[BTS] I'm looking to improve

[as2w]

As I mentioned above, I decided to go ahead with another turn set. I tried to implement the ideas from above and correct some of the missteps that were pointed out.

I settled Yaroslavl in the spot recommended. Because of earlier mistakes, I didn't have a road pre-built for this settler. That will be one of many items for me to pay attention to when I start over. Same issue with Rostov and Yekaterinburg. I went further south with Rostov because I saw the corn and knew that Rostov would grow quickly having it. And since Cathy is creative, then it could be in the outer ring. Both golds have been mined and are being worked. That helped with the happiness issues I have been having in Moscow and St. Petersburg. I have been working and sharing tiles with Moscow/St. Petersburg and Moscow/Novgorod. I'm getting a better sense of how that works.

Could I get a brief explanation on why it's best to get a granary before your food is half full? Does the presence of the granary automatically push it up to half way? If so, then that would be free food and that equals hammers/production with slavery. But if it doesn't, then I'm not sure what the reasoning is there.

So why did I put Yekaterinburg so far away from the capital? I am aware of maintenance costs based on distance. I could see that Saladin was closing in towards me quickly. I settled on the rice to reach the sugar and the clams. I was concerned about food. But in retrospect, that was probably a poor decision. Settling on the rice means that I cannot improve it and thereby negating any extra food benefit for this city until I get fishing online and a workboat to improve the clams. In this situation, what would have been a better decision?

I'm also curious about my lack of military resources. I don't have copper and I don't have horses. I could try to nab the norses there, but it may be too late. When I start over, I know that AH will need to come much earlier in my research. Let's assume I did AH immediately after Pottery. Would a wiser path have been to get a city near the horses as soon as I could? At that point I knew I didn't have copper. I know this is only Noble, so I was surprised I didn't get any good military resources close to me. I see that Ethiopia has copper and ivory right next to each other.

Pangaea, you mentioned that I should try for Oracle. I was only able to get Mysticism in the line towards Priesthood. If I continue down this trail, do I tech the cheaper of Meditation and Polytheism to get to Priesthood? Nobody will trade me Masonry and I had enough bulbs leftover that it's only a one turn tech now. What's the best next moves with tech?

Is the next step to fill in the in between spaces with a couple more cities? How should my thinking adjust at this stage of the game? Should I now be thinking about the possible ways to win? Or is it still too early to make that kind of a determination?

The reason for doing research in Moscow is that I am unsure how to proceed at this point with the development of this city. Moscow has a granary and library. I have put 2 citizens to science and worker towards first GS. I could switch to a settler, worker or more warriors.

In the meantime while I wait for some answers to this stage of the game, I may do as Lymond suggested and start over to run the first 50 turns again.

Spoiler Turn 76 :

 

[floydmcw]

I settled on the rice to reach the sugar and the clams. I was concerned about food. But in retrospect, that was probably a poor decision.

If you're going to settle a far-off city for resources, why not go 1SW and pick up gold?

I'm also curious about my lack of military resources. I don't have copper and I don't have horses. I could try to nab the norses there, but it may be too late. When I start over, I know that AH will need to come much earlier in my research. Let's assume I did AH immediately after Pottery. Would a wiser path have been to get a city near the horses as soon as I could?

You could settle it but there better places for a second city. Also you should make sure you have no copper before making a desperation play for horses.

There are two reasons to get military resources, barbs and other civs. Your position is favorable for barbs -- in the middle of other civs, so their crisscrossing scouts will spawnbust barbs for you. At some point you will need something better than warriors. Since you have Alpha you should trade for IW soon. If no iron (unlikely), then try to stay in the same religion as your neighbors, give in to demands, and build lots of archers and later catapults.

Pangaea, you mentioned that I should try for Oracle. I was only able to get Mysticism in the line towards Priesthood. If I continue down this trail, do I tech the cheaper of Meditation and Polytheism to get to Priesthood?

On higher difficulty levels you'd want to pick up the cheapest techs, here you should be fine with either one. (Actually on higher difficulties Oracle would have been built by now.)

Is the next step to fill in the in between spaces with a couple more cities?

You should not settle cities to fill in spaces, you should settle cities that can work good tiles. There are probably a few more good sites.

Your game is going pretty well, your tech rate is good. How many workers do you have?

 

[as2w]

If you're going to settle a far-off city for resources, why not go 1SW and pick up gold?

