earth18 strategy and tips

[z0wb13]

i'm posting to hear some general huge earth 18 strategies. if there is a particular civ you like, please talk about it.

but, i was wondering what the hardest civ to play is and why? i would think japan, because they start on an island, and their leader suxx0r. just to be clear, they do start on an island, right?

other hard civs would be catherine of russia, especially on higher levels when you can't afford the early expansion. any of the new world civs, esp if the aztecs go nuts.

on a side note, is there a earth+18 scenario?

 

[z0wb13]

just to generate some discussion, but i find that expanding into the korean peninsula is the best move when playing as japan.

and just to be clear, i am assuming that everyone on the boards plays earth18 like i do, which is basically a chain vassal conquest victory.

 

[coanda]

Hardest civ is probably Mali. Sh***y land for miles around in every direction, and no nearby second capital. Most popular strategies for them start with "first, spend <5-10> turns and move your starting settler to <other location>."

 

[whats a navy]

Japan is one of the best civs in the game. It can conquer china easily and has one of the best capitals on the map. Mali is by far the worst if you don't take the seven turn trek to settle on the north African coast.

 

[dimatud]

best advice I can give is: rush, rush, rush until you get broke and then stabilize your economy and then rush, rush rush... (only aim for best land like china/europe, don't bother with Africa, Siberia etc)

if japan -> settle 2nd city into china and rush China/Mongolia. It's pretty easy because you have good capital
I agree with coanda that Mali is probably the hardest because the land is shti.

With Cathy I wouldn't bother to expand east just because the land is kinda crappy, chariot/HA rush all europe and you have some of the best land you can get at "minor" costs...

Also, you can always catch in tech just because there are so many civs so going a little broke for a good cause can't hurt too much.

 

[The Oz-Man]

Honestly, I've never found Catherine too hard on the Earth map. It's easy to expand west and plug up Europe until you can take it, and if you're playing to win, a very straightforward strategy is "capture Europe --> win game."

 

[elohssa]

Religious shrines are very powerful on earth 18. As is a religious vicotry strategy. Note the gold output in the following screenshots (emperor):

Spoiler :

With England I did an elephant rush on France (got elephants from India) and stole their precious Paris (jewish shrine) which could have culture flipped London at that stage. In general picking a European civ (other then Romans) and elephant rushing the rest of the continent should be easy. I just didn't do it because I wanted a diplo win.

 

[Silverbow]

Elephant? You can warrior rush Europe with ease. Or axe. Or chariot...

 

[elohssa]

Elephant? You can warrior rush Europe with ease. Or axe. Or chariot...

Yes but that is boring and not-exotic. Elephants in Europe are exotic and thus a better strategy.

 

[Infantry#14]

I like playing as China. The land is very good and I like to build early cities. Take care the Mongols first and then invade Japan. Expand to southeast Asia and conquer India. Afterward, just vassalize everyone. I never bother building new cities in the Philippines, Australia or Siberia.

Settings I like to play with:
Choose Religion
Raging Barbarian (I build the GW)
Random Personality (I've seen games where Genghis played like Gandhi and Toku almost always opened borders)

 

[Mikehendi]

Awesome topic:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=176039

Mostly with multiplayer settings, though

 

[Habitus]

When I'm bored I play France with the Aim of culture flipping all of Europe I usually play Raging Barbs, and have added Archery too all the civs to stop warrior rushing

 

[Archon_Wing]

I hate playing as Roosevelt. Monty's too far away to easily kill at times, and he's Monty. >.> It's not like Europe where you have several easy and really strong capitals guaranteed to you.

In addition, Canada is a worthless wasteland that will be filled with barbs, and the western US is pretty ugly too.

 

[Infantry#14]

I hate playing as Roosevelt. Monty's too far away to easily kill at times, and he's Monty. >.> It's not like Europe where you have several easy and really strong capitals guaranteed to you.

In addition, Canada is a worthless wasteland that will be filled with barbs, and the western US is pretty ugly too.

Brazil is a nice place to colonize.

 

[Neal]

I've done a number of public games based on Earth maps (see sig). Admittedly, the later ones stray a bit from the "pure" Earth 18 map, but the earlier ones point out a lot of its idiosyncrasies. And yeah, the Mali are *much* harder than Japan. Starting in the Americas is tough, too. Compared to the Old World, you're isolated. Even Mongolia can be difficult, assuming you're not willing to play the "rush Qin, then play as China with brown borders" game.

 

[Ataxerxes]

I've done a number of public games based on Earth maps (see sig). Admittedly, the later ones stray a bit from the "pure" Earth 18 map, but the earlier ones point out a lot of its idiosyncrasies. And yeah, the Mali are *much* harder than Japan. Starting in the Americas is tough, too. Compared to the Old World, you're isolated. Even Mongolia can be difficult, assuming you're not willing to play the "rush Qin, then play as China with brown borders" game.

On Earth18, I don't think any Civ is nearly as hard as Mali. I remember your game from long ago as Mali on Earth18. You won, but what a struggle. I've used your Mali game as an example to players who think the Internet isn't any good.

Really, nobody is even close to Mali in difficulty. I'd probably say Inca are the next hardest - nobody to trade with and trying to clear South America and settle it yourself.

 

[coanda]

The Inca are usually not that challenging. They're very tedious - it's quite hard to get an early victory with them. But Cultural or Spaceship victory are both fairly reliable options for anyone given that much guaranteed riverside grassland to expand into (even with near-isolation, jungles, and a truly evil mountain range causing initial difficulties).

 

[z0wb13]

The Inca are usually not that challenging. They're very tedious - it's quite hard to get an early victory with them. But Cultural or Spaceship victory are both fairly reliable options for anyone given that much guaranteed riverside grassland to expand into (even with near-isolation, jungles, and a truly evil mountain range causing initial difficulties).

i'm playing incans right now. tedious is the right word for it, but also add the relative lack of resources and forests. this really nerfs the industrious trait. no access marble or stone to boot, at least you can get the gold, gems, silver bonus from cheap forges and the 3 seafoods from habours. i think i'll try mali next, after a ss emperor win;p

 

[dalamb]

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=176039Mostly with multiplayer settings, though

Almost everything I know about Earth18 I learned from JoeHollywood's thread, which talks about strategies for several civs, so I concur with Mikehendi that it's well worth reading. I don't think the focus on multiplayer hurts; it's still enormously useful.

On a tangent: there are also threads about variant Earth18 maps -- in the sense of "fixing" some of its problems. Typical things people suggest are

• Giving the Inca a route through the Andes to the Amazon (which is historically accurate -- I've seen History Channel shows reporting on Incan/Amazonian trade)
• Moving some starting locations slightly -- especially Spain to the coastal plains hill to its east.
• Improving Mali. There was a thread about how the Earth18 representation of central Africa isn't accurate -- there's more useful forest and plains, and herdbeasts that could be represented by cows. I made an attempt to incorporate information from various maps but the discussion thread thought I'd over-improved it and I didn't go back to re-edit it.

 

[Archon_Wing]

MM, I can't really agree with a lot of that guide. Personally, I like to leave France and Spain as Rome alive for a little so I can capture their good wonders and religious shrine. The ones that are harder to dislodge are Germany and Greece so I try to kill them first.

Oy, guide is multiplayer. But seeing stuff like Worker ---> Settler opening as England... I guess someone added the scouts?