I am inexperience in doing conquest/domination victory

[Veteranewbie]

So can someone please tell me how do they do effective conquest?
I normally play in regent, and I like to do quick expand with only 1 defender (and they dont walk with the defender, they go out first, and defender coms later), which makes my civ a bit larger than my neighbour but with a weaker military especially on my faraway cities.
My style is normally build up some basic improvements i.e. granary, temple, barracks, harbor. then depends on what i really need i.e. if i need more gold, i will build marketplace, otherwise if i am behind in tech, i go lib. and wait til most of my cities are properly developed, i will go and build up an army.
But my style normally takes ages, at fastest, i will be on late middle age to finish all of my improvements. And till my army is build up, its basically late industrial age.
So, can someone please tell me, do you build any improvements at all? Or just get some workers and barracks, then keep pumping units? Also, how do you keep up with the upkeep? (When I try to play aggressively, I ALWAYS runs out of gold) I really need to learn how to bully my neighbour!!

 

[The Last Conformist]

Take a look at the various 'opening play' articles in the Strategy Articles forum.

 

[Theoden]

If you want to make armies in ancient age then choose one or more cities, build barracks in them and then just build units constantly. Let the other cities make the profit. Also if you are using artillery in your army then produce them in cities without barracks.

 

[Krayzeenbk]

You should try playing builder, and only declare wars of opportunity.

 

[silver 2039]

Go to war with a speciific goal in mind.

 

[Veteranewbie]

ARGH!!!! I just lost 8 swordman to 2 spearman XXX*&%$#@!#$!@@$!XX I cant take it anymore ARGH!!!!
IS it possible for those guys with a stackof only 10 swordman to wipe out a civ their size? I lost at least 15 swordman to a 2 cities civ (i have like bout 14). 8 of them I lost to that 2 spearman in their capital.

 

[wilbill]

Veteranewbie, swordsman vs. spearman combat isn't a guaranteed win. Depending on the situation, it can be a pretty good chance for your swordsmen or it can be a good way to lose your swordsmen.
Were your swordsmen Regulars, Veterans, or Elite? How about the spearmen? What size city were the spearmen fortified in? Was it on a hill? Behind a river?
Elite sworsment attacking Regular spearmen in a <size 6 city will win most of the time. Regular swordsmen attacking a >size 6 city on a hill behind a river don't have much life expectancy.

 

[Veteranewbie]

My 8 swordmans are all veteran, and attacking 2 regular spearman in a size 6 city, without river on a grassland

 

[xxaaaxx]

I went here (http://www.civfanatics.com/civ3combatcalc.html) and crunched a few numbers. Someone tell me if I'm off:

Let's assume (since you didnt mention it) that the city had walls...

Then a Vet sword vs a regular spear, fortified in a walled town on grassland, is ONLY a 55% bet for the sword to win. Better than even odds, but not by enough for it to be a sure-bet. THEN, assuming there were only 2 defenders, if you attack and lose more than twice on the same turn, then no matter what, if you lose a 3rd time, one of those defenders is going to promote (since successfully defending twice automatically does so, gaining back a HP in the process). THEN, its a vet sword vs a VET spear, fortified, on grass, in a walled town. With all those extra values, it becomes 61% AGAINST the sword. Slaughter time...

If that city didnt have walls, then yeah, this was a case of being royally screwed by the RNG the first couple rounds, but again once one of those units promotes, its close to even odds.

Either way it sucks, but its not unusual at all.

 

[Krayzeenbk]

Then those spears will upgrade to elites the next time they win a battle, making it even less likely your next swordsman will win.