Condensed tips for beginners?

[dalamb]

@CT: I think a fort does the trick -- you could use the worldbuilder to test it.

 

[CivilizedTiger]

Thank you for the tips! I guess I'll fort it right away, it's good to know about this.

 

[millahnna]

Can't you just go ahead and build the fort on the other tile (and road to horses)? Forts can be built outside of your cultural influence then the second your border pops to include it, voila. I wouldn't want to fort the horses given the actual city in question.

 

[Ghpstage]

Forts still connect trade while outside your borders, so the best would be pasturing the horse and roading to a fort in the tile next to it.

 

[Jlagreen]

Hello there,

I am new here and I am quite a Newbie with Civ 4, too.

Since I am a casual gamer, I am not interested so much in higher difficulties, so I prefer to play on Chieftain level.

Still, I have some questions:

1. Could it be that the game is designed for normal speed? Does the AI not tech well in slower speeds?

I started a game on Marathon and the biggest issue is/was that I just had too many hammers and not enough Techs to use them. Basically I build Settlers/Workers/Army like crazy.
My frustration is that I easily loose the overview as my empire is large and my army even larger.

Here my example game:
I started as Elizabeth (England) on a modded earth map (larger than huge) with fixed starting positions. Since, I was on an island and there was no Barbarian Thread I first focused on settling (4 cities on England island). Then I tried to get Galleys asap to settle one city on Ireland as well.
At that point I already reached Medieval era and started pumping Maces/Cats. My European neighbors were way behind me in techs as Europe is too crowded and they couldn't build enough cities (also I had lots of ocean commerce), still their LBs were a pain .
So, of course, first I eliminated France and then Spain. Germany was so afraid of me that I took it as my Vassal. Then Byzantin had to fall, but the Carthage I left for later, instead I killed the Vikings. At that point I already had ~10-15 cities. India, Korea and 2 African Civs offered Vassal after I met them, I took them in to make sure, Russia wouldn't be tempted to attack my eastern border.
At that point I focused on gold and research and started GP farming, the goal was to colonize America. With ~15 Galleons full of troops (Rifles, Cavalry, Cannons) I got rid of the Barbarian plague there (was kinda funny to battle Warriors/Axes with Rifles ).
So, now I am quite a little bored of the game. I have 20+ cities (5+ in America, rest in Europe) and a large army (>150 Rifles, 50 Infs, 50 Cavs, 20-30 Cans, ~10-15 Destroyer). I could easily go for conquest but it is kinda boring to fight Medieval units with Industrial units. Or I could bribe all to be my Vassals, I slowed down Research a lot midway to save money for future unit upgrades. Now my pockets are overfull with ~90.000 (yes, you read right!). What bothers me most, is the overview, I feel it is just to difficult to have an overview over such a large empire...

Therefore, I just started another game:
- same map as Catherine of Russia, but on Normal Speed, no Barbarians (I just hate them...)

Before I started the game I also read some tips in this thread. First of all, the starting point for Russia is crazy as there is enough space for ~5-6 Commerce/GP cities with lots of grassland and ocean tiles. So, I started my capital right at starting point with having cows, horses and iron (found later oc). Scouting showed me the place for my first production city to be north with some plains, hills (copper+stone) and grasslands (growth). My first priority was to expand asap, teching BW for chopping.
I soon discovered the Holy Romans to the west and the Byzantin to the South and made probably a winnig decision by placing my 3rd city right in the place between them bordering my empire. The result was, that Holy Roman couldn't settle east (I have to intention of open borders) and Byzantin having problems to settle north.
Also I cut off the Holy Roman from his copper. Yet, the Byzantin dared to settle too close to my South border (taking some iron resource on the way), so I decided to take his city with some axes. I razed it and build my own city to close the south entry to my empire.
I want a Con/Dom victory but not too fast. I want to destroy ancient civs first (like byzantine, carthage, etc.) and leave e.g. the Chinese for modern warfare .

Now the timeline is ~ 0 A.D. and the situation is like that:

Economy:
I have 6 cities, 3 I want to use only for military production, 1 for GPfarm and 2 for commerce.

My first production city has size 7 (stagnant) and ~15 hammers, is that enough or how many hammers should be my goal for a prod city?
The other 2 prod cities are in growth state. One has only plains+forest around it, another one is quite promising as it has 3 ocean tiles, 2 with fish. That's nice as I have already 12 food on 2 tiles only. Should I let production cities grow first and than switch to hammers or focus on hammer-tiles straight on?

