I'm getting better but still have some weaknesses.

[Larwin]

Ok, I took a break for several months and feel I learned a lot from these boards I found I have a few strengths and weaknesses in my games.
My strongest area seems to be diplomacy (thats if I can get close to the domination requirements.)
Tech trading seems to be ok if I build the great library and stay ahead a couple techs from the AI. I noticed some AI's offer techs every turn just about. I'm think accepting every offer may not always be a good idea.
One thing that helps me is building enough military to keep my powerrating higher. Is there a general tip when to change production to infastructure rather than units? Or should I only build units in at least 2 or 3 cities the entire game?
Another weak area is I don't know when to declare my first war.
My most successful games are when I get an early tech advantage and reach rifling before the AI. CR2 maces upgraded to rifles seem to do pretty well. I have trouble getting a good start sometimes though.
My latest win was a diplomatic victory with the netherlands. should I maybe stick with playing 1 AI for a few games before trying another civ?

I also think my games are lasting too long. around 12 hours per game. sometimes I sleep before I finish a game though.

 

[Pangaea]

12 hours is nothing, I spend several days on mine!

I usually go for a mixed economy type of setup, where each city has some kind of task. Important to get at least one good commerce city, one good military production city (where you build the Heroic Epic and do nothing but build military units, and the odd health/happy building if needed), and it's also nice with a good Great People city where you build the National Epic.

I don't know what level you play at or how good you are, but there are few better ways to learn than to post a game yourself and then let the experts offer advice to you on tech paths, city placements, etc etc. Also read some of the strategy articles in the War room. There are many articles, so try to find something you're interested in or a part of your game you feel is lacking. The articles on different economies are pretty good for example.

 

[Larwin]

A lot of the time I feel it's partly luck if I manage a win. the apolopolistic palace messes up my chances of winning in a lot of my games. I tend to go overboard with military so sometimes my economy is weak because I have a lot of troops to support. I automate workers cause I feel I miss too much or do too many improvements in one city and not enough in others. I had a strong start with good production in my latest game. but one the AI surpassed me in military so I had a bad chance of winning. I sometimes get discouraged when I can't control more cities than the AI and they use the AP to stop my wars so I cant expand. I think I may need to find a way to win that I dont have to rely on troops to conquer every city I can get. but if I can only expand to 6 or 7 cities at the beggining some AI is going to get 9 or 10. Maybe I need to conquer the strongest AI before the weaker ones?

 

[Larwin]

the game puts a circle around good city locations i use these sometimes. is that a bad idea? sometimes it works out fine but other times it doesn't.

 

[Ghpstage]

A lot of the time I feel it's partly luck if I manage a win. the apolopolistic palace messes up my chances of winning in a lot of my games. I tend to go overboard with military so sometimes my economy is weak because I have a lot of troops to support. I automate workers cause I feel I miss too much or do too many improvements in one city and not enough in others. I had a strong start with good production in my latest game. but one the AI surpassed me in military so I had a bad chance of winning. I sometimes get discouraged when I can't control more cities than the AI and they use the AP to stop my wars so I cant expand. I think I may need to find a way to win that I dont have to rely on troops to conquer every city I can get. but if I can only expand to 6 or 7 cities at the beggining some AI is going to get 9 or 10. Maybe I need to conquer the strongest AI before the weaker ones?

When do you tend to go to war? When you are relatively small its often best to just build up and wait for Cuirrasiers/Rifles/Cannons with a tech lead which will let you just steamroll peaople, when you have a good diplomatic situation this can often be done with virtually no military at all before your big war buildup.

Theres no clearcut decision between attacking the strongest or weakest, it depends on quite a few things like the AP, diplomacy, geography, how quickly a war can be won, the aim of the war and the tech situation.

While the AP can be a pain its often pretty controllable, knowing how it works is helpful.

• Your votes are equal to the total pop of cities with the AP religion, and this is doubled if you run the AP religion as state.
• Vassal civs always vote the same as you for this and most other votes, and the number of votes they contribute follow the same rules as your own.
• If you defy you only suffer unhappiness in cities with the AP religion, and the presence of other religions in these cities reduce the time the unhappiness lasts for.

Also consider burning the AP city as a priority it immediately ceases to be a problem, and don't be afraid to use the culture slider with Theatres/Colliseums to deal with the unhappiness form defiance.
Basically either control it, minimise its presence in your civ, burn it, or brute force through it.

the game puts a circle around good city locations i use these sometimes. is that a bad idea? sometimes it works out fine but other times it doesn't.

Blue circles are bad in probably 90%+ of cases, only occasionally landin g in good spots at random. honestly your better off turning them off in the options and learning what makes a good site yourself than allowing yourself to be confused by them.

 

[Larwin]

Thanks, I guess turning the blue circles off would be a good idea. I always wondered if they were any good and they seem to be misleading. I'll try watching where the AP is built and maybe make that a priority target. I agree steamrolling after getting rifles and so forth seems to be the best time to do wars. Thanks for the insight on this. Teching to rifles and staying ahead shouldn't be too hard. I think sometimes one or two AI might catch up then but maybe they should be my first targets. I also heard when there's a war it good to try to get the AI fighting each other like a world war.

 

[Yudishtira]

I would like to hear a code-diver explain why the game goes so wrong with its blue-circle city locations. What wrong criteria can it possibly be using to be wrong so much of the time?

 

[Pangaea]

I actually just came across a case where the blue circle was rather useful. Ended up in a settling race, and because my settler was selected, the blue circle popped up. I assume this is what the AI use to decide where to settle cities, so I assumed he would settle where the blue circle was. Had planned to settle slightly elsewhere, but given he was one turn behind me and there were trees in my path, it was best to just settle where the AI intended instead, and at least secure the site.

They're not always horrible sites either, but it seems like they don't factor in first ring and second ring culture, so cities can often be food-less until the culture expands.

Can imagine programming things like this is very tough though. So much to take into account, and hard to prioritise right and make the right decisions in terms of what other sites there are, how they will interact/overlap with each other, and so on.

 

[Robert FIN]

Just go to nobles' club and your problems will be solved

 

[Larwin]

I finally got a conquest victory in 1675 AD. With a 84k score. I found myself vassaling half the AI civs peacefully and the rest after taking a few thier cities. I started with archers instead of waiting for copper or horses. I originally built 8 cities. (map seems to make a difference for me). I may have been able to settle 10 cities before taking AI cities. Seems waiting for rifles is the way to go. and keeping powerrating a bit higher than the AI. I found this game was rather easy in comparison to other maps I tried. I was waiting til I won twice in one week then try prince and do it all over again. My main civics were hereditary rule, beauracracy, slavery and organized religin. I switched to representation when i was able. Then I switched to emancipation shortly after the war started. Didn't switch to state property. I ran mercantalism after i got banking. I didnt use caste system or pacifism at all. Was playing the dutch. After I built the taj mahal I used theorcracy during the golden age for a few turns. My power rating was double most the AI and triple at the end. I started with the great library as my early wonder.