Beat SID on Standard map!!!

[Fr8Train]

First time poster, long time reader.

I just need to brag for a minute because I FINALLY beat Conquests on Sid difficulty. I'd like to hear from others who have done the same and know how they did it.

I did it with the Maya because they are one of the best for getting the Great Library early (Masonry)...and they are agricultural. I went for GL as fast as I could (started in my 2nd city right away by switching from a palace).

I'll attach my start as well as my last turn. It's a pretty good starting spot...only problem was it was a small area. It's the smallest populated island and it's with the Babylonians...but somehow I managed. I was able to build 6 cities while the babs got 7. Babs were the weakest civ so I was able to take them off my island with my superior tech from the GL. The only resource not on the island is Oil...so I was very lucky with resources.

It wasn't easy!!

I did set the civs to least aggressive and turned off all but conquest victory (on a previous game I lost to a cultural victory when I was just starting to dominate the game).

 

[PeteAtoms]

Congrats! I have to be completely honest, i admire anyone who can beat it on anything above Emperor (my best is monarch)

 

[WackenOpenAir]

In my last attempt to beat sid, i set the AI to least agressive. They did not fight a single war with eachother. Only war was the one that i started. Although after beating my neighbour, i had a larger than average coutry, i gave up that attempt for now because the remaining AI's have their cities defended by 20 or so units per city.

How was that in your game, did they do any fighting among eachother?

I have started a new sid game though, and now with normal agression. I got a start with food bonus for both my capital and my next city, I am agricultural, so this will be a settler factory and a worker factory (due to the curruption and limmited BG, the second one wont be able to make settlers).
This should work, but first i am gonna play the new gotm

 

[sandmandh]

Well congrats I find it hard enough to win on emperor! I find on emperor+ that apart from expanding fast, you've got to trade with the most powerful civs and even give them tribute to keep them from attacking you, then pick off the less powerful civs, making sure they don't have alliances with strong ones. You've also got to have some luck and not getting beaten to some wonder like GL due to AI shield cheating. Some people I have just spoken to claim they don't build any wonders (rather settlers) so don't ask me how they beat emperor+, but yep lots for me to try...

 

[citizen001]

how in the name of jason did you do that? could you like give us a turn by turn build list and stuff to help me with my game cos im really struggling. thanks.

 

[Aggie]

Some people I have just spoken to claim they don't build any wonders (rather settlers) so don't ask me how they beat emperor+, but yep lots for me to try...

No workers and still beating emperor+? Well, I don't believe that. Workers are extremely important. You can't have too many of them. You need lots and lots to build your infra, then to railroad ASAP and then to join them in cities with hospitals to get them to size 20...

On topic: congratulations! This is a real achievement. I myself have beaten Sid 4 times. Once in a Succession Game (AG8) and three times in single player.

My easiest win on Sid for me was on an archipelago map as the Byzantines. On my own not too small island. I started with building two curraghs to explore like crazy. Within no time I was the only one knowing the world and able to broker techs. I also managed to build the Great Library (Literature is ignored by the AI). At the time that the AI landed on my shores, I had a thriving empire and sufficient forces. Key for my victory was that I was able to keep up in the tech race early and never fell behind after that. I win with a UN vote.

My succession game was an odd tale. We were very lcuky to have two neighbours constantly at war from 3000 BC. At the time that we were ready (big SoD's of Mounted Warriors) we could conquer the continent with relative ease. And once we had the continent we were able to keep the momentum and win by domination.

I have found that luck is extremely deciding in a Sid game. You need to get a chance to get at least 6 to 8 cities and chances to trade techs with the backward civs. If these opportunities aren't there you will have a hard time, as we saw in AG12.

 

[sandmandh]

umm Aggie I said "wonders" not "workers"

 

[Aggie]

Yes, that makes more sense

 

[The Omega]

Congrats!

 

[sabo]

I have found in my games if you can last into the industrial age you got a pretty good shot at winning. I wonder what the percentage is of AI wins in the early part of the game vs. the last part. I'll be 90% AI wins are early in the game. That's my observation anyway

 

[doolally]

-congrats! i''m still a solid Monarch player, dipping my toe into Emp everynow and again then running away

 

[Fr8Train]

How was that in your game, did they do any fighting among eachother?

