Is my basic stratagy good?

[Kietharr]

Here it is:

First i eliminate anyone on my continent early on, if possible before they get more than 1 city so that i'm alone, then i build settelers and set them up so i control my full continent ( i usually spawn with only 1-2 other people on my continent)

Then i build up, getting techs, buildings and a bigger military, while exploring looking for my next targets, i generally have 15-25 GPT now and about 400 saved up, i usually manage to get most of the importent wonders (i dont bother with the great lighthouse, it expires too early)

When i find someone i sell them the most useless tech i can get all of their gold for, i try to bankrupt them so they're stuck with an army of half obsolete units untill i get rid of them, i also start building up my navy, i'm usually early-mid middle ages by now with 30 GPT and about 700-1000 gold in my bank account

once i get combustion i usually start invading and destroying them, with me constantly keeping thier gold low they are usually just ending the middle ages, i generally attack with alot of infantry and artililary, i rarely get calvery in time for them to be useful. at this point i also eliminate all swordsmen, longbowmen and knights from my military, they're just taking up space at this point in the game, I'm also addicted to smith's and wall street, at this point i usually have 100+GPT and 4000-12000 in the treasury.

then they all start patheticly begging for peace, i accept for all of their money, then i just redeclare war on them because at this point my victory is nearly assured, i dont give a crap what they think of me

usually by this point i'm just entering the modern age, there's only 1 or 2 civs left, usually with less than 1/3 of their origanal territory, i play in monarchy so i can do AW, just for fun i research fission and nuke them til they have no units,improvements and only 1 population in every city, i send in some tanks to clean up and voila, i win

I play on cheftian, and the two above it and dont notice a signifigant need to change stratagy for those higher up ones, i tried dietiy once but they totally destroyed me, even when i wasnt warmongering, i only have the basic civIII with no patches.

I try to get spys to view their units as often as possible, and to sabotage nukes if i let them build up for modern warefare fun

 

[Tomoyo]

First i eliminate anyone on my continent early on, if possible before they get more than 1 city so that i'm alone, then i build settelers and set them up so i control my full continent ( i usually spawn with only 1-2 other people on my continent)

That won't be possible most of the time, especially on higher levels.

Then i build up, getting techs, buildings and a bigger military, while exploring looking for my next targets, i generally have 15-25 GPT now and about 400 saved up, i usually manage to get most of the importent wonders (i dont bother with the great lighthouse, it expires too early)

That seems like a ridiculously low gpt for the time, especially if you have all that room. Wonder addiction will also keep you from advancing in levels.

When i find someone i sell them the most useless tech i can get all of their gold for, i try to bankrupt them so they're stuck with an army of half obsolete units untill i get rid of them, i also start building up my navy, i'm usually early-mid middle ages by now with 30 GPT and about 700-1000 gold in my bank account

You are probably playing on too low of a difficulty level. It also sounds like you are not using suicide galleys (or building the Lighthouse) so you can meet them as soon as possible.

once i get combustion i usually start invading and destroying them, with me constantly keeping thier gold low they are usually just ending the middle ages, i generally attack with alot of infantry and artililary, i rarely get calvery in time for them to be useful. at this point i also eliminate all swordsmen, longbowmen and knights from my military, they're just taking up space at this point in the game, I'm also addicted to smith's and wall street, at this point i usually have 100+GPT and 4000-12000 in the treasury.

What do you mean "i rarely get Cavalry in time for them to be useful"? They come before Riflemen, and 6 attack versus 4 defense with three movement is just deadly! Again, move up in difficulty levels.

then they all start patheticly begging for peace, i accept for all of their money, then i just redeclare war on them because at this point my victory is nearly assured, i dont give a crap what they think of me

This is considered an RBC exploit.

usually by this point i'm just entering the modern age, there's only 1 or 2 civs left, usually with less than 1/3 of their origanal territory, i play in monarchy so i can do AW, just for fun i research fission and nuke them til they have no units,improvements and only 1 population in every city, i send in some tanks to clean up and voila, i win

Anyone can win at this point.

