Sisiutil
All Leader Challenger
I've won a handful of games on Prince now and can confirm that early aggression does indeed seem to be the key.
Early Game
Things I've been doing early on that seem crucial to a successful game:
- First tech: Bronze Working (and its pre-req Mining if it's not one of my starting techs). Not just for chopping, but for copper and Axemen.
- Following techs: worker techs for nearby resources, then Mysticism for Stonehenge, Wheel for roads, and Archery for city defense.
- Build Worker - Warrior/Scout - Settler. The Worker chops the latter two.
- Starting Warrior/Scout explores far and wide. Built Warriors explore nearby; when first barb warrior appears, he heads home.
- Exploring Warriors stick to forest/jungle/hills whenever possible. Scouts end turns on those tiles.
- Based on starting territory, start thinking about best victory to pursue.
- Build Stonehenge in capital if I'm not Creative. Chop if possible.
- Build Worker in new cities, then chop Settler.
- Connect cities and resources with roads.
- Build Axemen as soon as they're available. Use them for city defense/barbs at first; replace them with Archers when I'm ready to go to war.
- Find neighbours. Select one to attack, based on: likelihood he'll do the same (Monty, Alex); presence of holy city; presence of desireable Wonders; score level (choose higher-scoring opponent to take out a big threat early).
- Build 3-4 cities before going to war, preferably close to my intended opponent, at chokepoints, or in a position to lock off territory for later backfilling. No Open Borders until mid-game.
- Go to war mode: build barracks, then best offensive unit, nothing else. Build roads to enemy territory, move units into position. Research Iron Working, then bee-line Construction.
- Go to war. Capture all enemy cities, only razing if city's in a very bad location. If another enemy is nearby, go after him too.
- Nurse along a few units to Level 4 so I can build Heroic Epic. If possible, nurse a couple of units to Level 5 for West Point.
- Take out at least one or two rivals. If I'm Rome, take out 3 or 4.
That's pretty much it. Along the way, of course, I'll get Alphabet and tech trade, as well as Pottery and start building cottages around my core cities. I may sue for peace if I need to solidify my position and bring up reinforcements, but only if I can get techs in exchange.
If the war's going REALLY well--I'm losing very few units and can spare some production cycles--I may try to build the Oracle for a slingshot effect (either Code of Laws or, if I'm feeling very lucky, Civil Service). The Pyramids I usually hope to capture, but if I have stone, I may try to build them. I rarely bother with the other early Wonders except maybe the Parthenon. I may try to build it if the war is nearly over, it hasn't been built yet, and I have marble and a good production city going. If I gain all 4 of the best early Wonders AND win an early war, I give myself a big pat on the back.
Mid Game
When the war is over, I start building courthouses in the most far-flung cities, then Forbidden Palace. I may also move my Palace to a more central location; often on Prince I tend to start on one isolated corner of a continent. This is followed by cottages and libraries in cities with good commerce potential.
What I'm trying to do is catch up; focusing on military and conquest has likely put me behind the other Civs in tech. I'm usually high in power rating, so I will probably leverage that and try to get tribute (techs, gold, resources, whatever) from weaker civs I'm not planning on getting along with. I will decide who my friends (I try to pick two) and enemies will be at this point.
Around this time I will reassess my city specialization strategy in light of the cities I've captured. I probably already have a science and production city going. A captured capital, though, is also good for this, so I may change that role. It's also time to decide where I'm going to have my GP farm. I will start backfilling territory with cities if required.
Unless I'm on a Pangaea map, I'll research Optics, build two Caravels, and send them out in opposite directions. I like to get that +1 movement bonus for circumnavigation, but even if I don't, I'll meet the remaining Civs and do more tech trades/tribute demands.
If I still have a strong, dangerous neighbour, I will probably do something I never did on previous levels: fight a medieval war. Waiting for Riflemen like I used to just gives a strong opponent time to get stronger. I'll bee-line to military techs (Civil Service/Machinery for Macemen, Guild for Knights, Feudalism for Longbowmen), change civics (the lethal Vasselage/Theocracy combo), either use a GM or lower the science slider for a few turns to upgrade my veterans, then go to war mode again--though my core cities usually go back to peaceful pursuits pretty quickly, leaving the border and newer cities to pick up the slack.
I also start dedicating myself towards my chosen victory condition at this point. If it's domination, that medieval war becomes crucial. If it's going to be a tech/space race, I'll look to solidifying the position I have through military and diplomacy. If I'm going for the space victory and I don't want to fight a war in the late game, I usually have to build a lot of destroyers and battleships and position them around my coast to deter attack.
The ideal situation is to find myself on my own continent by mid-game so I can choose either type of victory, but that seems to be rare. With the 1.61 patch and the change to Prince, the game seems to prefer plunking me down on the biggest continent with the most rivals. Gee, thanks.
Overall, I find myself fighting a lot more wars at this level--often four: early (axes, swords, catapults), medieval (macemen, knights, catapults), renaissance (riflemen, cavalry, cannon), and modern (infantry, tanks, air units). No wonder I haven't tried for a cultural victory on Prince yet!
