I think I finally fixed my early game

[cabert]

The AI certainly out-teched me in this emperor, continents game at epic speed.
It's 1508 AD, I have 7 cities room for 1 more. I can take, maybe, a few tundra cities from Elizabeth, who is falling behind after 2 wars with Inca. But, my question is, is it too late to catch up when you are this far behind?

well, they all have the same techs on you
some nice trading move could save you (unless you hit WFYBTA , so trade with the top guys first).
What are you able to get soon that they don't have?

 

[Ruler]

I'm still strugglin at the very beginning and I haven't succeed beyond 5 cities yet. All attemps failed because I delayed my early attack and not enough of production but anyway I know that AI always get a tech lead early and this has happened to me too on every game I just thought to ask how good tech lead make you worry? It's usually 5-10 techs for me I guess that' pretty normal.

 

[Dirk1302]

In my first emperor game i was researching education 1200 AD while Egypt already had communism. I had a very good empire of some 15 cities and i was able to catch up for a space race. Situation here with only 8 cities and it already being 1500 AD seems kind of bleak to me. Top dogs are probably researching techs like physics, steampower and biology already. Really a challenge to pull it off from here.

Nowadays i don't find it too difficult to out tech the AI on emperor from the beginning so space races are not that interesting on this level anymore (they are on immortal). Domination is a different story. You need good research and good production to pull this off.

 

[aelf]

I find that good research strategies and tech trading really help you keep up on Emperor. It comes to a point where you are not really worried about not being able to catch up with the AI. Not to over sell it, but I think EMC4 is really the best example for this that I can give.

 

[cabert]

The AI certainly out-teched me in this emperor, continents game at epic speed.
It's 1508 AD, I have 7 cities room for 1 more. I can take, maybe, a few tundra cities from Elizabeth, who is falling behind after 2 wars with Inca. But, my question is, is it too late to catch up when you are this far behind?

This one bugged me, so I've come with a (strange) way to play catch up.
It will hurt you in the WFYBATA domain and in diplomatic domain:
- lightbulb PP (or research it fast, or attack a weaker civ for it!)
- trade it for astronomy to liz
- trade astronomy for gunpowder (well known so should be possible) to shaka or one of those knowing GP and not astro [and for education, banking, nationalism]
- trade GP for (liberalism ?) to liz.
You could have 7 techs for the price of one.
Not enough maybe but a starting point.

 

[lilnev]

There's no way Liz would give Astronomy for PP. It might be possible to research Astro yourself before it becomes worthless, though.

The real concern here is that the AIs have techs you can't even see yet for want of pre-reqs. Liberalism, Economics, Constitution, Mil Trad, Chemistry, Replaceable Parts.... You could be very much behind, indeed.

I think I would start beelining for either Democracy or Steel. Those sometimes go late enough that you can get good trades out of them even if you're behind overall.

peace,
lilnev

 

[Ruler]

Looks grim but if you have an extraordinary GP farm and haven't popped out too many GP you could try to run Caste System and farm GS and bulb all your way to biology and further.

 

[cabert]

There's no way Liz would give Astronomy for PP. It might be possible to research Astro yourself before it becomes worthless, though.

The real concern here is that the AIs have techs you can't even see yet for want of pre-reqs. Liberalism, Economics, Constitution, Mil Trad, Chemistry, Replaceable Parts.... You could be very much behind, indeed.

I think I would start beelining for either Democracy or Steel. Those sometimes go late enough that you can get good trades out of them even if you're behind overall.

peace,
lilnev

I bolded the part I'm unsure with.
The rest of your post I agree totally, and it was my first answer to this "problem" (well not exactly, but it's what I meant).

Why wouldn't liz give out astro for PP? You may need to research a bit of it, but my idea was :
- PP is "lightbulbable"
- you can part research astro in the meantime (400 beakers). This + a world map + a little cash could be enough, don't you think?

The other option is to ask a friendly AI for a gift.
Astronomy being a good gift