Fight or Not?

[Dilly]

Hey guys

I have a question about the starting of the game. If I'm on a continent with like 1 or 2 other civs and I meet them VERY early, as in 4-5 cities in, should I try to just kill them off so I can have the continent to myself or should I try to like build in strange places and be peaceful? I've tried killing them off, but that puts me far behind in the culture and wonders race.

Thanks!!

 

[West German]

Be peaceful for a while, like the industrial age, then wipe them out!

 

[Naval Freak]

Medival times, do skirmises to keep em weak!

in idustrial age kill 'em, lad, kill 'em all!

 

[DaDrunkenFish]

a great thing is attacking them when they have one city , as long as they arnt scientific, they wont have spearman, you should be militaristic and attack with archers...easy victory!

 

[Suki]

naval freak's right if you ask me, don't go for an all out attack unless you can be sure to whype them off, because otherwise it will cost you way more than you gain

 

[zagnut]

You don't indicate what level you are playing on or how large the continent is. However, if it only has 2 other civs I will assume it is not too large. Since there are only 2 other civs you know that in the long run you are going to have to take them out. Even if you don't want to start a full blown war now, it would probably help you in the long run to damage them. You can do it without spending the time that would be necessary to completely defeat them. You can build up your military and then attack one city. Usually if you take that city and are playing on a level up to Monarch, the AI will accept if you then propose peace. They will generally give you some of their techs if you are behind. Then do the same with the other civ. This really sets them back.

Keep building settlers in at least one town because you want to keep expanding. That is very important. Once things settle down for a while you can declare war again and do the same thing. But no matter what strategy you use you will eventually have to take over the entire continent.

 

[gugalpm]

If you have a ancient UU, like the Legionaire or the Immortal attack them now (wait until monarchy). If not, medieval times are the second best choice.

 

[DaveMcW]

I usually wipe out my continent with knights. On diety I sometimes have to wait until cavalry.

 

[danwhit]

It can be very good to attack right after you first meet them. First try to trade for techs. Then if its a unit guarding a settler attack it. In Despotism, if you scare them very early on(you said very early on was 4-5 cities, I think it is 1 city) with their first city they will pop rush military units and get themselves into big trouble. Before they can get back up to speed you can have 3 cities to their one and out produce them unitwise. This has worked very well for me. I also don't build a settler right off the bat, build 4 or more warriors. This is good for two reasons. One it will be more likely for you to get a settler from a hut and it will give your main city time to grow beyond 3.

 

[MTheil3508]

If their civ is small, pillage their improvements. this puts them behind in production and growth. After you have built an early "army" (20-30 of you best units stacked up) go in and attack every city until they are wiped out. This works best if you have multiple "armies".

I have done this against the mongols in my last game. It was in the mid-ancient era and they had about 15 cities. I was equip with three "armies" of Numidian Mercenaries supported with my newly discovered swordsmen. I worked through every city like an unstopable plague. They were destroyed in 20 turns and I had a few of their good cities that I decided to keep.

 

[tao]

Select an optimal place for your Forbidden Palace. If you need a war got get it: do it! This will help much in later game play.
Sign up the other civ in the war if at all possible. You should achieve your goals easily.
Add some luxury/strategic resources to your conquest before you make peace.

tao

 

[Dilly]

Thanks guys!

I'm not playing on very difficult level, only the 2nd easiest.
I have raiders (playing as chinese) and I try to take out one of the civs now, but as soon as I try, the other civs comes after me too and I have to make peace after like killing only one or two cities...

 

[battle ship]

just dont make the bad move that i did i just losed a game i had the same thing but i had a army with vets and elits when they took out that dame! spearman i had to pick this city that was weak and easy with a army or this big city that i did not realy no what it had so i went to get the small city then the al came back with a endless line of troops my city killed like 5\6 of them i had alot of units there but they got it and my army was gone dont no why.allways go for that bigger city if you have a army!