Monarch Frustration -- Is Balance Possible

[THE WIZ]

HELP!

This is my first post here, and I am really enjoying the site so far. I have beaten the AI on the three first levels, but Monarch is really breaking me. Here is my dilemma -- I can't get a good enough start to make a run. I usually get caught underdefended or so far buried back in tech that I can't get any wonders or recover, or find myself broke. I need BALANCE! And for some reason, I can't find it! If I focus on tech and culture, AI preys on my military. Even if I am very well defended, their offence is too big. If I focus on early military invasion, two things happen -- a) AI always has more units than I do, and it is hard to break them or b) My territory stays small because war is expensive.

So, I need a good start. I have been experimenting with the Persians for their military might, but I am open to new things.
I realize that this post is probably a bit repetitive, but I am addicted to this game and fairly new at it.

My big question: Is balance possible? Or am I deceiving myself and should I focus on something specific? If I should focus, I am sure that most players here will tell me to focus on the military...but I want to know what you all think.

Describing myself, I am most often looking to build culture/wonders/expand my territory through peace and diplomacy...maybe i should change this?

Thank you for your time, and your help in advance.
I am soooooo addicted! And I want to win!

 

[SuperBeaverInc.]

Make sure that you trade with the AI. Trading gets very important on the higher levels.

And welcome to CFC!

 

[THE WIZ]

Thanks SB. I love the site and the game, and am learning lots. I love that this game is so intricate that you need a site like this. What do you trade most? Do you trade all early tech?

 

[SuperBeaverInc.]

If you can get a tech that the AI higly value, like Nationalism, make sure you trade it around to all the AI as soon as you get it. The AI will pay a nice price for a valuable tech.

 

[USC]

Hi Wiz,

Welcome to CFC! (From a fellow newbie.)

Trade early and often. "SHIFT-D, down-arrow, Enter" is your friend.

Don't forget two non-obvious trading opportunities (in Civ3 and PTW than not in C3C, where contact trading and map trading come MUCH later):

1. the moment when ANYONE you know discovers Writing (you can trade them any contacts they don't have for Writing, or just sell your right arm for it, and then quickly whore off your contacts and acquire and whore off even more contacts

2. the moment when ANYONE you know discovers Map Making. See above, except even more so -- you will generally have a much more complete map to start with than the others, thus more to bring to the table at the start of the process.

USC

 

[THE WIZ]

Good point USC. I have noticed that in some of the stratgies posted here, people hold off selling the contacts. I wondered if that was smart, or if people were losing opportunities to trade.

 

[THE WIZ]

PS USC good luck to your football team this weekend.

 

[kzk]

Welcome here Wiz,
Im Monarch player, cause I like its conditions. Both AI and H. player have the same opportunities. Lets describe my way. I `m putting 80% on sience.
1/ In the beggining of the game its realy important to expand quickly. 3 - 4 settlements.
2/I try to research Iron working, and grab source of it. Then I`m producing swordsmans.
3/ After reaching Iron working I go for Literature and its realy important to build Great Library! ( Its helpfull to rush GA with your UU, but it isnt necessarily) So one city is producing GW and other cities continue expanding and swordsmaning )
4/ When Great Library is finished I usually put research funding to 20% (then go for Monarchy) and focusing to enlarge my military and improve cities.
5/ When I have around 10 - 30 swordsmans ( depending on AIs I usually starts to attack someone (my closest neighbour). Its helpfull when AI is at war with someone else.
Thats my strategy, hope it helps!

 

[THE WIZ]

Thanks kzk. COuld you define GA GW and UU?

 

[TedJackson]

GA = Golden Age, GW = Great Wonder & UU = Unique Unit.


Ted

 

[THE WIZ]

ty ty

 

[THE WIZ]

how do you rush a golden age?

 

[USC]

USC good luck to your football team this weekend.

USC = Unity Scout Chopper. It's a (very cool) unit you can get from the equivalent of a goody hut in Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri. Unfortunately, either I couldn't use "UnityScoutChopper" on CFC (unlike Apolyton Civ Site) as a username because of the length, or I forgot that I could and did use "UnityScoutChopper" instead of "Unity Scout Chopper". So I took USC.

Second time that's happened to me (someone commenting on the football team). Have no clue what they're like!

Originally posted by THE WIZ
Thanks kzk. COuld you define GA GW and UU?

A little favor to my fellow Czech:

GA = Golden Age
GW = Great Wonder
UU = Unique (i.e. civ-specific) Unit

----

USC

 

[SuperBeaverInc.]

You can't rush your GA. You get it by either winning a battle with your UU, or building two GW with the same traits as your civ, then the next wonder you build will give you your GA.

 

[THE WIZ]

Ok. Thanks. Now, let's talk about balance !
Wiz

 

[USC]

btw regarding kzk's suggestion - Great Library strategies are one way of doing things (especially at the levels low enough to give you a chance of snagging it and high enough for it to bring a benefit), but not the only way. The suggestion to build the GL but research at 20% until monarchy is interesting, if a bit odd; generally the three research paradigms are 0%, 10% (or 1-scientist), or as much as you can manage. The basic idea of not completely cutting off research if it means you can leave despotism faster is not bad, but if you're going to do it, 20% is a bit low.

Also the bit kzk mentions with swordsmen depends a lot on if you are playing Civ or C3C. In regular Civ or PTW, it's MUCH better to hold off on building swordsmen as long as you can and build warriors instead, because under despotism, upgrades are one of the few ways you can spend your money, and even after that, they are cheaper than the gold-for-shields conversion rate during rush-buys. In C3C, upgrades are a 50% more expensive, but if you can afford 'em... leave your iron unhooked until you're ready for (or forced into) war, then hook it up and upgrade to swordsmen.

USC

 

[USC]

rush your GA

Perhaps kzk is someone who plays Persia/Rome so much that he forgets (or refuses to believe) that others play other civs too? In that case "rushing your GA" would mean "using your UU as soon as possible."

It could also mean "setting off a GA before you leave despotism," something which many, though not all, players consider to typically be a nearly wasted GA.

USC

ABBREVIATION MANIA!

 

[Sprint]

As far as selling contacts to other civs goes - you need to be VERY careful with that. I don't like putting civs of roughly equivalent power in contact with each other. If one is a lot more advanced than the other, no biggie - the runt can buy a tech or two off the big dude. If they're equal they can trade techs back and forth, and I don't get any of the action.

 

[THE WIZ]

But won't they just meet up with each other soon anyway? Or get traded through someone else? Are you just losing an opportunity to get more tech/power?

 

[USC]

Different players, different opinions (which suggests that Civ is probably a good game -- lots of strategies of similar vale).

My take: they will indeed meet each other soon anyway (or more precisely, some other civ will whore off the contact very quickly if you don't). Of course, situations vary. For example, I frequently have the problem that other civs have little or nothing to offer for my "goods". Some AI will eventually come along and whore the stuff to them anyway, but why speed up the process? Another exception is (again, more in vanilla/PTW than in C3C) suicide galleys -- if you manage to discover the other continent in e.g. a 50-50 split 2-continent 16-civ game, being the "tech bridge" between continents is MUCH more valuable than what you'd get by trading off contacts between continents. (Maps is OK though, since the AI is programmed to never end a galley's turn in the ocean, and thus will never make use of the map info showing the position of the other continent -- which it can see anyway due to its map cheat.)

USC

[edit] must... have... coooofffeeeee [/edit]