Help with playing on prince

[nightshade253]

I know, I know. "BUT PRINCE IS SO EASY!". Well as it turns out its actually been very difficult for me. I'm actually not new to the series but I just can't figure out how in the heck to keep up with the AI. I've been a lurker in these forums for a long time now and I will not resort to cheating as I have no proof of that plus I pretty much trust them that its relatively even playing field.

So that means it has to be something with what I'm doing and I might just not be good enough. Which if I can't get any help and improve I'll just lower the difficulty. Whatever. I generally like to at least play on normal though.

Usually if I start from the ancient era sometimes I do alright. I'm never the best civilization but I'm rarely the worst. Lately I've been starting games from the modern era (I wanted to use and get more familiar with the modern era since It comes so late in a full game and I like using all of the different units).

So I plop down on the map. Cultural victories are my thing so I instantly start to make some cultural buildings. Yet even when I focus all my efforts on culture there is always another civilization that has more culture then me AND a more powerful army. Usually I'm dead last in military strength if I start in the modern era. Even if I just continuously pump out units from all of my cities, not touching anything else, I barely keep up and fall behind in every other aspect. I noticed in my last game that where I tried to produce units faster that even with barely devoting any time to other efforts I didn't keep up with Romes army who also, besides all the cultural policies I had, had a great deal more policies then me (as noted through the victory progress screen and the global politics screen where you can see what policy branches they are in.

So now I'm just so frustrated with spending hours just to be outplayed by nearby civ's somehow. I know its tough without a save file but I'm hoping maybe someone knows how they are producing units so fast and how they are finding time to build cultural buildings etc?.

As I noted even when I made a direct effort to at least keep up in military strength I only had a quarter of the units Rome rushed me with while he also was leading in a cultural victory (I believe he was even first). We both had 3 cities (counting our capital).

 

[Aldor]

So now I'm just so frustrated with spending hours just to be outplayed by nearby civ's somehow. I know its tough without a save file but I'm hoping maybe someone knows how they are producing units so fast and how they are finding time to build cultural buildings etc?

At prince level, you don't HAVE to keep up with the AI militarily. Of course you should not totally neglect your military, but you can use a small but well trained army to stop a much larger AI military (obviously this is if you plan to play peacefully...for conquest things look differently

Something that works for me pretty well is to go into the tradition policy tree first, and then get the policy there which makes units stationed in your cities cost no maintenance. Then, just build a military unit along with each settler (best build a mix of archers and warriors), that should give you a military strong enough to keep most AI from attacking. When you have time build some extra units like horses and catapults. Also don't forget to upgrade your units when you can. That's usually enough to stay safe at prince level.

After that, you need to focus on growth. If you have multiple different luxuries nearby, its usually OK to expand to multiple cities. If you have only few luxuries nearby, you may want to focus on few and larger cities.

Remember, you need to grow your cities for them to become productive. And you need enough workers to improve your territory. Get the early happiness buildings, trade with your opponents as much as you can for luxuries. Target the happiness wonders (hanging gardens, notre dame). In social policies, again tradition can help you. In the later game, when your cities are developed, freedom can have a huge effect on happiness.

If you are still struggling, really just go down in difficulty and play a game or two there, until you feel more comfortable.

 

[Stratti]

Probably the biggest change I've enjoyed is learning to fight a war strategically more like chess than previous incarnations. Using all terrain features to your advantage you can hold back the biggest waves with four archers and the garrison bonus. Also keep an eye on your growth in terms of cities. I've found that it is much easier to build a couple of super cities than spread too far.

Another is the way you focus your tiles and their improvement. This is a huge area to be improved / tweaked in my personal development. I find rushing to civil service , education provides a huge boost to science that catapults you in the tech race.

I personally never worry about keeping pace with a civ in terms if number of units . Think Battle of Thermopylae. Try to keep rough units to defend against a savage attack. One of the funniest things is a superior army breaking their backs on your defenses then you going on the offensive and taking them out due to their depleted numbers. Don't waste time and resources on useless units . In a massive wave attack the melee units are not overly useful IMHO as they usually get taken out by the range .

