I need certain conditions?

[weasel82]

I've been a long-time lurker and have gained much wisdom from these forums - thanks! But I'm stuck with the same old problem. I seem to need very specific conditions to win.

I can win a culture victory.
I can win a space race - IF I have key late game resources (like aluminum), but I've usually gotten to that point by not being in a position to use force to aquire those resources if I don't originally have them.
I can win a conquest victory - IF I'm playing a small pangea map with few other civs. If there's an ocean with other civs on another land I can't ever seem to keep up with technology (while waging war on my continent) to be in a position to sail the seas and still defeat the other ones.

I'm most interested in learning how to do the conquest victory without needing everyone on one small continent. My problems seem to lie mostly in not keeping up with technology while building an early army of axemen. Any tips would be greatly appreciated!

 

[madscientist]

First of all Welcome!!!

What map size, speed, and difficulty do you play on?
Are you playing BTS.

Conquest can be very difficult on larger maps but not out of the question. Generally, you build a pretty large navy and bring the troops, tackling the weekest AI that does not have a large protecting buddy. I prefer to wait until I have combustion for the Navy and flight for aiports. I split my forces in two trying to take 2 cities, and start airtransporting city garrison promoted units to keep them. Not easy, but it does work.

Sound slike you need to tech a little better, which indicates a problem with economy. There are lot's of good advice on running very efficient cottage, specialist, hybrid economies.

 

[slobberinbear]

I have had similar issues. For me, the problem is a lack of focus. I get tired-head micromanaging everything after awhile. It's easier, unfortunately, to just hit <ENTER>.

Aside from those personal issues, then ...

Try to go with an aggressive, financial, or charismatic leader. It will make warring easier.

In the early game, your focus should be on conquering/vassalizing your home continent. You may have financial problems keeping all of your conquered cities so raze them as necessary. Make sure you get the economic techs (Currency, Code of Laws, Calendar) and a civic that lets your cities grow bigger to improve production and commerce. Just because you are a warmonger doesn't mean you neglect your economic infrastructure. Without commerce, you will fall behind in tech and be unable to afford an army.

After your hold on your home continent is secure and your economy is stable, you will need to make certain technologies a priority. Astronomy is necessary for galleons to cross the ocean with your troops, and Chemistry accesses Frigates to defend your Galleons and bombard coastal cities' defenses. Rifling technology is a huge step up from medieval troops & musketmen. Steel is very handy for Cannons.

If you can gain an edge in production and/or technology, you must press that advantage quickly.

I strongly suggest you read the war academy articles at the home page of CFC.

 

[nullspace]

Conquering your continent will always slow down your tech rate in the short run, but having a lot of territory should increase your tech rate in the long run. If you're having a hard time invading another continent, it can be easier to wait until you have units like transports, marines, battleships, planes, tanks, and maybe even gunships before invading. Waiting for that will give you plenty of time for your big economy to get rolling.

 

[weasel82]

Thank you to all of you. I'm playing Warlords, but not BTS.

I usually play Normal or quick speed games. Sometimes on Noble (in which I can usually do space race), or Warlord (needed for me to win conquest ). Map size just depends on my mood. As I said before, if I want conquest I usually have to do a smaller sized map to reduce the number of other civs. I never use larger than a standard size though.

My last conquest attempt (yesterday) for instance was a small (whatever gives you plus 2 other civs) pangea map. I played as G. Kahn and was put up against the Greeks and Aztecs. I won, but I spent so much time researching military and building armies it was forever and I still didn't have COL for courthouses. I wound up having to spend most of the game around 0-10% research. I know that's a problem - I'm just not sure how to fix it! I only kept two captured cities (for a grand total of 5) and razed the rest.

 

[6K Man]

Yeah, I know what you mean. I like certain conditions, mainly because I'm familiar with them. I like Marathon (but have won on Prince at Normal speed). I like an isolated, island start where I can grow unimpeded (but have dominated on Pangea-like landmasses). I like Financial (but have won playing non-Financial).

However... I'm not sure how comfortable I would be playing a non-financial civ at normal speed on pangea at Prince level. The trick is knowing how to play to the strengths of your setting, I guess. Financial=CE. Marathon=warmonger advantages. And so on.

 

[Cer]

yeah, quick game speed can mean that your horde of doom becomes obsolete while it's on its way from your cities to the front lines. D'oh!