Good question. I don't have a solid answer.

You could settle it but there better places for a second city. Also you should make sure you have no copper before making a desperation play for horses.

I'm sure that I don't have any copper. The closest I have seen is next to the Ethopian capital.

There are two reasons to get military resources, barbs and other civs. Your position is favorable for barbs -- in the middle of other civs, so their crisscrossing scouts will spawnbust barbs for you. At some point you will need something better than warriors. Since you have Alpha you should trade for IW soon. If no iron (unlikely), then try to stay in the same religion as your neighbors, give in to demands, and build lots of archers and later catapults.

Thank you for the good advice. I wasn't sure how to proceed really.

On higher difficulty levels you'd want to pick up the cheapest techs, here you should be fine with either one. (Actually on higher difficulties Oracle would have been built by now.)

I believe I knew that Oracle would already be done at higher levels. IIRC Pangaea mentioned to go for it since this was a noble level game.

You should not settle cities to fill in spaces, you should settle cities that can work good tiles. There are probably a few more good sites.

Thanks. That makes it clear not to just spam cities. Have something in mind when making them.

Your game is going pretty well, your tech rate is good. How many workers do you have?

I have 4 workers and could crank out a couple more. Since you asked the question, then that leads me to believe that I should change Moscow to make workers for sure. I seem to recall reading that at this stage of the game that I likely want a ratio of 1:1.5 of cities to workers. That means I need 5 more workers to be in line with that recommendation.

 

[Pangaea]

Perhaps I shouldn't have mentioned Oracle, because it can be a "trap" for new (and suchlike) players. But on a difficulty like Noble, especially with decent commerce, it is often possible to get Civil Service with the Oracle. You can even backfill the religious techs after getting Alpha. It can mean making some sacrifices, like skipping one of BW or AH, and going hard towards Math+CoL. Naturally this is a bit easier if you have Mansa on the map, because he's willing to trade everything, as long as he's not building a wonder that the technology unlocks. That means it's easy to get Masonry and the other religious techs from him. Especially Masonry can be a pain to get from others. Not that you need Masonry for the Oracle ofc.

But at this point, it may be better to ignore the Oracle entirely and focus on improving the more basic gameplay. City locations, improvements, worker micro, whipping, what to build in cities, and when. A lot of decisions in this game is of the "it depends" kind, so there are few hard and fast rules. But with more games under your belt, you will get a better feeling of "what is right".

 

[lymond]

Yekaterinaberg makes absolutely no sense at all. (and if I remember correctly you just killed the clams) Settling on the sugar tile, as I had marked earlier would be have been good.

You can nab those horses near Sal - settle 1SE of them.

While Yekatrina was an abomination, it appear you are taking an odd route to road it. There is a direct route to road it that does not require roading desert (longer). Again, Yeka is an abomination.

post saves with reports. appears you have alpha now so we should see how your research vs. others compare and what trades are possible.

Not sure building research in Moscow is the best thing right now..you are still expanding.

Reason I marked settling adjacent to gold is that you would not have to battle Ethiopian culture. Good change you will lose access to the gold soon. (Gold is a great resource to have early and even worth settle early with less emphasis on food just to work it immediately)

 

[as2w]

Yekaterinaberg makes absolutely no sense at all. (and if I remember correctly you just killed the clams) Settling on the sugar tile, as I had marked earlier would be have been good.

Agreed. I didn't think that through well at all. Could you explain how I killed the clams? I'm not sure I get what I did.

You can nab those horses near Sal - settle 1SE of them.

I'll get right on it.

While Yekatrina was an abomination, it appear you are taking an odd route to road it. There is a direct route to road it that does not require roading desert (longer). Again, Yeka is an abomination.

I missed seeing the direct road route. I'll correct it if possible.

post saves with reports. appears you have alpha now so we should see how your research vs. others compare and what trades are possible.

I meant to put the save with it and just forgot. I'll put it below.

Not sure building research in Moscow is the best thing right now..you are still expanding.

Changing back to a worker after Floyd reminded me what I needed to do next. I think it was only one turn or two at the most that I have done that.

Reason I marked settling adjacent to gold is that you would not have to battle Ethiopian culture. Good change you will lose access to the gold soon. (Gold is a great resource to have early and even worth settle early with less emphasis on food just to work it immediately)

Ok, I didn't know that. Gold cities don't need to have as much access to food. It's better to get them settled and mined than to add food in an outer ring.

