floydmcw
Prince
I've just given up on my fourth attempt to play Demigod with Egypt. I had a good start on flood plains and with a game forest, but I was hit by disease four times before I could pop a settler. Before that I had a succession of poor starts which I played to varying lengths before abandoning.
I win all the time on Emperor -- my success rate must be over 90%. I've won just twice on Demigod and that was with the Sumerians and Celts, both top-notch civs. I rate the Egyptians as less powerful but I still should be able to win with them.
I'm familiar with basic strategies such as tech bartering and micromanagement. There must be some flaw in my game, but I'm damned if I can figure out what it is. I've read some of the succession games on Demigod, and it doesn't look too hard for those players.
Some questions:
1. My start is usually as follows: Four or so warriors who explore and meet civs, then a granary, then pump settlers from the capital or from another city that has good food (which will also build a granary). My builds are usually a unit or two, then a rax or temple. By 800 BC I'll have 6-8 cities with a settler pump, three or so raxes, and a city or two producing workers. Is this a good plan, or should I do something different? How many settler factories should I have?
2. It doesn't take long for me to fall way, way behind. I pay attention to my finances and try not to have an army larger than what I can support. Yet no matter what I do, it seems like I fall a full age behind, and the AI has cavalry by the time I get to Feudalism. I can't barter techs usefully when everyone has many more techs than me. Is there a way around this?
3. Because I fall behind so fast, and start out weaker, I try to keep my head down and wait till I can catch up. This works fine on Emperor, but not so well on Demigod. Now I'm thinking that I should go to war early even if I am a bit backward. But when I tried that in my last game, I got royally whupped. (It didn't help that I had to fend off two huge stacks of barb horses after the war started ...) Is this a good idea?
4. I've been trying to play continents 60%, to give myself some breathing space. The two games I won were Pangea, and it seemed to help to have contact with lots of civs. Is continents/60% a handicap?
5. Would it be okay to play a game and post the results, like a succession game but only with one player, so that others could give me feedback? Do people do that?
I win all the time on Emperor -- my success rate must be over 90%. I've won just twice on Demigod and that was with the Sumerians and Celts, both top-notch civs. I rate the Egyptians as less powerful but I still should be able to win with them.
I'm familiar with basic strategies such as tech bartering and micromanagement. There must be some flaw in my game, but I'm damned if I can figure out what it is. I've read some of the succession games on Demigod, and it doesn't look too hard for those players.
Some questions:
1. My start is usually as follows: Four or so warriors who explore and meet civs, then a granary, then pump settlers from the capital or from another city that has good food (which will also build a granary). My builds are usually a unit or two, then a rax or temple. By 800 BC I'll have 6-8 cities with a settler pump, three or so raxes, and a city or two producing workers. Is this a good plan, or should I do something different? How many settler factories should I have?
2. It doesn't take long for me to fall way, way behind. I pay attention to my finances and try not to have an army larger than what I can support. Yet no matter what I do, it seems like I fall a full age behind, and the AI has cavalry by the time I get to Feudalism. I can't barter techs usefully when everyone has many more techs than me. Is there a way around this?
3. Because I fall behind so fast, and start out weaker, I try to keep my head down and wait till I can catch up. This works fine on Emperor, but not so well on Demigod. Now I'm thinking that I should go to war early even if I am a bit backward. But when I tried that in my last game, I got royally whupped. (It didn't help that I had to fend off two huge stacks of barb horses after the war started ...) Is this a good idea?
4. I've been trying to play continents 60%, to give myself some breathing space. The two games I won were Pangea, and it seemed to help to have contact with lots of civs. Is continents/60% a handicap?
5. Would it be okay to play a game and post the results, like a succession game but only with one player, so that others could give me feedback? Do people do that?
