I've played a few games now on normal and find it to easy to win. Now I'm trying my luck at king but find it to difficult. I play with Japan and always seem to struggle making GPT. I've been playing continent map standard size. Today I tried a game where I rushed for iron and used freedom policy for a settler to grab a new city on top of four iron. I was able to eliminate England near me but then got DoW by Siam and ghengis as well as four CS. The whole time I was in negative GPT before eliminating England but was selling excess cotton to Siam and khan. I want to know how people have good results defending cities with small numbers to keep military cost down. I have three swordsman and like five archers. After taking England I had two puppets. I already know this game is over Siam has elephants and ghengis is coming with pikemen and archers on one of the England puppets. I would love some ideas on balancing my units with early game aggression while maintaining positive GPT. Another thing to note was that I rushed several wonders in my capital. GL PT HS. To name a few. Was working mostly on economic techs during my elimination of England. Hope that info puts it in perspective. Any tips would be appreciated. Any links to past threads also.
Help on king
- Thread starter Drsues
- Start date
not really sure how you rushed for the GL, HS, PT while rushing for iron working...O.o
but, if you are rushing for IW, make more swordsmen! You say that you have 4 iron, but only 3 swordsmen! I find that you really dont need to get that many archers~ 1 or 2 should do the trick, and more swordsmen or catapults, if you like. As for economy wise, you will generally have early GPT problems when going domination (but they will get better as you continue to capture cities). You might want to try selling some of your gold for the AI's GPT to help out.
but, if you are rushing for IW, make more swordsmen! You say that you have 4 iron, but only 3 swordsmen! I find that you really dont need to get that many archers~ 1 or 2 should do the trick, and more swordsmen or catapults, if you like. As for economy wise, you will generally have early GPT problems when going domination (but they will get better as you continue to capture cities). You might want to try selling some of your gold for the AI's GPT to help out.
It's normal for early & mid game to be running negative GPT and using trades to stay solvent.
I also sell open borders for 50 gold to AIs far enough away to where they'd never use my roads.
The main pointers are:
Be sure the road could at the very least come close to paying for itself before constructing.
Unless going for cultural victory you really can't afford Temples before Marketplaces are constructed. And even then, I'd rate quite a few buildings higher on the priority list before a Temple such as Universities. (Some players in fact never build Temples [nor anything that follows] but I don't take it to that level.)
Defense with small number of units:
Archers inside cities. Upgrade to Crossbows as soon as you have the tech for it.
5 archers early is a bit excessive though (unless you already own 4 or 5 cities).
On the offensive side, if you intending offensive warfare that really should be 4 Swords involved and not just 3. I might save the 5th Iron for a Catapult but not the 4th.
In times of war, you shouldn't be building wonders other than ones built by GEs.
I also sell open borders for 50 gold to AIs far enough away to where they'd never use my roads.
The main pointers are:
Be sure the road could at the very least come close to paying for itself before constructing.
Unless going for cultural victory you really can't afford Temples before Marketplaces are constructed. And even then, I'd rate quite a few buildings higher on the priority list before a Temple such as Universities. (Some players in fact never build Temples [nor anything that follows] but I don't take it to that level.)
Defense with small number of units:
Archers inside cities. Upgrade to Crossbows as soon as you have the tech for it.
5 archers early is a bit excessive though (unless you already own 4 or 5 cities).
On the offensive side, if you intending offensive warfare that really should be 4 Swords involved and not just 3. I might save the 5th Iron for a Catapult but not the 4th.
In times of war, you shouldn't be building wonders other than ones built by GEs.
gopher666
Chieftain
I'm currently getting used to King myself. I'm not an expert on handling the GPT, but I see joncnunn has already given some solid advice. I'd like to expand on early game defense with minimal forces, as that's something I seem to be very sucessful with. I regularly mow down forces ten times my size when the AI gets uppity.
Archers inside cities are good. If you have horses (or are playing Ghandi), chariot archers/war elephants are in my experience better. Slightly stronger, plus additional movement gives you nice flexibility. In addition, if you're struggling, Oligarchy policy (under Tradition) and walls usually make my cities unassailable. I occasionally pad the defense with a melee unit patrolling, to take out weak units. With cheap ones like warriors, they also make excellent suicide bombers when all else fails. Also, and this might go without saying, focus on taking melee units out first to avoid losing your city.
The way I see it, such a strategy carries some penalties. Investing in Oligarchy might not be right for your game (I almost exclusively build tall, with few but large cities). Investing in walls, obviously, is hammers or gold you could've spent elsewhere. Finally, going for mounted archers is a little more expensive, although I find that cost worthwhile. However, they get woefully obsolete around the time AI gets LS and Trebuchet, forcing you to replace them.
Personally, I like this defensive strategy. The added investment makes it easy to fall behind a bit, but it may be worth a try.
