Beelining to Victory -- For Dummies

[CharlieM]

Two point to start:

1) Notice my Thread Title ... "For Dummies" ... I fully understand that this game is complex and you must adapt to the situations as they develop (I play on Emperor and win maybe half the time). You can't just say "beeline like this and you will win..."

2) For those who don't know, "beelining" is heading straight for a certain Tech because it gives you a lead in some significant way (for example, beelining to Monarchy so you can adapt that Government and win a Cultural Victory).

Now .... here's what I would dearly love to see... a list of Techs, broken down into these categories:

1. Tech List to Beeline to Economic Victory, while Having Sufficient Military Defense

2. Tech List to Beeline to Cultural Victory, while Having Sufficient Military Defense

3. Tech List to Beeline to Tech Victory, while Having Sufficient Military Defense

If you're just going to post "the game is more complex than that, you can't list Techs that way, each game is different," don't bother! I just said it. This thread is for us dummies who think it would be nice to have a list of Techs to consider for each victory.

Trying to follow all those arrows on the Tech Chart is giving me a headache! Also, as I understand it, you can research some Techs that you don't have all the prerequisites for, if you have 2 of the 3 prerequisites or some such thing.

 

[NaZdReG]

I can give you some insight into an economic victory.

there are 3 critical things you need for an economic victory: well defended territory, production, and commerce.

choosing a civ is important. read my article for details on specific civs and why they're good.

I tend to go pottery, masonry (free wall), trade for or buy bronze and iron, currency (get free market and caravan), trade for or buy alphabet, construction, mathmatics, engineering, invention, (somewhere in here get banking for free for hitting 250 gold) steam power, railroad, industrialization, mass production (for modern infantry defense), metallurgy, electricity, the corporation, electronics, networking,

you need to build the trade fair, the internet, and the world bank.

they need to not be in the same place though. trade fair goes in a coastal city. the internet and world bank should be in a city that has 3-4 mountains, an iron mine, and a factory.

you should also try to pick up the science techs as you can.. you'll have time if you've expanded enough. that way you can rush build or quick build oxford to get usually semiconductors (sdi defence) or something else tasty.

you might have to deviate to atomic theory and rush buy the manhattan project to nuke someone (I had to do that last game to stop a cultural victory while I got up to 20k gold)

as you can see.. its not a straight beeline! there are some early game beelines that are certainly workable but to go all the way to a victory condition is another story.

NaZ

 

[Chinese American]

It's very simple for me.

For Domination victory beeline to Invention (unless you're Germany) and Combustion.

For the other victories, beeline to Industrialization and Corporation.

 

[CrimsonEdge]

Since I don't have the game in front of me I can't accurately say what I'd beeline for, however, here's a rough idea. Note that I'll refine this later on today and write down what I did or didn't need.

Economic: Bronze Working > Pottery > Alphabet > Code of Laws > Currency > Writing > Literacy > Democracy > Banking (After this I don't know the exact order, but go for rifles which will hold you over for the rest of the game). I'll update this later today or tommorow.

Tech: Bronze Working > Alphabet > Writing > Code of Laws > Literacy > Democracy > University (After this I don't know the exact order, but go for rifles or tanks, whichever).

Cultural: Bronze Working > Ceremonial Burial > Alphabet > Writing > Monarchy > Religion... actually, there isn't so much a bee-line way to playing this. Very few cultural techs to be honest.

Overall, your early game will be identical for the most part. Bronze Working is the best thing to go for if you are going to be playing defensively. Get it sooner rather than later and have your cities build nothing but archers when you're not building a building for your victory type as well as building settlers.

 

[vinstafresh]

Max production at turn 1 to get 3 warriors out as soon as possible, then switch to science. If your capitol is a production city, make your free settler city a science city and vice versa. Focus on science hard and keep your size at two (unless you're Japan or have fish in your area) to maximize science. Go for alphabet to buy a library in your best science city right away (and one in the other if you can afford one). Go for pottery -> masonry and finally irrigation for the population growth.