 

[as2w]

Turn 76 save

 

[as2w]

But at this point, it may be better to ignore the Oracle entirely and focus on improving the more basic gameplay. City locations, improvements, worker micro, whipping, what to build in cities, and when. A lot of decisions in this game is of the "it depends" kind, so there are few hard and fast rules. But with more games under your belt, you will get a better feeling of "what is right".

Duly noted. Will not keep working my way towards the Oracle on this game. Perhaps another time it will make more sense to try for it. I know that most everything "depends" in this game. I'm trying to get my head around what the best possible options are for those situations where it "depends."

 

[lymond]

Ok, I didn't know that. Gold cities don't need to have as much access to food. It's better to get them settled and mined than to add food in an outer ring.

Well, just to clarify, ideally a gold city will have some food at some point, but the idea here is that very early the gold resource provides such a nice boost to commerce that working it asap can be a priority over growth. And yes, in some cases, a gold city may not actually have a food bonus resource, as in this case.. Although eventually that city could get regular farms.

Yes, there is a rather dearth of strategic resources within and in proximity to your empire. If you can secure the horses, then you could consider Horse Archers and an early war with Sal.

 

[floydmcw]

This is my T75 save. 4 cities, 6 workers, a settler almost done, 3 chariots. 5 cottages and clams are boated. 2 turns to Alpha.

I settled S of the jungle sugar but should have settled on it. It's important to note the differences between settling on the sugar and settling on the rice:
1. Dry rice is bogus but it can be worked quickly to yield 4 food, and will be 5 food when you get Civil Service and can irrigate it.
Sugar is worth just 4 food, requires a tech you won't have for awhile, and will take a lot of worker turns to clear and plantate* the jungle.
2. Settling on sugar pulls two flood plains into your fat cross. Because you're CRE you can contest Sally for those squares. The dry rice location does not give you anything good, just plains and desert and one incense (which is hard to work with a citizen b/c it has no food).

* This is a verb I just made up.

I Oracled CoL (Code of Laws) but that was kind of reflex, since I'm used to difficulty levels where it's gone by T65-70. Maybe I should have held off for a few more turns and tried to get Currency or Calendar or Metal Casting.

 

[floydmcw]

Yes, there is a rather dearth of strategic resources within and in proximity to your empire. If you can secure the horses, then you could consider Horse Archers and an early war with Sal.

lymond what would be your plan with this map on a high level like Deity or Immortal? I can't believe you'd beat Sally to the horses. Try to ride flood plain cottages to Rifling or Steel?

 

[lymond]

Deity is a good question. Although no strats (and one certainly would not get the horses on Deity unless went straight for it.. maybe), there is the ability to setup a nice compact empire here of at least 6 cities, with decent food and tile sharing. Steel does no good without iron - unless lucky resource pop, but can't be counted on. I might look to trade for a resource earlier like ivory so I can conquest some new land and grab some resources. Archery is probably a must tech on Deity here unless one can spawnbust timely (land will fill up nearby pretty quick - reducing barb spawn..but still) IMO, Deity would require more creativeness on gaining more land early to setup something later. IMM will give more luxury on going for something like Rifles later or even Muskets/trebs. Advanced players might go for an Engi bulb here for trebs early, since fishing is not necessary.

 

[as2w]

After about 3-4 turns in the game, I decided to restart. I am facing a much larger uphill battle that I'm not ready for. So as Lymond recommended, start again.

I have played to turn 52. I followed the same general flow as last time, but tried not to waste worker turns. I know that the road between Moscow and St. Petersburg isn't necessary for trade. However, it allowed me to settle the city one turn sooner. I didn't have pottery yet and it helped get my worker down to be ready for AH. So the worker was sitting on the correct tile when AH came in.

Tech so far has been Agri-->BW-->TW-->AH-->Pottery-->Writing. I haven't pushed my scout and warriors as far as the last time. I have built a few more warriors to help with the spawn busting. Hopefully getting the gold online in short order will help the happy cap in Moscow. In the meantime, I could park a warrior there, but I'm not sure I can get it back fast enough to matter.

I'm still unclear on the reason for finishing the granary when the city is below 50%. I have put a few turns into a granary in Moscow, but I need to get a couple more settlers built.

I just realized that I haven't been doing my research at 0/100. When do I begin doing that? As soon as the second city is built? How long do I carry on doing it? Until the end of the game? Is the primary benefit that it puts a few bulbs into the research that you are most likely going to tech next while building your gold, so that if you need to make a quick change, you can do it?

