Maximizing GPT at Emperor

[WeirdoJoker]

What are some methods of maximizing income at Emperor? My last few games this has been a problem, and my current game (Celts) has me researching Gunpowder (my first line of research) while 4 AI Civs are already have it and 3 are constructing Magellan's. The reason is I have not been able to research quickly or even buy techs (except I was able to buy Monotheism) due to lack of funds. Not sure what general strategy I'm failing to employ, here ... this did not seem to pop up very much on Monarch.

 

[justanick]

A savegame would help to tell what you might be doing wrong.

On Emperor it is not totally unreasonable to research gunpowder at about 4 turns per tech. If other civs already have the tech, then it becomes even cheaper to research it.

The basics of building up a strong economy are covered here:

The Case For Food – Or, How to Become Economically Dominant - CivFanatics

This article is about is some of the things I suggest for internal improvement. Basically, how I think city spacing and the economic buildup of a civ (under ideal circumstances) should be approached. Basically, there are four things I think are pivotal in the maximum economic development of a...

civfanatics.com

 

[WeirdoJoker]

A savegame would help to tell what you might be doing wrong.

I'll try to remember to post one later ... not at home where my saves are.

On Emperor it is not totally unreasonable to research gunpowder at about 4 turns per tech. If other civs already have the tech, then it becomes even cheaper to research it.

I know. I'm not usually up to 4 at that point, but much closer than I currently am.

Though it occurs to me now I may have too many obsolete units, so I'll see what happens when I disband a few. Even though they're technically obsolete, should I get rid of my Gallic Swords yet?

The basics of building up a strong economy are covered here:

The Case For Food – Or, How to Become Economically Dominant - CivFanatics

This article is about is some of the things I suggest for internal improvement. Basically, how I think city spacing and the economic buildup of a civ (under ideal circumstances) should be approached. Basically, there are four things I think are pivotal in the maximum economic development of a...

civfanatics.com

Thanks. I've read it, but will do so again.

 

[tjs282]

Even though they're technically obsolete, should I get rid of my Gallic Swords yet?

Gallics are for fighting, fast conquering, and triggering your GA. The ideal time to do that is after you go to Republic, but before you learn Feudalism (and more to the point, before any of your Iron-owning neighbours learn it), which will allow you to spam them in large numbers, and pay for them with the GA commerce, before you're forced to build the equally-expensive-but-slower MedInf instead.

So if you've already had your GA(?), and your borders are now secure(?), and you have Horses and Iron (so can build Knights) then sure, you probably don't need (any more) Gallics, and you can (and probably should) start disbanding most/all of what you have left into useful builds: Libs+Unis in your core, Ducts in your dry towns (for the Pop7+ unit-support), Courthouses in your outer towns, etc. Start with any regs you have, then the vets. But elites are generally worth keeping until the AI starts sending offensive Rifles at you; you never know when you might get a chance to pick off a wounded MI or LBM and win an MGL...

Conversely, if you still have porous land-borders with hostile neighbours, and/or you don't have Horses to build Knights/Cavs but you've ended up with a long stringy empire that several stacks of 3-4 MI still can't adequately cover on their own, you might want to keep some/enough Gallics around to act as mobile firefighters, to back them up.

 

[WeirdoJoker]

So if you've already had your GA(?), and your borders are now secure(?), and you have Horses and Iron (so can build Knights) then sure, you probably don't need (any more) Gallics...

Yes, GA. Borders pretty secure. Have Horses & Iron, but no one will sell Chivalry and having trouble with research so skipping it (which I normally do anyway if I can't buy it).

 

[tenny]

My guess is that the issue here is trading. Trading luxuries early to set the luxury slider to 0% earlier and buy techs and try to sell them for gpt.
From Monarch to Emperor, the AI doesn't really get that better. 90% cost factor vs 80% costfactor for the AI in food and shields is not really that big of a deal and their worker does not really do that much imo. Especially as an agri civ you could still outgrow them. However, they also start with more units for exploration and like to trade much more.

On Emperor you also only start with 1 citizen born content. That makes a big difference in keeping your cities happy.

Empire Management aspects of maximizing your gpt are things like tile swapping, so that every city works the tiles in its radius that are the farthest away from your capital. If a city is working a tile that could be worked by another city with less corrpution, you are basically losing out commerce on that tile. But I don't think that is really the issue here. And of course working all river tiles, bonus tiles, coastal tiles.

 

[WeirdoJoker]

Ok, here's the latest Save. After reading the Food article again, I can see a bunch of mistakes & might try starting the same game over again. Haven't had a chance to follow up on any of the advice in this thread, what with work & such.

 

[Spoonwood]

After reading the Food article again, I can see a bunch of mistakes & might try starting the same game over again.

After viewing that save, I think that save especially relevant. With respect to your capital, it looks like you didn't focus on developing it into a 4 turn settler production city/settler pump/settler factory. With two bonus grasslands and a deer, such a city can make 5 shields per turn at size 3 with both bonus grasslands mined, and the deer irrigated (after it got chopped). With two more two food tiles that also produce a shield, that makes for 7 shields per turn at size 5. With freshwater like your capital's lake, such a city can produce a settler just in time as it grows to size 7 (or a bit smaller, which works out better for getting more cities up quickly and thus more overall growth eventually).

What I think you did: Your initial worker did a little capital development and then went off to road or help another city.

A better plan: Your initial worker stays around and develops the capital until it can produce a settler every 4 turns, or in some situations produces 10 shields per turn and can produce a warrior in one turn, then a settler in 3 turns (or later after barracks, maybe a horsemen, then 3 workers, then a settler). But stick with trying to get a settler out every 4 turns.

When cities get built earlier and one's empire has enough workers to develop core cities and maybe even grow cities, then keeping in technology on Emperor becomes more feasible.

Also, you have a large number of medieval infantry at your capital. If they and your other units were out trying to attack, you might capture some cities and have a better economic situation.