Looking for BTS SE advice

[Bleys]

I have been trying my hand at SEs, although I play more of a hybrid of SE/FE/WE + a few cottages in case I start to run out of cash. My "usual" style is more cottage dependent.

My current game is going very very well (I think). I have a small tech lead, and the world is just getting to Gunpowder/Astronomy now. My happiness cap is nice in all cities, and I have a good supply of resources (although only 1 source of Copper and Iron each). My Hemisphere consisted of me, Hammu, Cathy and Gandhi, although Gandhi was on a separate island. I also had Catherine right next to me, so I Chariot rushed her, keeping 2 cities and razing her other (poorly placed) one. I managed to get the Pyramids despite not managing to generate a GE, I basically chopped 20 forests in and around Moscow to get it.

I have a big SOD sitting by Hammus border, with the intention of taking a bunch of his cities shortly. However, I notice when I get to this point in games, I start to lose direction, as well as patience. My teching gets haphazard, I dont seem to be able to specialize cities properly (to my taste, anyway), etc. I have some nice production cities, and a bunch of strong food tiles and such to work. I dunno, I will probably play a bunch more turns tonight, and my current plan is to take the southern portion of Hammus land, give him peace, then turn my attention on Gandhi once I hit Astronomy myself and build some Galleons. I realize I could likley sit back, consolidate my tech lead, use my GP farm to churn out Great People for Golden Ages, and win a space victory, but I want more. I want to improve my play at this point in the game. I suck at intercontinental warfare (I got blown out in the latest LHC game, heh, because I got impatient), and I also dont have ANY experience with the last 1/3 of BTS games, because I only recently got this expansion. I actually hadnt played many Vanilla games this deep either, I tend to be one of those "dozens of half-games unfinished in my save folder" guys. I LOVE the early parts of the game, expansion, city founding and planning, early rushing (I could beat Emperor Vanilla on Pangaea maps fairly easily with solid rushes, but had problems with Emperor Continent maps).

So, I am asking some of you, who I notice have MUCH more insight in the later games. You know who you are. I read many many threads here, go over many games, and this board has taught me TONS of great strats. I try to pick up the things I like from the various styles I read about. In this game, I havent bulbed much, because I have been able to run a lot of specialists all over with solid food production. I like settling specialists anyway.

So if some of you could take a look, I would appreciate it. No rush, since I will be playing a bunch more turns tonight myself, and will likely finish the game tomorrow. But any tips about how I set stuff up, etc etc, would be helpful for my next games.

NOTE: I am also posting the original save, its Lincoln, Monarch, Normal speed, Hemispheres (2). Anyone else around my level (Monarch looking for the right time to move to Emp) that is interested in playing a good SE map, this is it. Capitol is solid, but not spectacular (LOTS of food though), and I have no stone, which was why I went for the MC Mids gambit), Barbs arent a big problem at all, etc.

 

[Cam_H]

Bleys,

I agree that you're in a good position, and a quick glance doesn't indicate anything unduly worrying - perhaps taking on the Babylonians a bit earlier might have been nice, but I can see why not.

The positioning of Atlanta was a tough one I can tell!

Monasteries are (were) also needed in your Super Science City for +20%.

I agree that some cities are a bit 'hybrid', but you're doing pretty well nonetheless.

My inclination would be to hold back on attacking Hammurabi a few more turns and pick up Military Science for some Macemen to Grenadier upgrades as well as possibly upgrading a few more of your Horse Archers to Knights. As the rest of your Maces do mop up work and get promoted to City Raider II (or III) then look at progressively upgrading them. Oxford University and the two Monasteries should knock a turn or two off the research of Military Science. You do need to attack someone - whether it's Gandhi or Hammurabi - as your 'critical mass' isn't quite there yet.

[Edit] Oh yeah ... more Workers! 7 Workers for 10 cities is 'by rule of thumb' not really enough. [/Edit]

Others may have different views ... best of luck!