Then go for code of laws and switch to republic to expand your empire. You can start focussing in growing your cities now and spread science regions across your cities to allow all cities to gain in size. Try settling those new cities near trees, since the enemy will settle there in stead and screw up your empire if you're not careful enough. I go for democracy asap to get pikemen to defend against knights. During peacetime I build temples when my cities are defended by at least one defending army that's up with the era I'm in or an older army with nice promotions since as engineering or loyalty.

I usually go for engineering (+1 production in each city), monarchy (for culture and dye, which is huge for science in that era), feudalism (to defend your cities or conquer a weaker civ near you). If I have a builder available I go for Navigation and build the East India Company for a nice science boost in your coastal cities. Then I go for Steam Power (free cruiser to find Atlantis if I didn't get Navigation or the galleon). I'll keep the cruiser around a city that gets enemy heat for naval support or I go out hunting for enemy galleons. I try to focus one city on producing cruisers (and later battleships) to add naval support. It's awesome for defending and attacking and it extends the life of obsolete units until the modern age!

After that I go for Railroad (+2 production in each city), Industrialization (+5 gold per city) and Corporation (+5 per city). Once I have those I just go with the flow. If I'm far ahead in tech I research Combustion for tanks, Mass Production for infantry and Automobile for artillery and go for Leo's Workshop if that hasn't been built already. If I'm not far ahead, I go for communism to get 33% off factories. Leo's workshop is not really adding value when knights are the most modern offensive units. Let others waste a builder or 200 hammers on it. I like Mass Media for the +1 population bonus.

You really need production cities that are well connected to your empire in order to defend yourself. If you're ahead in science, but you cannot produce units fast enough to defend, you're going to lose.

 

[Raw Power]

I have a totally different approach, and it works well on deity as well. (Multiplayer is so different that it's not covered by this)

I NEVER research bronze working first, i usually start with either:
Horseback riding (if i do that then i don't build early warriors, just 100% science til it's done)
Or i go for Alphabet for Library
Or i go for pottery/ceremonial burial for temples

I then take as many barb villages and huts as i can, if I get a spy or caravan i usually use them to scout and when i have around 70-75G i sell the caravan/spy to get to 100G and the free settler. I'm also very aggressive and the first civ i meet i will always declare war on and attempt to take his capitol. If i'm to late and he has an army i retreat and either go looking for another civ, or stay around to promote my units on his troops outside the city. I usually get free settlers etc as well as keeping him at bay.

I usually have 3 cities while the AI just have two, normally the free Settler + 1 AI capital.

I rarely defend with armies but focus on science/gold so i can rush buy up to date units if i need to, and take my city back. Sometimes i keep a great artist around to culture flip taken cities back as well if they are taken by "up to date" armies, which i can then use against the AI afterwards.


Since I declare war with all AI up to democracy and found all my cities (or just about all) close to the sea i get good commerce/gold and specialise my cities. Production i simply don't care about, and not food either. Only amount of potential resources in fat cross and science tiles (desert, special resources and ocean).

Since i am tech leader i usually get the first to bonus for techs, and my units are usally more modern then the AI so even outnumbered i still hold my own pretty easily.

When i democracy i usually end up going to anarchy a couple of times to take an enemy city or similar but only for a couple of turns. With the 50% you get from democracy you can be in anarchy every third turn and still be at the same science rate that if you were not.

After i get combustion (mass production is optional) i rush buy, or use a builder to finish leonardos. If someone beats me to Leonardo i simply rush buy a couple of Tank armies instead and start conquering. (I also research steel and rush buy a fleet of Battleships for naval support).

Here on in I can win any way i want to, but the foundation was laid already in the ancient and early medieval era in getting ahead in tech and conquering one or two AI.

 

[NaZdReG]

spoken like a true warmonger!