 

[gozpel]

Play it from ancient era with different strategies. You will learn almost instantanously how the AI works.

Start a game and build only 2-3 cities, build some military to protect those cities, in between by building only military, mix in a worker or a monument or even library. 3-4 warriors is good enough to protect ANY city on Prince.

Then find a way to get towards markets and research-buildings. As long as you're safe, you can build whatever you want, even a wonder.

If someone DOWs you, kill them off and wait until THEY want to pay you for peace. The more units you kill of them, the better the price for you. You DON'T have to invade them, just kill a straggler here and there and they'll come begging.

 

[Babri]

That tradition trick for army is great + u need to ally lots of CS to get more luxuries, culture, food & military benefits. Try to stick to 3-4 cities & if u go to war at some point, capture only the biggest city/cities like a capital & annex or puppet it depending upon the situation. Having a good amount of gold & happiness shouldn't be a problem for u.
I mostly play on prince without using any sort of exploits and try to roleplay game. It is not really a problem to get a cultural victory. If u still face difficulties, u probably should post ur mid-game save, that would help us to recognize ur problems.

 

[sschmalz]

Play it from ancient era with different strategies. You will learn almost instantanously how the AI works.

I agree 100% with gozpel on this. You may enjoy starting in the modern era, but you'll learn a lot more playing the game starting in the ancient era.

Also, don't fret if you stay at Prince for a while or even step down a level. Just make sure to find a level that challenges you within reason. You won't learn by playing a level that is too easy nor by playing a level that is too hard.

 

[spider1]

You won't learn by playing a level that is too easy nor by playing a level that is too hard.

That's a very important point. My goal with almost any game is to find a level where I'm still having fun and the game doesn't drive me crazy trying to win.

As to winning by defense on the Prince level, I try and keep one ranged and one melee unit per city. Replace your crossbows with cannons, and keep upgrading your melee units as time goes on. You'll find you might need a bit more than that on your border cities later in the game. And build those walls and castles in cities that seem to keep getting hit. And by all means, if you got horsies, use them to build units. But you can win defensively without horses and iron both. You just have to build a crap load of archers.

 

[chazzycat]

prince is a good level.

could you explain your tech strategy a bit? you didn't mention that much. another thing you didn't mention was expansion. Are you expanding? going straight for culture buildings is not generally a great overall strategy. culture victory is the hardest to achieve, but also if you go for it and fail, you don't have much of a backup option. I would suggest going for more of a tech-heavy strategy. If you stay ahead of the AI in tech you can defeat their armies with fewer troops, saving money and time.

If you have your heart set on culture victory, strong tech is still important. learn to use RAs to max effect because that's the best way for smaller civs to keep up. there is a good article in the war academy. Also remember your specialists. Work lots of artists, then send all the great artists to your capital and build landmarks. Build anything in your capital to boost the culture percentage and make sure to fill out piety and freedom ASAP.

EDIT - and don't forget cultural city states!

 

[bcaiko]

One thing to note while playing on Prince is that the AIs at that point get to cheat a little. They get free units when they reach certain technologies and their social polcies are cheaper. They don't loose units (or science, I think) for having negative gold. And they get more free happiness than you do. So, don't be too distraught that the AIs are "outplaying" you...they're absolutely not.

Even on a cultural victory, you need to be focused on keeping your science up to task. Building an early wonder like the Great Library that gives you free Great Scientist points and using your gold advantage (if you're going for a tall empire for cultural victory, you should be producing quite a bit of gold) to sign Research Agreements (they're VERY important). Sign as many as you can before progressing into a new era when they get more expensive. You can even give money to small Civs and then ask them to use that money to sign a Research Agreement.

The second thing you'll need to focus on is your Great People/specialist management. Every Wonder but the Statue of Zeus gives free great people points. Other than that, you should be focusing your heaviest culture city on culture specialists in order to spam Great Artists for their landmarks.

Culture is a difficult victory condition on any level. I'd argue it's the most difficult. But the above pieces of advice will help you no matter what victory you're pursuing on Prince.