Emperor Level Issues - Happiness

[SM1]

I have played Civ 4 off and on since it came out and love it. Just got back into it. Still remember enough to win through Prince level without too much problem. So, I tried to make the jump 2 levels (over Monarch) to Emperor. I am very far behind to start. I am certainly not one of the uber players who knows every trick but more of an intermediate type (so I think I guess ) . I am really struggling with happiness issues from the start so I cannot grow my cities past 4. Should I just grow more cities and keep them smaller? So I go more aggressively for a religion to help with happiness and forgo a push to get Bronze working quickly? Or have I bitten off more than I can chew and Monarch is a probably the right level for me?

Thanks for any help on this amazing game.

 

[Wodan]

Try Hereditary Rule. Or, as you say, Religion. Other options: Pyramids, Theatres, Calendar, Forge.

It sounds like you're going straight for BW. Nothing wrong with that, but you can't have your cake and eat it too. You're going to pay a price by not having other options available early on (such as those listed above). Be patient... enjoy your early Axes and get one of these options as your 2nd priority.

Wodan

 

[KMadCandy]

the good news is, when/if you go up to higher levels, it doesn't get any worse. the happiness limit is the same for emperor/immortal/deity.

welcome to CFC!

 

[Horizons]

Anyone who plays above Monarch is surely a sadomasochist. Monarch makes me pee my pants.

 

[Sparta]

Yeah, but those AI jerks start out a lot more powerful above Emperor ...

Another thing you could potentially try is just more whipping (perhaps). If you're up against the happiness limit quickly, which happens a lot at Emperor+, it can be beneficial (IMHO), especially if you're going BW quickly, to start cycling whips such that you are whipping a couple citizens (out of four total probably) as frequently as you can in order to avoid unhappy citizens (By which I mean about once per ten turns at normal etc. - within the constraints of not adding cumulative unhappiness unless necessary - settlers and/or workers can help you to nudge timing in the right direction without crossing the happiness threshold if need be). If you are whipping more than one citizen, you can keep working your best tiles and regrow the lost population while you wait for the whipping unhappiness to subside (hover the mouse over the whip button or the happiness total up top for tooltips on slavery unhappiness magnitude and duration). That can help a bit in alleviating the strain of such low happiness limits until your empire can become a bit more robust and provide for higher limits through more resources and technologies (Hereditary Rule can be helpful if you are strained for resources, whereas Markets and Forges can become more useful if you have a surplus of their respective bonus resources). Oh, and if you are going the whipping-intensive route, I'd recommend going for granaries fairly early as well to help augment your rate of regrowth.

Personally, I would not recommend going for [your own] religion at Emperor+ at least until you are more comfortable with the difficulty level, as IMHO it can easily become far too costly an investment when you are playing catchup with the AI already due to their starting bonuses. Temples of a foreign religion can provide a stopgap if need be (or if you are Spiritual), but I personally wouldn't invest the research time in an early religion at the cost of worker-oriented techs at Emperor or above if you are just moving up to a new difficulty.

[Besides, if you're playing pangaea or happen to be neighbors with a civ that founded Hinduism or Buddhism, you just basically got a heads up that there is a very powerful city site (since capitals are usually some of the best city sites) nearby with shrine gold potential - start building troops, claim your prize, and you've got your own religion, the worker techs and improvements you'd have sacrificed for it had you done it yourself, and an early frontrunner for a very powerful national wonder city (I personally like making AI capitals (esp. with shrines) into positive-feedback National-Epic-Wall-Street cities cranking out and settling Great Merchants as super-specialists - that one city can fund about two notches' worth of extra research investment (at least), in my experience).]

Best of luck in playing, don't feel bad about getting acclimated at Monarch before Emperor if necessary, and welcome to CFC!

Edit: And watch out for sadomasochistic tendencies. Despite what you may have heard, even when playing at Emperor level it is still not technically necessary to flagellate oneself when whipping in order to appreciate the pain of your citizens.

 

[Dan Quale]

Emporer is where things really ramp up. I'd suggest trying a monarch game first, just to help you settle in.
Should you choose to continue at emporer, know that on larger maps/lots of open land early religion is simply put suicide. The barbs on emporer really start to be a pain. First you will notice the bears and panthers rather than lions/wolves. At around 2500 BC, you will hear the marching of the first archers eager to raze your lands, followed by axemen. The great wall is a waste of time (maybe if you had stone it would be a possible option but still will get you hemmed in by Ai.) What you need are axemen... ASAP
When playing emporer, where I often test new leaders/strategies, my starting tech path generally consists of bw,wheel,(1-2 techs to hook up resources)pottery,writing,aphabet,literacy,Col,while trading for intermediate technology. Its a good idea to axe rush someone. Those barbarians actually start to come in handy, nearly free city raider promotions for your axemen, just by wandering the countryside looking for easy prey. The pyramids are nice to have, but stealing them is always easier than building them yourself. The only wonder it is close to necessary to have is the GL, simply because its such a great wonder. If you manage to take out 1 of your neighbors, and then balance your economy, move on to whoever built the pyramids, the early hereditary/representation, will help you greatly.
Look around the forums for more strategy if you are still having trouble, and good luck.