Game I can't seem to win with Darius

[mwwilliams]

Does anyone here take a game from a certain year that I have saved and tell me what I should be doing to improve my chances of winning later on? Tell me what I have done wrong and what I could do better? I am leading in points and have eliminated the Ottomans but then everyone turns against me....I don't think I can survive the onslaught. It's attached and comes soon after this next move.

 

[elthrasher]

I took a look at this game. I can't play it because you don't have quick combat on and I don't have a spare 5 hours to watch combat animations.

It looks very winnable to me. Yes, you get attacked by China and the Aztecs (the rest don't matter because they can't reach you), but you should be able to hold them off, even when you become very unhappy. Going very unhappy isn't great but it also isn't the end of the world. -33% in combat isn't that bad when you are fighting a defensive war. Would be nice if you had Oligarchy to counteract the penalty, but you'll do okay. You have tech parity and a lot of units. You might lose a remote city, but that's still not the end of the world. You can't attack your enemy, at least not until you get your happiness under control, but that's okay because you've got good science and good production.

Some suggestions:

• You clearly made friends with somebody. This is a bad idea because sooner or later that friend turns against you and then everyone thinks you're a jerk because your friend doesn't like you. Always refuse declarations of friendship. They only hurt you in the long run.
• You've annexed a lot of cities. I don't think this is a good plan. For one thing, you totally inflate your social policy costs, but you also lose out big time by wasting hammers on courthouses. Keep most of those guys as puppets and you don't have to worry.
• Too many farms! You need more trading posts. Enough said.
• Oligarchy is the strongest social policy there is (taking into account how early you can get it).
• I really like Piety for Darius, but you went Patronage. I'd re-think that next time. Piety would solve all your happiness problems in one swell foop. Also great synergy with your UA.
• I don't know what your plan for that artist is, but he should start a golden age. That's what I did right away when I took over the game. You need the money.
• You are relying way too much on luxuries from your opponents. When they all declare war, you lose all those luxuries and your citizens go into revolt. Don't buy luxuries. Sell yours and buy city-states. Use social policies and happy buildings to keep your happiness under control.
• Many of your cities have garrisons. You don't need a garrison in Civ 5. These units are a waste of money. Delete them or move them to the front.
• Upgrade your cannons to artillery. They are great for defensive wars. Use your melee guys to form a wall. If one of them gets badly wounded, move him back to heal up. Then your artillery pounds on the invaders. This will work great for you.

I'd load the game back up, start a golden age, and get my troops ready on the two fronts. You should be able to handle the game. I guess you're playing for a diplomacy win? Just beeline the UN and you should get it. Good luck!

 

[vexing]

I can't play it because you don't have quick combat on and I don't have a spare 5 hours to watch combat animations.

if you modify the game options xml so that quick combat defaults to true, this makes any game you load have quick combat

 

[mwwilliams]

I took a look at this game. I can't play it because you don't have quick combat on and I don't have a spare 5 hours to watch combat animations.

It looks very winnable to me. Yes, you get attacked by China and the Aztecs (the rest don't matter because they can't reach you), but you should be able to hold them off, even when you become very unhappy. Going very unhappy isn't great but it also isn't the end of the world. -33% in combat isn't that bad when you are fighting a defensive war. Would be nice if you had Oligarchy to counteract the penalty, but you'll do okay. You have tech parity and a lot of units. You might lose a remote city, but that's still not the end of the world. You can't attack your enemy, at least not until you get your happiness under control, but that's okay because you've got good science and good production.

Some suggestions:

• You clearly made friends with somebody. This is a bad idea because sooner or later that friend turns against you and then everyone thinks you're a jerk because your friend doesn't like you. Always refuse declarations of friendship. They only hurt you in the long run.
• You've annexed a lot of cities. I don't think this is a good plan. For one thing, you totally inflate your social policy costs, but you also lose out big time by wasting hammers on courthouses. Keep most of those guys as puppets and you don't have to worry.
• Too many farms! You need more trading posts. Enough said.
• Oligarchy is the strongest social policy there is (taking into account how early you can get it).
• I really like Piety for Darius, but you went Patronage. I'd re-think that next time. Piety would solve all your happiness problems in one swell foop. Also great synergy with your UA.
• I don't know what your plan for that artist is, but he should start a golden age. That's what I did right away when I took over the game. You need the money.
• You are relying way too much on luxuries from your opponents. When they all declare war, you lose all those luxuries and your citizens go into revolt. Don't buy luxuries. Sell yours and buy city-states. Use social policies and happy buildings to keep your happiness under control.
• Many of your cities have garrisons. You don't need a garrison in Civ 5. These units are a waste of money. Delete them or move them to the front.
• Upgrade your cannons to artillery. They are great for defensive wars. Use your melee guys to form a wall. If one of them gets badly wounded, move him back to heal up. Then your artillery pounds on the invaders. This will work great for you.

I'd load the game back up, start a golden age, and get my troops ready on the two fronts. You should be able to handle the game. I guess you're playing for a diplomacy win? Just beeline the UN and you should get it. Good luck!