Conquering your continent will always slow down your tech rate in the short run,

Yes it will. If you're careful, it won't slow you down a huge amount. Some expert players seem to raze all the medium and bad cities and only keep the really good ones-- that will help lower maintenance. As a warmonger (every game I play), I like picking leader traits for their ability to help me do well in the tech race. (I like financial and industrious for forge/oracle/pyramids and probably philosophical.) Speaking of pyramids and philosophical, one of the secrets to crazy-fast teching is to either have one city go all-out after producing great people, (mainly for settling or lightbulbing) or to have a bunch of cities working on making great scientists or great merchants.

 

[weasel82]

yeah, quick game speed can mean that your horde of doom becomes obsolete while it's on its way from your cities to the front lines. D'oh!

I hadn't ever thought of it that way. So perhaps Epic or Marathon games would make it easier for me? Wouldn't it take me much longer to amass my army as well though?

(Side note --> Will Epic/Marathon speeds cause the game to take more time in real-life time to complete by running at those speeds?)

 

[JimT]

Minor point but if you have problems conquering foreign lands then

Continents: Capture a landing base and fill with defensive units (e.g drill promo machine guns) while collecting reinforcements. Alternatively raze and the AI should kindly plant a new, low defence city on the site which you can capture with your second wave (mean while park up on a hill or go raze another).
It helps to have open borders with a neighbour so you can get somewhere to heal.
Islands: Build bombers, transports (with convoy) and marines

 

[6K Man]

I hadn't ever thought of it that way. So perhaps Epic or Marathon games would make it easier for me? Wouldn't it take me much longer to amass my army as well though?

Military units take 2x as long to build at Marathon, but buildings take 3x as long (in Vanilla, anyway). So there is an advantage to warmongering at Marathon speed. And once your army is built it has a longer shelf life.

Bear in mind that it will take the AIs longer to amass defenders, too.

(Side note --> Will Epic/Marathon speeds cause the game to take more time in real-life time to complete by running at those speeds?)

Oh lordy, yes. Marathon games on Huge maps can take weeks. I'd recommend smaller maps if you don't want to invest too much time per game.

 

[madscientist]

Oh lordy, yes. Marathon games on Huge maps can take weeks. I'd recommend smaller maps if you don't want to invest too much time per game.

I have been playing CIV huge maps/marathon speed for a year and a half. Vanilla and Warlords took me several days, BTS takes me about 1-2 weeks depending on victory conditions. I play about 3-5 hours a day, maybe a bit more on the weekend.

 

[DaveMcW]

Try to keep your research at 50%. If it drops below that, build more workers and cottages.

50% research multiplied by an entire continent will give you the best research rate in the world.

 

[Spiceweasel]

For late-game invasions, airports are a tremendous boon. Once you take a city on the foreign continent, you can airlift reinforcements overseas without having to worry about ships. Obviously, you still need to get your army there somehow in the first place, but after that it's a snap!

 

[6K Man]

I have been playing CIV huge maps/marathon speed for a year and a half. Vanilla and Warlords took me several days, BTS takes me about 1-2 weeks depending on victory conditions. I play about 3-5 hours a day, maybe a bit more on the weekend.

I have a job

 

[Electryon]

You might try playing as Vikings if you're using Warlords or BtS. The combination of Financial/Aggressive, plus a great naval UB is tailor made for conquest.

 

[kniteowl]

Play Ragnar of the Vikings, Financial for Economy and Aggressive for warmongering. The cheap Drydocks are especially nice.

Your UU the Berserker (replaces Mace) starts with the Amp Promotion so you don't get penalties attacking across rivers or from ships/coast, by the time you have Astronomy you should be near Chemistry for Grenadiers so remember to stop researching or have Free GM for cash to upgrade your Berserkers, that Amp Promotion stays after upgrades so it'll increase your odds of winning and saves you time. The UB is very nice also as it gives to Navigation Promotion for all Naval units so your ships will move to the other continent faster and if you get Circum-navigation... it's just plain awesome lol.

 

[madscientist]

I have a job

Yeah I do too, I just don't watch TV.

Besides the other family computer (which is actually the faster one ) one of my kids or my wife is on at the same time. So I can either talk ith my better half while I wait 3 minutes for an end game turn, or monitor exactly what the kids are doing on the internet.

 

[6K Man]

Yeah I do too, I just don't watch TV.

Besides the other family computer (which is actually the faster one ) one of my kids or my wife is on at the same time. So I can either talk ith my better half while I wait 3 minutes for an end game turn, or monitor exactly what the kids are doing on the internet.

Ahhh, married with kids, now the 3-5 hours a day makes sense!

I seldom have more than an hour or two a day to play, and that's not every day, either. Regardless of how it's divided up, though, I think Marathon/Huge can take 25+ hours to play out, practically speaking.