Spoiler Turn 52 :

 

[gaash2]

re: 0 /100 ... it's best in the early game where rounding can make a big difference in beaker count (%wise) and before building research improvements (e.g. run slider at 0 before oxford, for example).

 

[lymond]

Yeah, I was going to mention the research thing last time. As gaash mentioned, there is a rounding issue on gold in Civ IV. You can see this if you play with the slider early game. Put it to 0% research > note the GPT > raise to 10% research > Note the GPT. You should notice that the gold cost of that X amount of beakers is higher. This will change as you get more beaker modifiers in place. So it is just simply more optimal to do the 0 - 100 thing early after you start running deficit research (usually after you settle your first city). Of course, if you have the gold to fund a tech run at 100%, which you will do at least until you settle your first city and likely until the time you finish Writing.

But it is even more complex than all that. It will take time to get a feel for the nuances of binary science. I will say though that this effect becomes even more important on higher levels as the maintenance cost skyrocket. So in a sense the binary science approach helps fund early expansion

No, you will not always do this the entire game. First, let me say, that ideally one would always want to run at 100% research. Problem is the factors in the game like obviously the various maintenance costs (unit, cities - various, civics, etc.) that cause one to lose gold. Later you will be able to do things to get chunks of gold - like after Currency when you can trade for gold and GPT. But also, as the game progresses and you build your empire, economy, and multipliers, that rounding issue becomes for less a factor. The beakers will start exceeding the gpt cost at X%. So you will become more savvy at managing the sliders

Ha..yes, there is a bit of math in the game if you so desire to play it that way. But simply but, all you really need to think about now is that when you reach a point (given no huts are on), when you start losing gold such that you can't run 100% research - usually after settling that first city - then you will run 0% research until you have enough gold banked to fund it fully at 100%.

I went Pot first in my game, but not huge deal here to go AH first since you do have some resources. But you could have had cities ignore the cows and focus on a couple of cottaged FPs first. Anyway, you put down 7 turns of unnecessary roads. The speed of moving the settler to the spot to settle is relative really. Again, you put down 7 turns of road including a road a the cows that was unnecessary (it is on a river and, thus, connected automatically). But question is - could the settler have been built faster if the workers were doing other things. Regardless, the roads aren't going to kill you on this difficultly level. The point is really thinking about these actions you take and making the most of those early turns. You are thinking....

Eh..uphill battle...all this is good stuff. You are practicing and learning. This difficulty gives you a lot of room to experience stuff and practice with little consequence. The point of this right now has little to do with winning.

I don't want to over complicate the granary right now..just having one pays off immensely. The whole 50% thing (which is the food bar in case that was not clear) is about optimizing it after it is first built. The deal is that the granary stores food during growth. It stores half the food bin for the next pop. In order to do that, it needs the time to actually store the food. If the granary is finished at or below when the city's food bar reaches the halfway point, this allows the granary the time to store half the food before the next pop growth. So..say..you plan to finish the granary on X turn - by chop, whip or slow build - either way you know it will finish the next turn. Note the current food in the food bar - is it at or below 50%. For instance, it takes 22F to reach population 2. So the food bar should be less than or equal to 11 when the gran is completed.. However, you also need to consider the food surplus in the city which determines how much food is add to the food bar the following turn. A city's food surplus is the difference between the food worked and that consumed by its citizens (2F each) - you can see this to the left of the Food Bar.

Here are examples of what I'm describing:

This shows the food bar at 1 pop. No food has stored yet.

Spoiler :

And this shows the food surplus. City has 7 total food (corn plus the 2 from city center) - 2F for the one citizen = 5 food surplus. Next turn the city will have 5 food in the bin toward the 22 needed for the next pop.

Spoiler surplus :

If that city..say..already had a granary, the granary would start storing food in between turns up to the max half food. If the granary was..say..finish after the city had reached 11 food in the bin...the granary would not have enough time to maximize its storage.

The timing of the granary is really about taking into account these factors as well as simply when that granary can be finished. In the example, if the granary was finished next turn, as mentioned the city would have 5 out of 22 in the bin. So that is fine. The following turn the city would have 10 out of 22, so that is also fine. On turn 3, the city would have 15 out of 22 in the bin, so the gran finished on that turn is less optimal.

