Difficulty moving up to Emperor?

[Madbone1]

I've played Conquest (and Civ) for ages and for long time mastered Monarch difficulty. I almost always win my games and become technological superior. I usually beat the other opponents quite easily though one or two opponents manage to keep up well and pose a good challenge.

I have received a lot of help by various articles in the war academy such as Deity Settlers, how to trade efficiently with other factions etc. So I consider myself a semi expert but could probably learn a lot more.

But I have quite a lot of fun. Nevertheless I'm considering moving on to the next difficulty (can't even remember the name). Will the difficulty greatly increase compared to Monarch or can anyone give me some kind of idea on what changes and how much ?

Thanks alot

 

[Doc Tsiolkovski]

The changes from Monarch to Emperor are only gradually. If you happen to get an outstanding start, you probably won't notice it. Just avoid mistakes, broker with techs, fire the Governor and don't automate Workers (except for cleaning).
But the extra Settler can make DG already quite tough, thus I think someone should be really familiar with Emperor before moving up.

 

[Madbone1]

But the extra Settler can make DG already quite tough, thus I think someone should be really familiar with Emperor before moving up.

The extra settler ? Could you explain this to me ?

Thanks for the information. Sounds like I should give it a try.

 

[Drakan]

I guess you've already read this article in the War Academy:

http://www.civfanatics.com/civ3acad_montoemp.shtml

I believe there's quite a change of difficulty. Your monarch tactics might not be useful at this level. You'll be hopelessly behind in tech as a newbie. You'll find yourself building less wonders, if any, at the beginning. After playing many games you'll develop new strats. You'll play catch up a lot. Please do not build the GL at this level untill you know how to beat the game at Emperor without it; GL will only hamper your prowess and make you learn slower(don't build pyramids either). Expand, REXing, asap

The AI gets all sort of bonuses as you go up the echelon of difficulty. You are par with it in Regent. Then it starts getting theses bonuses from Monarch onwards such as building at a discount things. I think its a 10% in monarch (this means that the AI builds in 9 turns what takes you 10 turns to build), 20% in emperor, 70% semi, 60% deity ...plus the AI gets extra settlers, extra defensive AND offensive units. At deity it can change government with only one turn's penalty, so it's as if all the AI civs had the religious trait...

 

[hanterp]

The changes from Monarch to Emperor are only gradually. If you happen to get an outstanding start, you probably won't notice it. Just avoid mistakes, broker with techs, fire the Governor and don't automate Workers (except for cleaning).
But the extra Settler can make DG already quite tough, thus I think someone should be really familiar with Emperor before moving up.

Hi doc,
Can you teach me why to fire the govenor? I just play the game shortly and I do not see why this is a good idea

 

[Drakan]

Hanterp, because at Emperor and above your singlest best advantage is micromanagement of your cities, if you activate the GOVERNOR you are not doing this, thus losin a key advantage. Read Cracker´s article on microm on the Article's Forum.

 

[Doc Tsiolkovski]

Maybe I should add that I *do* use the Governor for Mximizing production, and in certain situations I even hand him over Happiness. But IMHO micromanagement is one of the 2 huge advantages a human has in Civ3 (with long-term planning the other one)

@Madbone1:
In Demigod and above, the AI starts with an extra Settler (and a rising number of Spears, Warriors and Workers as well).

 

[hanterp]

Okay, thanks for explaining me
In fact I did already do micromanagement without realising it
I use the govenors for cities where not many changes are needed. Al the others I do myself.

 

[Madbone1]

Thanks for the input. Actually I had not read the article. Sounds like quite a challenge. Luckily I don't use governors today and rarely depend on the GL.

 

[WackenOpenAir]

GL is the only exception to wonders.

On low difficulties, it is the most useless wonder ever. On high difficulties, it can be a life saver because it is so hard to keep up with techs.

All the other wonders could be nice on low difficulties, but you wont get a chance to build any on high difficulties.

And for governors and automating, luckily i don't even know how to activate the governors, and i don't need to know . Not only should you never use any of those, i also advise not to give your units movement commands for multiple turns either. Sometimes things can change that makes you rethink the way your units have to move. (like a culture flip and all of a sudden you need some units to retake it but all your units are already moving to another front)

The very very most important thing to reach higher difficulties is not game knowledge neither game experience, it is the patience to think about everything you do, including the little details and the discipline to check things every turn. every turn:
-revaluate your strategy and progress
-check the diplomacy screen for trades
-check and micro all your cities
-check your happiness so no city will riot (must always be the last thing you check)

All these things need to be done with patience, when you check a city, don't just thing its ok, look if you can add some shields to the production for a 1 turn faster production, or maybe you can choose a cheaper item to rush buy a few shields then swich back to make it one turn faster with only a very cheap rush but (example: producing knight(70) in city with production 17 would take 5 turns, if you rush buy a 20 shield item after the first turn, you are only paying for 3 shields, but it does make 1 turn differenc)

Also if for example you developed a new form of government but are not ready to swich (not enough marketplaces or luxuries or whatever reason) it is so easy to forget swiching the folowing 30 turns all together while it might have been profitable to swich on turn 5. Things like this is part of the strategy and progress you need to check every turn.

 

[phirider]

When I got CIV3,the first game was tiny map & Chieftain,the second game was standard map & Emperor,the third game was huge mpa & Lord. IT IS NOT SO DIFFICULT! IF you want a wonder,build Palace in a city and hold shields,then change to the wonder when you get tech.Although AIs have two settlers and many soldiers at the beginning,they do not attack you if you get soldiers (even 2 or 3).By the way,if you do not mind playing Save&Lord,you can build wonder using a leader( let the Elite soldier fight and win,test it again and again,probability is about 1/40 ).