I play on cheftian, and the two above it and dont notice a signifigant need to change stratagy for those higher up ones, i tried dietiy once but they totally destroyed me, even when i wasnt warmongering, i only have the basic civIII with no patches.

Try a Monarch game. Try changing your strategy too, because it isn't flexible enough.

I try to get spys to view their units as often as possible, and to sabotage nukes if i let them build up for modern warefare fun

No comment.

Basically, you need to try a game without this strategy. Preferably at higher levels.

 

[rbis4rbb]

On chieftain you could win with one city.

 

[Tomoyo]

On chieftain you could win with one city.

On Deity you can win with one city. Now if you can pull that off on Sid, that would be impressive.

 

[Ringo Kid]

My best games are those where I can gain control of my entire continent, so I think that part of your strategy is sound. You might want to let the other civs build up a little though, while you do the same - and then take away from them what they have built with your military.

I like to alternate building and conquering phases, so I conquer some territory, declare peace, build up that territory in terms of population and infrastructure - then repeat as needed until I have a large advantage in Real Estate over the other civs.

From that point; I can usually get whatever type of win I like.

I would pay more attention to developing/maintaining good relations with the other civs, and less attention to Wonders. I think your game will be stronger that way, at the higher levels.

 

[Kietharr]

Yeah, i do admit, i do start shaking a little when someone gets the pyramids or sun tzu's before i do, if they get smith's before i do i find what city its in and invade to steal it. what i ment by i rarely get calvary in time for them to be useful is that i rush to combustion and replaceable parts, sometimes i dont even research half the optional stuff in the middle ages :/. from time to time i use suicide galleys but about 90% of the time i seem to start either
A. as far inland as i can be or
B. in a place where the sea has only desert squares near it

I play Iraqois for the mounted warrior and the expansionist trait (i tend to go crazy when i dont know where the enemy is at all times, scouts help stop this crazyness), i play bablyon too because the bowman is just so great early in the game (speaman and archer in one)

And i played a game on a large land continent and i found that i cant get all of my enemys (this was on the one before monarch i think) but i did kill the zulus (they took forever to kill, they kept sending away settelers and making random citys at crappy locations all over right before i captured their town) i'm actually learning that diplomacy can be good! india is right next to me and i have no desire of attacking them (a first, but well, about 40% of their land is desert or jungle and they have no recorces or luxurys which helps me to not be tempted) persia is far up north, they have good land but it's a 20 turn trip up there, shorter with galleys but i only have 3 costal citys, and they all have crappy land around them so i only have about 5 galleys.

The aztecs are in the jungles southeast of persia, they have about 8 tiles that are of any use, china is on a near totally tundra island, egypt and bablyon are across the sea, but they arent very powerful or technologicly advanced due to fighting with eachother alot.

I'm in the tech lead by about 4 techs, i have the pyramids and the oracle and i took sun tzu's and the great wall from the zulu, india has the colossus, persia has the great lighthouse, egypt has the great library (started with the bablyonians, but it changes hands alot) and bablyon has the hanging gardens.

most of my citys have temples and librarys, some have universitys, most have marketplaces very few have banks or cathedrals tho.

I'm also micromanaging my workers rather than automating, it takes longer but after how much my growth and production has increased i think its worth it (stupid auto workers were mining a grassland with a cow on it :/ )

I'll post as soon as i win (i'm ahead of my closest competetor, egypt by about 20 points, and bablyon is beating them in their little war, hopefully hammubri kills them)

EDIT: BTW about the low gpt thing, i usually play on the maps with a larger ammount of water, and i tend to spawn on small continents, meaning less land.

 

[AA-battery]

I don't like your language kietharr. I think you need to worry less about the AIs and worry more about your own development. You might want to consider a more diplomatic solution as well. Being a friendly nation can make your points go way up.

 

[Tomoyo]

BTW about the low gpt thing, i usually play on the maps with a larger ammount of water, and i tend to spawn on small continents, meaning less land.

