Getting past Monarch (full game analysis)

[vmxa]

Ah that is faster, thanks. Good luck.

 

[Donny Brook]

Did you get any leaders? What did you do with them?

Not a single one, which really annoyed me. I usually use them to rush wonders.

Lots of bombardment will help you produce more leaders. Easy victories lead to more promotions which lead to more elites which lead to more elite*'s. Since bombardment fails most of the time, many beginners write it off as being ineffective. The key is to produce lots and lots of bombard units, stack them and lob dozens of volleys at your target before attacking.

 

[TheOverseer714]

The reason I posted this: some of you can win this game on deity; some of you make me look like a total amateur. I hope you will be intrigued by this thread, and see the potential for yourself. What would you have done differently? Which mistakes do you spot in retrospect? How can I take my game from Monarch to the next level? What separates good players from the great ones?

Thanks for reading, and I hope this is useful to other players who are still mastering this excellent, excellent game.

I see some things that might hurt your game at higher levels. You did several things that are quite damaging at a higher level. That includes trashing your reputation repeatedly, giving up war happiness when the enemy is no real threat, and not using artillery. If you are attacking Infantry with Cavalry, redlining them first makes a huge difference. You did okay in that you won, but now you need to hone your technique. You can be tech leader even at Emperor by using trades and researching left to right for high value technology. You also will need to do specialist farms. Keep at it, when you are winning easily, you need to move up a level.

 

[vmxa]

Specialist are useful, but very much less so in Vanilla. You only get 1 beaker from a scientist. I think they do not even have Civil Engineers.

 

[Spoonwood]

You don't need specialist farms to lead in tech all the way up to and including Deity. Actually, on at least some Sid archipelagos you can lead in tech without them also.

 

[zaphod2016]

I see some things that might hurt your game at higher levels. You did several things that are quite damaging at a higher level. That includes trashing your reputation repeatedly, giving up war happiness when the enemy is no real threat, and not using artillery.

Can someone link/explain how war happiness works?

 

[TheOverseer714]

Basically, a war declaration by an enemy makes your people happier in most cases. There are exceptions, if you fail when stealing tech or someone allies against you, you get no WH. War happiness continues until the the things that cause war weariness happen. I'll look for a more in-depth explanation.

Here is an article on War Weariness: http://www.civfanatics.com/civ3/strategy/war_weariness.php

Thorough searching revealed no articles on war happiness. Guess someone needs to write one.

 

[zaphod2016]

Thorough searching revealed no articles on war happiness. Guess someone needs to write one.

I couldn't find one either

So if a rival DoW on me, my people will actually be happier until that war ends? Is this true of all govs?

 

[TheOverseer714]

I couldn't find one either

So if a rival DoW on me, my people will actually be happier until that war ends? Is this true of all govs?

They will be happier as long as the war stays "cool". If things happen that cause WW, it chips away at that happiness even in a government without WW. Eventually, if too much happens, you stop getting war happiness. Make peace as needed then. The good thing is, war happiness occurs in all governments. Advanced players tend to seek war with distant or weak opponents to have this effect. This is called a "phony war". As long as no troops are sent either direction, the happiness continues. There is a limit, you can only benefit from 4 sources of war happiness at once. A search of the Hall of Fame forum might find more about these subjects, they are somewhat obsessed with happiness over there

 

[Bartleby]

Can someone link/explain how war happiness works?

War Happiness Works by I.Larkin
War Happiness Caps at 100% by Lord Emsworth