 

[Drakan]

"GL is the only exception to wonders.

On low difficulties, it is the most useless wonder ever. On high difficulties, it can be a life saver because it is so hard to keep up with techs"

This is true WackenOpnAir. At Deity using the GL and then reusing it again with the GL elevator gambit can be a life saver. But before doing this he must learn to thrive at emperor WITHOUT building it, otherwise it will be used as a crutch and hamper his learning skills. Once he masters Emperor (win consistently all default and random), then he can build it if he wants at Semi or Deity. Problem is that newbies want to build the pyramids and GL at Emperor the same as they were doing at monarch or below, and this, IMHO, is wrong. They must learn to play from behind and catchup.

 

[alamo]

...And for governors and automating, luckily i don't even know how to activate the governors, and i don't need to know...

When your towns grow the governor setting determines if they go to a food or shield tile. Check that right-click menu sometimes.

It seems to be a significant jump to go from Regeant to Monarch, and then even more Monarch to Emperor. There's that contented citizen penalty, which is huge. In addition to more bonuses, the AI starts with a worse attitude!

My humble opinion so far is that you must pay close attention to your neighbors and be prepared to defend against incursions or take advantage of weaknesses as the game develops. Ideally these dovetaill into your diplomatic and military strategies, which are of greater importance, too.

 

[WackenOpenAir]

yeah, i figured that could make a difference for the "bonus" you get when city grows, but it always goes to shields so that is good since at growth time extra food would be wasted. When it has grown, i set it manually to where i need it.

 

[Immortal]

To this day I have won a grand total of 2 emperor games.

 

[troytheface]

After alot of play with a variety of civs (Huge/Cont) i usually win on emperor but have to inch along from the very beginning, and too, at times must opt for a diplomatic victory. However, i will disagree with some of the aformentioned suggestions namely....

1. I always use governers to manage happiness...hate micromanagement
2. Always go for the great library, sometimes i get it sometimes not. Even if u do get
tho, u may find urself falling behind in tech again after education.
3. Alot of time at war.-(Great leaders , Armies, workers, purloined tech-only one way- war ...Fuedalism-Facism (republic if its traded for or given with GL) (side note-i usually skip every optional tech including nationalism and military tradition (if the UU is not dependant on it )
4. Raze cities. (Except if u can wipe out ur opponent on the turn u plan to keep a city(s) or it has a wonder. Why?- pain worrying about rushing temples.
These days i 'd say i can win 90% (not counting tundra or isle starts) of the time- but here i would add one big fat disclaimer....I have fared poorly on the next level up...which is to say that the advice given by others may prove more valuable if u continue to climb difficulty levels.
(Usually i find that Empires on a different continent start outpacing me at an incredible rate on Semi or whatever the next level is )....
-Too i have read that micromanagment -(gag) is key to higher levels of play.- I'd suggest move up a notch by "refining" ur current skills
rather than overhauling total strategy...on emperor...

 

[Doc Tsiolkovski]

Troy, all your proposals are true for Emperor. And if that's the way you like it, there's nothing wrong here.
However, for these techniques Emperor is end of the ladder. Every single one of them will break your neck already on DG.
And nobody said you cannot build the GLib on Emperor, everyone says 'Don't do it, it'll make things unrealistically easy'. On DG+, it'll cost you so much more effort to build a single early wonder, that you really 'deserve' it. Not on Emperor.

At least for me, Mon-> Emp was no big step. I had to learn to deal with the one less happy citizen, but everything else required I already did in Regent (never played below). However, DG was quite a large change - simply because the AI will outexpand you if you don't use your best city as Settler pump, while on Emperor you still can build a lot of things aside from Settlers/Warriors/Workers/Curraghs

 

[eldar]

Regent->Monarch

I had no real difficulties with this step up. The AI bonus is minimal and it's easy enough to cover.

Monarch->Emperor

Ouch. I decided on a practice game for GOTM33 (Standard Pan, Greece). After a million-and-one aborted starts, I finally got a map I liked (read: 3 flood-plain wheats, plus another on a plain for good measure!) and the game went well enough, pretty much up until I saved for the first time (500AD, early-mid Medieval, I'd just whacked an Iron-less Japan and was #1 in territory and pop as well). After re-loading, I decided consolidation was the order of the day. I'd kept up in tech up until then - no GL, running at 10% in Monarchy, buying stuff - but was starting to slip behind. Then Korea declared on me. Carthage, who'd been finishing off the banished remnants of Japan, then RoP-raped me and DoW'd me! I moved troops onto a mountain to take back one of my catpured cities, and triggered an MPP between Korea and Spain. At this point, I still didn't have MT, the AI (clearly) all were Industrial and had Cav - so I gave up.

I think I'll go back to that 500AD save again, and see if being nice to my neighbours earlier on (RoP, etc.) setting science to 0% and trying a Republic does me any better.

Neil.

 

[Tomoyo]

Something wierd that I noticed:

My first game at a high level has always been a builder's civ.

Monarch: Greece - Lost
Emporer: France - Lost
Deity: France - In essence Lost, but pulled a cheap capture the UN victory

My second game was always a miliaristic civ

Monarch: China - Won
Emperor: Germany - Won
Deity: Rome - Won

Strange, isn't it?

Anyway, the only games that I felt I had no chance of winning were my French games. The jump from Monarch to Emperor was the hardest of all. I think that since the Emporer AIs have such bonuses (boni?) I was unable to keep up in tech enough, coupled with my mistake in letting certain AIs get too dominant.

One more thing: My building skills were better as an Emporer player than now, when I can beat Deity. I have to find a classification for a "power balance" playing style.