How to win at the level of Monarchy

[qingyijie]

My personal experience (I think the following idea might not be something new at all):

at the level of Monarchy (or the below levels), the game can usually be easily won :
- 100% of technological research. you will be always head the technology of the world
- trade (sell tech to) with EVERYONE you know as long whenever they have something to trade with you, never care whether they are your friends or enemy.
- if you want to wage a war, make sure you eliminate them totally from the map.
- emphsize on expansion by settlers first (therefore, i usually i build the pyramids), and culture, and military after that
- change to democracy as soon as possible

Diplomatic victory can be achieved by almost all votes given to me. because those i have not attacked are all my friends, while those have been attacked by me are all eliminated.

 

[Ville]

I'll try that, I'm desperately stuck in Regent, Regent too easy and Monarchy too hard, might be because I'm builder

 

[qingyijie]

i desperately stuck in Monarchy, because my method won't work in Emperor (I can't simply head tech by 100% research in Emperor)

i am learning other strategies from this great forum.

 

[qingyijie]

some more points to note if you use the above strategy:

never get into a MPP, it leads to unwanted wars and probably causing a world war.

expand your empire size to the extent which a forbidden palace can be built. that's quite enough. future expansion can be done by invasion.

by the end of the game, i will have eliminated 2 or 3 civs. that's enough.

 

[Sirp]

There are lots of problems that people of lesser levels have though. In general, once you can beat a level, everything needed to beat it is 'obvious'.

People who struggle at Warlord level could try all your advice and still struggle. Why? Because they don't understand some basic things like,

- build enough workers to improve terrain that all your citizens are working on
- when to irrigate and when to mine (or even to irrigate or mine at all)
- which tiles are important and which aren't
- basic city placement
- the power of fresh water
- to use the luxury slider instead of entertainers except for irrelevant colonies
- basic brokering of techs

etc etc...

there are countless skills which are second nature to experienced players, but which are not known to less experienced players.

Many Chieftain-Warlord level players might not even have an understanding of how production works, how to build things faster, etc etc.

Also, you don't need 100% tech research. It can be nice, but depends on your strategy. You also don't need to eliminate an enemy completely. Oftentimes it's simply too much effort. Sometimes you might want to fight a limited war for limited objectives. Sometimes you want to mostly cripple them, but don't want to expend resources wiping them out entirely, and oftentimes you will want to let them live so you can extort concessions for peace.

Democracy simply isn't worth it. Use Republic instead. Especially if you're religious and not industrious.

-Sirp.

 

[Chieftess]

Moved to the strategies & tips forum.

 

[jack merchant]

Originally posted by Sirp

Democracy simply isn't worth it. Use Republic instead. Especially if you're religious and not industrious.
-Sirp.

You probably mean, if industrious and not religious.

 

[Sirp]

Yeah sorry jack merchant, I mean "Democracy may be worth it if you're religious but not industrious".

-Sirp.

 

[general_kill]

Correct me if I'm wrong but don't you take a rep hit if you eliminate an enemy? Once I eliminated the aztecs, then I suddenly take a rep hit. India, China and France became annoyed at me after years of trading. So here's a tip eliminate only those who annoy you the most.

Make sure to explore alot because right now every civ is giving me 1-3 gold per turn just for my world map. Gold per turn is very important to support your economy.

Here's another tip, once other civs are in wars, be sure to loan them some money. I gave 2000 gold to germany for 110 gold per turn. Nice deal eh? This deal will also force germany to cut down on research to support a sudden -110 gold per turn.

 

[Mullet Crusader]

Yeah, i have a problem here too. Regent is way too easy but Monarch is too hard, i always find myself waaaaaaaaaaay behind in tech. Everytime i find myself way behind, i'll declare war on a nighbor, capture a few of his cities, sue for peace adn get all of his tech in the process, but as soon as i do, i look and realize that im still way behind because the other civs have already researched way past all the techs i just captured. After about the third time you declare war and destroy half a Civ to get their technology the world tends to get pretty pissed at you, making them want to attack me, or completely snub me and screw me on deals. The AI can keep its production bonus on Monarch, it needs it, but teh technology researh bonus is just too big for me

 

[Chieftess]

I've actually found Monarch just as easy as Regent. Then again, I was playing as the Persians. Once you know how to micromanage everything (science/lux slider, cities, workers, trade, even micromanaging a war), you'll do better.

 

[allhailIndia]

One question about Monarch.

How does the AI defend itself?

I mean in lower levels, even Regent, my Cavalry and Tanks end up taking on spearmen and Pikemen. Does the AI use Riflemen and Infantry competently in Monarch??