My capital is the GPfarm with a size of 10. Since I have the caste system, I build only settler/worker to have 4-5 scientiests there. It slows down settler/worker prod, BUT there is no starvation issue, quite interesting to note for future super specialist cities. In general, what should I build in my GPfarm city? If I want more specialists, I have quite less hammers to use (unless I use SE of course).

One commerce city has only a size of 6 but cow+sheep and ~5-6 cottages. The other one was just settled and grows first. If my commerce city is surrounded by grassland only, should I build cottages only as the food will be enough or should I put some farm additionally?
What should be build in a commerce city? I just wonder, as both of them have only like 1-3 hammers...
My treasure is 300 with a steady increase of 3-5/turn (slider at 70-80%), is it better to earn more gold?

My capital has 3 settlers in queue as I plan to settle my empire's center and especially the east to get to place that probably feature uran+oil (future thinking ). I intend to have 9 cities at least. But will that be enough on a very huge map? Of course, I will do some conquest but I intend to raze cities instead of taking them. I just don't want to spread my empire too much...
So, how many cities are recommended for late game (10, 20, 50)?

Diplomacy:
Nothing much to say here. I picked a religion first of all and my western neighbors quickly adopted it. So I have overall positive relationship with all. I have yet to meet the Chinese, Mongols and Japanese empire. The distance to them is quite big...

Military:
I am probably not overwhelming strong compared to my neighbors, but I have like 8-10 "running" units and at least 1 Archer in all my cities. My prod city is pumping military units all the time (~3 turns/unit).

 

[duckstab]

Hello there,

Since I am a casual gamer, I am not interested so much in higher difficulties, so I prefer to play on Chieftain level.

Still, I have some questions:

1. Could it be that the game is designed for normal speed? Does the AI not tech well in slower speeds?

I started a game on Marathon and the biggest issue is/was that I just had too many hammers and not enough Techs to use them.

My overall impression from your post is that you're playing well below the difficulty level where you're going to experience a satisfying challenge. At levels below Noble the AI is significantly handicapped vs. the human player. It seems you've mastered Chieftan and should go up to Warlord at least.

Marathon speed will slow the research rate overall. Generally, slower speeds make warmongering easier because units move faster relative to the time it takes to build them and they don't go obsolete as quickly. I think most players around here play either Epic or Normal in most cases.

I started as Elizabeth (England) on a modded earth map (larger than huge) with fixed starting positions. Since, I was on an island and there was no Barbarian Thread I first focused on settling (4 cities on England island). Then I tried to get Galleys asap to settle one city on Ireland as well.
At that point I already reached Medieval era and started pumping Maces/Cats. My European neighbors were way behind me in techs as Europe is too crowded and they couldn't build enough cities (also I had lots of ocean commerce), still their LBs were a pain .

I think you may have already realized there's a problem with certain maps, namely play balance. If your opponents are scrabbling over a small bit of land while you're relatively free to expand, then of course you're going to have a much easier time of it.

Therefore, I just started another game:
- same map as Catherine of Russia, but on Normal Speed, no Barbarians (I just hate them...)

You should stop hating barbarians and learn to love to hate them instead

Barbarian invasions are actually useful in many cases as long as you've got enough defenders. Send them out and pick up some easy combat experience!

I don't want to dismiss the rest of your questions, but it's hard for me to answer without some screen shots.

 

[EditorRex]

Trying a strategy of peaceful development with warmonger plans for endgame, as Bismarck in BTS. No spaceships or cultural victories allowed. Did allow Diplomatic so I can ban nukes, which has been done. Playing at Epic speed on Prince. It's about 1937. I'm on a massive fractal continent with 9 opponents, all alive and I'm nearly finished researching what I'll need of the tech tree. Everyone is friendly too cautious with me and I haven't had anyone try and attack me since Isabella and GK ganged up unsuccessfuly around 500 AD. I've slowly been encroaching on my neighbors, Mayans and Ethiopians, using major culture edge. I'm building up a fully modern army to blitz Pacal's nine cities in one turn, then turn around and do the same to Ethiopia's 15 cities asap before going after the big players on this map, Joao and Louis, hoping for a domination victory before the clock runs out.

