may be too late in this game, since barbarians are at the gates and you have no defense from what I can see.

However, assuming those barbarians magically dissapear, start by building a few workers, one per city should work at this stage. Add a farm or two at Hastings, add a farm or two at nottingham, mine all the hills in your empire next, get York to start working that sugar next to nottingham so it can grow into working those mined hills. Build cottages around nottingham to speed up your research and cashflow. Slavery civic is powerful but your cities are pretty small right now, and converting population into production will backfire on you without more farms. (After improving all that land, if you use slavery too much, those tile improvements will go to waste without enough population to work them.)

That's all I can see right now. Better players will be able to tell you more.

My $0.02,
SR

edit - once those cities add a few population points, you can add a city on the river south of Hastings, and a couple cities north of the capital. Spreading to that continent to your east will pay off too. However, expanding now is a bit costly. It looks like improving the cities you have (so you can afford to expand) is more important.

 

[KaytieKat]

Hi

in addition to advice about fog and spawnbusting--from the screenie looks like you dont do much chopping--chopping builds stuff faster AND it leaves less places in your borders for barbies and enemy ai units to get def bonuses off of which makes your empire easier to defend.

Kaytie

 

[Ghpstage]

I can't run 3.17s anymore and haven't got bat so going on the screenie so I'm going on what other people have said.
What you need is lots more workers (1.5-2 per city during the BCs!), more cities, more units, and all payed for by less wonders .

To put the cost of wonders into perspective lets use the most expensive early wonder, the Pyramids as an example. It costs 500 , this is a massive amount that could allow you to have 3 settlers (100:Hammers: each) 2 workers (60 each), and 3 archers (25 each) that is an incredible amount for a wonder that will contribute very little unless you know exactly how to use it!

 

[DMOC]

If your goal is to stop the barbarian horde, why are you building the Pyramids?

And more workers, as well. I'd say about 6-7 by 1 AD, minimum.

 

[JTMacc99]

If your goal is to stop the barbarian horde, why are you building the Pyramids?

And more workers, as well. I'd say about 6-7 by 1 AD, minimum.

fantsu, I hope you are noticing that all of the advice you are getting can be boiled down to a couple of basic ideas.

-- You need to build more units and fewer wonders. Or at least at the Warlord level, you should certainly reverse the order of importance. Units first, then maybe you bang out a couple wonders.

-- You are not making the most of your cities, both in the number of them you can afford to have, and by not working effectively improved tiles. (If you have a city working unimproved tiles, then you are not getting the most out of your empire.)

-- The first two problems would be much easier to resolve if you had at least 1.5 workers per city. DO NOT underestimate the value of workers. Six workers are worth much more than the Great Lighthouse.

So that means if you want to save this game, first move is to set your capital to build about three workers before you do anything else. (Actually, you could probably whip out an Axeman once you finish monarchy.) Use those workers to do what Stolen Rutters told you to do.

Meanwhile, change production in Nottingham to Axemen and don't build anything else there until you've got at least 8 on the map. (Hopefully this will be enough to both do the fog-busting explained here and to thwart any Impis that might show up.)

From there, you might as well let your capital finish the Statues and then switch it back to build a couple settlers and a couple more workers. You're going to need lots of workers to clear all that darn Jungle, but once you do, those look like some really nice places to settle some commerce generating cities.

Good luck!

 

[fantsu]

Thanks for all of you, I will try today still save this game, it makes it more interesting trying to survive first.