Of course, that is just an example. Where your cities would be in growth and population would be different. (The food needed to grow a pop changes with each population by 2F), so at size 2 it is 24 and so on.

(Note: You can also practice the granary effect in a dummy game. Create a game > settle city. Go into world builder and add food improvement. Watch the city grow. Add a granary to the city at the right point in WB. See the effect on growth after the next pop. Try it without a granary..see the difference)

Lastly, and again, this is a bit complex, but I'm just trying to let you see the importance not only of the granary but how to optimize. All this really becomes more important as you move up difficulty with the need to maximize growth and micro to squeeze the best out of turning food into production. It never hurts to understand this concept and the sooner you do the better. Heck, I played the game for years without fully understanding it.

 

[as2w]

At the beginning of turn 76 in my third run through.

Ethiopia beat me to the land to the SE and that blocks me from the copper there. I can grab the land to the SW and get another gold city there. That leaves an okay spot NE of Moscow and then perhaps one more E of Novgorod and SE of St. Petersburg.

After completing Writing I agreed to open borders with those around. Then after Alphabet I have made a few trades. I suspect that Justy and Zara are trying to build the pyramids as they won't trade Masonry. Saladin won't trade much at the moment either. I am researching Maths to get the boost in chops and then I'll go to Currency. What should I not research and backfill and what should I focus on next in tech?

What are my next steps? What is the best way forward aside from settling a couple more spots?

I could research HBR and build a couple of stables and go after Zara, but that could hurt me as I think others are pleased with him.

Lymond, thank you kindly for the easy to understand explanation on the granary. I'm embarrassed to say how long I have been playing Civ 4 and still don't know all of these important pieces to the game.

Spoiler Turn 76 map :

 

[as2w]

Been using the 0/100 on my tech slider and recently finished CoL. So now building courthouses as quickly as possible to get my economy under control. I do plan to whip a couple as I'm still running into happy cap issues in a number of cities. I could switch to a religion to help matters, but I'm not sure if I need to. I would like some advice on this aspect of the game. What are key factors into switching into religions. I do know that one scenario is if you have a particularly strong opponent and you are not ready to take him out that it's best to switch to their same religion to keep relations good between you. What are other situations that warrant switching religions? In this game, is it better to switch to Judaism or Buddhism? I've got one on one side and one on the other. Neither Zara or Saladin appear to be very strong at this point in the game. Neither has more than 4 cities. I'm getting close to starting my 10th. Planning on W of Yekaterinburg. There is more gold to be mined and a corn tile to feed the city. I am aware that maintenance will be high on this one because of relative distance to Moscow, but with the courthouses coming on line, I should still be ahead economically.

Going HBR next to see if I can take down Zara, Saladin and perhaps Justy. If I do decide to do that, how large should my stack of horses be? I can get to Zara's copper in one turn from my land. I can get there and destroy his mine. Then I can get the capital and the other 3 cities. It does not appear that he has any other sources of copper or iron. There is iron just outside of his reach at the moment and more copper to his south. Without copper, I should be able to roll right over him. What do I need to know that I haven't already addressed?

I know Elizabeth is somewhere to the south through the jungle. I'm sending a warrior that way to see what I can learn. She does not appear to be very strong yet, but I know to watch out for this empire. If she has the right techs, she'll come knocking on the door.

Just met the Ottomans so I'm not sure where on the globe that they are. If I'm reading the screens correctly, Ottoman empire is the tech leader. Does that mean I should shift all of my espionage towards him? I seem to recall reading that somewhere. I know that there is lots to do with espionage and that I need to concentrate on workers, tech and city development. But I'd like to know a few more basics on espionage so I don't make any huge errors.

I have not attempted to build any world wonders. The only thing that I have done is make an academy in the capital with my first GS. Should I make a second academy in St. Petersburg or one of the gold cities? Those cities are producing a decent amount of beakers. I'm not sure the best path here either.

I'm looking forward to getting feedback on these last couple of turn sets.

Spoiler Turn 100 :

 

[Pangaea]

Haven't seen the savegame, but from the picture I see that many of your cities are unhappy. Do you have Monarchy and Hereditary Rule? That will help. For some reason you are also building Courthouses practically everywhere, which is a huge waste of hammers, especially so close to the capital and on such a low difficulty level (maintenance costs are much lower than on Immortal and Deity, for instance).

How many workers do you have? I suspect a better use of whips would be to get some of those.