So here's my question: My move against Pacal would be a lot easier if I can take one of his nearby cities culturally before I launch in any invasion. I've already surrounded it culturally on 5 of 8 squares and the ratio inside the city is 55% German and only 44% Mayan. But it doesn't show any sign of flipping. Any idea what I need to do to make this happen?
Thanks.

 

[CivilizedTiger]

Units inside a city make culture flipping more difficult, so if he places enough soldiers in that city, you're very unlikely to flip the city. And I should also mention that this is a bad idea regardless. It takes less time to capture the city than to wait for it to flip.

 

[dalamb]

Check his number of units, like CT said. I think in 3.19 you can have spies spread culture to his city, which can improve chances of flipping (a succession game I saw a while back did that). I don't know what the %-age required is for flipping.

 

[EditorRex]

Check his number of units, like CT said. I think in 3.19 you can have spies spread culture to his city, which can improve chances of flipping (a succession game I saw a while back did that). I don't know what the %-age required is for flipping.

Yeah, I guess this is the key. I've usually lucked into city-flipping in the early to mid game when the oppenent doesn't have too many units stacked. If I recall correctly, he's not got a SOD or anything, just like 4 defenders plus a 2 fighter planes.

I can spread culture into the city and have been doing that. I've also had spies do the 1-turn revolt and the 8-turns of unhappiness, but none of that has resulted in the 2nd-revolt flip that Civlopedia seems to promise. Guess I'd better just focus on building up for the asap blitz. I'll keep pressuring them with culture anyway, since it will make control of the captured empire easier.

 

[EditorRex]

Can anyone offer me some solid late-game warmongering strategy tips for a non-nuclear domination strategy? Map will not require amphipous attacks, though they may still be a good option to knock out coastal cities quickly. I feel like I've been here before and just can't seize on the right strategy to seize and hold enemy cities when I'm playing against roughly equal opponents. I was always able to take them out with the right attack in Civs 1-3, so I'm not sure why I can't make it work in Civ IV. Playing at Prince level, BTS.

 

[cabert]

Can anyone offer me some solid late-game warmongering strategy tips for a non-nuclear domination strategy? Map will not require amphipous attacks, though they may still be a good option to knock out coastal cities quickly. I feel like I've been here before and just can't seize on the right strategy to seize and hold enemy cities when I'm playing against roughly equal opponents. I was always able to take them out with the right attack in Civs 1-3, so I'm not sure why I can't make it work in Civ IV. Playing at Prince level, BTS.

late game strategies are in 2 sizes :
- you face hundreds of units (land map=production, war vs someone who didn't use his troops until now) including siege
or
- you face high tech units but a low number of them

you need to be aware that in the first situation, you mostly won't be able to kill them all in one turn, and that's where amphibious shines

My favorite way to get things done implies tanks and fighters/bombers.
The AI often hesitates to use injured troops, so you bomb the megastack to keep them calm, and weak + you kill them with tanks, possibly 2 with each tank.

 

[Reds]

Just a few questions from a monarch/emperor level player. I tried searching but I couldn't find the answers so with that said,

1. In a mid-game GP farm, would it be better to have scientists or merchants in general? Scientists for bulbing is always nice, but is the gold from merchants worth it?

2. How practical are Free Market, Environmentalism, and Mercantalism compared to State Property?

3. If I don't grab mids I usually stay in Monarchy for a good length of the game. Is using units for happiness for larger cities a crutch when you could be getting hammers from towns or police state for extra military production?

4. When trading tech, is there a sort of cap applied when asking "what will you give me for this?" in that you'll get more of a deal at first but after time you get less and less of a deal on tech trading. I seem to remember hearing about that but can't find it anywhere and I may be wrong.

 

[qyll]

Just a few questions from a monarch/emperor level player. I tried searching but I couldn't find the answers so with that said,

1. In a mid-game GP farm, would it be better to have scientists or merchants in general? Scientists for bulbing is always nice, but is the gold from merchants worth it?

2. How practical are Free Market, Environmentalism, and Mercantalism compared to State Property?

3. If I don't grab mids I usually stay in Monarchy for a good length of the game. Is using units for happiness for larger cities a crutch when you could be getting hammers from towns or police state for extra military production?

