How does the AI do it?
- Thread starter Sgt Zimm
- Start date
cephyn
Kubo
I easily outexpand the AI in Warlord. I can hold pace, and depending on the map/geography/capital proximity, outexpand the AI on Regent. I thought it was impossible too, but i tried strat or two, refined them, and now i have it down.
found a city, build -- warrior, warrior, settler, warrior, settler, spearman, settler, temple, settler, worker, settler, etc
until you have the place filled. you should have enough roaming warriors to reign in the AI at any bottlenecks, and keep those roaming settlers safe from barbarians by patrolling the area, wiping out camp after camp. you should also have enough workers roaming around, improving and roading so that you actually start really pumping them out.
City placement is key -- since you build that temple kinda late (it takes great restraint for me to wait even that long) you need to leave enough space for the cities to expand, but not so much that the AI can infiltrate in. If you get a checkerboard border, youll have cities flipping left and right. Once your cities expand once/twice, youll see the holes -- usually on your coasts -- wehre hte AI will put a city. Dont worry about them, culture rush them out of the way, or station troops and when you war against your immediate neighbor (usually in the middle ages for me -- i have trouble ramping up for war fast enough in Ancient) you can take those cities out without so much as a scratch..
happy expansion!
found a city, build -- warrior, warrior, settler, warrior, settler, spearman, settler, temple, settler, worker, settler, etc
until you have the place filled. you should have enough roaming warriors to reign in the AI at any bottlenecks, and keep those roaming settlers safe from barbarians by patrolling the area, wiping out camp after camp. you should also have enough workers roaming around, improving and roading so that you actually start really pumping them out.
City placement is key -- since you build that temple kinda late (it takes great restraint for me to wait even that long) you need to leave enough space for the cities to expand, but not so much that the AI can infiltrate in. If you get a checkerboard border, youll have cities flipping left and right. Once your cities expand once/twice, youll see the holes -- usually on your coasts -- wehre hte AI will put a city. Dont worry about them, culture rush them out of the way, or station troops and when you war against your immediate neighbor (usually in the middle ages for me -- i have trouble ramping up for war fast enough in Ancient) you can take those cities out without so much as a scratch..
happy expansion!
Expanding doesn't mean that ur going to be really powerfull. You can have 10 good cities that pump out cities like crazy and size 12. I have had that before and I can make most of my units in 1-3 turns and I have my science set at 100%. Also remember two sell those techs for per turns. As cephyn said, pick good city sites and u'll be fine.
strats sound good, I'll try them out on a new game. I tend to play militaristic style games so I'd like to go to war as early in the game as possible, so having many cities is a plus for unit support.
Ancient wars are cool, your hordes of swordsman and horsemen ravaging the enemy lands MUAHAHAHAHA!!
On a different topic, I've found that the "science broker" approach seems to work quite well. Just add my testimonial to the pile.
Question re: the difficulty settings,
As i understand it, the settings upto and including Warlord give your civ the advantage. Regent is the "balanced" level, where neither the player or AI had the advantage. Monarch and above give the AI the advantage (it cheats.)
Right?
Ancient wars are cool, your hordes of swordsman and horsemen ravaging the enemy lands MUAHAHAHAHA!!
On a different topic, I've found that the "science broker" approach seems to work quite well. Just add my testimonial to the pile.
Question re: the difficulty settings,
As i understand it, the settings upto and including Warlord give your civ the advantage. Regent is the "balanced" level, where neither the player or AI had the advantage. Monarch and above give the AI the advantage (it cheats.)
Right?
One strat I've used to get that second town quickly is to join that first worker you get. You can either wait until the settler is 1 turn from being done or join it as soon as you place your first and then let it help with shields or food. This way you can easily get a settler out in 10 turns or less, the time it would take to grow to 2 pop. Also with 1 extra pop you can put more into shield production to cut down that 30 shield production for the settler.
This is really only needed on monarch and above, and standard maps or smaller. Where you end up being close to enemies and the enemies are settling fiends. Using the above I can usually get my second town before the AI, so then I can continue building settlers in one town and start cranking out my warriors in the other.
That first worker isn't too useful anyway, unless you need a road to a luxury, which you shouldn't really need with a 1-3 pop town. Also I tend to not ever use my own workers, I initiate an early war just to get those "free" workers.
