(C) is not correct unless you play with events disabled -- you generally want a bit cash on hand to pay for forest fires, granary restocking, wedding gifts, etc. If I know I'm going to be REXing hard, I'll do (A) after Pottery-Writing. Having some gold stockpiled also allows me to quickly pick up techs like Masonry or Hunting that I may not know whether I'll want them before I actually get the cities settled to use those resources.
How do you REX without going broke?
- Thread starter mrtauntaun
- Start date
Dirk1302
Deity
Dropping slider to 0% after writing is often best, accumulate gold, raise slider to 100% after some libs are up or even better an academy is installed.Lots of great advice in here, thanks a lot guys.
My only other questions is this: Do you set your research slider to 0% immediately and save the money for deficit spending later, or do you gradually bring it down as you can't afford a high slider? I can see three things happening:
A. Set to 0% Research out of the gate and stockpile cash
B. As you go from +gold per turn to -gold per turn, manually adjust rate to +gold
C. Let the slider go down on it's own as you hit 0 gold with -gold per turn.
I don't think C is the correct answer, but if I knew for sure I wouldn't be here
Here is my current game I am playing today, Carthage, Archipelago map, standard size, low sea levels, 7 civs, Monarch difficulty with locked modified assets and no reloads done at all so far (Playing with HOF rules, I'm still not good enough for Immortal because I make too many mistakes though I spent the last few weeks playing on Immortal learning how to do this) - 60 BC and 14 cities placed, plus my economy is good enough with the GLH to maintain a 40% science rate and I still dont have CoL. I could have had 16 cities easilly if I had trained an extra couple of settlers in my first two cities, but generally, 12 cities by 1 AD is the target to aim for, 16 by 500 AD, and 20+ by 1000 AD:
This is the map overview showing my cities and resources:
This is my capital with GLH, Glib, and nearly finished with the Collosus (I have copper, marble and stone on this map):
And this is my second city which is the first fully developed Rex city with a Granary, Lighthouse, Monument (for CHA leader only, otherwise dont bother with monuments), Forge, Library and Cothon:
They are very easy to set up, and bring in lots of
. Then the next buildings you add are Courthouse, University, Observatory and Customs House and that is it - only build buildings in your Great Merchant farming capital, and in other cities if you need a boost, but Couthouse / Harbor / Customs house should be all that is required to make every city profitable. My capital spawned a Great Engineer first though, which is a first time for me, I were like OMG where is my Merchant? I want an extra 10% science 
. But I'll get a free wonder now, either the Mausoleum or Taj Mahal (I already have the Parthenon 33% built, and changed production to a cothon in Hippo, so I'm not wasting it on that).
I also just got the Warships quest which will give my cothons +2
each so yay .
I think I want to conquer the nearby Germans to steal that 5 sugar site. I have my mapfinder set to start me near 4 sugars minimum because they often come in huge clusters for a mega city like on this map, but the AI got them this time.
My tech path was Agricuture > Animal Husbandry > Wheel > Pottery > Sailing > Masonry > Bronze Working > Writing > Iron Working > Metal Casting > Compass > Aesthetics > Literature > Alphabet > Music (settled GA for +3 GPT) *Trade Alphabet to backfill Ancient techs and Mathematics > Currency > CoL and Beurocracy next.
Very easy on Monarch difficulty, plus I have the GLH, Glib and Collosus capital easilly set up, which will then get Oxford and Wall Street.
40 BC, and Collosus plus two more Cothons are up:
The collosus gave me +14 GPT, wealth in my capital gives +11 GPT, and the two cothons built the turn before and after gave me +6 and +10 GPT each, allowing me to increase my science rate up to 50%.
But I'm not building wealth in my two main cities, they are producing more settlers for the southern island, so my GPT is temporarilly in the red.