4. When trading tech, is there a sort of cap applied when asking "what will you give me for this?" in that you'll get more of a deal at first but after time you get less and less of a deal on tech trading. I seem to remember hearing about that but can't find it anywhere and I may be wrong.

On epic/normal size map:

1. Well, I'm sure there's some sort of analysis you could do. A merchant gets you around 2000 gold instantly, whereas a scientist bulb can get you ~2500 beakers at once. So I suppose which one is better depends on if you have more research or wealth multipliers. I usually just run scientists because you get the technology faster and can trade sooner.

2. It comes down to your land and your victory conditions:

Mercantilism: War, SE, rarely an endgame civic. I'll switch out as soon as I get a chance.
Free Market: Corporations + free market trumps state property in the long run. Can be good for both warring and peaceful victories.
Environmentalism: Good for industrializing, but expensive for corporations. This is a good warring endgame civic.
State Property: If I've got my health issues handled, this is the best endgame civic for domination/conquest victories. Hell, even if I don't have my health issues handled, I'll still run state property sometimes. If I have a lot of colony cities, this is a no brainer.

My rule of thumb is if I'm going to found a corporation, then free market is the way to go. Otherwise, state property or environmentalism.

3. I'll usually switch out of hereditary rule as soon as I get the chance to switch into representation and never look back. Happiness shouldn't be a big issue mid game when you've got luxury resources and from religion. As for police state,the extra military production is nice, but universal suffrage gives hammers to towns, which is extra production too. And you can rush buy. War weariness reduction can convince me to switch though. I played a game today where I was facing a giant Genghis Khan (~25 cities) with 2 vassals and a colossal stack of doom. I got my hands on nukes and ended up accumulating ~1200 war weariness on this guy. Of course, in a scenario like that, running police state should be obvious. What's a bit iffier is if you've got some decent war weariness that can be placated by bumping up the culture slider by 10 or 20%. In that case, I'll stay in universal suffrage and build some jails.

4. Not sure.

 

[cabert]

4 : you get bonus when researching a tech already known by others. This makes the first deal better than the second. For example, you can trade maths for alpha then IW for alpha, but if you trade IW for alpha first, you won't get maths for it after.

 

[kcd_swede]

4 : you get bonus when researching a tech already known by others. This makes the first deal better than the second. For example, you can trade maths for alpha then IW for alpha, but if you trade IW for alpha first, you won't get maths for it after.

Yes. But in case that wasn't clear to the op... the fewer civilizations that know a tech, the more valuable it is. So every time you trade it to someone else, it gets less valuable to the others who don't have it.

 

[Lafortezza]

Just moved up to Emperor, could somebody list what has changed from Monarch? I've noticed that barbs are worse and earlier, and the AI build alot more units. Anything else get tougher?

So far my biggest trouble is the initial REX followed by limping to Currency/COL, I'm having to micro specialists and cottages to get there which usually leaves me several techs behind the AIs.

Current game I rushed Asoka with Hatty (with axes, no horse ), and have blocked off a bunch of really nice land, and now share religion with the 3 other AIs on the continent.

So things are going well, but I'm just wondering on a continent where I have plenty of land to backfill do the AIs go through my territory at any stage to settle? Or can I leave this empty land until I have my economy back in shape.

Thanks for any help!

 

[Sisiutil]

Just moved up to Emperor, could somebody list what has changed from Monarch? I've noticed that barbs are worse and earlier, and the AI build alot more units. Anything else get tougher?

So far my biggest trouble is the initial REX followed by limping to Currency/COL, I'm having to micro specialists and cottages to get there which usually leaves me several techs behind the AIs.

Current game I rushed Asoka with Hatty (with axes, no horse ), and have blocked off a bunch of really nice land, and now share religion with the 3 other AIs on the continent.

So things are going well, but I'm just wondering on a continent where I have plenty of land to backfill do the AIs go through my territory at any stage to settle? Or can I leave this empty land until I have my economy back in shape.

Thanks for any help!

Changes in Emperor from Monarch:

• You get -1 free unit (down to 3 from 4)
• AI starts with +1 Archer, +2 Scouts, +1 Settler cf. Monarch
• Your research is .05 times more expensive
• Your units cost .1 times more
• Your distance maintenance is .05 times more
• Your civic upkeep is .05 times more
• All AI costs are .05 less (x0.85, down from x0.9 at Monarch level)
• Animals are 10% stronger
• Barbarian units appear 5 turns earlier (after 20 turns)
• The chances of popping "strong barbarians" from a goody hut are increased by 5%

My math might be a little off on some of those, but I think you get the gist of it.