 

[Ville]

Try my 1st monarch win games save around 1030AD, it can be found here I will post 4000 BC file too if you want, but that's tomorrow

 

[Renata]

@allhailIndia - Just like on the lower levels, it's a matter of relative tech and economies. When I was first learning, I would face tons of infantry on warlord; now I get so far ahead in tech that it would be tanks vs muskets if the game would last that long. If you get only a fair-to-poor start position on monarch you'll probably wind up fighting contemporary (or better) units for most of the game. If you get a good start you can still steamroll the opposition though.

(This coming from the perspective of someone who can almost always win on Monarch, but is still shaky at the higher levels.)

Renata

 

[Sun-Pin]

If behind in research, make a bee-line for Republic. If you get there first, it can be traded for all the other techs you're missing, allowing you to enter the next age with a reasonable shot at knights early.

If you have a militaristic civ, use their abilities in early wars: Veteran swordsmen, Legionaries, Immorals, etc. It may be necessary to eliminate a civ, but I don't mind severely crippling one instead.

Trade early and often with everyone. If you're faced with a war from a nasty rival, you may be able to get everyone else to join a military alliance against the perp. In my latest game as the French, the Romans entered my territory with a stack of legionaries and others. I gave chemistry to everyone, they all declared war on Rome and the Romans immediately left to protect their territory from the Germans, English, Egyptians and Greeks. I picked off their nearest cities after that.

 

[Alex the Great]

Originally posted by Sun-Pin
Immorals

Now I won't want to play Persia.

But I'm wondering, won't micromanaging everything take the fun out of the games? It seems like spending so much time for each city to maximize it would get boring after a while.

 

[The Last Conformist]

The devil is in the details, as someone used to say on the Civ2 forum ...

I suspect that my unwillingness to micromanage citizen placement in all cities is one of the big reasons I find the Monarch-Emperor transition so hard. That and all the starting units the AI gets.

Which reminds me; the AI starting bonus has slightly perverse effect; it makes the early game harder, but if this initial disadvantage is overcome, the AI won't have anything new to throw at you. One of my little rules of thumb is that, on Monarch, if I leave the Ancient Age in decent shape, I'll almost certainly win even if there at that time are AIs that're much stronger than me.

 

[jack merchant]

Originally posted by Alex the Great

But I'm wondering, won't micromanaging everything take the fun out of the games? It seems like spending so much time for each city to maximize it would get boring after a while.

Not really; since attention to detail and micromanagement allows you to win at higher levels, it actually adds to the fun.
Once you get used to MM'ing a little bit, you'll be amazed what your cities can do.

 

[I. Larkin]

Originally posted by qingyijie
My personal experience (I think the following idea might not be something new at all):

at the level of Monarchy (or the below levels), the game can usually be easily won :
- 100% of technological research. you will be always head the technology of the world
- trade (sell tech to) with EVERYONE you know as long whenever they have something to trade with you, never care whether they are your friends or enemy.
- if you want to wage a war, make sure you eliminate them totally from the map.
- emphsize on expansion by settlers first (therefore, i usually i build the pyramids), and culture, and military after that
- change to democracy as soon as possible

Diplomatic victory can be achieved by almost all votes given to me. because those i have not attacked are all my friends, while those have been attacked by me are all eliminated.

My experience shows that the same strategy also enough for Emperor and Deity win (with minor corrections).
At the beginig of the game set research to 0 and sipmly get all tech from most advanced and sell to less abvanced. When you get libs and Unis you may set research at 100%, then you will get tech much cheaper. Very soon you will have very positive income. To speed up the process you may sell ALL resurces you have, (you are not going to war, isn it?)
- if you want to wage a war, make sure you eliminate them totally from the map.
You cant do it yourself on deity, but you can sing alliance with many, but one and they will eleminate your opponent.
- emphsize on expansion by settlers first (therefore, i usually i build the pyramids), and culture, and military after that.
This is correct, but it is very difficult to build Pyramids on Deity.
Also, you may not build UN first, and Diplo will not your. (But you may try). You may try to go for space, but again, you may loose.
Anyway, there is no full guaranty for win on Deity but at least you will get a very reasonoble platform for choise.
I agree with Sirp that "elementary" thing (like City placement and terrain improovment and micro management) should carry on "at maximum", but general strategy remains the same. My question is: Are there any other strategy?

 

[amirsan]

Try checking out my strat *just* for Monarch Level. Im on Monarch level as well. Monarch too easy for me but Emperor is too too hard... hhhmmmm

Heres the link: Monarch Level Strat