This is the map overview showing my cities and resources:
Spoiler :
This is my capital with GLH, Glib, and nearly finished with the Collosus (I have copper, marble and stone on this map
):Spoiler :
And this is my second city which is the first fully developed Rex city with a Granary, Lighthouse, Monument (for CHA leader only, otherwise dont bother with monuments), Forge, Library and Cothon:
Spoiler :
They are very easy to set up, and bring in lots of
. Then the next buildings you add are Courthouse, University, Observatory and Customs House and that is it - only build buildings in your Great Merchant farming capital, and in other cities if you need a boost, but Couthouse / Harbor / Customs house should be all that is required to make every city profitable. My capital spawned a Great Engineer first though, which is a first time for me, I were like OMG where is my Merchant? I want an extra 10% science . But I'll get a free wonder now, either the Mausoleum or Taj Mahal (I already have the Parthenon 33% built, and changed production to a cothon in Hippo, so I'm not wasting it on that).I also just got the Warships quest which will give my cothons +2
each so yay .I think I want to conquer the nearby Germans to steal that 5 sugar site. I have my mapfinder set to start me near 4 sugars minimum because they often come in huge clusters for a mega city like on this map, but the AI got them this time
.My tech path was Agricuture > Animal Husbandry > Wheel > Pottery > Sailing > Masonry > Bronze Working > Writing > Iron Working > Metal Casting > Compass > Aesthetics > Literature > Alphabet > Music (settled GA for +3 GPT) *Trade Alphabet to backfill Ancient techs and Mathematics > Currency > CoL and Beurocracy next.
Very easy on Monarch difficulty, plus I have the GLH, Glib and Collosus capital easilly set up, which will then get Oxford and Wall Street.
40 BC, and Collosus plus two more Cothons are up:
Spoiler :
The collosus gave me +14 GPT, wealth in my capital gives +11 GPT, and the two cothons built the turn before and after gave me +6 and +10 GPT each, allowing me to increase my science rate up to 50%.
But I'm not building wealth in my two main cities, they are producing more settlers for the southern island, so my GPT is temporarilly in the red.
^^ LIbraries + Research and Wealth.
I havnt rexed on a continent yet, I still need to figure out how to do that properly.
I think that is why I get stuck with non FIN leader, I dont know how to properly use research and wealth like that.
I havnt rexed on a continent yet, I still need to figure out how to do that properly.
I think that is why I get stuck with non FIN leader, I dont know how to properly use research and wealth like that.
futurehermit
Deity
- Joined
- Apr 3, 2006
- Messages
- 5,724
nice crusher!
however, wouldn't you have been better off working all those gold pits asap?!
however, wouldn't you have been better off working all those gold pits asap?!
Also there is an argument for building markets in some cities particularly if they will have cottages or have gold mines. The fur tiles give + 1 happiness with a market and they will be built eventually in those cities, the sooner they're in place the bigger the return.
future-
Yes! I wanted to show you can REX without them though! If I didnt have gold I could only afford 8 cities, which I had by 875 BC. Taking so much land early usually does give you nice luxuries though. Using metal early would have made that REX scary!
Bhavv-
Yep ^^. Work tiles that enhance settlers, workers, and escorts first (luxury, farms, mines, chopping) - then get to your recovery tech asap, then choose an economy that will work best.
Yes! I wanted to show you can REX without them though! If I didnt have gold I could only afford 8 cities, which I had by 875 BC. Taking so much land early usually does give you nice luxuries though. Using metal early would have made that REX scary!
Bhavv-
Yep ^^. Work tiles that enhance settlers, workers, and escorts first (luxury, farms, mines, chopping) - then get to your recovery tech asap, then choose an economy that will work best.
mrtauntaun
Chieftain
- Joined
- Jan 29, 2009
- Messages
- 25
Hi Guys. I just wanted to thank everyone for all their advice. I started a game last night as Mansa Musa and utilizing all these tips, I am just wrecking prince level now. Before I would be competitive in points and fight close wars, now I am crazy ahead in points. I look forward to moving up in difficulty again soon after a few more Prince games!
futurehermit
Deity
- Joined
- Apr 3, 2006
- Messages
- 5,724
Congrats!
I would of still posted a game without the gold. As realistically other resources would have been where the gold was in a normal map.
capnvonbaron
Democratia gladii
This thread made me laugh...
I just got done making the highly n00b mistake of REXing into jungle to cut off a rival from settling there. Note that I did so before researching ironworking. I also found out that I was completely lacking any happiness resources, besides wine and gems, which required techs I didn't have (monarchy for wine and ironworking to clear the jungle off the gems).
So, at one point it was predicting something like 135 turns to ironworking. I had to build research in just about every city to whittle it down to something more reasonable like 50 turns. Finally I became solvent once the jungles were cleared, but I was still lagging in techs.
