Hi all, I have been an on-and-off civ 4 player since 2006, and when I say on-and-off, that includes a hiatus of around 8 years. I'm currently moving up to immortal and have achieved some great wins on that level with strong leaders the likes of Mansa, Willem, HC, Pacal, Elizabeth, Darius, etc., as you can tell, all financial leaders. I am now trying to get my first win with a non-financial leader, but it is tough. I usually have to play out a number of early games and then pick the best one to have any chance at winning. I've been playing as Peter. On the first try, the land was mediocre and I had a close neighbor, so I decided to try for a HA rush. However, I messed up the tech order and founded a mediocre second city just for the horses. Another mistake I made was that I somehow thought chariots upgraded into HAs and then discovered the hard way that wasn't the case. I had to abandon the game.
On the second try, I got DOW'ed by a huge and unrelenting Toku, who could not be brought to pleased and bribed, and was unrelenting in his attacks. I managed to take back a city he took from me and raze one of his (I knew I wouldn't be able to hold on to it), and the game just descended into a spiral of MAD. No diplomacy was possible because Toku. I again had to abandon the game.
On the third try, I was doing quite well, keeping up in tech and oscillating between first and second in GNP. I even managed to build the GL. However, at some point HC, with whom I had some serious border tensions, started plotting. I gave him a bunch of techs, got him to pleased, and bribed him. Then he moved his stack including early longbows, a lot of catapults, swordsmen and chariots into my territory, supposedly in the direction of his worst enemy, Hammurabi. However, he just parked the stack near my capital and waited for the peace treaty to run out, after which he DOW'ed again and immediately took a city. No amount of reloading could prevent him taking the city, only postpone it for a few turns by whipping walls and a bazillion crossbows (I couldn't get to Feudalism in time nor trade for it). It's really frustrating when a good game is ruined by a DOW like that. For now I moved back to emperor to play some really weak leaders (Charly, anyone?), but it kind of seems too easy. I feel like there is too much luck involved and way too many variables so that there is always something that trips me up. Any ideas for how to get better and deal with these late classical/early medieval DOWs?
On the second try, I got DOW'ed by a huge and unrelenting Toku, who could not be brought to pleased and bribed, and was unrelenting in his attacks. I managed to take back a city he took from me and raze one of his (I knew I wouldn't be able to hold on to it), and the game just descended into a spiral of MAD. No diplomacy was possible because Toku. I again had to abandon the game.
On the third try, I was doing quite well, keeping up in tech and oscillating between first and second in GNP. I even managed to build the GL. However, at some point HC, with whom I had some serious border tensions, started plotting. I gave him a bunch of techs, got him to pleased, and bribed him. Then he moved his stack including early longbows, a lot of catapults, swordsmen and chariots into my territory, supposedly in the direction of his worst enemy, Hammurabi. However, he just parked the stack near my capital and waited for the peace treaty to run out, after which he DOW'ed again and immediately took a city. No amount of reloading could prevent him taking the city, only postpone it for a few turns by whipping walls and a bazillion crossbows (I couldn't get to Feudalism in time nor trade for it). It's really frustrating when a good game is ruined by a DOW like that. For now I moved back to emperor to play some really weak leaders (Charly, anyone?), but it kind of seems too easy. I feel like there is too much luck involved and way too many variables so that there is always something that trips me up. Any ideas for how to get better and deal with these late classical/early medieval DOWs?
), those are the main reason for war plotting.
(Ish.)
