Latter Half - Midgame Audit

[dexters]

After completing my last game, I have decided to change it up a little and try for domination vic on a continent's map. Monarch, Standard size, pretty much the same settings as the last one.

Early expansion was no problem. The Incas spawned near me again and had the only source of Iron nearby. This gave me an excuse for an early war. This war significantly crippled the Incas and I was subsequently able to take over their territory.

The continent is shared also with the Aztecs and the Iroquois.

This is a domination game. I knew I'd eventually have to go to war with the Aztecs, and I did, taking their capital and 2 minor cities but my expansion has stalled and there's the more pressing concern. The AI appears to be playing for domination as well as the Maya on the other continent re on the verge of obliterating the Koreans and will have the continent all to themselves. (They have already wiped out the Americans and the Arabs)

-Pro: they are over there
-Con: they are over there

Concern #2
The Iroquois was on my hitlist, but tech and resource trades them them have proven so profitable that I may want to simply keep them onside until the very end then blitz them if I need the extra territory for the win.

This leaves the Aztecs and the remnants of the Inca to clear out. That maybe give me ~40% of the landmass and I'll need at least 20% more for a domination victory.

So I have opened a war with the Aztecs, my goal is to take their border cities and cripple them as much as possible. My forces are superior, numbers aren't as much as I'd hope and the Aztecs and well entrenched in mountanous cities making them relatively costly to take.

I am not a warmonger by nature and waging this kind of war is not my forte.
In all my CivIII games I've only won domination once... accidentally on a Pangea map.

 

[vmxa]

Domination will take a long time on a continental map. This means, Steam will be in play. To me, I do not want to have borders after with anyone on my land. So somewhere around that time, I would want to push everyone of the land.

This lets me sent units overseas and not be worried about a large force paying me a visit. IF you have rails up and they grab a town, they can run over many towns in a hurry. I do not want to defend against that. Anyway you will need the tiles for domination and they will be useful for science farms.

 

[rysingsun]

The Incas spawned near me again and .. also the Aztecs and the Iroquois... Maya ... Americans ...

I know this is a tangent, but you might want to disable "culturally linked starting locations" in the startup screen or you will get the american group every time. Most people do it, and it is allowed for competetive play too.

 

[vmxa]

Just took a small look:

First thing I see is you have a lake near Kyoto and not one town was founded on it? That hill would have been perfect. Then Tokyo could have been on the hill by the gems and the plain it is now on would have been available for food.

I hope you did not research Democracy. That would be a waste of beakers. since you are in Rep and going to be at war.

Why did you research Nationalism? It is better to go Stream and then head for RP. You could do Industrial after steam, if you want.

Why are you researching Medicine right now? I am betting you are wanting to get to Sanitation. If that is the case another mistake.

I really get discouraged when I see 1380AD and tiles near the capitol are without a road? Lots and lots of tile in the core are missing roads.

Wait, the capitol has tiles next to it and no road. Another thing I hate to see is forest still in core towns at this date. You missed the chance to chop them for some of those early structures. Now they are sitting there and you have
to chop them or rail over them, not an effective method.

You have an SGL sitting around? Do you know it will prevent you from getting any MGL's? I suppose you are planning on holding for the ToE. You should be able to build that on your own. I would rush Magels, but US is ok. I picked Magel to deny them the extra movement.

You have 8 workers, that is a major crime. No wonder so many tiles are unimproved.

I would sell the granary in Kyoto as you are not going to be making workers or settlers there. Yeah, I know you want a hospital, forget it. You will be busy.

I see a court in a place that is marginal at best, but not one in Cuzco. It could use it.

Sell walls in Tiwanaku, it is size 12. Sell walls in any city.

Machu Picchu a pop is a hill with no road, while a nice river tile has a road to gain a shield. If you had a mine you would be getting the extra gold. Since the extra shield is lost anyway, I move the citizen to gain 1 food and 3 gold.

This type of stuff is what keep most player struggling at these middle levels like Monarch and Emperor. You must use your empire better, especially in harsher starts or higher levels.

 

[dexters]

These are very good feedback. I'll load up my game and have a look.

And no I didn't research democracy. I ignored the top branch of that tree and got up to printing press through trades.

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[vmxa]

One of the things that is so great about RP, is not just the arty and infantry, but you get faster workers AND civil engineers. You can take a citizen or two and make them a CE and really speed some of those builds, like aquas or even a factory.

Walls should not be needed at this level, unless you are playing an Always War game. You can run into a rare situation that a wall makes sense, but not in core towns. The AI is not good enough to get to you that early.

In a front line town during a war, perhaps, or an uprising for raging barbs. They cost no maint, but often they are build by players very early when shields are important.

 

[dexters]

On unimproved tiles: I have 32 workers, 24 slaves, 8 natives. What happened was that the Incan territory needed to be roaded and because I acquired such a huge swath of land, I needed those roads built to move troops deeps into the territories.

A lot of mining had to be done around Cuzco and Taniwaku as well. Not an excuse for neglecting the core however.

 

[vmxa]

The 8 natives along with the tiles in the core, suggest the problem. You should have a lot more than 8. They would pay you back, you really cannot afford to skip workers.

Slaves came much later. I should mention that when you knew Steam was due soon, you should have been organizing the workers to gang them. They could them put up rails in one turn for each gang.

Do not have solo workers clear jungle. They are stuck for a very long time, here you are needing rails to defend or attack. Gather all workers to a focal point for rail work. I would not have those workers on the hill at this point either. Let them makes some progress on flat land that does not have forest.

At the start of the game, you know you do not have enough workers, when you have citizens working tile that have not been improved. That is the signal to make more workers.

 

[dexters]

Good tip. Thanks.