I developed what I thought was a reasonable stack of cats, LBs, Cho-kos, and horse archers to go and punish Saladin (my only continental neighbor) for not trading ANYthing with me for ANY price. I figured I'd force something out of him by threatening Mecca, which was a wonder-filled Buhddist shrine... Too bad I forgot Sally was protective. And, turns out he already had his camels online. It didn't go well
I just got done making the highly n00b mistake of REXing into jungle to cut off a rival from settling there. Note that I did so before researching ironworking. I also found out that I was completely lacking any happiness resources, besides wine and gems, which required techs I didn't have (monarchy for wine and ironworking to clear the jungle off the gems).
So, at one point it was predicting something like 135 turns to ironworking. I had to build research in just about every city to whittle it down to something more reasonable like 50 turns. Finally I became solvent once the jungles were cleared, but I was still lagging in techs.
I developed what I thought was a reasonable stack of cats, LBs, Cho-kos, and horse archers to go and punish Saladin (my only continental neighbor) for not trading ANYthing with me for ANY price. I figured I'd force something out of him by threatening Mecca, which was a wonder-filled Buhddist shrine... Too bad I forgot Sally was protective. And, turns out he already had his camels online. It didn't go well
My most powerful rex to date on Monarch, it has Locked modified assets so no I didnt cheat 
. Hammy declared on me in the previous game and took my cities, so I started again with a full list of peaceful Philo leaders.
Great map with a ton of commerce resources. Once I get Calendar and start working all those dyes and silks I will have a huge economy boom. Even stranger is that I havnt built a single Cothon or Corthouse yet, I just have GLH + Colosus in my Capital plus one settled Great Merchant, and working water tiles in my cities, allowing me to somehow keep my tech rate at 40% and I'm not even broke thanks to tech trades for. I have only built one library too in my capital to work on the Great Library, I found a marble on the next Island and dont have it conected. Oh yea, I chopped Stonehenge in my capital too ... I forgot I did that, there were loads of forests outside my capitals radius, so I sent my workers to srart chopping and got the Stonehenge, GLH and Collosus up really fast, now I need to chop the adjacent forests to cottages for the Glib.
Heres Carthage in the current game:
I think thats why I got my settlers out faster, having no need to whip monuments helps an awful lot.
I have 3 more settlers in production, but cant get them out before 0 BC.
I have a filler spot on the grassland tip 3E 1N of Carthage which has lots of overlap, but a Fish and Wine resource so it doesnt matter, then there is still an untouched Island NE of Baria where I can see a Plains hill plus clam resource so need to settle it ASAP.
The more sea food you get the better, then you run Sids Sushi Co. But I have no Rice, my Jungle section is just full of dyes.
Oh I've done that lots of time. I used to rely on getting Iron Working by trading Alphabet or Aesthetics, and my jungle cities would just suffer and cost too much maintenece without being able to cottage them. What you need to do is if you need to settle a jungle site early, simply research Iron Working before Alphabet - you cant rely on getting it from an AI if you need to chop jungles down to get your cities growing, the sooner your cities are growing and working improved tiles, the better.
. Hammy declared on me in the previous game and took my cities, so I started again with a full list of peaceful Philo leaders.Spoiler :
Great map with a ton of commerce resources. Once I get Calendar and start working all those dyes and silks I will have a huge economy boom. Even stranger is that I havnt built a single Cothon or Corthouse yet, I just have GLH + Colosus in my Capital plus one settled Great Merchant, and working water tiles in my cities, allowing me to somehow keep my tech rate at 40% and I'm not even broke thanks to tech trades for
. I have only built one library too in my capital to work on the Great Library, I found a marble on the next Island and dont have it conected. Oh yea, I chopped Stonehenge in my capital too ... I forgot I did that, there were loads of forests outside my capitals radius, so I sent my workers to srart chopping and got the Stonehenge, GLH and Collosus up really fast, now I need to chop the adjacent forests to cottages for the Glib.Heres Carthage in the current game:
Spoiler :
I think thats why I got my settlers out faster, having no need to whip monuments helps an awful lot.
I have 3 more settlers in production, but cant get them out before 0 BC
.I have a filler spot on the grassland tip 3E 1N of Carthage which has lots of overlap, but a Fish and Wine resource so it doesnt matter, then there is still an untouched Island NE of Baria where I can see a Plains hill plus clam resource so need to settle it ASAP.
