Expansion Management

[jorissimo]

Just beat the UHV on Regent/Normal. I'll start first with some comments relevant to the thread's stated purpose:

• I settled three cities in the North African Core: Carthage, Oea 2SW, and Iol 4W or so west of Carthage (1 N of Dye). Never had an amazing expansion score after getting the UHV areas but could offset the -15 to -6 with other fields (Diplomatic stability was much more detrimental and what collapsed me once).
• As with every civ, prioritize growth in the Core cities and don't whip them once expansion starts --- make sure to build Harbours and Graneries in them too to keep things going well; I also used Redistribution for stability purposes and for growth reasons.

Then for the actual strategy elements:

Spoiler Phoenicia Strategy :

1. As already noted, Greece must not be building the Great Cothon. I find playing about five turns is enough to check on WB whether that's the case. With a decent computer that's about 5 to 8 minutes a check. If you don't want to WB then just play another ten minutes and lose the proper way I suppose. My Monarch run failed for this reason and I think the UHV is doable even without.
2. Something I have not read at all in this thread (I think) is settling Kition on Cyprus as the Phoenician capital, which I thought was the agreed-upon best initial Phoenicia capital. It is literally unconquerable and a VERY solid city which I basically do nothing with but build 8-turn Settlers for most of the game. I settle that with the initial ship Archer/Settler and then load the Tyre Settler/Archer onto another Galley, which goes immediately for Carthage. The other Galley sits around for the next turn for the two Workers on spawn to be shipped over to Carthage.
3. Revolt to Despotism/Deification on Turn 1. You have no cities anyways.
4. Carthage builds a Baathist Temple ASAP to get 10 culture to build the Great Cothon. Afterwards, while waiting, Carthage starts on its Granary.
5. For Tech, rush to Currency, prioritizing Math first on the way to get Catapults.
6. I conquered Rome with 2 Catapults, 4 Sacred Bands, and 3 Skirmishers, starting on Turn 120. Rome never used its Legions against me and its Conquerors didn't spawn.
7. In order, I settled as cities: Kition, Carthage, Oea, Messina, Barcino, Capua, Iol, and then Cordoba.
8. Carthage rushes a Glassmaker as soon as it can and then always pushes for 2 Merchants; micro tiles between Messina and Oea and Carthage as necessary to maximize use of improved resources.
9. Run 90% Gold / 10% Culture right after Currency. Along with two Great Merchants sent to Jerusalem (1800 Gold each) I had roughly 10 turns of 100% Science flex room. Second Great Merchant was generated and arrived in Jerusalem about five turns before the deadline, leaving that as flex room. Cities build Wealth after building Glassmakers.
10. Greece is your tech buddy; I got about 3 techs from them, which is pretty good. They DoW'd with "Conquerors" against Kition, but could not because of the AI's naval incompetence. By then Kition has built the necessary Settlers anyhow.
11. I went briefly into Manoralism to pump out more Workers after building the Great Cothon, but slipped back into Slavery for stability bonuses together with Despotism, Deification, and Redistribution, which is basically the early game combo.
12. I never used Republic because it was bugged and only gave me 1 Scientist slot and no other specialist slots. You also need whips for infrastructure and army raising. I also used the mercenary UP a decent amount for Galleys.
13. Two saves attached below: one right at the start of the war with Rome, and another for the win.
14. Relevant screenshots: Core at the end, and the Stability screen

View attachment 525601

View attachment 525605

Edit: Fixed Screenshot 2

Cool outside-the-box strategy. I'm gonna try it when I have time. You make no mention of the palace however. I guess you hard-built it after settling 4 cities right?

Edit: Wait a sec. I always thought Kition was outside Phoenicia's core area? It shows up as green rather than blue anyway. That's why I never founded it as my capital, as I was under the impression that I would not be able to build a palace in Carthage then my core would not move to Carthage later.

 

[Oblivionyx]

Just tried a Phoenicia game. I settled Carthage first without settling Sur, but my core area seems to have shifted to North Africa anyway. I thought it was no longer possible?