Archers inside cities are good. If you have horses (or are playing Ghandi), chariot archers/war elephants are in my experience better. Slightly stronger, plus additional movement gives you nice flexibility. In addition, if you're struggling, Oligarchy policy (under Tradition) and walls usually make my cities unassailable. I occasionally pad the defense with a melee unit patrolling, to take out weak units. With cheap ones like warriors, they also make excellent suicide bombers when all else fails. Also, and this might go without saying, focus on taking melee units out first to avoid losing your city.
The way I see it, such a strategy carries some penalties. Investing in Oligarchy might not be right for your game (I almost exclusively build tall, with few but large cities). Investing in walls, obviously, is hammers or gold you could've spent elsewhere. Finally, going for mounted archers is a little more expensive, although I find that cost worthwhile. However, they get woefully obsolete around the time AI gets LS and Trebuchet, forcing you to replace them.
Personally, I like this defensive strategy. The added investment makes it easy to fall behind a bit, but it may be worth a try.
Alright so now I'm playing a new game. I've managed to stay positive on the gold per turn. Now my problem seemss to be not expanding enough. I only have two cities and I'm sandwiched next to the Dutch who are leading in points. Thankfully I have been able to pay Persia to go to war with them twice. And they are also at war with moat of the CS on the continent. I unfortunately had no access to iron so I've been teching to het past the need. Since I haven't fought any battles I can't even dream of attacking the Dutch who have been taking honor policies. I don't think Persia will stay at war much longer either. I'd the diplomacy window says that the Dutch and I have traded recently. It's a safe bet he is coming for me next? I'm only four tiles from his capital. Any suggestions?
gopher666
Chieftain
Four tiles away from his capital? Sounds to me like you may have an angry Dutchman on your heels very soon. My advice is to prepare to turtle up just in case (get some defensive buildings + archer of some kind). Do you have any of that? What tech level are you on?
I'm into the renesaince and I'm working on castles for my two cities. Upgraded most of my units to riflemen and I have four cannons and three crossbows. Oh and I think I have four rifleman... I'm pretty sure persias war won't last much longer. After that I'm toast. The Dutch have surrounded my empire and are making mad cash.
gopher666
Chieftain
Edited! My best advice isn't necessarily saying much. Still, in case he attacks, I suggest defensive positions. Try to place your ranged units where they can do the most damage, and keep your riflemen in reserve in between or even behind. When the waves come crashing, just blast away and try to drop anything that comes close enough. When you're eventually overwhelmed, turtle down with a cannon in each city and rely on city strength and artillery. Drop as many melee units as you possibly can. As for the rest of the army, try to save whatever you can. Hey, speaking of city strength, how high are they?
If anyone has any advice that's something else than "burrow a hole and snipe at 'im", though, that might be more useful to you.
Also, sorry for late reply. I was... uh... playing Civ.
If anyone has any advice that's something else than "burrow a hole and snipe at 'im", though, that might be more useful to you.
Also, sorry for late reply. I was... uh... playing Civ.
I think they are in the low twenties. It won't take long to be overwhelmed. I can't see how I can possibly win. Maybe a cultural victory? I am pulling in like 68 culture a turn bu haven't taken piety yet... Basically I'm making lots of mistakes. I'm starting to think that my prince level games I got lucky in the early game. I was also playing on earth map on huge and now I'm on standard continents on a harder difficulty. I might take a step back and play a prince level with my current map settings and see how it goes. If its still easy I'm going to go back to king. Roughly what turn does the AI achieve VC on king? Just so I have a target idea if I'm going to lose.
The Pilgrim
Deity
450-500? Have no idea. Just guessing. A save or a screenshot will help to give some specific advice. Generally, having only 2 cities in Renaissance is not a good idea.
KevinMiles90000
Warlord
- Joined
- Jan 14, 2011
- Messages
- 279
Don't even bother building anything peaceful, just mass produce offensive units and take over the weakest/nearest civ until you have an insurmountable tech lead
In terms of year; excluding Human conquest defeat ending the game early for the high difficulty levels
Never for Settler/Cheftain
2050 for Warlord? (Only time victory possible for the AI?)
21st century for Prince/King?
20th century for Emperor?
late 19th century for Immortal?
early 19th century for Deity?
you know, one thing that could help is playing a game on prince, but with handicaps on yourself. I did this for my jump from king to emperor and I found it to be a smooth transition.
An example might be: no RAs or no conquering other cities, something like that,hopefully gets you on the right track!
An example might be: no RAs or no conquering other cities, something like that,hopefully gets you on the right track!
Syailendra
Prince
In addition to notadummy last post, i'd like to add that handicaped yourself to not build any world wonder before half of the game time (eg 250turns on normal), will bring good experience for you.
The Pilgrim
Deity
This.
I'm pretty sure people won't appreciate such idea, but it's really the single best advice anyone can give them.
