How to expand, keep maintenance cost low, science high and aggressive AIs off ur back

[bpreger]

Hi everyone,

I am a new player, and thanks to a lot of tips on the forum, I've been getting a lot better. In a couple of weeks I went from bombing in a game of prince to wasting Civs with extreme ease. The good thing was that the expansion pace was not too hard to keep up, and the ais weren't too bad. Now, as I tried out monarch (in a mod, mind you,) I had an AI who attacked me in the 300BC time (earliest ever.) The thing was that I was just planning an attack and had probably around 15-20 units in my 3 cities combined so I wasn't so weak. Should I have kept him off by giving him techs? He had +? religion and open border, but -2 for close borders, and we were neck and neck in techs (I wasn't sure that he wouldn't just fly by me if I gave him something.) Any help with monarch games would be awesome, and I wish everyone the best.

 

[Rancid Sushi]

Hi everyone,

I am a new player, and thanks to a lot of tips on the forum, I've been getting a lot better. In a couple of weeks I went from bombing in a game of prince to wasting Civs with extreme ease. The good thing was that the expansion pace was not too hard to keep up, and the ais weren't too bad. Now, as I tried out monarch (in a mod, mind you,) I had an AI who attacked me in the 300BC time (earliest ever.) The thing was that I was just planning an attack and had probably around 15-20 units in my 3 cities combined so I wasn't so weak. Should I have kept him off by giving him techs? He had +? religion and open border, but -2 for close borders, and we were neck and neck in techs (I wasn't sure that he wouldn't just fly by me if I gave him something.) Any help with monarch games would be awesome, and I wish everyone the best.

Well, I'm currently on Prince and not on Monarch yet, but I can tell you that you don't have to wait til you have 15-20 units. I'd say make 7 or 8, 6 at the least. You could've attacked hundreds of years earlier with that number and still have taken a city or two. Keep in mind that cities have little or no cultural defense early in the game, so that is actually the best time to attack. If he wastes time and hammers building walls, all the better for you since you can just raze his economy into oblivion while his troops lounge around in his cities. Even though you may not wipe a neighbor out with such an early attack, you still gain a critical advantage. Usually I like to get Construction after the first war and return to finish them off with catapults.

 

[LuckyAC]

What's the problem exactly with him attacking if you had 15-20 units? Just crush him.

 

[bpreger]

That's the total count guys, a couple in cities, a couple spearmen to stop horse raids (in the mod, the AI does it often) and 6 swords and 3 or 4 cats to attack. I don't normally attack with 15 units (no need) unless I really have my work cut out for me (often later in the game.)

 

[Dan Quale]

An extremely early assault can also be effective, the worker grab, send 1 or 2 units asap to steal your neighbors workers, pillage everything, remain at war with your early unit, fortified near their city, while they neglect their economy building up archers. While they stay in idiot mode building mass armies, settle several cities up to their borders. Then declare peace, build an army of axemen and kill them at your leisure. This tactic will cripple on any difficulty, causing your closest neighbors to hate you as well as be insignificant on the outcome of the game.