help for emperor level

[wma]

How do I do better at this level? I can win easily in Monarch but it gets very hard on emperor. Sometimes even barbs kill me right in the begining when they poped out of a goody hut next to my
first city before I even get a warrior Many times other civs asked for tributes one after another until I have zero gold and still attacked me before I can build a few units.... (Never mind the second city.) If I tried to start an early war, it costs so much to get a military alliance but if I don't, the AI's will gang up on me. Please give me some tips. Thx

 

[zagnut]

Go here for some great tips on how to play the early game. These are good for any level, but I have found them especially helpful on the tough levels.

http://www.civfanatics.com/doc/civ3/cracker/civ3_starts/

 

[PersianImmortal]

** deleted ***

 

[Michael York]

As the legendary Sir Pleb once advised (or was it CB ?) Research to 0 for the first half of the game. It helps a lot.

 

[Bamspeedy]

Nah, research at 10%, or with 1 scientist (later on when you can afford to have a citizen not working a tile in a high corrupt city). You can't beat getting techs for only 40 gold. Use the other money you saved for buying other techs because obviously you won't keep up in techs just by researching a tech every 40 turns, but you will save yourself from buying every single tech. Use the lone scientist or 10% research tactic to go for techs that the AI usually avoids or is very slow at researching itself (mathematics, currency, polytheism, etc.). Many times you can beat the AI to mathematics even on Deity with the lone scientist trick because the AI chases after Republic first (in many cases, but certainly not all). If and when you do get to a tech first, it will pay off big.

 

[Lynx]

emperor is easy, just practice.

 

[Quillan]

Ignore this lynx guy, he posts randomly and foolishly, i listened to him defend (without any proof) his 20 settlers in 43 turns argument...

Emperor level is not easy, but you'll learn to economize your movements, research etc to catch up. You WILL fall behind unless you get good huts or great start locations. You can catch up with the great library, a well waged war, or with tons of cash to buy techs... remember the AI advantages in tech research and building all the time, and go for techs that they don't. ALso, meeting the other civs first can be very profitable if managed right.

Lots more, look around the site here, read some posts, and check out the strategy guides, war academy, etc.
Good luck, think out your turns and plan well in attacking and wonder construction, and you'll do fine. I find that over the course of a game, assuming no terrible start or some other odd situation, emperor can be won most of the time.

 

[Kaiser_Berger]

My typical strategy, as it is for any level, is expand as quickly as possible and explore as quickly as possible. Take as much land as you can, and then hope you have some iron so you can build up a force of swordsmen to whittle away at your nearest and weakest enemy. If you're on an island or a small continent, try to shoot for taking the entire thing. Just remember, use extreme force. Don't attack unless you're truly ready, because it can and will backfire quickly on this level.

If you manage to get a good base and get caught up in tech, the roads to whatever victory you so desire are open.

 

[Bismarck]

I'm another one of those players who finds Monarch easy, but Emperor extremely difficult! Basically, I can't win unless I get a highly favourable start. I'm getting sick of the New Game/Restart scene, so here are some questions for good Emperor players:

- Is the Swordsman rush a viable strategy against an equal (or slightly superior) opponent? On Monarch, I can always whittle away 2-3 good cities from a rival, especially if I can monopolize Iron. On Emperor, I get one city and that's it. Plus I lose half my army in the process.

- Should I spend time building up culture in the ancient era? I'm worried about cities flipping if I don't, but the time spent building that Temple could be spent building 2 swordsmen instead; which brings me to my next point:

- How should I quell civil disorder? By MP (2 warriors seem to do the trick), entertainers, or temples?

- How do I build the great library? The AI always beats me to it. Do you have to prebuild a Palace in your second city as soon as you found it?

 

[Quillan]

Originally posted by Bismarck

- Is the Swordsman rush a viable strategy against an equal (or slightly superior) opponent? On Monarch, I can always whittle away 2-3 good cities from a rival, especially if I can monopolize Iron. On Emperor, I get one city and that's it. Plus I lose half my army in the process.

Yes, it is viable. But you have to be crafty about it. Veteran units are a must, swordsman, horseman or even archer rushes can work, depending on the situation. Consider your opponent's game before you attack --- If you can take just 2 cities from him, but they are important cities, do it. Don't feel bad about razing unless you want a diplo victory. A well defended mountain is a great place for catapults and spearmen for the AI to rush against also. When you attack, use enough to take both cities, then hold out for peace, or destroy his chance of counterattacking. I like to steal all his workers, and take the ones that are left in the peace deal... the peace will also catch you up in tech. If you are still losing too many attackers, make sure you attack in force... you MUST take a city in one go, preferably a couple cities in the first turn of war.

- Should I spend time building up culture in the ancient era? I'm worried about cities flipping if I don't, but the time spent building that Temple could be spent building 2 swordsmen instead; which brings me to my next point:[/B]

I sometimes have a city with a temple, but not often. I am now a strong advocate of colonies to get what you need --- workers are cheap in a granary city with a bonus (wheat/flood/cow) tile. If your opponent has 2 regular spearmen garrisoning a city, those extra veteran swordsmen will plow through them.

- How should I quell civil disorder? By MP (2 warriors seem to do the trick), entertainers, or temples?[/B]

Firstly, you shouldn't have warriors, they should be upgraded to swordsmen. Use military units for some peace, but also, toss a setler into your build order to keep the size of the cities at about 3 or 4. I also use the luxury option very frequently, it is vastly underused in my opinion. For the measly cost of maybe 2-4 gold per turn, you can make everyone happy, work more tiles, build more units, and pull back some of that gold by working more tiles.

