Creamed again!

[mastrude]

I haven't tried this successfully yet, so excuse me if I'm wrong, but what I think you have to do to win is to have an army consisting entirely of ordinary folks recruited at the very last minute. Otherwise you trigger loony George building a massive army. I'm guessing that Firaxis assumed we would know this was historically accurate, and that we would follow the historical model. All you would need is to have a large stockpile of guns and horses, which don't seem to trigger expanding George's force.

I would also hold off on building any warships. I don't think you can win at sea.

I also think you have to wait till the last hour to build revolutionary sentiment, and build it as quickly as possible. I noticed that when you move the revolutionary sentiment to 1 or 2% (!!) George starts increasing the size of his expeditionary force. I'm thinking you may need 1 or 2% on the meter, plus political points to qualify for certain elder statesmen or great persons, but otherwise I'm planning on identifying rabble-rouser candidates and employing them until the last minute in churches, to attract population from Europe. Don't know what effect this would have on attracting FFs, tho. Anybody have good rules of thumb?

It's been hard for me to build revolutionary sentiment at all, let alone get to 51%.

I'd welcome your responses to these issues. What would be a good rule-of-thumb year to start to build revolutionary sentiment? What year for recruiting solders?

I think that you need to have two or three well-developed colonies to win, so that founding a lot of other colonies can distract from that. It takes a long time and a lot of investment to get a colony productive, particularly when you measure productivity by your export economy (which is a mistake.) Once you have your basic colonies, I think you want to build numbers of colonists (to serve as soldiers,) and expert politicians, as your basic measure of success.

I also think that when you declare independence you have to plan to dump nearly all production of cash products and crops, so it may pay not to overdevelop these. I am thinking of converting all cigar-makers, tobacco planters, sugar planters, weavers, and the like, first to farmers, then to soldiers. It seems that what you need during the war are smiths, gunsmiths, carpenters, lumbermen, ore miners, and food farmers.

 

[Andvare]

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=292798

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=293126

You can win at sea, just use Bolivar, and lots of SOLs.

Don't build a standing army, use your citizens instead. Stockpile weapons and horses. Build/buy cannons (they don't require liberty bells).

 

[obsolete]

Just move your worst civilian in reserve at an eastern shore-line. And use him to found a colony the instant you DoW on the king. Put him in a spot that has a forested hill next to it. Then place your cannons and a few other units on that hill.

Then it doesn't matter what happens after that...

If he attacks your units form the shore, his cannons don't get that rediculous bonus and he's dead. If he decides to attack that junker-city, then you get to capture it and basically kill his units free of charge. Then, you evacuate it so you can kill his next load free.

It's like cheating, and it sounds incredibly stupid, but it works.... too well.

 

[Hammurbabble]

I haven't tried this yet, so excuse me if I'm wrong, but what I think you have to do to win is to have an army consisting entirely of ordinary folks recruited at the very last minute. Otherwise you trigger loony George building a massive army.

Although it's true you don't want to build your independence army too early, that's not the reason. The king builds the REF based on your Liberty Bells, not your forces. However, each unit counts as a Tory, so it slows down your reaching the necessary rebel sentiment if you build your army early; plus, you really don't need it until it's time to declare anyway.

Load up on lots of cannons, either purchased or built, and on guns and horses, and that you're generating plenty of food. Reach independence percentage, then build your army, then declare.

I would also hold off on building any warships. I don't think you can win at sea.

Well, I certainly don't see a way to do that, and it isn't necessary anyway. I've only won once, but every ship in the REF was still afloat when I did, except for one that I caught in a settlement.

I also think you have to wait till the last hour to build revolutionary sentiment, and build it as quickly as possible.

This is one way to do it, and a way some people have recommended. It isn't really necessary, though. True, you hold down the size of the REF if you do it that way, but the epic fight against the king's forces is half the fun of the game. I like the feeling of clobbering the enemy when they have a 3- or 4-1 advantage in numbers, especially when I know their units are better than mine one-on-one.

I'd welcome your responses to these issues. What would be a good rule-of-thumb year to start to build revolutionary sentiment? What year for recruiting solders?

I'm going to meet some disagreement to this, as I said, but I start generating bells pretty early. The first major purchase I make is a Galleon, but the second is an Elder Statesman, unless one has already shown up at the docks by then.

I garrison my settlements with one or two soldiers for defense throughout most of the game. Usually a few Veteran Soldiers will show up at the docks. Otherwise, I use the guns from the starting units to make a soldier, and make more as I get my gun production going. If I find myself at war with a native tribe or another European nation, I'll buy some cannons and maybe recruit a few more soldiers. But I don't go hog-wild building my independence force until after I've hit 51%.

 

[mastrude]

Just move your worst civilian in reserve at an eastern shore-line. And use him to found a colony the instant you DoW on the king. Put him in a spot that has a forested hill next to it. Then place your cannons and a few other units on that hill.

Then it doesn't matter what happens after that...

If he attacks your units form the shore, his cannons don't get that rediculous bonus and he's dead. If he decides to attack that junker-city, then you get to capture it and basically kill his units free of charge. Then, you evacuate it so you can kill his next load free.

It's like cheating, and it sounds incredibly stupid, but it works.... too well.

This sounds like a good idea to me.

 

[mastrude]

Although it's true you don't want to build your independence army too early, that's not the reason. The king builds the REF based on your Liberty Bells, not your forces. However, each unit counts as a Tory, so it slows down your reaching the necessary rebel sentiment if you build your army early; plus, you really don't need it until it's time to declare anyway.

Load up on lots of cannons, either purchased or built, and on guns and horses, and that you're generating plenty of food. Reach independence percentage, then build your army, then declare.



Well, I certainly don't see a way to do that, and it isn't necessary anyway. I've only won once, but every ship in the REF was still afloat when I did, except for one that I caught in a settlement.



This is one way to do it, and a way some people have recommended. It isn't really necessary, though. True, you hold down the size of the REF if you do it that way, but the epic fight against the king's forces is half the fun of the game. I like the feeling of clobbering the enemy when they have a 3- or 4-1 advantage in numbers, especially when I know their units are better than mine one-on-one.



I'm going to meet some disagreement to this, as I said, but I start generating bells pretty early. The first major purchase I make is a Galleon, but the second is an Elder Statesman, unless one has already shown up at the docks by then.

I garrison my settlements with one or two soldiers for defense throughout most of the game. Usually a few Veteran Soldiers will show up at the docks. Otherwise, I use the guns from the starting units to make a soldier, and make more as I get my gun production going. If I find myself at war with a native tribe or another European nation, I'll buy some cannons and maybe recruit a few more soldiers. But I don't go hog-wild building my independence force until after I've hit 51%.

These points are good, tho I'm not sure about accumulating bells early. The question is, to me, how late can you leave this and still be sure of hitting 51% in time.