I can imagine Monarch and above will be even more of the same.
Early Game
Things I've been doing early on that seem crucial to a successful game:
- First tech: Bronze Working (and its pre-req Mining if it's not one of my starting techs). Not just for chopping, but for copper and Axemen.
- Following techs: worker techs for nearby resources, then Mysticism for Stonehenge, Wheel for roads, and Archery for city defense.
- Build Worker - Warrior/Scout - Settler. The Worker chops the latter two.
- Starting Warrior/Scout explores far and wide. Built Warriors explore nearby; when first barb warrior appears, he heads home.
- Exploring Warriors stick to forest/jungle/hills whenever possible. Scouts end turns on those tiles.
- Based on starting territory, start thinking about best victory to pursue.
- Build Stonehenge in capital if I'm not Creative. Chop if possible.
- Build Worker in new cities, then chop Settler.
- Connect cities and resources with roads.
- Build Axemen as soon as they're available. Use them for city defense/barbs at first; replace them with Archers when I'm ready to go to war.
- Find neighbours. Select one to attack, based on: likelihood he'll do the same (Monty, Alex); presence of holy city; presence of desireable Wonders; score level (choose higher-scoring opponent to take out a big threat early).
- Build 3-4 cities before going to war, preferably close to my intended opponent, at chokepoints, or in a position to lock off territory for later backfilling. No Open Borders until mid-game.
- Go to war mode: build barracks, then best offensive unit, nothing else. Build roads to enemy territory, move units into position. Research Iron Working, then bee-line Construction.
- Go to war. Capture all enemy cities, only razing if city's in a very bad location. If another enemy is nearby, go after him too.
- Nurse along a few units to Level 4 so I can build Heroic Epic. If possible, nurse a couple of units to Level 5 for West Point.
- Take out at least one or two rivals. If I'm Rome, take out 3 or 4.
That's pretty much it. Along the way, of course, I'll get Alphabet and tech trade, as well as Pottery and start building cottages around my core cities. I may sue for peace if I need to solidify my position and bring up reinforcements, but only if I can get techs in exchange.
If the war's going REALLY well--I'm losing very few units and can spare some production cycles--I may try to build the Oracle for a slingshot effect (either Code of Laws or, if I'm feeling very lucky, Civil Service). The Pyramids I usually hope to capture, but if I have stone, I may try to build them. I rarely bother with the other early Wonders except maybe the Parthenon. I may try to build it if the war is nearly over, it hasn't been built yet, and I have marble and a good production city going. If I gain all 4 of the best early Wonders AND win an early war, I give myself a big pat on the back.
Mid Game
When the war is over, I start building courthouses in the most far-flung cities, then Forbidden Palace. I may also move my Palace to a more central location; often on Prince I tend to start on one isolated corner of a continent. This is followed by cottages and libraries in cities with good commerce potential.
What I'm trying to do is catch up; focusing on military and conquest has likely put me behind the other Civs in tech. I'm usually high in power rating, so I will probably leverage that and try to get tribute (techs, gold, resources, whatever) from weaker civs I'm not planning on getting along with. I will decide who my friends (I try to pick two) and enemies will be at this point.
Around this time I will reassess my city specialization strategy in light of the cities I've captured. I probably already have a science and production city going. A captured capital, though, is also good for this, so I may change that role. It's also time to decide where I'm going to have my GP farm. I will start backfilling territory with cities if required.
Unless I'm on a Pangaea map, I'll research Optics, build two Caravels, and send them out in opposite directions. I like to get that +1 movement bonus for circumnavigation, but even if I don't, I'll meet the remaining Civs and do more tech trades/tribute demands.
If I still have a strong, dangerous neighbour, I will probably do something I never did on previous levels: fight a medieval war. Waiting for Riflemen like I used to just gives a strong opponent time to get stronger. I'll bee-line to military techs (Civil Service/Machinery for Macemen, Guild for Knights, Feudalism for Longbowmen), change civics (the lethal Vasselage/Theocracy combo), either use a GM or lower the science slider for a few turns to upgrade my veterans, then go to war mode again--though my core cities usually go back to peaceful pursuits pretty quickly, leaving the border and newer cities to pick up the slack.
I also start dedicating myself towards my chosen victory condition at this point. If it's domination, that medieval war becomes crucial. If it's going to be a tech/space race, I'll look to solidifying the position I have through military and diplomacy. If I'm going for the space victory and I don't want to fight a war in the late game, I usually have to build a lot of destroyers and battleships and position them around my coast to deter attack.
The ideal situation is to find myself on my own continent by mid-game so I can choose either type of victory, but that seems to be rare. With the 1.61 patch and the change to Prince, the game seems to prefer plunking me down on the biggest continent with the most rivals. Gee, thanks.
Overall, I find myself fighting a lot more wars at this level--often four: early (axes, swords, catapults), medieval (macemen, knights, catapults), renaissance (riflemen, cavalry, cannon), and modern (infantry, tanks, air units). No wonder I haven't tried for a cultural victory on Prince yet!
I can imagine Monarch and above will be even more of the same.