Anyone care to give me a few tips to continue with this game?

[ShunNakamura]

Okie, this isn't a good game at all[even by my standards]; however, I figure since it is 1400 AD I may as well try and finish it.

A bit of Info:
This is a Noble Level Hemispheres map, Standard Size, with 5 Continents, 7 total civs, and Raging Barbarians[which got ridiculous from time to time].

I started as Egypt and as luck would have it I had a source of horses somewhat near. So my first task was to prepare a force of War Chariots.

As the map shows I started on a Continent with 2 others. Namely Sitting Bull and Pericles. I got a force of Chariots up to beat off the Barbs, while I teched to Iron working and Construction for Swords and Cats[Mr. Bull got archers VERY early this round and he had me blocked off from much of the continent].

I am not sure when it occurred but those evaluations that occur so often[biggest civs/wealthiest civs, etc] said Sitting Bull and I were the two largest. Sitting Bull was a Pain to crack... I spent WAY too much time on him.

As you can see it is 1405 AD; five opponents remain and I am at a loss of what to do to proceed.

Points to note:
--This screencap was taken right after I had taken the last Native American City[I now Own all of Egypt and Native America].
--Pericles and myself are on 'pleased' terms[was friendly, but Sitting bull was Pericles friend so I took a hit there].
--Many of the other Civs as far as I can tell have formed one huge Buddhist Religious Block.
--War weariness from my several thousand year long war is really limiting me.
--While the prolonged war really hurt me I managed to keep up with tech via specialists+Representation+Caste System.
--I have somehow managed to be the first to paper[and am currently the only one with it].
--I lack seafaring Tech.
--I have built Notre Dame, The Pyramids, The Heroic Epic, The Great Library, and The Angkor Wat
--I easily have the highest score of the known world[by about 300-400 points].
--Pericles according to the Power Graph has military power somewhat less than mine but not so much that it looks like an easy fight[LARGE garrisons].
--Pericles doesn't much care for the Incas and they don't much like him.


Basically the questions follow.

Should I regroup[and let war weariness decrease a bit] and then pound Pericles to dust?

Should I hunker down and try for a space race?

Should I hunker down research and build a navy and then join forces with Pericles against those Buddhist Heathens?

 

[madscientist]

Where is Sparta and Athens? My guess would be that you have some experienced units from you battles with Sitting Bull, which is an advantage over PHIL/Creative Pericles (not agressive or charismatic). Has pericles fought any battles and what civics has he been using (theocracy or vassalage means level 3 promoted units). If he has been peaceful and has non-experienced troops I say you have an advantage there, utilize it. You can keep the tech pace up doing the same thing you did with Sitting Bull and looks like you are setup to beeline rifling to finish him off.

 

[NickAragua]

Do you have spies or Open Borders? Get in there and spend a few turns wandering around, checking Pericles' stacks. See what he's got in that unexplored area. Once you have a better picture of what he's got for military units, it looks like you can basically take any pick of places to attack - if you can take Corinth (or Mycenian), you'll cut his empire in half. Bonus if you can take out one of his cities which has iron or whatever, so he can't build the better combat units.

 

[ShunNakamura]

Well I played a few more turns getting my economy back in order and exploring Greece.

So it stands as such, I currently have Macemen and he does not[he doesn't even have machinery yet]. In addition I believe I have trebs to his cats. However, due to losses during the recent war he outnumbers me by a little bit.

As for experience, I am lacking there. I got RNG screwed a few times[lost 2 17xp War Chariot when I had 95-98% odds to win; lost 5 lvl 4 units to 90%+ odds, as well as lost nearly 10 cats against the Native Americans]. Currently I got 5-6 maces with City Raider Two or better. 1 mace with City Raider 1,2,3 and strength one. I have Two lvl 2-3 Trebs, three lvl 2-3 Cats and a couple of lvl 1 cats. And I have about 10 War Chariots all at least level 3[Two of which are Medics and 4 of which I use to patrol my empire in the off chance that the Incas land against me]. Also before I forget I have a few Swordsmen that I never bothered to upgrade that have some city raider promotions. In contrast Pericles has all his units at lvl 1 or 2 and a few with lvl 3.


When I attack I believe I'll target Corinth first. I'll then split my army in three sending a smaller force with 2 or so trebs to take the southern two cities that are under-defended. The bulk of my army will then smash into Athens which has his highest level troops and is the most heavily defended. And unless my memory is foggy Athens is also his city that has most of the wonders he built. Meanwhile the third section will be war chariots which will proceed to run around and try and deny his access to metals[thus making sure he can't upgrade those swordsmen to maces]. My only issue here is that I don't know if I have enough forces to do that and my reinforcing cities are many turns away from the battlefield[about 8 I think].

