Lost in the 1000ADs...

[Night.Haunter]

Well, now, I can at least get through the BCs without getting ganked by anyone (in fact, I actually can develop a military to gank them)

However, the problem now is that I feel lost in the AD... I feel as if I had no objective in research, military and city developement. I just random click on anything that sounds good, but after a while I lose my technological and military lead, proceeded to be ganked at around 1500AD. I dont exactly know what I should do...

Thx in advance guys! You guys have been very helpful!

 

[ParadigmShifter]

What level are you playing on?

Technology wise it's always good to go for Liberalism for the free technology (get Nationhood which is on the way to cavalry, Printing Press if you have lots of villages and Towns, or Astronomy if you need to go to another continent - or just the most expensive tech that is available). You need Philosophy for Liberalism and Paper and Education. Don't trade philosophy to anyone. Don't trade paper if you are still researching education, don't trade education either.

Good techs to go for after liberalism are Chemistry (for grenadiers, the AI loves rifles), Military Tradition for cavalry (if you get these before anyone else has rifles you can go an a rampage). Then you can trade away some techs to get what you missed out on while concentrating on liberalism.

Have you read Sisiutils guide for beginners in the War Academy? Lots of good info there re city specialisation.

Are you making sure that you have a steady stream of Great People so you can lightbulb techs? Great Scientists are normally best (apart from Engineers, they are much rarer though but there are ways to guarantee them).

If you already have grenadiers, cavalry and rifles by 1500 then other good techs to go for are Biology (more food from farms = more specialists), Physics (free Great Scientist if you get it first), Steam Power/Railroads (if you get machine guns first and put one in your attacking stack the AI hardly ever attacks you), Constitution is good if you run a lot of specialists because you get +3 research for each one).

It also depends what kind of victory you are going for. Concentrate on military tech if you are going for conquest or domination, science techs for space race (esp. computers for labs, robotics for space elevator), 1500 is too late to go for culture probably if you hadn't started out with that goal in mind, Mass Media for a diplomatic win (need lots of population so biology is important, and good relations with the AIs - except the AI with the most population which will be your rival).

Grab or trade for other techs as you need them. Need health? Get refridgeration for supermarkets or genetics later. Look ahead in the tech tree and see what effects each tech will have, if it sounds like something you are going to need soon then set that as your top priority goal.

 

[ParadigmShifter]

More tips: (I was going to add them as an edit but that would be confusing I think).

Once you have education you will want to build 6 universities pronto so you can build Oxford University in your top science city. Likewise once you have banking (I normally trade for this since it doesn't have an immediate effect unlike currency) get 6 banks up so you can build Wall Street.

When I see the "What would you like to build in this city?" menu I always examine the city and see how much gold and science it is producing and what the happiness/health is like, and what buildings it currently has. This is better than just picking what the computer suggests, the suggestions are daft alot of the time. You can also see dimmed out buildings in the build bit of the city screen and if you mouse over them you can see why you can't build it (e.g. Oxford University - requires University 4/6 total), that helps quite a bit.

EDIT: Good buildings to build to sort out common problems are:

Health -
Grocers (if you have the resources that get a bonus from this - e.g. bananas)
Granary for health bonus from crops (although all cities should have a granary early on most of the time)
Harbour (if coastal)

Happiness - usually more important to deal with than health issues
Market (if you have the resources that get a bonus, fur etc.)
Theatre
Colosseum
Forge (if you have gold, silver or gems and can take the -1 health hit)
- or you can use slavery to get rid of unhappy/unhealthy peeps

Cash problems -
Market, Grocer, Bank, Courthouse (all cities should have a courthouse, except the capital)

No problems -
Probably best to just build more units

 

[ac196nataku]

Once you get to the 1000s you really need to pick a victory condition and do all that you can to achieve it. It sounds like thats your number one problem (admittedly, sometimes its mine as well).

 

[ParadigmShifter]

I agree. If you are at war concentrate on military techs and continue taking land going for a domination win. It's always worth going for space techs as a backup plan though. Don't build the UN if you have no friends and low tech, or your only friend is #1 or #2 in population.

 

[svv]

After liberalism, I generally like to go chemistry/steel (for grenediers, cannon, and the ironworks in my gp farm),

then democracy (for statue of liberty),

then assembly line (for factories, infantry, pentagon),

then industrialism (tanks).

Everything not on they way to those, I try to get by trade. However, if you don't have the great library, and are wanting to run a lot of specialists, you'll want to emphasize scientific method/biology much earlier.

 

[Morgrad]

I agree with ac196nataku - if you haven't been doing so from the beginning, you should, at this point, pick a victory condition and concentrate your efforts on that.

Ask yourself before your next tech: "What tech will not only help me reach my goal, but be the best tech in the short-term to get me there?" Then ask yourself "why/why not?"

With an end-game goal in-mind and the correct mindset, it will become obvious to you quickly what you should be researching and building next.

Good luck!

 

[Night.Haunter]

Ok the syndrome is coming back...

Well, I started with hatty this time and i managed to completely destroy the Russian empire (not really, but they only have 1 city left as I took St Peterborough and Moscow), but then Louis XIV started to wage war against me.

This time, I feel lost again. I pumped out many units and managed to turn the tables, but now Huayna just overtook my lead. I am now out of focus as well because I intended a space victory but I am already losing the battle...

So what should I do now?

Here is a save:

 

[mice]

Interesting game. Makes me nostalgic for Vanilla.

you are in good shape. first, forget about the score. The score doesn't matter.You are going for a victory,space or domination.

You are ahead of the other civs in tech, it's just that they have feudalism. They always go for feudalism.

On that turn I asked Louis for peace and he agreed. I'd get to peace with everyone, and tech to CS, build maces and then go again against your enemy Loius. Huyana is your friend now (mutual struggle against Loius). He will tech away on the other side of the map but you will eventually have much more land than him, and he can wait for your cavalry/grenadiers/cannons

You have good land. Develop the gold mines and maximize the Collosus/sea tiles with all that commerce.

It's early days. if you take Louis' land you could probably still win space race, but I would be inclined to war to domination. (build catapults full time in one city.)

 

[Night.Haunter]

Thx for your help mice, I think I am in good shape...I hope

OK, right now, I retook Marsailles and razed Orleans and made peace. But now, I am not so sure about my position because I did use a bit of time to overpower the French and I couldnt take their cities because most of them were useless.

So, what should I do now?