 

[patagonia]

I don't have time to look at your save specifically, but some general SE advice:

1. Biology is the most important post-liberalism tech, followed by medicine. The extra food and health (from hospitals and environmentalism) will allow you to run lots more caste-system scientists/merchants.
2. If you can get yourself in a position to control the UN, do so. It'll save you some headroom on the culture slider from having to defy global civic resolutions.
3. Combining Globe Theatre and National Park in your highest food city is a good idea and allows you to support more specialists there (20+) than forest preserves are likely to. Oxford/NE is probably the next best combination.
4. For war, teching up the rifling path is a smart move since it enables you to draft better units. Since the bulk of your science and wealth will ultimately be coming from Oxford/Wall St cities you can have several workshops elsewhere and send the specialists to work them for a short-term production boost to pump out other units. As Cam pointed out, more workers will definitely help, especially when you reach railroads.

 

[Bleys]

Good tips Cam, thanks mate.

Yes, I did hesitate a long time on Atlanta, but finally just said "2 food, will be able to get to pop 8 or 9, decent production, can Windmill the Desert Hills for an extra pop, and sucked it up. I also plan to drop a city in by the Iron later, InvisStalker "filler" style, I really love his technique. Thats sort of why my worker total is low as well. I had 7 workers with 6 cities when I took Moscow and St Pete, and they did a good job, so when I dropped the jungle cities down, I had those workers swarm up there and whack that jungle up. Could have used a few more when I hit Calander though, see my Dye monopoly? I was getting 3 +health resources from Gandhi for 1 dye for a while, heh, til we had a "marriage break-up that strained tension" event and he canceled that trade, LOL. I love this game.

I also was going to go after Hammu earlier, but I had to slog through that jungle. Thats when I dropped San Fran down and started clearing it all out for my troops. I also had some troops scattered down by Washington, since Gandhi is only a galley-ride away. I wish I was connected to Gandhi, I would MUCH rather take him out than Hammu, Hammu has my religion (selfishly stolen from Catherine, thanks for founding Judism) and has been a faithful trade partner all game.

BTW, I dont know if anyone else does this, but I went after Cathy HARD . . . because she stabbed me in the back in the Lonely Hearts game! LOL. I was really mad at her for that, I could have won that if not for her sneaking in while I was busy with Shaka!

Good general tips from you too pat. You nailed my game well without looking, I actually managed to save a bunch of forests around my future NP city. I actually watched my National Wonder combos this game harder than I normally do in my CE games.

Cash has been my biggest issue (it always seems to be when I run SEs). Most of my income has been from missed wonders. I do have at least 1 or 2 cottages in every city for those "times" when I run low. I realize SE purists may balk at this, but it seems to work quite well, at least at this level (monarch). Will this work as well on Emp and Immortal? My next SE I might try Saladin, because my "trick" has been to run Caste System and jack up the specialists, then swap into Slavery (and Theocracy), whip my pops back a bit building units, while working +commerce tiles instead of running specialists with the extra food, to build up my treasury. Anarchy sucks though, and will get worse as I advance in ages.

Going back to the game once I do my morning board-readings. Thanks again to those who already offered advice, hope to get a couple more opinions before this thread moves off the first page, heh.

 

[Daedal]

However, I notice when I get to this point in games, I start to lose direction, as well as patience. My teching gets haphazard, I dont seem to be able to specialize cities properly (to my taste, anyway), etc.

I've noticed my games end up this way too and the simple reason is too much micromanagement and not enough patience. This isn't exactly game strategy, but I've found that if I force myself to play shorter CIV sessions and take more time to examine cities/worker orders/overall strategy I do much better.

 

[futurehermit]

I would say that rifling is the most important post-liberalism tech, combined with nationalism. Being able to whip/draft a bunch of rifles/cavalry to overrun opponents very quickly is great. When I run a SE I usually don't worry about my economy after rifling and astronomy are in the bag, because I am trying to win the game by domination around that point. Of course I play monarch/normal so take my experience with a grain of salt if you play at high levels. However, Snaaty also goes FE/SE with a heavy emphasis on rifles and he plays the highest levels.