MrLeN
Prince
This topic is completely open for a thousand varieties of strategies, comments and personal opinions, but never the less it sure is important. I'm sure that there is no right or wrong strategy because of the different situations players face during each game. It depends on dificulty level, amount of civs and most importantly 'WHO' is behind those civs, among other things.
So having all that said, I come to my topic...
Brains Vs Brawn!
Have you ever noticed that the Russians severely lack wisdom throughout just about every game, yet they are just about always one of the leading threats towards the end?
Have you ever noticed that the Indians will swap techs 90% of the time but the English simply tell you where to go?
These are three exapmles; Militaristic, Expansionistic and a combination of both. Which one is the best? Who usually comes out ahead? Well the Russians, English and Indians are all great AI's to play against. You are garanteed a challenge (well as opposed to some of the other AI's anyway).
I have noticed that many people have thaughts and theories about how to grow and which government to use and even which techs to advance for step by step. Also theories on which unit is the best and which combination, but one thing that is not straight forward or easy to stick to as a guide is when to build units, what type to build and when to stop.
You can successfully build caravans, spies, diplomats, freight engineers and settlers throughout any game, and using these units effectively can pretty much garantee a victory, but the problem is; what happens when 34 elephants rock up? What happens when all of the sudden every coastal city has 2 ironclads heading straight for them at rank 4?
On the other hand what happens when you have an army to die for (ships, barracks everywhere, elephants, catapaults and cruisaders coming out of your rear end) and because of the costs involved and you noticed that every third turn the leading civ is building another wonder... you look at demographics and your stats reaveal that in the last 10 turns the competition has grown 50% and you havent moved. NOW WHAT?!?!? Theres no point considering attack because those crusaders aint gonna do nothing against those pikemen and walls.
My point is you cant just rely on military. The later the year gets, the less chance you have of over running someone elses civ unless you can match the warfare or show up with someing better (usually the first to get battleships has alot of fun for many turns to come) and you cant just go for growth and trade because you will lose it to a civ that is half your size if you dont watch yout back!
My opinion is that you must find a balance. You must be able to attack if you see a weakness (or you will lose many opportunities) thus: prolly lose a few games that you could have won if you had've attacked! You must also be able do defend yourself at least to the extent that another player can't just lob up and take your civ like candy from a baby. And you must ensure that you don't fall behind in tech OR size. I have found that if you rely on diplomats and spies to get your techs you are always behind and you may as well give up. If you cant build the techs, there IS something wrong with how you're playing.
Towards the end of the game the biggest factor is size. What happens when a civ twice your size gets democracy and sets the luxury rate at 70-80% for ten turns? You can build all the dimplomats you want coz you are dead! You will not catch up. What happens when they build the Statue of Liberty? Once again: dead!
Ok "but I dont play games with wonders"
Yeah, ok but it is still the same story in a non wonder game. You need to build averything evenly and balanced. There are many players that win/lose/win/lose and if you look at why they are losing, it is usually one of two reasons.
1-Spent too much time and effort trying to build an army and lost the plot in size and tech.
2-Went sick with growth and lost 10 cities in three shots in 1200 A.D.
So my question is, what is your strategy? What do you build and when do you build it. I can honestly say that I haven't perfected the art of keeping everything equal yet, but I am at least a well rounded player that can give anyone with any strategy a run for their money. I am glad I am not a growth expert that doesnt know how to play any other way and lose every third game to invasion.
OK, so what's your theory?
------------------
Where there is money, there are liars!
So having all that said, I come to my topic...
Brains Vs Brawn!
Have you ever noticed that the Russians severely lack wisdom throughout just about every game, yet they are just about always one of the leading threats towards the end?
Have you ever noticed that the Indians will swap techs 90% of the time but the English simply tell you where to go?
These are three exapmles; Militaristic, Expansionistic and a combination of both. Which one is the best? Who usually comes out ahead? Well the Russians, English and Indians are all great AI's to play against. You are garanteed a challenge (well as opposed to some of the other AI's anyway).
I have noticed that many people have thaughts and theories about how to grow and which government to use and even which techs to advance for step by step. Also theories on which unit is the best and which combination, but one thing that is not straight forward or easy to stick to as a guide is when to build units, what type to build and when to stop.
You can successfully build caravans, spies, diplomats, freight engineers and settlers throughout any game, and using these units effectively can pretty much garantee a victory, but the problem is; what happens when 34 elephants rock up? What happens when all of the sudden every coastal city has 2 ironclads heading straight for them at rank 4?
On the other hand what happens when you have an army to die for (ships, barracks everywhere, elephants, catapaults and cruisaders coming out of your rear end) and because of the costs involved and you noticed that every third turn the leading civ is building another wonder... you look at demographics and your stats reaveal that in the last 10 turns the competition has grown 50% and you havent moved. NOW WHAT?!?!? Theres no point considering attack because those crusaders aint gonna do nothing against those pikemen and walls.
My point is you cant just rely on military. The later the year gets, the less chance you have of over running someone elses civ unless you can match the warfare or show up with someing better (usually the first to get battleships has alot of fun for many turns to come) and you cant just go for growth and trade because you will lose it to a civ that is half your size if you dont watch yout back!
My opinion is that you must find a balance. You must be able to attack if you see a weakness (or you will lose many opportunities) thus: prolly lose a few games that you could have won if you had've attacked! You must also be able do defend yourself at least to the extent that another player can't just lob up and take your civ like candy from a baby. And you must ensure that you don't fall behind in tech OR size. I have found that if you rely on diplomats and spies to get your techs you are always behind and you may as well give up. If you cant build the techs, there IS something wrong with how you're playing.
Towards the end of the game the biggest factor is size. What happens when a civ twice your size gets democracy and sets the luxury rate at 70-80% for ten turns? You can build all the dimplomats you want coz you are dead! You will not catch up. What happens when they build the Statue of Liberty? Once again: dead!
Ok "but I dont play games with wonders"
Yeah, ok but it is still the same story in a non wonder game. You need to build averything evenly and balanced. There are many players that win/lose/win/lose and if you look at why they are losing, it is usually one of two reasons.
1-Spent too much time and effort trying to build an army and lost the plot in size and tech.
2-Went sick with growth and lost 10 cities in three shots in 1200 A.D.
So my question is, what is your strategy? What do you build and when do you build it. I can honestly say that I haven't perfected the art of keeping everything equal yet, but I am at least a well rounded player that can give anyone with any strategy a run for their money. I am glad I am not a growth expert that doesnt know how to play any other way and lose every third game to invasion.
OK, so what's your theory?
------------------
Where there is money, there are liars!
