I thought I knew how to play...

[kungfool]

..but then again

I can win a domination on demi god fairly easily, but only on huge maps (land percentage doesnt matter), any smaller maps, even large, and I fall so far behind in tech i'd have to spend a week of my life building artillery to win--anyone else have this problem or am I just a fool?


And whats with this repulic slingshot deal--best I can do is get code of laws for free, not republic.

 

[Drakan]

What do you mean what's the big deal ?. This is the tech tree for C3C:

http://www.civfanatics.com/civ3tech_tree1.shtml

Being the first one to research philosophy allows you for free the republic. This is a huge boost. Trade your way to have code of laws first and you'll be able to make it.

 

[Renata]

As Drakan said, you'll need to have Code of Laws before you research Philosophy.

The issue with your demigod games appears to be the research rate, which is dependant on map size. Smaller map = cheaper techs. And given the way AIs trade with one another, you only need to have a few of them in contact with one another to notice the difference. The techs are cheaper for you as well, but I'm guessing not enough cheaper to matter.

Probably you need to work on either your trading skills, your commerce-generation, or both. It's hard to say more without more details. Falling behind for much of the game isn't exactly atypical at that level, though, unless the starting territory is very good.

Renata