Catching a runaway continent...

[Exwing17]

A tale of two continents…

Hello all, Recently I have made the jump up to Emperor, and I think I’m going ok so far. I have got some bad habits off a friend by starting new games quite often after learning things, and thus far have only lost one game (I didn’t have iron and was next to two expansionist civs who didn’t want to trade).

Here’s my situation. I am the Greeks. I am on the left hand continent along with (in order of power) Sumeria [furthest south], Aztecs [above sumeria], France [above Aztecs and below me with no saltpeter], Persia [north of me], Dutch [tiny at the southern part].

I am at war with Persia (as they have no iron or saltpetre), and my allies and neighbours the French are also getting in on the action. I am winning the war, and am settling cities in no mans land at the moment. I am republic, and am struggling with war weariness as I haven’t had the strength to conduct a lightning war (I have just got military tradition so maybe that will change). Anyways I’m going off topic…

The problem is…the other continent. I just discovered Military Tradition, I am (now) the most advanced on the continent, but the other side of the world has just built Smiths & Newtons.

No one on my land mass has any contact with them, and I can only presume that by the time we find them, they will have Infantry vs. our Cavalry! My priorities at the moment are consolidating my gains in Persia, and building enough cavalry for a lightning war against the French (if relations turn sour).

So the big question… When I discover the other continent, how can I hope to catch up? Or should I solely focus on being chip leader on my continent and go through nation power rather than tech advances?

p.s. I love Emperor.

 

[Kulko]

Its fun isn't it?

As for the situation I see two points worth pointing out.

A) You are behgind by 2 or 3 techs which is hardly a problem if you play the IA well. Go fulspeed for Scientific Method and build ToE with a prebuild. Should be possible even when you are behind as the AI wastes a lot of time on Nationalism and Communism first.

B) You are way to late in getting contact with the other continent. You should send suicide ships in both directions from the start of the game. This cost a lot of ashields as most of these sink, but it givesa couple of advantages:
- Your research cost are lower if you have contact with more nations who own a tech already.
- You have a chance for Twofers, when both continets move on different parts of the tech tree.
- When Astro is around you can sell contacts between the Continets and buy a few extra techs when you are still behind.

 

[Exwing17]

The problem with that is that I haven’t even circumnavigated my own continent. My western & northern coastal cities are all tundra (sci farms [a bad ones at that]), so I haven’t been able to produce anything worthwhile from them. My eastern cities are far more hardcore, but at the moment are focused on producing knights.

I think that by the time I navigated the continent the other side of the world will have made contact anyways. They can’t be far off Magnetism etc…

To win the game…is it possible to take on a far more advanced Civ on the other side of the world and win? (Domination vic I’m talking here)

 

[DWetzel]

Yeah, if they are just doing Smith's and Newton's (and importantly, did these come more or less at once? It could be that the other continent just got the relevant techs as other wonders completed, so you aren't as far behind as you think. (But yes, you are behind.)

The key to getting caught up will be: 1. Establish contact with the other continent, and 2. Get one monopoly technology. This second one will allow you to trade for basically all the relevant techs that the other continent has.

Assuming you have about two techs to go to reach the industrial age (say, Theory of Gravity and Magnetism), do those NOW. Enjoy your free tech from being scientific. With luck it will be a monopoly. But if not, that's okay. Research Steam if you didn't get it (rails are very very nice) and then Industrialization and Electricity in some order. My hunch is that one of these will be a monopoly for you, and you can use this to trade for Medicine easily enough. You can also probably sell it for good cash to one or the other of those civs.

The other thing you might consider now is selling a backward tech to a weakling on your continent for gold per turn. This would enable you to raise your science slider without losing money--which will help you catch up also.

 

[capnvonbaron]

Best bet: get to the other continent. Build a caravel or two and book on over there. Peddle communications between your continents, making sure to plan it so you can get something else in return like gold or techs. The AI almost always overpays for communications.

