Good strat for monarch

[Nightmare99]

Hello i need help beat monarch lvl on continents pre patch warlords random civs.I easly win on prince and i have beaten monarch on archipilago and small pangea map but for some reason i cant beat continents normal size i have tried mayby 50 times sometimes i have been very close.

My strategy cottage economy 1 early war after that economy then more war i start with worker warrior settler most of the time researching first worker techs if close then mining bronzeworking,after that usually mysticism,straight to oracle for the free tech usually trying to get alphabet for early tech trading,after that monarchy and metalworking and then construction and so on any good tips?

 

[Nestorius]

Pre-patch, just make sure you have the most cities by mid-game (fighting a war if you have to), make sure you got lots of cottages and you'll out-tech everyone to the space race.

Marathon speed helps, too.

 

[Nightmare99]

Pre-patch, just make sure you have the most cities by mid-game (fighting a war if you have to), make sure you got lots of cottages and you'll out-tech everyone to the space race.

Marathon speed helps, too.

Doesnt that slow down my research alot if i expand that much?

 

[Cam_H]

It's a bit general, but you've seemingly by-passed Currency and Code of Laws with your research. I'm not sure - maybe you trade for those technologies (?). These are important for your expansionary plans so you can continue to capture cities in the late-Classical early-Medieval Eras without your economy suffering too much.

A lot depends upon your leader, starting landscape, neighbours, etc.

 

[Ruler]

I agree totally you should go after alphatech to currency and CoL. What I like to do is switch cities to hammers, put on research, it can do a miracle and then currency and CoL then whip couple courthouses and you are ready to expand more. After that I find myself often going to Monarch to boost my capital happinies for more cottages.

 

[cabert]

I agree totally you should go after alphatech to currency and CoL. What I like to do is switch cities to hammers, put on research, it can do a miracle and then currency and CoL then whip couple courthouses and you are ready to expand more. After that I find myself often going to Monarch to boost my capital happinies for more cottages.

If I feel like taking down a neighbour, I go for currency before alphabet.
What good is it to be able to trade when you cannot pay your troops?

 

[Ruler]

There is still other AI's to trade with? Going for war so soon sounds still odd to me but I guess it's on Emperor. Currency has become real obession for me when I started to play on Monarch I can't live without it and shouldn't be neglected it by any mean. All gold coins what you can get from your enemies for yourself counts at the beginning.

 

[cabert]

There is still other AI's to trade with? Going for war so soon sounds still odd to me but I guess it's on Emperor. Currency has become real obession for me when I started to play on Monarch I can't live without it and shouldn't be neglected it by any mean. All gold coins what you can get from your enemies for yourself counts at the beginning.

it's monarch level
and it's never too early for taking down an annoying neighbour (if the AI didn't have it's free archers at the beginning, I'd go warrior rushing)

 

[futurehermit]

agreed. worker techs --> math --> currency --> col --> attack nearest neighbour (i prefer recently to lightbulb alpha with first GS)

 

[Ruler]

I start to fall on "early war strategy" after playing monarch so according to that yes kill them if you don't see horses or copper but I haven't needed to go so early to war on Monarch yet.

 

[cabert]

I start to fall on "early war strategy" after playing monarch so according to that yes kill them if you don't see horses or copper but I haven't needed to go so early to war on Monarch yet.

it's not about needing to
It's about being able to

I won a cultural game without a single vs AI fight (= I had only a few barbs to kill). So it's true you don't need to war so early...

 

[Nightmare99]

If I feel like taking down a neighbour, I go for currency before alphabet.
What good is it to be able to trade when you cannot pay your troops?

I almost always get alphabet from oracle is thatr a misstake?

 

[cabert]

I almost always get alphabet from oracle is thatr a misstake?

Mistake? no, it's a good tech
Suboptimal maybe, since you can have other, more expensive techs.

And don't be too attached to the oracle, you may not get it in some games

 

[Nightmare99]

I agree totally you should go after alphatech to currency and CoL. What I like to do is switch cities to hammers, put on research, it can do a miracle and then currency and CoL then whip couple courthouses and you are ready to expand more. After that I find myself often going to Monarch to boost my capital happinies for more cottages.

Ah that might be a misstake i do i always get construction and often monarchy,metalworking and civil service before currency.
So if i go straight for currency is that a good way to do an early axe rush?

 

[Nightmare99]

agreed. worker techs --> math --> currency --> col --> attack nearest neighbour (i prefer recently to lightbulb alpha with first GS)

So you wait with construction?

 

[cabert]

Ah that might be a misstake i do i always get construction and often monarchy,metalworking and civil service before currency.
So if i go straight for currency is that a good way to do an early axe rush?

yep
early axe rush will be on it's way while you research currency.
Then currency will allow you to build money (and thus prevent your troops from striking!), will give you trade routes, and allow you to build markets in your commerce cities.

 

[futurehermit]

So you wait with construction?

if i have another means to wage war then yes since i will need currency and col to avoid going into strike mode if i don't have a means of waging war then i will beeline construction first.

 

[carl corey]

Hi, Nightmare99. I'm playing Monarch too, and winning most of my games lately, and with different leaders. I just wanted to say there's no unique & perfect research path, it heavily depends on the leader/civ and the available resources.

First thing I always consider is: do I have a good early Unique Unit? If yes, I'll try to beeline for it to take a couple of scalps before it obsoletes. Latest example is a Hatshepsut with her wonderful War Chariots. I built two cities, took down Hannibal (he had three) with War Chariots only (he had one Spearman, the rest Archers), got Montezuma to three lousy cities with War Chariots + a few Axemen + Swordsmen, and also attacked Elizabeth with Axemen + Swords + Catapults + rest of War Chariots. I built only Stonehenge for the Great Prophet points (as I didn't need the culture boost being Creative) but wanted settled Prophets to fuel my war.

Second thing: who are my neighbors? In my Hannibal game IIRC I had Montezuma and Alexander. No way to live peacefully with those. On the other hand, in another game in which I decided to go for religions and cultural I had a 5 civs continent and never went to war just because I stayed away from actually adopting any religion, and let the AIs fight between themselves.

Third: I limit myself to only useful wonders. The temptation is very big to go for everything in sight, but even if you're Industrious AND have Stone and Marble there is such thing as too many wonders. The Oracle is a good early wonder, but if you have stone you might consider Stonehenge or the Great Wall. It also depends on the amount of forest's you can cut to speed up those wonders. Keep in mind that going for the Oracle AFTER the worker techs means you don't get the special benefit of founding a religion with the intermediary tech (Polytheism or Meditation), so you're researching three techs for one wonder. You might as well go for Alphabet directly by then.

Now about what I get from the Oracle: if I do bother with it, a lot of times I do it so that I can get Metal Casting. I do this especially if I'm Industrious, so that I get the cheap forges in fast. Alphabet is pretty cheap compared to this, or even to Code of Laws. If Confucianism isn't founded I consider Code of Laws a very viable option.

For more info you might want to look into Sisiutil's All Leaders Challenges. He's moved to Monarch lately and his stated goal is to use the leader's traits the best he can. They're a great read and a good learning tool.

 

[Nightmare99]

if i have another means to wage war then yes since i will need currency and col to avoid going into strike mode if i don't have a means of waging war then i will beeline construction first.

Oh i always stop my war before going down so far as strike but i guess with currency then i can go on a while longer with war.

 

[carl corey]

Code of Laws is even better: keep only the big cities from your wars, and whip a courthouse in the new city as soon as it gets out of revolt.

By the way, can I ask why you're playing pre-patch?