The more sea food you get the better, then you run Sids Sushi Co. But I have no Rice, my Jungle section is just full of dyes.
Oh I've done that lots of time. I used to rely on getting Iron Working by trading Alphabet or Aesthetics, and my jungle cities would just suffer and cost too much maintenece without being able to cottage them. What you need to do is if you need to settle a jungle site early, simply research Iron Working before Alphabet - you cant rely on getting it from an AI if you need to chop jungles down to get your cities growing, the sooner your cities are growing and working improved tiles, the better.
525 AD, 21 cities, and 4 more settlers being shipped, 2 on the galley, 2 next to Sabratha waiting for another galley to return.
50%
rate, a little bit negative, but Cothons and Courthouses are now being built in every city and whipped as soon as I can. As it has been said by others, GLH cities literally pay for themselves and make profit with just a harbor + courthouse, plus the Collosus gives you a nice boost as well.
If it was on Immortal difficulty though, the whole world would have been settled by the AI by now. I have vassal states turned off to help slow down AI spread in my Archipelago games, with Vassal states on it becomes a nighmare, the AI REX's like mad, colonises every island and makes plenty of Vassal States.
I havnt even spread my state religion yet, not even to my capital lol - I'll spread it to my capital soon and use Pacifism. Actually, I'll also change to Budhism because Sitting Bull is next to me and I cant afford to have him declare on me, so I will change to his religion.
1000 AD update, expansion stopped at 26 cities as everywhere is colonised now:
Easy win now, and just about everyone is Budhist and my Diplo has gone well with most AI at pleased no one on annoyed, so I should be safe from attacks, but will rush some military soon just to be safe. I didnt need to update my ships, so am holding off on teching Astromomy to keep Stonehenge and Collosus working for a little while longer, and am going for the Statue of Lib in my capital, and then the Eifell Tower.
Spoiler :
50%
rate, a little bit negative, but Cothons and Courthouses are now being built in every city and whipped as soon as I can. As it has been said by others, GLH cities literally pay for themselves and make profit with just a harbor + courthouse, plus the Collosus gives you a nice boost as well.If it was on Immortal difficulty though, the whole world would have been settled by the AI by now. I have vassal states turned off to help slow down AI spread in my Archipelago games, with Vassal states on it becomes a nighmare, the AI REX's like mad, colonises every island and makes plenty of Vassal States.
I havnt even spread my state religion yet, not even to my capital lol - I'll spread it to my capital soon and use Pacifism. Actually, I'll also change to Budhism because Sitting Bull is next to me and I cant afford to have him declare on me, so I will change to his religion.
1000 AD update, expansion stopped at 26 cities as everywhere is colonised now:
Spoiler :
Easy win now, and just about everyone is Budhist and my Diplo has gone well with most AI at pleased no one on annoyed, so I should be safe from attacks, but will rush some military soon just to be safe. I didnt need to update my ships, so am holding off on teching Astromomy to keep Stonehenge and Collosus working for a little while longer, and am going for the Statue of Lib in my capital, and then the Eifell Tower.
Skallagrimson
Deity
- Joined
- Sep 12, 2006
- Messages
- 2,043
Cottages fund, scientists research. Stay out of STRIKE and you're golden.
capnvonbaron
Democratia gladii
But it just feels so natural and historically sound to whip out some of the ancient wonders like the GWall and whatnot
blitzkrieg1980
Octobrist
But it just feels so natural and historically sound to whip out some of the ancient wonders like the GWall and whatnot
IIRC, The Great Wall isn't an Ancient Wonder even though it is presented as such in CIV
Leventis
Warlord
- Joined
- Nov 5, 2006
- Messages
- 262
@ bhavv: That's a mighty fine effort there, but I couldn't help but laugh at your 525AD screenie 
. You have like 1 archer for every 5 cities 
. Just goes to highlight that if you can neglect your military a bit (archipelago maps can be a bit extreme like this), that you can REx it up even more.
. You have like 1 archer for every 5 cities . Just goes to highlight that if you can neglect your military a bit (archipelago maps can be a bit extreme like this), that you can REx it up even more.
JonathanStrange
PrinceWithA1000Enemies
Yeah, having a good map location helps with pesky things like defense! Still, if you can survive...
Similar threads