I will say.. especially in multiplayer. the advantages to warmongering are only good if they don't expect it. usually most people play more defensively than normal against the civs that are good at aggression (germans, aztec, etc)

IMO it is easiest to win by economic, or spacerace.

but earliest defensive rapid expansion (DREX) is usually the best bet. usually by the medieval I already have 3-4 cities, by industrial 8. by modern 12. your econ can skyrocket upwards by going for oft ignored wonders like the trade fair.

no matter what a warmonger does, they cannot keep up with 2 armies purchased and moved via roads to your city every turn. and recapturing a city when you have that power is easy.

you just have to defend with a couple of armies behind walls, and a spy (or spy ring if they go spy heavy) fortified to hold off those attacks

NaZ

 

[erislover]

I then take as many barb villages and huts as i can, if I get a spy or caravan i usually use them to scout and when i have around 70-75G i sell the caravan/spy to get to 100G and the free settler. I'm also very aggressive and the first civ i meet i will always declare war on and attempt to take his capitol. If i'm to late and he has an army i retreat and either go looking for another civ, or stay around to promote my units on his troops outside the city. I usually get free settlers etc as well as keeping him at bay.

If huts happen to give you horsemen, you can keep the enemy civs at bay extremely easily with this tactic. I would use my horse to kill their warrior/archer defender, capture the settler, then negotiate for peace and wait to do it all over again. Ridiculously evil. This would probably be a very strong tactic for the one-city win, sending those settlers back to mama.

The only time I've tried getting horses first was with America, I used the great scientist to snag horseback riding on turn one and then made my city 100% production. Horse armies are ridiculously powerful early on. If the enemy can never expand, being at war is pretty meaningless for you. If you've got good choke points, you keep them from ever even making galleys and leave your other cities undefended for a long time.

ETA: I meant to mention, I just played this way as India. I generated a warrior army out the door, stumbled quickly upon England who fell with only two defenders and no armies. I learned bronze working from them, then horseback riding from a goody hut. Found two horses from huts, rushed a third, came upon Spain, trashed that city, captured navigation and some gold that they just got from my caravan Then I found the Zulu, who just happened to have gotten their first settler. Toast. Then I found Egypt (somehow it was a pangea game, kind of rare I think) who also was just launching their settler, and I captured that one, too. So two civs down, two civs remaining with one city each, and I have five. (By this time I had my own from 100 GP). Needless to say, they could never recover. Only three of my front cities even had defenders. What could they do? They didn't even get galleys until I had battleships.

 

[Raw Power]

NaZdReG:
I'm actually traditionally not a war monger, but I have no problem seeing that being aggressive helps the overall strategy. You don't sacrifice much by using the first 10-15 turns to get an edge. Rest of my game often goes with expansion in the territory, teching up and then a new round of warmongering once i have the edge again. (I also do the full economic city with at least Trade Fair, i also build the East India but that can be placed anywhere), but i usually have about 1/3 of my city generating cold cash, while 2/3 bring in science.

Though if you read my French OCC in Story and Tales, you will see i can be a peacemonger as well, even on OCC. (only King difficulty though)


erislover:
That kind of game i've had plenty of as well, especially on the lower difficulties and it is what showed me how powerful early aggression is. It works perfectly well on higher difficulties like Emperor and Deity as well, but often you end up with Archer armies by 2100BC and you'll need a hill advantage, a little luck and infiltration to beat that with a single army of horses. (unless you have a spy at hand of course, that helps)

 

[erislover]

erislover:
That kind of game i've had plenty of as well, especially on the lower difficulties and it is what showed me how powerful early aggression is. It works perfectly well on higher difficulties like Emperor and Deity as well, but often you end up with Archer armies by 2100BC and you'll need a hill advantage, a little luck and infiltration to beat that with a single army of horses. (unless you have a spy at hand of course, that helps)

I played another game last night with this strategy and decided it works better if you don't wipe out the civ. Well, I don't mean not having that city producing for you is better, but picking off settlers is much easier than taking cities. It's a safer bet, and gives you more control over the development of your continent. Taking a city is nice, but it is risky. Taking down a settler is much easier.