If I am going to attack him I preferbly do it soon before he obtains Maces and trebs himself[My spies have led me to believe he is approximately 14 turns from Machinery, and I do believe he has Civil Service.

 

[Johan^^]

I would recon that the best action here would be to go for the capital and take out Athens. It is his most important city and it will set back his rescearch significanly..... Giving you more turnes to finish him off.

I expect you to be using slavery... meaning soldiers should not be a problem ... Whip away all you can in the new cities. Those ppl will regrow in no time and its now you need the soldier

All the freshly whipped soldiers and trebs can then go and cut the empire into pieces , the power of the whip should never be underrestimated

*edit* By what i can see from the screenshots it certainly looks like sparta and athens are the only real production cities, so those are the most important ... if these fall you will win easy afterwards

 

[ShunNakamura]

Well Greece is mine... though I am really beginning to the the RNG in this game.... my poor 19 xp war Chariot and 18xp City Raiding Maceman died with 98% odds . I followed Johan's Advice somewhat and switched to Slavery/Police State/Bureaucracy to whip out the Military men fast. I could whip macemen with 8 exp 2 every three turns in my capital. I split my forces in three. I sent a small contingent with 2 Trebs and 2 Cats to take the southernmost cities. When I got athens in my control I noticed he had a city with only an Archer and a Crossbowmen guarding it and sent a spy to start a revolt and then smashed it with 2 maces I split off from my force. My biggest problem was the fact that Pericles kept runnning around dropping cities on little islands and on areas of my cost I had even the slightest bit open.

I am in DEEP crud Money wise however. I am whipping as many courthouses as possible, but this is not good. Though it does look as if I might get the free tech from liberalism :/.

 

[Johan^^]

Good job ... Now you just need to get your empire back on track. Astronomy would help out a great deal here, thus bringing you better trade routes and thereby money income. In the meanwhile build forbidden palace and courthouses... once this is done you got severel options for victory, though i would think settling in and going for space race victory is the most obvious and the one easiest accomplished...

 

[Johan^^]

Btw. I would really like to know how you take those screenshots.

Do you have some kind og screenshot tool ?

 

[ShunNakamura]

The screenshot is easy. I simply use the PrintScrn Key or Shift + the PrintScrn Key[to assaign a name].

Either way the image is saved in MyDocuments/My Games/Beyond the Sword/ScreenShots.

So which free tech should I grab? I am thinking of grabing Astronomy and to go exploring the seas. Also I could then Trade Astronomy to the Incas for some gold and maybe a tech.

 

[Johan^^]

yeah know about the printscreen ... just didnt know about the +shift ..Thanks

I would say astronomy ... It will allow for trade routes overseas... giving an economy boost. Though the taj mahal wonder would be nice aswell, thus i would still take astronomy

 

[McGoo]

yes, Astronomy is probably you're best choice...then look at beelining to chem to get some frigates up and about to protect your coast. Try to designate at least one if not two productive coastal cities to building naval units like no tomorrow.

At this point you probably want to decide what way you are going...domination, diplo, space?

And one more thing...it looks like there is a narrow spot in the continents...do you have a fort or city or some combination to make a canal here if possible. There is a thread on this use of forts and it seems like it is something you should do if you can.

 

[ShunNakamura]

Went with Astronomy and did some exploration.

I have spoken with all of my rivals and out of them the Incas are in the strongest Position. My rivals are: Tokugawa, Incas, Pacal II, and Augustus. Tokugawa may be my next target he has made contact with others but hasn't done anything to secure any solid ties and is really behind in tech.

If possible I want to take the Incas down a notch or three. Perhaps Augustus would be willing to aid me for a few techs since he is so backwards technologically.

Pacal and the Incas are very freindly with one another so picking on one will like earn the enmity of the other; all the better to try and get someone else to distract them.


The Native Americans had already bridged that narrow bit for me . That city was the first on I took from them too [effectively splitting them in half and making it so that their navy couldn't easy get from one side to another].

 

[ShunNakamura]

Alright, I want to ask what type of victories do ya all think are possible/recommended given this?


But I think I must reassess attacking Tokugawa, his power graph is awfully high for being a backwards civ.

Gah... why did I have to start on the Island with the most Civs? At least the others didn't make to much leverage from their isolated'ish starts to gain a huge tech lead.... guess noble is a tad easy.