Level 7, immortal difficulty(BNW)

reddishrecue

Some dude on civfans
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I started a random civilization, random map, standard speed and standard size map. I got England and got off to a fresh start, 2 cities in an island with a only 2 resources, pyramids, heroic epic and circus maximus for happiness and more cities. Since I had 9 iron and got 4 cities built with 2 tradition and 2 liberty, I teched straight into navigation to get ship of the lines. I had about 7 ships and 1 caravel and went ahead and took Sejong's Seoul and Jeonju but didn't go inland to finish off Sejong since my melee units weren't so good. I made peace and let him live.
So I moved to the other continent with the ships and took Marrakech and Rabat from Morocco. I get to the ideology era and chose Autocracy since it was the last tenet with a free social policy. As soon as I did this, I got many DoWs, from India, the Ottomans and Korea who eventually got to take back their lands along with a revolutionary wave from the ideology section which left me with -12, unhappiness. I built zoos and coloseums and managed to reduce unhappiness to -6, Sweden had barely built the Manhattan Project while I was barely researching industrialization. I also had barbarians appearing near my capital cities which I killed and gained culture from honor.
I thought this game was a good starting spot but I don't know what I did wrong here. Another weird thing I noticed is that I failed 2 coups at 85% odds of success and got 2 KIAs.

Anyway, any tips that work for the level 7 immortal difficulty in BNW?
 
A few things... I'll just name what comes to mind.

1- Zoos aren't going to fix ideology pressure. If planning an industrial era conquest then you need maximum culture (and tourism) focus before then (early and mid game). Which of course requires either wonder-mongering or very solid infrastructure (to get loads of archeologists and museums up ASAP), up to you how to work that out.

OTOH if you're already in late-game and culture and tourism aren't top-tier, it's better to pick the same ideology as the tourism leader has and try to make it fit. Two free policies isn't worth a revolution. Autocracy is a bit exceptional in that it gives you some leeway - the happiness from barracks is super strong - 6 per city from buildings that Honor gives you cheap hammers for. That's a tier-2 policy so judge whether you can unlock it in time.

2- Don't leave enemies alive in Immortal. The AI's production bonus make losing the capital after the early game a trivial setback. (Spend some time peeking in on enemy AI cities during wars with spies just to see how absurdly powerful AI backup capitals are.) When you take a capital, unless your DV is in sight in the next 20 turns, then you need to take every other city - leave nothing over 4 population. Especially for Korea! Either finish the conquest yourself or let the other players pile on. Don't make peace until they are dust.

3 - isolated start with only two luxes sounds like a death sentence anyway. only partially opening tradition is usually wasteful. full liberty open probably would have been best bet, since limited early exploration / worker "rescue" opportunities, plus synergy with exploration tree.
 
When playing England, you should never be in the situation you describe.
SoL's are near the natural tech path for a science focused game. So you should always be the first to get an ideology on Immortal (and 1st on Deity 95% of the time), and you should never be barely entering the Industrial when the AI is deep into the atomic era.

I would suggest you read some of the countless threads on this forum on early game strategy and micromanagement. I suspect the first problem is you are not micromanaging your citizens - this is about the only way you can be this far behind in tech unless you just did not build universities at all
 
When playing England, you should never be in the situation you describe.
SoL's are near the natural tech path for a science focused youe. So you should always be the first to get an ideology on Immortal (and 1st on Deity 95% of the time), and you should never be barely entering the Industrial when the AI is deep into the atomic era.

I would suggest you read some of the countless threads on this forum on early game strategy and micromanagement. I suspect the first problem is you are not micromanaging your citizens - this is about the only way you can be this far behind in tech unless you just did not build universities at all

I did build universities and I had scientists to prevent unhappiness from growth. I got public schools kind of late because of a world fair that had passed. Do you know a link to the strategy threads?
 
I did build universities and I had scientists to prevent unhappiness from growth. I got public schools kind of late because of a world fair that had passed. Do you know a link to the strategy threads?

hmmm, ya something fundamental is going wrong. Not sure I understand universities to prevent growth. You need enough population to work the universities and continue to grow. If you are slowing growth to work a specialist then something has gone wrong earlier.

Uploading a turn 90ish save game will get you the best feedback. Plenty of folks here will be happy to open your game and even play it for a bit.

This guide is an excellent place to start
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=506043
It is a Shoshone guide but the fundamentals in have been adopted by many players for any civ.

Tabarnaks guide is considered by many to be the best place to start
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=502837

Both guides are aimed at science based victories, so they are ideal for England since navigation is so far up the tech tree. Both guides assume you are proficient with micro managing your citizens.

Lastly, there is a 2 hour video I made from another players save game. I made it when the Fall Patch was still in beta, so there is some slight things wrong with it (I recommend still taking consulates when commerce is better for instance). I do cover a lot of fundamentals though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Nc5KKxdMZ8&list=PLcD3FdQc1MC4XczHzXuiMp6oYFVJnNvl4

Sorry, I still have not made a current LP. I have been sand bagging on lower levels lately and not played much high level lately.

I would also suggest checking out Moriarte's channel, his Japan game is quickly becoming a classic
https://www.youtube.com/user/Moriarte1982?feature=watch
Light Cleric is probably my current favorite LP'er, but the only current game he has up is the Deity Honor Challenge, but is a ton of fun to watch the struggle lol
https://www.youtube.com/user/ElceePlaysCiv
Lastly there is Madjinn, who is by far the most popular LP'er.
Almost all his videos are obsolete, but the first 5 or so Beyond the Monument Videos are worth watching
https://www.youtube.com/user/SBFMadDjinn
 
A few things... I'll just name what comes to mind.

1- Zoos aren't going to fix ideology pressure. If planning an industrial era conquest then you need maximum culture (and tourism) focus before then (early and mid game). Which of course requires either wonder-mongering or very solid infrastructure (to get loads of archeologists and museums up ASAP), up to you how to work that out.
Ideology pressure can be fixed with happiness, I've done it before in the lower difficulties. If you have enough happiness, you can afford to pay off the unhappiness from the revolutionary wave costs of a non-influential ideology.
 
Ideology pressure can be fixed with happiness, I've done it before in the lower difficulties. If you have enough happiness, you can afford to pay off the unhappiness from the revolutionary wave costs of a non-influential ideology.

Could be that the AI's do not produce enough Tourism on the lower levels to cause much ideological unhappiness. Also, local (for each city) unhappiness is what causes the problem, not global. I'm not sure of the exact formula by which this is calculated or what bonuses (if any) the AI may get on higher levels.
 
You probably built too much stuff(Circus Maximus?). Wehn you go for naval wars and start on a island you have to build the National College asap since that you can't use caravans/cargos to boost your science.

Mixing both trees aren't generally a good idea if you can't generate enough culture before entering the Medieval Era unless you play Poland. Coastal cities mixed with the Exploration tree is the best move you can do for naval wars. Don't even bother with Rationalism. Normally, you should get Navigation as fast as you can and destroy the AI before they enter the Modern Era.

Focus on science and 3 cities. Put a 4th one if you can get a 4th unique lux. Finish Tradition asap so you can run in enough gold and happiness without coliseums and CM. Huge capital ensure you great production and a science edge over the AI. Save hammers for best grow stuff, Focus on mercantile cs and get these damn capitals :)
 
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