The AI will not cross your territory to settle land. It will, however, sneak through significant gaps in your borders if they exist; it will sail around your borders to settle empty land; and it will settle very close to your borders and resources in an attempt to steal the latter (and royally tick you off).

 

[cabert]

Changes in Emperor from Monarch:

• You get -1 free unit (down to 3 from 4)
• AI starts with +1 Archer, +2 Scouts, +1 Settler cf. Monarch
• Your research is .05 times more expensive
• Your units cost .1 times more
• Your distance maintenance is .05 times more
• Your civic upkeep is .05 times more
• All AI costs are .05 less (x0.85, down from x0.9 at Monarch level)
• Animals are 10% stronger
• Barbarian units appear 5 turns earlier (after 20 turns)
• The chances of popping "strong barbarians" from a goody hut are increased by 5%

My math might be a little off on some of those, but I think you get the gist of it.

The AI will not cross your territory to settle land. It will, however, sneak through significant gaps in your borders if they exist; it will sail around your borders to settle empty land; and it will settle very close to your borders and resources in an attempt to steal the latter (and royally tick you off).

those are the figures from vanilla, aren't they?

 

[EditorRex]

late game strategies are in 2 sizes :
- you face hundreds of units (land map=production, war vs someone who didn't use his troops until now) including siege
or
- you face high tech units but a low number of them

you need to be aware that in the first situation, you mostly won't be able to kill them all in one turn, and that's where amphibious shines

My favorite way to get things done implies tanks and fighters/bombers.
The AI often hesitates to use injured troops, so you bomb the megastack to keep them calm, and weak + you kill them with tanks, possibly 2 with each tank.

I agree with your advice and generally do this (although their fighter squadrons get in the way). I really maximize the amphibious strategy too. Typically, I've found that if I start the fight with a surprise attack, the enemy will have just one or two megastacks and I can pick off their coastal cities with well-prepared fleets. But there's a problem. I can probably explain this best by describing what happened in the game I was originally inquiring about:

I'm Bismarck, the year is 1989 and I'm playing Epic speed, Prince level, Fractal map where 8 of us are crowded onto one massive land mass, with me at the Western extreme. (Lincoln is nearby on a small island that Joao colonized before giving those cities indepence. And I've also got a small island with about 3 large cities, that I also own.) I've got about 16 cities of my own, including 4 that I took in a recent war with my southeastern neighbors, the Mayans, who capitulated and have 3 cities of their own remaining. Biggest civs in this game are Joao (vassals Hannibal, Lincoln) and Louis (vassals Hathsheput, Genghis). Everyone but Genghis has researched the whole tech tree. Spaceships and cultural victories are banned. I've banned Nukes with the UN. On score, I'm the clear No. 3 player, followed closely by Zara. And he's my problem. I have bigger cities for a larger population. Our landsize and militaries are similar, though not evenly balanced. Zara shares a western frontier with me and the Mayans. Zara has 6 large cities along his north coast and 3 along his south coast, with maybe 5 other large cities and lots of small ones in his interior. His capital is in his eastern interior, so it's not an early target for me. He has one coastal city on his northwestern border with me that is home to an amazing megastack. 52 Paratroopers. 26 Mobile Artillery. 15 Mechnical Infantry. 12 Marines. 28 Modern Armor. 5 Stealth Destroyers. 4 Transports. 6 Fighters. Several Stealth Bombers, Mobile SAMs, Gunships, and probably some things I've forgotten. No other city has more than eight functional defensive units in it.

I'm on extreme western end of big wide fractal continent, with tiny Mayan vassal to my southeast. Zara borders both of us to the east and is roughly squareshaped with north and south coasts. His northeastern border is Hannibal, southeast is Joao, whose huge empire occupies a major southern extension. Just east of Joao is Hathsheput, who is mostly in ruins as a result of wars. North of Hathsheput is a mishmash of cities belonging to different players, the remains of an extinct Spain. East of that area is a ruined Mongol region, partially occupied by France. And then on the eastern end, the continent widens north/south and is all France. Lincoln on tiny island southeast of Zara. I have control of a big island off my west coast, Joao has a big island to his south and Louis has one to his south. That's the world.