Yeah, they did a lot of fighting amongst themselves - only 1 of the civs was taken over by an AI though (Celts by America). I conquored 1 civ at a time and for the most part I tried to get at least a couple civs helping me with military aliances. The Scandanavians were the most advanced civ throughout the middle and industrial ages and they lost their capital to the Chinese - that helped me a lot.

 

[Fr8Train]

I have found in my games if you can last into the industrial age you got a pretty good shot at winning. I wonder what the percentage is of AI wins in the early part of the game vs. the last part. I'll be 90% AI wins are early in the game. That's my observation anyway

On past diety games I always try to get ahead in early industrial. Get theory of ev and zip ahead of the AI. On this sid game I didn't get theory of ev. I was still able to get ahead in late industrial though (by 1 tech - I had radio while none of the AI's did). The fact that the Scandanavians who got theory of ev lost their capital a few turns later helped some

 

[Fr8Train]

how in the name of jason did you do that? could you like give us a turn by turn build list and stuff to help me with my game cos im really struggling. thanks.

I'm not going to give you a turn by turn...that would take forever. Besides, I started the game awhile ago and can't remember everything.

I'll just give you a few tips for what works for me in sid games.

1) Get the Great Library - the AI usually skips literature early on. You still have to be pretty quick. I suggest getting masonry first and switching from a palace to the GL once you get literature. Not everyone agrees with me here, but I think it's too difficult to get a good start without it.

2) Build lots of artillary - you can never have too much. It's extreamly important for both offence and defence.

3) Use wars to slow down the AI's research. I was in Monarchy and later communism while the AI's constanty switched between wartime and peacetime governments because I kept them in drawn out wars.

4) Attack the weakest civs first. Go for the ones who are missing resources. Expand your territory and then when fighting the stronger civs attack their resources first. (with armies or bombers).

5) Use armies! The hardest part is getting your first army. Once you have armies though fighting the AI becomes much easier!

6) You have to slowly wear down the AI. They will have many more units than you. If your doing an island invasion plop a stack of men and artillary and let the ai come at you...They will overcommit and then you can attack their cities. Land to land (pangea) invasions are harder. I let the AI attack my territory and used artillary to drive them out and slowly gain the upper hand.

7) Micromanage - at least for the first 100 turns or so you're going to want to manage every detail. From workers to which tiles your citizens work. Use the luxory slider.

8) Even if you do everything right you still have to get lucky. If you fail try again.

 

[Arathorn]

Congratulations on your win. Next time you beat Sid, leave all the victory conditions on, so you have the extra challenge of preventing a cultural victory while you're marching on the enemy! Sometimes, it means eliminating two foes on the same turn!

Sid can be beaten without the Great Library (see LotR10 Scouting Sid in the SG forum, for example), but it's a LOT tougher than deity, IMO. Of course, a couple armies can go rampaging a long ways for a long time, so it's far from impossible.

Arathorn

 

[Moonsinger]

Congratulation on the win, Fr8Train!


I have played about 7 or 8 games on Sid so far. I abandoned the two of them because of the double gpt bugs. I have managed to finish only 1 of them with a win so far. I was extremely very lucky on that one. It was on a huge map with 8 scientific AIs. I was the Mayan alone on the largest continent on an archipelago map. Although I lost the Great Lib to the AI, I was able to convert those shields toward the Bach's. Since each body of ocean was just 1 turn away from land, I was able to explore and make contact with everyone before Navigation. Trading was very good since I didn't share my contact with any one. Twice the Byzantines demanded me to share my knowledge of other civs, twice I refused. They declared war each time, but it was no big deal. They did never land any troops on my contient. I finally launched my spaceship in 2049 AD.

 

[Moonsinger]

Of course, a couple armies can go rampaging a long ways for a long time, so it's far from impossible.

Yes, that's one of the biggest bug in the game (IMO). Our army can go on pillaging everything and the AIs wouldn't dare to retaliate.