Also, on such a low difficulty level, you may have to tech most things yourself, as the AI is just too slow. Usually you can get Monarchy and Calendar fairly early for 'free', but here you may need to do it yourself. IIRC, there were some Calendar resources nearby, which would solve some happiness issues as well.

But ofc, you can also just tech HBR and kill everybody with HAs. Probably a cakewalk on this level, especially with 10 cities to whip from against the AIs with 3-4.

 

[as2w]

@Pangaea, I don't have either Monarchy or Hereditary rule yet. I thought I read that you will typically put a courthouse in most cities. Is there a rule of thumb you follow? If maintenance costs are above "x" coins per turn, then it's worth it to build a courthouse.

I don't remember the exact number of workers that I have. Seems like it's around 8 or 9. Nearly every tile that is being worked has been improved. What else should I have my workers doing in this part of the game? I find that I'm frequently unsure what to do with them next.

I am teching a fair amount myself, but there haven't been great trading opportunities. I have back filled much of the spiritual line in trades. But they just don't have a lot that I don't have. Nobody would trade Masonry with me and I was surprised by that. Ottoman empire has Metal Casting but they won't share yet.

When do you stop whipping in the game? Should I grow any cities in any larger? What else do I need to know at this stage of the game? If I do build a bunch of HAs, how many do I need to take with me?

 

[Pangaea]

Then it might be an idea to tech those yourself. You could need them. Checked the save and there is Wine, Sugar and Spice. That's +3 in all cities.

Courthouses is something you get a feel for after a while, but I tend to not bother with them unless the city maintenance is at least 8-9 per turn. If you're going to found corporations, you need them everywhere, but that's for the late game. No need to build them so soon. You could just build wealth in a few cities and that would cover the cost.

I did load the save now, and see you have agreed to cut off trade with two AIs (think it was Elizabeth and Zara). Generally, that is not a good idea. Takes a long while until you can open borders again, and it just hurts your commerce and teching. As a result of this, most of your trade routes are now internal, meaning you get 1 instead of 2.

You don't really stop whipping, perhaps unless going for space in the late game - where you then tend to workshop and farm the land, and run caste system. It's more a case of weighing happy/anger and "do I need this now" factors. Whipping 7-8 courthouses to save 10-12 gold is a poor deal for instance.

At this point it could be tempting to go for Civil Service, but (and keep in mind I've only glanced at the game for a minute or three) it may make more sense to go for Monarchy and Calendar to increase happiness caps. Alternatively you could get out some barracks and pump+whip horse archers after teching HBR, and kill the map. Pretty sure that should be doable, although if you went for it earlier it definitely would be at Noble. Could probably attack with only 6 HAs, but if you get 8-10 it's easier to blow over an AI quickly. Of course you just keep producing them during war, as you will lose guys too. Spend the first great general on a super healer chariot (for instance), and you can heal the army quickly.

Perhaps you'd like to play for a longer game though, in which case it makes more sense to increase happiness and get CS in the near-ish future. Happiness permitting, I tend to use a 'rule of thumb' to grow the capital to size 10+ by 1AD. Not always doable, but often you can. You've done very well with settling cities though, and have grabbed a lot of land. Now it's more about "vertical growth" as it is sometimes called, which in other words mean growing the cities big. Horizontal growth is grabbing land.

It's how most Civ4 games go:
1. Grab land
a) from REXing and/or
b) from warfare
2. Grow cities bigger
3. Win in whatever way you pursue (space, diplo, domination, etc).

Unless going for longer games, which I prefer in fairness (often go space), you can basically skip step 2 and just grab land and kill neighbours from the get-go, and continue doing so until a victory screen pops up

Warfare is almost a game in itself, but the gist of it is that if you can catch AIs with their pants down with horses, that is a good way. Later you will need siege. A popular combo is Catapults + War Elephants, usually termed elepults. Another common way, especially on higher difficulties where it's not so easy to wage war early, is with Cuirassiers. Win Lib and take for instance Military Tradition, make sure you have the other techs, like Music and Gunpowder, and pump out Cuirs. These are strong attackers and ignore walls and castles, so it's a very popular approach.

Cuirs would be massive overkill in your game, however, where HAs would do. However, it's a good exercise to learn how to build an empire and tech a bit deeper, so perhaps you'd like to try that instead? By that I mean growing an empire and not necessarily aiming for Cuirs btw.