I'd like to attack Zara soon, but timing is everything. My goal is to bring him to capitulation without wrecking myself so badly that I'll be dead meat for one of the other big players. Louis and Joao are in involved in a brutal war with all vassals along for the ride, which is mostly picking apart what's left of Egypt and Mongolia. But peace could break out over there any time and they could turn their eyes to me. Louis is highly hostile to both me and ZARA (before Free Religion got popular, we were Christians and Louis was Buddhist. ZARA is currently a theocratic Christian). Zara's military power is slightly less than mine on paper, but a lot of mine is sea and air, of which he has much less. That's great, but guided missiles aren't of any use on defense. If I play defense for too long, I'm dead meat.

For fun, an apparent glitch in the game has left me with no choice but to persuade Louis and Joao to stop fighting. If I don't do anything to stop them, then I'm left "Waiting for other Civilizations" forever. Same result if I join in, or start fighting Zara without resolving their conflict. Guessing someone has two megastacks going up against each other and it's overloading my somewhat older XP system. So, peace over there does break out. (Anyone familiar with this problem who knows another way around it, I'd be interested!)

So, having laid all that out, here's what happens under different circumstances:
-- If I wait to long while building up my forces, ZARA will attack me. I can hold this off for a turn or two with some diplomacy, but it's inevitable that he is coming my way if I don't attack first. IF I let him attack, that megastack rolls over one of my major port cities with no problem on turn 1, even though this is the city that's best defended and home to most of my air power. If I lose that city, I can't hit his major areas with land-based missiles or planes. (Maybe stealth bombers, but his jet fighters are mostly neutralizing those at this point.) I can successfuly take out half of his north coast cities and 2/3 of his south coast cities. (Transports of Marines, Fleets of carriers and Missile Cruisers, fully loaded, Stealth Destroyers to help fend off any naval counterstrikes. I hit him with cruisers bombarding, then missiles and possibly fighter jets, then launch the Marines.) However, he starts picking off both my cities and the mayans in short order and I lose most of my offensive power just defending. I have no time for a counterstrike beyond the coasts. And just the loss of the coastal cities doesn't seem like enough to phase him. That initial stack is just too huge.

-- If I attack first, and I have to do it before he does so I don't have infinite time to keep building up, I can damage most of his megastack with artillery, missiles, etc. I can take all but two of his coastal cities and at least two of his interior border cities on a first strike. With damaged troops, he doesn't hit me back right away and I've got maybe two turns before the stack comes after me. But those 52 paratroopers are just too many. I never even touch them offensively. I kill most of them when he uses them on offense, but it doesn't matter -- there are just too many. I'm being eaten alive by ants. He retakes about half of what I took initially and knocks out my nearest city with about 20 mechanical infantry and 5 Mobile SAMs defending it, like nothing, by using a combination of the paratroopers (crawling, not dropping), mobile artillery and modern armor.
-- If I attack first and don't go after the megastack, I do better against his interior cities and can hold them longer, but his stack dismantles my homeland more quickly. Since it's going to do that anyway, the gamble is to let it take out my defense, while putting my offensive power to real use in as many locations as possible. I do have rough terrain and a decent amount of space between my cities, so I have a few turns before he hits my most vital cities. I suspect this strategy could get him to capitulate, but my economy and military will be so wrecked that I'll be dead meat for the French or Portugese.

And that's all I've got. Like I posted earlier, other than the "waiting for other civs" glitch, I feel like I've been here before. Been trying same general strategy as Bismarck lately and had same thing happen in game where Peter and Monty were my foes. Took their coasts with Marines and Gunships easily. They rolled me in the interior and took back most of their losses. One problem with Marines is that you tend to lose a lot of them in an attack all cities at once strategy, so unless you really have a lot of transports full of them, it's hard to hold your winnings long enough to force the enemy to surrender. Had a similar game with Justinian as the main foe, with same result.

Feel like there must be a way to neutralize these megastacks. For one thing, I don't ever seem to be able to build them myself, which would probably make a big difference. I can built a veritable stack of doom, but never get up to the truly colossal level I see with the AI.

While were at it, I had a more recent game in which Justinian rolled my in the Medieval era with a Maceman/Horse Archer megastack I couldn't believe. He used the Pyramids and Universal Suffrage to spam them, I think. Any proven strategy against this stuff?