Economy on Monarch

[bojangles5280]

I play as Julius Caesar on Vanilla Civ 4. Militarily, I have no problem on Monarch; Praetorians early-game seem to do the trick at wiping the floor with my opponents. I feel however, that this rush is becomings something of a crutch at Monarch difficulty; I see that the enemy's economy/culture is threatening so I attack with Praetorians. I feel this sort of one-trick attitude will eventually hamper my growth as a Civ player.

What sort of things should I be doing in order to compete with the AI economically--without having to go to war? I usually go for the "cottage economy because of the payoff late-game but that can take awhile to get off the ground. Perhaps I should try the specialist econ. Or maybe my city placement is sub par? I tend not to specialize too heavily and do not employ GP farms.

I know though, that a save is worth a thousand words, so here's a few to look at. In the first save, I'm pretty close to Tokugowa and a few saves before I was almost equal to Hatty (I was always pretty far from Ghandi). However, in the second save the gap between me and Hatty has grown larger and she is starting to take over one of my cities squares with her culture.

Edit: after looking at the histograph, I think that I failed to expand fast enough. However, if I expand at a comparable rate to the AI, my economy ends up in the pooper.

I have a sinking feeling the game was decided long before this stage; if that's the case, I'll have to play another and show saves just from BC.

 

[lymond]

2 bits of quick advice:

1) screenshots
2) BTS

 

[Cam_H]

Firstly bojangles, welcome to CivFanatics!

Further to lymond's suggestions, I've looked quickly at your 860AD game but not played it onwards.

Addressing the initial question: Currency and Code of Laws are two important technologies to dig yourself out of a commerce hole. There are other approaches, such as; an early game focus on Cottage growth, or shooting for The Great Lighthouse and settling coastal cities, or war-and-raze your enemy cities to name a few.

As far as your game’s concerned, I think that your technological development really isn't where it should be. As a rough guide, by 860AD I'd be looking at having Civil Service, probably Paper too. You've generally got the right idea with Cumae as a potential science centre, but the other cities are very 'hybrid-like' with a few Cottages, a few Farms, a few Mines, and lots of city improvements ... some seem a bit superfluous (e.g. many cities have Aqueducts). I'd try and rectify this by running some Scientist specialists and ideally pop a Great Scientist or two. Generally look to specialise your cities better.

Your technology path should be imho Currency (+1, Markets, can build ), Code of Laws (cheap Courthouses for an Organised leader, possibly but not necessarily Caste System for Scientist and Merchant slots), and Construction (Catapults). The first two can open opportunities to address your economic woes. Regarding Construction, I think that your best move is to go on the warpath and attack Egypt within the next 50-80 turns with masses of Catapults, covered with Spears and Praetorians / Macemen. Alexandria is the main ‘thorn in your side’, but I’d hope to get those three other inland cities; Memphis, Pi-Ramesses, and Elephantine.

Trying to maintain a peaceful path is do-able too. You could plant four or five cities around the north-west coast, and maybe one east of Antium, and simply aim to out-tech’ the opposition with a mid-sized empire. Maybe smack Tokugawa later on, but maintaining peace with Egypt and India shouldn’t be at all difficult. It’s not as strong a play as capturing half of Egypt, but you can certainly win without attacking Hatshepsut or Gandhi.

I’ve suggested that you’ve got to aim to specialise your cities better as one thing. You’re in Slavery, very ‘population rich’, and aren’t using the whip, so I’d certainly look at utilising this civic at least to hurry Settlers and Workers. You’ve also got a lot of food excess, so as noted above, you can look at using specialist citizens to encourage Great Person popping. Even though you’re not in Representation, specialists could nonetheless play an important part in improving your technological position. Happiness can be tackled in many ways, but one of the simplest given you’re in Hereditary Rule and Slavery is to whip out units. You’ve also got a couple of fortified Warriors near Antium doing not much – they can offset unhappiness if stationed in cities.

In terms of terrain management, try to count the food production of your city as well as future chain irrigation pathways when planning Farms. Plains Farms aren’t really particularly good tiles until you get to Biology unless they’re a source of fresh water in an irrigation chain, so generally you can pretty well by-pass Farming Plains for much of the game. Rome could do with some Cottages on the riverside Grasslands, as when you adopt Bureaucracy, it will get a significant +50% … so those proposed Cottages will be particularly significant.

In the meantime, put together a mini-stack and go raze Shangian and settle one tile West. Scout the coastline looking for a seafood resource for future city placement.

I hope this is of some help.