Expansion Slump

[Khirron]

Hi.
In CivIV I could comfortably win on Noble and occasionally on Prince. I usually ran a basic CE, and won by domination or space.
I began playing BtS the other day, and I can barely squeeze out a win on Warlord. So my question is:

• What am I doing wrong?
  Or, more specifically, what changes between the two versions do I need to recognize and thus adapt to get back to my original game play level?

 

[Refar]

There is a rumor around, BTS be stronger.

Other than this... The only radical economic change are colonies... Overseas cities might become very expensive, if you have a lot...

 

[gopher666]

Well, I'm led to understand that the AIs have improved. Except for espionage, that's the only considerable change I can figure to have an impact.

 

[glevlana]

I recently transitioned to BTS from vanilla CIV4 and experienced the same problems. After analyzing my play, I found the following were necessary to return my competiveness at the noble+ levels:
1) The tech tree changes make certain units and resources I depended upon under CIV4 a little more difficult to obtain in BTS. Solution: more planning in the early stages of my game on what I wanted to tech and what I was going to get from other civs.
2) The new leader traits can make otherwise mediocre civs much harder to dislodge and route. Solution: pay more attention to my enemies and their strengths/weaknesses and better determine the leader attributes that are necessary for my type of play.
3) Spies/Espionage. Solution: this can be an ultrapowerful advantage or disadvantage, I now spend significant time spying on my enemies to gain tech and spread culture.
4) City specialization. BTS seems to require way more attention to detail on what cities are doing, including micromanaging the resources for health/happiness. Great person city is a must.
5) Patience. I don't know how to describe this, BTS seems to be much more punishing for rash decisions than CIV4 vanilla. Solution: delay any type of offensive campaigns (attack or espionage) until your defenses are in place and you are capable of sustaining a prolonged assault. Preferably, your patience will have paid off with a short campaign, but I have found the other civ AIs can perform amazing rallies and turn arounds if not quickly overwhelmed.

 

[tycoonist]

i actually found Bts to be even easier to rule with a CE than before, but maybe that's just me...

 

[Khirron]

3) Spies/Espionage. Solution: this can be an ultrapowerful advantage or disadvantage, I now spend significant time spying on my enemies to gain tech and spread culture.

I haven't looked much into Espionage, I suppose that is something I will have to look into in my future games. I'll have to read up on the mechanics because I dont quite have a grasp on the system.