 

[citizen001]

I'm not going to give you a turn by turn...that would take forever. Besides, I started the game awhile ago and can't remember everything.

I'll just give you a few tips for what works for me in sid games.

1) Get the Great Library - the AI usually skips literature early on. You still have to be pretty quick. I suggest getting masonry first and switching from a palace to the GL once you get literature. Not everyone agrees with me here, but I think it's too difficult to get a good start without it.

2) Build lots of artillary - you can never have too much. It's extreamly important for both offence and defence.

3) Use wars to slow down the AI's research. I was in Monarchy and later communism while the AI's constanty switched between wartime and peacetime governments because I kept them in drawn out wars.

4) Attack the weakest civs first. Go for the ones who are missing resources. Expand your territory and then when fighting the stronger civs attack their resources first. (with armies or bombers).

5) Use armies! The hardest part is getting your first army. Once you have armies though fighting the AI becomes much easier!

6) You have to slowly wear down the AI. They will have many more units than you. If your doing an island invasion plop a stack of men and artillary and let the ai come at you...They will overcommit and then you can attack their cities. Land to land (pangea) invasions are harder. I let the AI attack my territory and used artillary to drive them out and slowly gain the upper hand.

7) Micromanage - at least for the first 100 turns or so you're going to want to manage every detail. From workers to which tiles your citizens work. Use the luxory slider.

8) Even if you do everything right you still have to get lucky. If you fail try again.

great tips but i find these the hardest to do. especially with the armies bit. i never seem to be able to get a leader even with militaristic. im starting to micromanage but i find it extremely tedious.

thanks

 

[Moonsinger]

great tips but i find these the hardest to do. especially with the armies bit. i never seem to be able to get a leader even with militaristic. im starting to micromanage but i find it extremely tedious.

thanks

Getting the first army on Sid is really tough, but a lot of fun. My first great leader usually came around 100 AD or later. But once I got the ball rolling, a lot of them will come shortly after that. The following trick seems to work well for me so far:

1. Always try to bankrupted the AI treasury. If you can't trade for their gold, just go ahead and borrow all their gold anyway. Sure, you will have to pay them back plus interest, but that part of the war budget. Hint: if your lender happens to declare war on you for any reason, you don't have to pay back the rest; therefore, overall, you will come out ahead. Without gold, the AIs won't be able to upgrade their obsolete units. Since they have to pay upkeep for all their units; up to a certain points, they will slow down or stop building any more new units. Therefore, even when they are ahead in tech, most of their troops are obsolete (perfect target practice for our troops to generate great leader down the road).

2. Build about three dozens of fast units (such as horseman for upgrade). About two dozens of heavy defender such as spearman for upgrade to pikeman or musketeer. Catapult and cannon all the way until you get at least a hundred of them. We can never have enough of catapult or cannon (ready for upgrade to artillery for the final push later). I usually have at least 3 times the number of cannon more than all other military units combined.

3. When the war begin, fortifed key position and wait for them to come. Use cannon to blast them away. Unless their units sitting duck on the open with 1HP, do not finishing them off. Have mercy on them! Just let them to gracefully withdraw from battle (they will be back, but that's ok). Just sit back and wait for their main SOD which consists mostly of obsolete units such as archers and spears. We may not have enough cannon to reduce them all to 1 HP during the first few turns, but once their wounded retrieve, their SOD will get smaller as they go. Of course, once they completely healed, they will be back. When they are back, they would end up with multiple smaller stacks every where along the main battlefield. Note: don't underestimate those spearmans; if they are not all down to 1HP, do not attack them. Also don't forget to leave an easy target near by as bait. Usually, their SOD just bypass your stack of defenders all together and head for one of your undefended city. That's it! With the enemy stack of 1HP archers and spears everywhere, your troops should be able to generate at least a few leader out of them without much of a problem. Isn't that fun or what?

 

[citizen001]

But the trouble for me is getting stable developing cities to be able to produce these artillery, defenders and heavier units. the artillery strategy sounds quite sensible and ill try it on easier levels before moving up.