 

[TheOverseer714]

Always explore the outlines of your continent, then you can pick likely crossing points. (Real world example eastern South America and Western Africa are very close compared to other possible Atlantic Ocean crossings.) Dedicate some craphole coastal town to building a steady stream of curraghs and later galleys, the contact between separate continents is one thing the human can do that the AI just doesn't. At Emperor, tech trading is one key to winning. Try to research it all yourself, you will fall behind. Another thing, having 2 scientific tribes allows you the option of gifting them to the next age and trading for or stealing their free techs.

 

[Ringo Kid]

A tale of two continents… ... Or should I solely focus on being chip leader on my continent and go through nation power rather than tech advances?

p.s. I love Emperor.

Not sure exactly what you mean by "go through national power".

I think what I would do is to concentrate on getting contact with the other continents and trading with them for luxuries. With more luxuries you could conduct longer wars and take over your entire continent before considering any invasion across the sea.

A sneaky way to slow down the other continent: first sign mutual protection pacts with about half the civs on that other continent. Then invade the civs you did not sign pacts with a small force. That way when your target civs counter attack you; the other civs will declare on them. With some careful choosing of targets, you can gain a few more luxs , get everybody fighting each other instead of trading techs with each other. ALso when they declare war on each other ; luxuries they are trading between each other may now become available to be traded with you instead. So they all get less happiness and fewer productive citizens, while you gain happiness ond productivity.

Of course you have to first make sure that the nations you attack dont already have MPPs in place that will spoil your evil plan for world domination through tricks and and diplomacy.

 

[capnvonbaron]

That way when your target civs counter attack you; the other civs will declare on them.

MPPs will not trigger if that nation attacks you on its own turf (that is considered defensive posture). What you would have to do is found a city on that continent and then have that nation attack your new city, or even any units within the cultural bounds of that city (offensive posture). It usually won't hesitate to do so, esp if you hang a juicy slave worker out there as bait Thats also a way to get around MPPs; every civ can be MPP'd with every other civ, but the first civ to attack another one will bear the brunt of all the mutual protectors of the civ being hassled. Once a nation is at war with the civ it previously held an MPP with, that MPP is effectively cancelled so you can get as offensive as you want. Being mindful of any other MPPs that may be out there with any peaceful buddies, of course.

If the other continent has no MPPs among them, go for the invasion force but at least take one of their cities, it won't matter if you lose it. Or, bring a settler and plop him down anywhere you want, even within enemy borders. If there are MPPs about, your only option is to place a city in neutral territory and hassle your target civ into attacking you. Again, won't matter if you lose the city, really... but you will run into more problems if one of the civs on the other continent runs over all its neighbors and becomes a runaway monster in its own...

 

[Drachen]

If I need to slow down another continent I send a few 3 unit cavalry armies over in galleons to pillage them into impotent wastelands.

 

[CommandoBob]

If you haven't read it yet, the thread Recovering from Last Place after Expansion Phase, Step by Step might help you.

 

[DJ Bonebraker]

To win the game…is it possible to take on a far more advanced Civ on the other side of the world and win? (Domination vic I’m talking here)

Yes, even if they're almost an entire era ahead, if you can get Replaceable parts and Artillery, OR use a humongo stack of cannons, even weak units such as knights or riflemen can defeat red-lined Mech infantry or regular Infantry....

Also, launch a lightning raid and/or use your ships to pillage all their rubber and oil sources... The civs could be up by computers and synthetic fibers, but if they don't have oil and rubber, then all they can make are Riflemen, Guerrillas, and/or TOW Infantry, all of which are easier to deal with than Modern Armor and Mechanized Infantry (or even regular Infantry and Tanks)!

 

[AutomatedTeller]

well, you'll have cavs. Cavs and cannons can beat infantry. if they get tanks, life gets tough, but you'll have the advantage of researching being cheaper.