I need help with Monarch/Emperor Domination wins.

[douglas_21]

I checked the pete2006 guide in the war academy but it is not too helpful...the barb archers destroy my few warriors OR I miss stonehenge & build too few workers. I have tried restarting to get better starts and I still end up losing. I have found it easy to win on prince, and I have Warlords EP. Advice, please?

 

[Deepflow]

Don't build warriors, except maybe one to escort your second settler. That settler should be going to hook up either copper/iron/horses so you can build something better than warriors and archers. Then build them and you'll pretty much never have to worry about barbs again. At least that's how i do it.

What's so bad about missing stonehenge? It's not exactly a game-breaker. Play a creative civ and you START with stonehenge x 2 anyway

If you're complaining about having too few workers either build more or steal some from an AI. Also, if you begin with a worker - worker - (warrior) - settler build. Then two is normally enough, at least while you still have two cities (the second worker and the settler should be chopped though).

 

[douglas_21]

If I do worker-worker(chop)-warrior-settler(chop), then when would I go for a third city? Which city do I build the settler in? Or does this just depend on the circumstances?

 

[Rast]

Early wonders are waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay overrated (except maybe Pyramids). Pick them up if you get the chance, but keep the focus on research & beating up your enemies before they get too far ahead of you in tech.

Also, if you want domination, maybe try a game with the Incans? They have domination-friendly traits (Fin/Agg), and Queches really shine on Monarch and up. Kidnap your first (and second if you don't mind making another enemy right at the get-go) worker instead of building it to save lots of turns, and a stack of four queches can usually rush an early monarch capital to get you a 2nd city in a guaranteed good spot & take out an opposing civ & give you room to expand.

Barbs kicked my arse hard for a long time on Monarch too - get copper & axes ASAP. If you don't start near copper research archery AFTER pottery (if you're incans) or archery before pottery if you're not (the quechas can handle all the barb archers that show up initially and barb axes don't come for quite a while).

After you get some axes, a few more cities & some cottages up and your economy is moving along in somewhat decent shape start working on the next civ. Even just pillaging is crippling if you don't have the units to actually take cities (cats).

 

[seghillian]

I just completed my first Monarch victory (and possibly last! - I prefer a more leisurely game at the easier levels I think!)

I used Augustus on a Pangea map, which is probably quite unimaginative of me - just crank out lots of Praets and steamroller on I reasoned, but I just wanted to register at least one win at a higher level so I chose what I guessed would be an 'easy' option. Mindful of some advice on here, I gave up my obsession with building every wonder in sight and founding every religion possible. In fact - I ignored both of these features which was very helpful. Focussing on the military got the job done quite effectively. I had two attempts at this - the first time I failed when I crashed my economy with too many units to support. At the second attempt I did make sure I had CoL and the courthouses were being produced before the Praets went on the rampage.

I built a single wonder - Hanging Gardens, as the opportunity presented itself during a brief lull when I had little else to do. As for religion, I now recognise the advantages (as I've read on here) of capturing the holy cities as opposed to researching all those non-military techs that would have slowed up the overall game plan.

Quite satisfying to get the win but I know I've had just as much enjoyment, sometimes more, playing at the easy levels and setting myself targets like founding every religion and building every wonder. That's one of the beauties of this amazing game - so many choices in how you want to play it.

 

[douglas_21]

I have warlords, so now the vikings are fin/agg. Berserker is good as a maceman for taking cities when attacking across rivers. The incans are now fin/ind and Ind seems a waste of a trait on higher levels. I've been trying to play as Financial civs that start with mining, and I think I'll next try a game as Catherine. The hammers I'll save on settlers can go towards monuments/military. How does that sound? I'll do epic/small lakes/pangaea game.

 

[weimingshi]

Ind is not a waste on higher lvl, cheap forge is a huge plus, It gives me a chance to get great wall and pyramid on emperor if I got stone in my city radius. No barb worries if you get great wall. Unless I start with a civ that has mysticism to start, else I wouldn't bother with stonehenge.

 

[Andraeianus I]

Simply research archery first if you want to have a solid and safe start at higher levels.

One type of start which is quite feasible is to use your initial warrior/scout for exploration and depending on the growth rate of your city build two/three warriors and then build a settler. (Tip: emphasize food in your capital; by the time you build your settler you want your city to work as may tiles as possible). By this time you should have archery and be able to build archers in your capital and second city. Just in time before the barbs appear!

 

[douglas_21]

I'll try that next game. I am in the classical era in one of my games. Monarch/small/pangaea/Washington. I researched BW & AH and built worker-warrior-chop settler, which I used to hook up horses. The new chariots rock! I was able to take three cities from russia by mass producing them and depriving them of bronze before they could build spears. Then I would just do 3-4 chariots (flanking I then II if they survive) per archer and get some more land. The two most powerful other nations are ruled by Khan and Shaka.

 

[Xanikk999]

Early wonders are waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay overrated (except maybe Pyramids). Pick them up if you get the chance, but keep the focus on research & beating up your enemies before they get too far ahead of you in tech.

Also, if you want domination, maybe try a game with the Incans? They have domination-friendly traits (Fin/Agg), and Queches really shine on Monarch and up. Kidnap your first (and second if you don't mind making another enemy right at the get-go) worker instead of building it to save lots of turns, and a stack of four queches can usually rush an early monarch capital to get you a 2nd city in a guaranteed good spot & take out an opposing civ & give you room to expand.

Barbs kicked my arse hard for a long time on Monarch too - get copper & axes ASAP. If you don't start near copper research archery AFTER pottery (if you're incans) or archery before pottery if you're not (the quechas can handle all the barb archers that show up initially and barb axes don't come for quite a while).

After you get some axes, a few more cities & some cottages up and your economy is moving along in somewhat decent shape start working on the next civ. Even just pillaging is crippling if you don't have the units to actually take cities (cats).

Or play terra maps and barbs are hardly a problem. But then i get stuck in a corner because the AI expands very fast on any difficulty above prince.

 

[douglas_21]

Sounds fun...I will axe/chariot rush them to get new cities