How to beat Emperor

[Archbob]

So, I'm playing Emperor on a huge map, Marathon mode. I can't seem to beat it. There's no way I can pull out a cultral victory because I just cannot build enough wonders to compete(which is how I won on Monarch). I always fall behind in tech and I can't expand as fast as my Rivals which makes my empire smaller.

How do you guys win on the above stated settings?

I'm trying to play Americans with Washington. I don't have the expansions so I am just playing Vanilla Civ 4.

 

[BalbanesBeoulve]

You don't need wonders to win a cultural victory. Artist specialists + Cathedrals is all you need.

 

[Archbob]

Really? What type of research route do you guys usually go? Do you pile in science specialists early in the game to get techs? I know you can fall too behind in tech if you want to pull off any victory.

 

[mystyfly]

For cultural, religions are your friend. Try someone who starts with mysticism and found Hindu and Judaism. Then use The Oracle to found Confucianism. Make sure those religions are founded in those cities you try to get to legendary. Your first great prophet can be settled to support early growth or can bulb you christianity or build a shrine. I do not recommend that. Better wait which religions spead on their own and build that shrine.
Use your first great scientists for philo.

spread all religions to your cities. cities that are not going to legendary build temples so you can build more cathedrals in your three big cities. get at least 8 cities (iirc for hughe maps) to build 2 cathedrals/ city. only occasionally build wonders.
the pyramids are great help (artists specialists produce beakers)
DONT miss the sistine
statue of zeus is useful if you have ivory
parthenon can be great

try a game with gandhi. he's spiritual and philosophical, probabely the best combo for culture. philo makes your GAs pop like there's no tomorrow and spiritual makes you switch without anarchy. keep in mind that religions present in a city create culture if you have no state religion (+1 for any religion, +5 for holy city). switch to a religion for happy caps. spiritual helps your diplomacy. someone comes asking to switch to his religion/fav civic? GREAT! free diplo - boni! You can switch back anyway soon without anarchy. diplomacy in culture games is very important as you won't build that many units in order to keep the culture slider as high as possible.

hth

 

[Archbob]

Not having financial doesn't hurt in Emperor?
At what point should I switch the science slider to culture instead of science?

 

[mystyfly]

Not having financial doesn't hurt in Emperor?
At what point should I switch the science slider to culture instead of science?

I only played a few Culture games. I'd say, earliest is after you grab Nationalism from Liberalism. You should have some techs the AI doesn't and should be able to keep up a bit longer. To be on the safe side, tech until Rifling and build only Riflemen for protection.
There is some crazy guy who won Culture in 1280AD and turned research off at around 55BC . You can start by researching till Rifling, then step by step, stop research earlier, and see how early you can win.
However, the earlier you turn research off, the much tastier target you become for your neighbours. Make sure you have strong allies.

 

[JBossch]

As far as I understand there are two ways to do it as regards the question of when to turn off research.
1) After democracy. You need this to switch to US so you can buy temples (and any units, etc. you need) in enough cities to unlock the cathedrals.
2) After mass media so you can get broadcast towers in the 3 legendary cities. (Alt. - go for Eiffel tower)

I suppose it would be possible to turn off research after liberalism but I have only done it in the two above ways.

A couple other notes on cultural victory:
-A good GP farm cranking nothing but GA's is crucial. Build national epic and maybe globe theater, no other pollution of any kind. It can sometimes be one of the big 3 but in my most successful culture victory it was not. You should settle the GA's early and then save a few for culture bombs later to even the cities out.
-Make sure you have the ten cities (or is it 9?) that you need to unlock the 3 cathedrals for each religion. Get as many religions as possible.
-As has been said diplomacy is vital. After turning off research you will be getting crushed on the power graph.

 

[mystyfly]

-Make sure you have the ten cities (or is it 9?) that you need to unlock the 3 cathedrals for each religion. Get as many religions as possible.

9.

When do you win by culture?

You know, the longer the game goes the worse for you. I never adopted US. By this time, all cultural cities have their temples/monasteries. The other cities too. those with decent production, no problem. those without: some forests help. this is also where spiritual kicks in: double speed. Anyway you need the gold for running the slider at 100%.