Still, it sounds like you don't have enough workers or you are not emphasizing roads enough.

How about a screenshtot or save?

 

[Kietharr]

this is after the stage where i usually have 400g, but my roads have not changed much scince then (no coal for rail) this is an older save tho

 

[Tomoyo]

Ok, you have some basic problems.

a) You don't have enough workers. At this stage of the game, you should have almost all your tiles improved and ready for railing .
b) Bad city placement. For example, Tonawanda (That's a city you founded, right?) in exactly on the square between rivers, one tile of the coast. Sounds like something the AI would do.

Fix a) and you'll get more gold. B) is more of a nitpick.

 

[Kietharr]

i was heading for the coast but his escort popped a goodie hut full of barbs, they killed the escort and i figured that my setler was more valuable than 60 gold so i put him down and let the barbs ransack the city. edit: I'm talking about tondowanda

 

[justp360]

The great lighthouse can be useful , when the world map has more sea than land.that way u have to send out ships to find the enemy.
your ships will have better movement rate.
or on the other hand it can be a true waste !!!
I find that when you trade with the enemy they will ask for more tec.
i normally refuse them because the more tec u give away the more advanced
they get, plus they will use that new tec to crush u !!

 

[Kietharr]

I dont give them any techs with military value, i give them stuff like music theroy, what are they gonna do with that, whack me upside the head with a guitar?

 

[Tomoyo]

Yes, never underestimate the power of a well-directed musical instrument.

They can use it whack your citizens' mood by building JS Bach's cathedral before ya.

 

[sjd74]

Try reading some of the War Academy articles and giving those strats a go. I used to play a similar game, then I tried going for a cultural victory. Suddenly all my priorities were different and I had to go trawling through these excellent fora for MM advice.
Worth it, changed my perspective on playing the game.

Edit: buy C3C and play the scenarios. Each of those require different strats to win.

 

[Tomoyo]

buy C3C and play the scenarios. Each of those require different strats to win.

 

[Civkin]

Regardless of how you aim to pursue victory in the end game, I believe the early game is all about pumping out as many settlers, workers and defensive units as possible. City improvements mean squat. There's a cool article in the War Academy (forgot its title) that described a strategy for a cultural victory without building a single temple or library until 0 AD; the crux of the strategy was massive early expansion and packing cities in like sardines. There's never anything wrong with tons of cities. However, there IS something wrong with building great wonders at the cost of extending your borders. I agree with Tomoyo: wonder addiction is perilous. I almost never build any Ancient wonders, although I am very keen on getting Sun Tzu's, Leo's Workshop and the Sistine Chapel in the Middle Ages. And at that point of the game, thanks to my focused early growth, I almost always have the momentum and resources to nail all three.

 

[AA-battery]

I agree that you should build as many cities as much as possible. But city improvements are still important as you later progress. Especialy the temple. Culture influences also affect border expansion too. As for being wacked upside with a guitar, it can be way worse than that. It's kind of like someone dropping a huge organ on your head. If the AIs get ANY techs from you they can start researching more and skip the stupid one that you give to them, Keithar. Stupid techs like that help you get ahead with more important stuff. My rule of thumb is to never trade techs unless it is a no brainer like the AI is going to learn the tech in one turn because of the great library but yet they will give you all your gold for it. I still will recieve techs from the AI but I won't trade one of my techs for it. I just usually pay some gold and usually make a combined deal where we both exchange luxuries at the same time. Either that or I just demand a new peace treaty where I get what I want. I usually use that technique when dealing with AIs that are neutral and are somewhat weaker than me. Anydangway, I almost never trade techs unless it is really in my interest.

 

[AA-battery]

Oh, and another thing Kietharr. At the beginning of this thread, your strategy isn't so good but I'm not so sure about your stratagy!

 

[The Dragon]

When you get to higher levels, you'll often find yourself behind on tech and that one you're trading is one most of the AIs have. Discovering a tech first and instantly shopping it out to everyone you know is sometimes the only way to keep parity.