This is really only needed on monarch and above, and standard maps or smaller. Where you end up being close to enemies and the enemies are settling fiends. Using the above I can usually get my second town before the AI, so then I can continue building settlers in one town and start cranking out my warriors in the other.
That first worker isn't too useful anyway, unless you need a road to a luxury, which you shouldn't really need with a 1-3 pop town. Also I tend to not ever use my own workers, I initiate an early war just to get those "free" workers.
cephyn
Kubo
ugh what a horrid strat! hehe
I'd never be able to do that, its almost opposite of my instincts. I need my first worker to road and build mines -- ups production of cities much faster than joining him for a pop point. Im surprised that yours works as well as you say it does. I also rely on my own workers the most, since they work twice as fast as captured ones theyre much more useful to me. As i end the Industrial era, i usually disband/join up all my workers and rely on captured ones to take care of pollution cleanup.
Sam_Catchem
Prince
- Joined
- Nov 1, 2001
- Messages
- 350
I think on the higher difficulties like Monarch you cannot expand as fast as the AI. You just let them expand and build up your military. I have tried in the past..and it seems impossible. They must get some production bonus or something. Or they NEVER run into barbs from huts or something..ie get more settlers..but I doubt it.
Warlord you can outpace the AI or at least stay even. Don't waste time on anthing but Warriors and settlers. You have to make sure your first 2 cities can pop out settlers real quick..but that is not always possible. Also..the AI will send settlers far away from their capitol to block you in. It appears as if they are spreading real quickly..but actually..they are just spreading far away.
Warlord you can outpace the AI or at least stay even. Don't waste time on anthing but Warriors and settlers. You have to make sure your first 2 cities can pop out settlers real quick..but that is not always possible. Also..the AI will send settlers far away from their capitol to block you in. It appears as if they are spreading real quickly..but actually..they are just spreading far away.
On Monarch the AI gets small production bonuses. I think they may also get a bonus settler at the beginning. I usually notice that at the same time I found my 4th city, the AI has six or seven. The key is blocking off the AI's path with cultural borders at a chokepoint first and then filling in the gaps. I usually start a war during the initial land grab if I only really border one other civ - lets me take a couple extra cities and kill any settlers trying to cross my territory rather than trying to tell them to leave repeatedly.
AI gets FREE units on higher levels. When they build first city they magically appear. They get support bonuses, too. Deity, I think, gets 4 or 5 freebies (no settlers) when the first city is built. That's how it gets head start. See post-patch Editor, "difficulty levels" tab and all the AI bonuses are right there.
e
e
My point was that early game is all about population growth and with that settlers. I have watched the beginning map story you see at the end of the game, and I do get my first city down before the AI, so they don't start with a settler. Perhaps in deity... This is valid for emperor.
The idea is you double production and growth for that first settled city, and considering it will be near your cap it may end up being the second best city corruption wise for a while, at least until you get forbidden palace.
I'll always get more gain joining that worker than you can improving the land in the short term. If you mine a square you get +1 shield, I get on average 2food, 1 shield, and 1 commerce for that extra pop unit. And your gain is only after 6 turns or more depending on the terrain. So I got 12 food, 6 shields and commerce, in that time you were building a mine. Same applies to a road or irrigation.
Its even more valuable if you have 2 good terrain squares to work, like game or wheat, joining that first worker can have a huge effect since you get those squares working quickly. I could likely have made 2 settlers in the time you have made one, not even counting the other cities I have founded before your first settler was made.
I'll work out some of the math and post it.
The idea is you double production and growth for that first settled city, and considering it will be near your cap it may end up being the second best city corruption wise for a while, at least until you get forbidden palace.
I'll always get more gain joining that worker than you can improving the land in the short term. If you mine a square you get +1 shield, I get on average 2food, 1 shield, and 1 commerce for that extra pop unit. And your gain is only after 6 turns or more depending on the terrain. So I got 12 food, 6 shields and commerce, in that time you were building a mine. Same applies to a road or irrigation.
Its even more valuable if you have 2 good terrain squares to work, like game or wheat, joining that first worker can have a huge effect since you get those squares working quickly. I could likely have made 2 settlers in the time you have made one, not even counting the other cities I have founded before your first settler was made.
I'll work out some of the math and post it.
Similar threads
