First full game on Emperor (Brief Summary)

[bhinso]

Hi,

I've recently moved up to Emperor and started a game Saturday morning. I play random leaders, and have been winning on Monarch level consistently now, but wanted a good draw to have a good shot against higher skill level. I drew Asoaka which I was happy with (Spiritual not too impressive, too much MM for me, but I'm becomming increasingly impressed by the Organised trait). To be honest I was happy I didn't draw anyone with Imperialistic (will someone please mod this trait or something, it sucks big time. OK cheaper settlers are nice but only get you into financial troubles quicker, and more GG points? What if you never go to war like I did?).

Sorry there's no pics, but I played continents, 8 civs. Bizarrely I was sharing my continent with only 2 other civs, who both shared Buddism (I missed out by a turn), so couldnt do any warfare else I would have been pulvarised. I missed out on no end of wonders, and religions by 1 turn. But I beelined, and managed to get the internet which was a BIG plus for me. Anyway, it all came down to the space race, and I was neck and neck with Charlemagne. I ended up launching before him with only 1 engine and only 4 thrusters (14 turn travel, but waiting for the engine etc would be 5 turns more, and I reckon would have only resulted in 10 turn travel). However, I knew Charlie would launch with a full set since he was just finishing the Life Support. I actually did some espionage (normally hate this part of the game), and put all his major cities into one turn revolt. This bought me precious time, and he didn't launch till my message said 9 turns to Victory!

Hit enter and waited for hours until it came down to 1 turn to Victory! Took a deep breath, hit enter and....

Charlemagne has won a space race victory! Gutted, lost by one turn! I don't get how he did the trip in 9 (or maybe even 8) turns. Will try a new game tonight.

 

[bhinso]

A few tips for Noble/Prince/Monarch players which I have found useful:

1. If you're going for an early wonder, Chop like hell. (Bronze working is a must for early research).
2. Chop like hell anyway.
3. An early great merchant (say from TOA) is possibly the most powerful thing you can get. 1300 quid is invaluable in that dreaded period when you've built a few cities, but before Courthouses/Currency, when it suddenly takes you 50 turns to research anything. I call this the Alphabet Drought because in the original Civ 4 thats about the point it kicked in.
4. If you build the Oracle, either Metal Casting, or COL (for religion) are your best bets. Make sure you have researched the Prerequisit techs in time.
5. Imperialistic is crap.
6. Even on Random Personalities, Saladin is still an arse.

 

[bhinso]

ermm Pardon?

 

[Civsassin]

The Imperialistic trait like all the others is useful in the right circumstances. If you are not a war monger and draw imperialistic on a random pick, you are probably not going to benefit from the trait much outside of the cheap settlers. However, if you are a war monger, try Imperialistic (settle GGs for +2experience points for units built in that city or make Warlord, providing experience to a unit), the Great Wall Wonder (higher percentage GG emergence when fighting within cultural boundaries), the Pentagon Wonder (+2 experience for units in every city), Vassalage Civic (+2 eperience for units in every city, and Theocracy Civic (+2 XP for all new units in cities with State Religion). You can pump out units with significant experience/upgrades that will make your conquests that much easier. As another benefit, if you happen to get the Pyramids, every settled GG gets you +3 beakers.

I, like you, have just begin playing on Emperor. I won once and lost often. Although, I've been competitive several times. I also play random everything. I try to take advantage of the particular traits, and Civ-unique benefits. If I draw the Imperialistic trait for example, I will be more aggressive to take advantage of the extra Great Generals.

The bottom line, is that if you have a particular style of play that you stick to, certain traits will not benefit your style. Being Financial, and running an SE doesn't make sense; being Philosophical and running a CE doesn't make sense; being Aggressive and not going to war is counter to the benefits of the trait; being Industrious and avoiding wonders is silly; etc.

IMHO, I play random civs/leaders/maps/etc, so I can round out my playing style. I prefer a certain style of play, but to improve, I think it is important to learn to be balanced. However, often times your situation doesn't allow you to take advantage of your trait or UU/UB benefits. I don't know how many times I've drawn a civ with an early mounted UU and for the life of me couldn't get horses to benefit.