I have a diplomacy win on this level and I am trying for a military victory. Do you think I can pull it off? With the artist I was going to try and get that oil before the Chinese got it. I will do what you say and see how it turns out. Thanks!

 

[elthrasher]

if you modify the game options xml so that quick combat defaults to true, this makes any game you load have quick combat

Thanks for the tip!

I have a diplomacy win on this level and I am trying for a military victory. Do you think I can pull it off? With the artist I was going to try and get that oil before the Chinese got it. I will do what you say and see how it turns out. Thanks!

I think it's doable, but will require a lot of patience. You'll need nukes. It's gonna take a while.

 

[mwwilliams]

I think it's doable, but will require a lot of patience. You'll need nukes. It's gonna take a while.

I may just start over. If I don't build farms how do my cities grow?

 

[biohazard72]

I avoid trade posts early on, at least until my cities are size 4 with the basics (Colosseum, Library, University). Then I flip some of them onto trade post hills or grassland to try to keep my economy afloat as building, unit, and tile maintenance increase later in the game.

I do often crash my economy late in the game though (in order to maximize tech speed). Usually I can scrounge cash by warfare (peace deals), resource sales, and robbing AIs to do enough to win.

 

[elthrasher]

I may just start over. If I don't build farms how do my cities grow?

Well, you get 2 food off your city tile. Working 2 food + 2 gold trading posts means you'll still grow. It's okay to have some farms to support specialists, mines, etc., but when you go all farms you run into happy and money problems as your cities get too big and don't produce enough gold.

It's okay to have some big cities, but if you want as many as you have in this game to all grow large, you should really play as Gandhi, not Darius. I usually farm the heck out of my capital and maybe another city or two and the rest mostly do trading posts and don't tend to grow beyond the 4-6 pop range. This is how I get to the point where I'm pulling down 500+ gpt in the late game. It makes buying city-states ridiculously easy since the cost to buy them doesn't really scale upwards later in the game.

And speaking of city-states, maritimes are obviously a good substitute for farms. Trading posts allow you to buy more maritimes which lessens your need for farms.

 

[Vicomt]

I tend to follow Elthrasher's general direction, but rarely pop more than three or at most 4 cities myself, if you get a nice 3 city setup early enough, you can keep social policies low-cost, then you use the SP's to help with cash and happiness. This allows me to get my cities up to the 20's by end game, but you need to be actively puppeting and/or allying with CS's to get a good endgame economy.

As has been said above, 500gpt economies are almost ridiculously easy if you have the right strategies, with that, you can own whichever victory you want.

caveat: I'm a lowly prince/king player, not an ubergamer

 

[Buccaneer]

I am playing a game now as the Persians, in part thanks to this thread. I was interested in a GA strategy (on Emperor, Small Continents, small map) and find it easy to race ahead in techs (twice as many by turn 65), as well as getting the gold to ally with each of the three known city-states. But, alas, no iron.

 

[Tabarnak]

>Darius= golden ages
golden ages are better with big empires
>Darius + early expansion(4-5-6 cities from your own before NC, depending of ressources available) + Piety = pwnage
>Use great people later for more golden ages

 

[elthrasher]

I am playing a game now as the Persians, in part thanks to this thread. I was interested in a GA strategy (on Emperor, Small Continents, small map) and find it easy to race ahead in techs (twice as many by turn 65), as well as getting the gold to ally with each of the three known city-states. But, alas, no iron.

If you are leading in tech, you can probably just wait for rifles before attacking anyone.

For a GA strategy, just make sure you get the Chichen Itza and Taj Mahal and get lots of policies in Piety. I haven't played Darius since the latest patch. Once upon a time you could have a 200+ year golden age! I think that's no longer possible.

 

[GfxJG]

If you are leading in tech, you can probably just wait for rifles before attacking anyone.

For a GA strategy, just make sure you get the Chichen Itza and Taj Mahal and get lots of policies in Piety. I haven't played Darius since the latest patch. Once upon a time you could have a 200+ year golden age! I think that's no longer possible.

Actually, I did that a few days ago, was in Rennessiance era =P

 

[Buccaneer]

If you are leading in tech, you can probably just wait for rifles before attacking anyone.

For a GA strategy, just make sure you get the Chichen Itza and Taj Mahal and get lots of policies in Piety. I haven't played Darius since the latest patch. Once upon a time you could have a 200+ year golden age! I think that's no longer possible.

That's good advice. I coveted the iron that Beijing had and since they were my closest civ, I cobbled together a couple of Horses and Pikes, plus some re-enforcements and a timely upgrade to Knights. Barely made it but got a very sweet spot for my third city. Got CI and used the GGeneral and Reformation for nice GA. I'll work on Piety some more and get to Rifles.

 

[Buccaneer]

If you are leading in tech, you can probably just wait for rifles before attacking anyone.

For a GA strategy, just make sure you get the Chichen Itza and Taj Mahal and get lots of policies in Piety. I haven't played Darius since the latest patch. Once upon a time you could have a 200+ year golden age! I think that's no longer possible.

It's still pretty sweet. Got Piety done, along with CI and Taj and got a nearly back-to-back 18 and 35 turn GA. I also think I have a GP coming shortly.