hi usually win on chieftan but get beat on warlord

[giraffman]

hi not played civ for a few years , bought new laptop so dug out my copy of civ4. i usually win a time victory on chieftan with the leadership quality of either warren g hardy or ethelred . but on warlord i ffind im bottom of list usually get to medieval era and reload or return to salve my ego on chieftan. how do i win on warlord?

 

[lymond]

THis is the forum for you:

Strategy & Tips

Spend more time there

...and read this:

Sis's Guide

 

[giraffman]

thanks

 

[damerell]

hi not played civ for a few years , bought new laptop so dug out my copy of civ4. i usually win a time victory on chieftan with the leadership quality of either warren g hardy or ethelred . but on warlord i ffind im bottom of list usually get to medieval era and reload or return to salve my ego on chieftan. how do i win on warlord?

This might be tricky to answer without knowing how you lose... but you win the game in the early stages. Don't try and grab all the religions. Don't try and grab any religions; concentrate on worker techs and Bronze Working. Whip early and whip often. Never automate a worker, except Trade Network. Don't turn down every request from the AI - but on Warlord, you don't need to shun anyone for trade. If you don't know what to research, research something that lets you do more research. Don't try and build all the wonders. When you have a military advantage, go on the offensive.

 

[jarhead_leif]

ADD

,when starting on higher difficulties always start on a small map..if you think you can hadle it, then go for standard size,.then huge for more civs..

,rinse and repeat..

PS:the greater the number of rivals/the larger the map size, the harder to win the game..

 

[Lord_Herobrine]

Darn, got beat to the punch line

And yes, read those strategy guides and within no time you'll be duking it out with the AI in a fair match on noble, or fearing for your life on deity.

 

[Antilogic]

I wouldn't be concerned about being at the bottom of the list if you are talking about the scores in the lower right. I can be trailing through the Medieval Age and still pull off wins in the Industrial.

Damerell gives a pretty good summary. In addition, I'd keep an eye on the trade screens and know what you can trade to keep up with and gain an advantage over the AI. Make sure your stacks have the appropriate counter units when going to war--for example, don't go up against an AI with tons of mounted troops and no spears/pikes to fend them off. Also, don't be afraid of expanding quickly in the early game if it means you can grab good city sites. Often my research investment drops to 10-20%, but if I can get better land than the AI, it's worth it.

 

[PixelStrategist]

Personally I play on Noble, on warlord the AI is too aggressive.

 

[traius]

Personally I play on Noble, on warlord the AI is too aggressive.

Warlord is a difficulty level that is less difficult than noble, and AI declarewarprob is a function of said difficulty (if I understand it correctly, 1 out of 4 times that the AI should have declared on you on warlord, it simply won't, whereas on noble and higher, if the AI was supposed to declare war on you, it does). As such, the AI should be notably more aggressive on noble than warlord (also, the AI are simply better on average on noble vs warlord, which translates to stronger empires which translates to more likely to declare war on you).

 

[Redcoat1]

On Warlord I find the tactic that works best is aggressive expansion very early in the Game. Make Settlers first and move your boundaries out as far as is practical. Once Barbs are about to appear start making warriors to defend. Quick city builds are the key!

 

[Antilogic]

That is just setting yourself up for a ragequit when a barb spawns near your undefended settlers and cities and starts trashin' up the place.

I recommend producing a worker as quickly as possible, and chopping trees to get settlers out. Build warriors inbetween for scouting/fog-busting/new-city-defense, and try to work tiles so that you can gain an entire population point while your worker is being made.

 

[elmurcis]

On Warlord I find the tactic that works best is aggressive expansion very early in the Game. Make Settlers first and move your boundaries out as far as is practical. Once Barbs are about to appear start making warriors to defend. Quick city builds are the key!

when you see barbarian already outside undefended city border, its almost always too late to build defense... (ok, whip can work, but new city almost never will have enough population to do that)
More important is to "take control" over barbarians by placing units around free land to stop barbarians birth as much as possible (it cost something, but its cheaper than just building strong defense). That give you time to settle something else 1st before settling this area.
Using this strategy in current game - had island for ~10 cities, but also 3 nice small islands near capital (I built Great Lighthouse, thats why small islands was nice).. So I fog bust big island with some 8 units (chariots/warriors, even worker can be ok if place near some city) and settle all 3 small islands to get best incomes from trade routes and was able to leave cities undefended for short time until city start getting unhapiness from "not having a defense".. After that I was able to build without worry about barbarians and same time getting best income I could get
For fast expansion best is to make 2nd city (with great food/production resources.. fish, corn, copper or something like that) as settler production city - chop 1st settler at size 1, grow to size 2, next settler, again grow 1 size up, next settler, when at happy cap, build settlers there as long as you need 3rd, 4th city - commerce from cottages, 5th - military city.. after that.. just whatever need and is available.. (capital city usually has something else to do.. some sweet wonder.. or some building.. or units for attack )

 

[Redcoat1]

As I said it can be a risk leaving cities open at very start of game. But, knowing approximately when Barbs can start appearing helps one decide when to get less aggressive on expansion and start making Warriors. Also, you normally have at least one city that can churn Warriors in 1-4 turns and use that city to populate the others. And yes I have been overwhelmed with the deadly Barb Swordsman swarm early, rarely but it can happen.

 

[TheWilltoAct]

I recommend producing a worker as quickly as possible, and chopping trees to get settlers out. Build warriors inbetween for scouting/fog-busting/new-city-defense, and try to work tiles so that you can gain an entire population point while your worker is being made.

Should that say "warrior"?

 

[Antilogic]

Oops, you are right. Grow while the warriors are being made, try to make sure you don't start on a worker or settler only a turn or two away from a new pop point that would have given you a leg up on the production.

 

[Redcoat1]

Just reread some of this thread.
"AIs are more aggressive on Warlord than Noble." That is not my experience. I find the AIs on Warlord to be downright placid. That's why early expansion is easy on Warlord and usually a killer on Noble.

 

[lymond]

. That's why early expansion is easy on Warlord and usually a killer on Noble.

I think that's just a bit of an overstatement there...just a little

 

[Nicol.Bolas]

then you should go here

 

[Ataxerxes]

Just reread some of this thread.
"AIs are more aggressive on Warlord than Noble." That is not my experience. I find the AIs on Warlord to be downright placid. That's why early expansion is easy on Warlord and usually a killer on Noble.

You're right. The other poster just got confused by the name "Warlord" and the AI is more aggressive than on Chieftain. As the levels go up the AI gets more aggressive.
Even on Warlord I wouldn't like to send a settler out without an escort. Even a wolf can destroy an unescorted settler.

 

[Robert FIN]

Hey giraff!! Listen to lymond! I'm usually posting in S&T forums too. Join nobles' club. You'll find that in S&T. If you are quick enough you can also join 1st Civ Hour game. And yes early rush and REXing are now most important things. Don't worry; when I came to forums I was in chieftain lvl too. Now I play at noble. That happened in two months!!