Early Agression

[Kazdum]

First of all, last night was the first time I played this MOD and I gotta say, I am just amazed by the work done here by the devs of this mod. I really love Civilization since its number two, but even when G&K came out I did not have such a great time as I did when I discovered about this mod.

As I am a bit of a Role Player gamer as I play CiV, I think this mod gives me a total immersion to the game, random things happening and more realistic features.

Well, lets get to the point.

Last night was my first game using the MOD, I decided that my first game will be a conquest game, as I read the mod sections it seems to me that conquest is harder now due all the changes and I am up for a challange. Usually in G&K I was winning Immortal dificulty, due to the fact that the AI is pretty predictable

Well, I am playing as germany, my goal is to conquer one (if I am good two civs) during the classical/medieval era, and then tech up to modern era so I can launch that Panzers world conquest. The thing is, I am really a fan of Liberty play style and I think the work with its policies was just amazing.

Since I was new to the mod I made a game as a King dificulty, played a couple of turns, noticed that I had no gold to support a larger army than 3-4 units. Then I realised that I was building too much in my cities, everything seems to be so freaking useful with this mod that its hard for me to just skip buildings.

So my question is: Back in Vanilla you could catch up in science after an early agression game, does the same thing is possible in this mod? I mean, doesnt the AI tech get completely out of control?

 

[Anvari]

Well, i haven't tried it on King but i think it should be possible, assuming you know who to do that. And yes, playing with this mod is really difficult for the first time because you have to watch your army very carefully. I still find myself in a tough spot - after months of playing this mod, just because i have a sub-optimal spawn between 2 guys who apparently don't like me much. Too much army cripples your gold and too less, you are dead.

To your question: Yes it's possible - at least i assume that much (i play on 6-8 normally). This is how i would do it - try to get as much food and science buildings as possible. Be aware that science buildings grant less science directly, but you get more from population which means you shouldn't get 10293 cities. I guess 5 or 6 should be the max in medieval era. Don't skip the Granary and the other food buildings! If you don't have any food or science buildings, try to get as much happiness because you will need them if you get a decent growth rate. The main problem should be after the switch from warfare to research, because the first happiness building is the Colosseum. And that is - if i'm not totally wrong - much less powerful, giving only 2 happiness and not 3 or 4. To counter that, you could focus on that at after you have your unit-technologies or try to get a religion. It's not that hard and doable with the Shrine in 3 or 4 cities. Maybe you'll get the chance and pick that growth pantheon. I think that should cover all.

Food > Science > Happiness > whatever

And yes i'm placing food over science for science ... looks strange now but without a decent population, you can't use specialists effective and that's hurting you in the long run. You have to compensate for the lost growth at the start.

That's it, i hope it'll help you and the others don't trash my point of view

 

[mystikx21]

Colosseum (Arena) is 3 happiness in 1.13/4. The main change in GEM is that it's a lot more expensive both to build and doubled for upkeep (probably way too high on the former, it's 450 instead of 180 in vanilla).

Many of the early buildings are cheaper for upkeep now than they were actually (shrines, water mills, stables, mentor, granary, forge, amphitheater). I believe only aqueducts, circuses, and arenas are more expensive than before on the first couple of eras, so building buildings shouldn't be too expensive in costs until later on. It's the early army +worker production that can eat you up until markets and mints are up and running.

 

[Kazdum]

Well the game is going pretty well, instead of Early Agression I went for a mad expand approach to see how it works in this mod. It is been a pretty good start, I am with 9 cities in the year 530 BC. They are all about size 5-7 (Except for my newly founded 2 cities).

As soon as the religion kicked in (+3 food in temples/shiries and +1 hapiness per city and shrine) my hapiness went to the skies and I am now able to grow my cities. My science is lacking a little bit, but overall I think I am handling fine. Washington is not pleased with me expanding so much so he DoWed me, I am standing my ground with no major issues.

I am beelining education now so I can put down libraries and universities everywhere. I am thinking of razing the entire empire of Washington so I can build more of my cities later, preparing a strong economy to support my later army. The diference between G&K and GEM in a "ICS" approach of the game is really the gold, I am being very, very careful with my army size not to cripple my economy.

Overall I think I over expanded a little bit, like you said I should be with 5-6 cities at the medieval era, but since I am playing king I don't think it will ruin my game. Its just that I cant help to expand alot, I like to have a really large empire.

 

[lindanealmck]

Having alot of fun with BNW and the mod. I think early expansion is the way to go.
If you like food, try Parachuti, those terrace farms are amazing, and in the mod they connect resources.
At Prince or King level, the AI players seem to be constantly broke.
Early aggression is tough when you are trying to balance culture, religion, science and happiness, even with the Zulus.
I haven't tried Germany for a long time.
The Shoshone are also great for early expansion.
Being next to Washington is always a bad thing. He has a tendency to suddenly DOW with a large combined arms force.