Goals to win prince?

[Larwin]

I decided to start playing prince difficulty. I would like some guidance on where my standings should be at different eras of the game to know I'm still on track. Like
How many cities? How many wonders or skip them? How many military units. 10? 20? or more? Limit city infastructure to what buildings? If I'm boxed in and have only 6 cities early in the game should I capture a few with ancient units? Could I stop at six or eight cities then focus on teching liberalism then rifles. How much defense and offense do I need 50/50? I may need to concentrate on specializing cities more. I'm looking for overall strategy that gets me on par with each era. I know the maps are different each time so maybe some general strategy advice would be good?

what does my power rating need to be at to not get a DOW when I'm unprepared.

Can a game be won building only settlers/workers/military units? just have tiles worked for hammers/commerce/food ?

 

[LincolnOfRome]

How many cities?

You will probably need to build at least at least four to six good cities and learn to specialize. With four cities, build one with as many farms (widmills on hills) as possible and raise it to the happiness population cap. Build as many happiness buildings in this city. In the "caste system" you may not even need libraries, marketplaces, and theatres, but other civics you will. With two more cities, surround with at least ten cottages that are being worked. In those cities build institutions finance and learning. In the fourth city, improve the land with farms and mines, and only build production buildings like a forge. In nooks and cranies, you can build small cities with no particular purpose. In the tundra and ice, build cities if they can gather happiness resources.

How many wonders or skip them?

Most people build too many wonders. Only build wonders if they really fit your particular strategy (or skip them).

How many military units. 10? 20? or more?

You want to stay near the top of the power graphs so you don't get attacked.

Limit city infastructure to what buildings?

You need granaries in every city, and some way to pop borders. The border can be popped by a monument, theatre, or a library (but you can also use an artist specialist after caste, or build culture). After about six cities, you can't go wrong to make couthouses your top priority. Build barracks where you build units. Build mostly military units to start, and later specialize cities as above.

If I'm boxed in and have only 6 cities early in the game should I capture a few with ancient units?

Yes, capture cities whenever you have an advantage.

Could I stop at six or eight cities then focus on teching liberalism then rifles.

Yes.

How much defense and offense do I need 50/50?

Your border cities need a decent amount of defense, but don't worry about interior cities.

I may need to concentrate on specializing cities more. I'm looking for overall strategy that gets me on par with each era. I know the maps are different each time so maybe some general strategy advice would be good?

Just practice the basics.

what does my power rating need to be at to not get a DOW when I'm unprepared.

You need to be toward the top. It is usually fine to give into demands if you don't want a fight. Get to know the AI personalities.

Can a game be won building only settlers/workers/military units? just have tiles worked for hammers/commerce/food.

I wouldn't say it is impossible, but courthouses are really handy when the empire grows. Such a strategy wouldn't work with city specialization.

 

[Nicol.Bolas]

- you need to build more military units in general. some AI's will just attack you no matter what under certain conditions.

- build almost no wonders. some people tell me in nobles club they stil, build stuff like chit zen itza or Schweppes paya

- concentrate on the early game, try looking in public games and look what people build and reserach first.

 

[Ecori]

On military: either go all out with military and kill your neighbours or neglect military completely. I usually have a military consisting of 1 warrior per city and 1 or 2 chariots for scouting undtil I lib Military Tradition (this is on Immortal diff). A strong military will NOT protect you from a DoW by an AI (unless you have like 2-3 times their powerrating), so focus on diplo to avoid wars. Don't build defensive units (as a general rule) as offensive ones work just as well. Besides, you don't want to fight wars on your own soil.

On city numbers: get as many as you can possibly afford. Land and population is power. Even if it takes some time to leverage. I usually aim to get ATLEAST 6 cities, an academy and Currency by 1 AD. If I can I will be happy to get 10 by 1ad.

On wonders: some wonders are great (Oracle, GLib, Mausoleum, Taj) and some are situational (Mids, GLH, UoS, SoL). Build those that will give you an advantage. Remember that hammers invested in wonders could have gone into units to kill your neighbours, settlers or commerce.

On infrastructure: every city should get a granary and a border pop (can get that with a religion to). Coastal gets lighthouses. Library in your capital and barracks in your military cities. I like forges aswell. Everything else is questionable. Courthouses sucks unless you are Organized. Building Wealth is OP.

On specialization: Your will need a buro capital with loads of cottages (pref riverside), a GP farm and rest can be pretty hybrid/whippable/Wealth-building.

Generate GSs to bulb Philo and Edu. Lib something good and draft/whip an army to conquer new lands.

 

[Ringo Kid]

I think it depends on your map. What type do you like? For example if you play an earth map and start in Africa you can set up a defendable choke point and who cares if they attack.

Or if a pangea type map where you can be attacked from all sides, planning for war would be a different matter.

My favorite approach is libraries and courthouses everywhere, forges barracks and stables everywhere -- build mounted units only and vassal weakest civs one after the other to get the conquest victory.

It all depends, you have to play your map. And of course your civ.

 

[Gumbolt]

On city counts. I normally aim for 3 cities by 2000bc. On prince this should be easy.

First tech is normally related to food resources around my capital. E.g corn = agriculture.

My second city normally grabs a food resouce 2-4 tiles away. City overlap can be fine. Sharing resources from the capital can be good.

My capital is normally a commerce centre focused on growth with cottages. The other cities can focus on growth and farms. Overall on Prince 8-10 cities by 1ad should be easy.

In terms of wars. An early rush should be done if you cannot expand peacefully to 5-6 cities. Horse archer rushes will prepare you well for higher levels.

Oracle/mids and GLH are the stronest early wonders. Only build where it will help you. A good economy is better than 4-5 wonders on prince level.

Your start should be worker first in most cases. Growth to size 3-4. Then settler/workers. Don't be afraid to use slavery for infra/units for war.