- How do I build the great library? The AI always beats me to it. Do you have to prebuild a Palace in your second city as soon as you found it? [/B]

I think the great library is very important because i like to take my lead or at least catch up in the middle of the 2nd age. I use the time afforded by having it (the GL) to build science infrastructure to boost past my rivals. I cannot remember a game where i didn't get either the great library or the great lighthouse, both are very powerful, and you should dedicate a city to building at least one of them, even if it is an early prebuild. (i try to use a city that can produce well, but needs a lot of worker work to grow past, say 4, and just let him toil over a wonder for many turns till it's done) Also, trade literature just before you build the GL.

All that said, every situation is different, to destroy an opponent, figure out what he has and what will cripple him (take away iron for example, destroy 2/3 of his biggest cities, etc), then just wait till you can take the peace. 20 turns later, finish him off, or whittle him down to just a couple cities and take everything he has left for peace.

Remember, someone else will probably go to war with you during all this, so make sure you can control your immediate neighbours!

Good luck, if you have specific questions, i'll take a look at a saved game and tell you what i'd do --- not that it'll be right for everyone, but certainly my humble opinion.

 

[Bismarck]

Thanks for your advice! My main difficulty has been that my standard strategies, which have worked well up to Monarch level, don't scale up well to Emperor level. Your guidance has helped pinpoint some errors in my play.

I was wondering if you (or any of the other readers) would be willing to take a look at an Emperor game that I've played for 20 minutes or so, and tell me what they think. Any comments about expansion, diplomacy, etc. would be welcome.

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/choseros.SAV

 

[tao]

IMHO, micromanaging your cities and workers is the key. If you look at this post in our current succession game, you see an excellent example.

We also learned that trading maps each turn greatly improves the relation with all ai civs, and nets you a few gold per turn.

 

[Quillan]

Originally posted by Bismarck


I was wondering if you (or any of the other readers) would be willing to take a look at an Emperor game that I've played for 20 minutes or so, and tell me what they think. Any comments about expansion, diplomacy, etc. would be welcome.

Originally posted by Bismarck


I was wondering if you (or any of the other readers) would be willing to take a look at an Emperor game that I've played for 20 minutes or so, and tell me what they think. Any comments about expansion, diplomacy, etc. would be welcome.

Ok... I'm just going to point out a few things...

1 - in Arbela, you have an entertainer, and the citizen is happy. Instead, make him a scientist, and take your science down to 0 instead of 20 % (still 40 turns away) This gains 3 gpt. This is the type of management you must be on top of to win most of your higher level games frequently.

2 - Tie up the iron asap.

3 - Build a granary in antioch, then workers to set it up, then pump out settlers with it, and ONLY antioch and maybe one other city (Arbela maybe... although eventually you'll need a barracks for when the japanese attack) This will save you money and population points as only your fastest city with the most food builds 75%+ of your settlers/workers.

4 - don't irrigate grasslands in depotism... its a waste, mine them.

5 - Persians are industrious, USE IT... more workers, every tile you can use should be set up.

6 - You dropped the ball letting the japanese settler get past you to a city site... use a couple of horsemen ( i have scouts usually) to delay him and set up a culture border like you did in the south to contain the land.

7 - i wouldn't have built tarsus, set up the two cities (susa, pasargadae) to prevent him from coming through, then build out your area... you can take his cities later via war, tarsus gives you no strategic or luxury resource so is doing you no good... plus you need to fill out your core cities --- capital surrounded by 4-8 cities in a ring to maximize the area --- tarsus should have been founded NW from your capital, which would have solved #6 also.

8 - Your city placement is off around your capital -- If antioch had been on the other side of the river, you could have built in between it and arbela also and had another strong city using hills, floodplains and irrigated plains.

9 - Ok, so from here, build many immortals in (barracks first) with a couple horsemen. 2 cities that produce lots of food should build granaries and settlers/workers, the rest should do military, and you can shave off population with workers too to keep them a good size to handle. The settlers should fill out your land and head south east to take ALL of that land... the workers should prepare the way and set up your cities so they can all produce at the level you want them to. Don't be afraid to use the luxury slider.

10 - screw mapmaking, you should get literature (for the GL, so you can take over the tech race later as soon as the next age starts), trigger a golden age while attacking the chinese in the south with all your immortals (upgraded warriors), and use the GA to build the GL and other wonders --- run over the chinese and take their land. Once you trigger the GA you can also start a couple of cities onto infrastructure only as well, so that you are ready for anything. You should prebuild the GL, so prepare a city now to build a wonder in 40 yrs. If you get a great leader, unless you are going to lose the GL to another civ, use it to build the forbidden city in the appropriate place where the chinese used to live.



Sorry, i rambled, i'm busy!

 

[Bismarck]

Thanks for the in-depth remarks -- very helpful! It looks like I'm being much too wasteful in my play. I'll try to get more efficient. Thanks again.

 

[steviejay]

Originally posted by Lynx
emperor is easy, just practice.

now you're depressing me.

I'm stuck on Warlord

 

[Scyphax]

I find that smaller maps are easier than large maps they are also quicker.

Less land mass is also easier.

I find it easier to win on the small emporer map than a huge Monarch map.

I also find the archopelego easier than Pangea or contients (providing you are not expansionist). As the AI does not make contacting other civs a top prioritory.