Multiplayer Tactics

[Chieftess]

Ok, I've been looking around the Internet a bit for MP tactics. Some ladder players may recongize these.

Pack em tight Build your cities very close to one another only about three squares away if possible. Rarely will your city get beyond size 6 unless it is by a river...even then this style can support a few size 12 cities. This close building will help in defense of your empire (important in elimination games) and also in corruption. Make sure you have a good supply of workers going to help with infrastructure. Again you must be able to create the greatest amount of production in the shortest amount of time. Never spread your cities too far and never leave a city unprotected. Make sure you have at least one defender (spearman) and one attacker (archer, horseman, or swordsman). A popular tactic is for a player to move a spearman or 3 defense UU through your empire destroying roads, mines, and irrigation. If you don't have an attacker you may get caught with your pants down. Don't worry about barracks or temples until you have build the number of cities you are comfortable with. After which you may pop rush both the temple and barracks (granaries in towns by a river otherwise don't bother). Then concentrate on your military.

From a reply to that quote:

It is perfectly safe to leave a city buried in the center of your empire unprotected- in fact it's probably a good idea to save on maintenance. Make sure you can keep fast moving invaders out, though. Some feel that a barracks in your second town to disperse veteran defenders is a good idea; likewise, I would disagree with wasting time building a granary anywhere the population won't go down (read: Worker/Settler pump.)

Techs only a few techs are vitally important in a MP game. Again you will often only play a short time and in ladder games other players will rarely trade techs with you unless you are playing teams or have an alliance. Even so as your army increases in size your ability to research will diminish so my advice is to pick 4 or 5 techs you absolutely need then forget about the rest. After researching your techs immidiatley switch all your resources into luxuries. Again this will help your score.

Some other tips:

Expect military action. One of the reasons some people like this game is the chance to (vicariously) kill. Don't take it personally. Defend each and every city.

Become familiar with moving multiple units in a stack. This is done using the lower right corner control panel when game is running. Look for the two buttons "Move Units in Stack" and "Move Units of Same Type in Stack". This is an essential technique. Practice it in single player mode first. The biggest advantage of this is when attacking because it speeds the attack considerably giving the opponent less time to react. It is also useful to avoid barbarians and opponents when moving a settler, worker and their protector(s). Note that only non-fortified players will be moved. Wake them before doing group/stack moves.

When playing don't become totally lost in the minute details. Look for the big strategic picture. Are your opponents near or far? What natural obstacles (jungles, deserts, mountains) might effect planning?

"Sentry Net" - There's also unit scouting, which I mentioned back when we started. Remember when GCA founded the Balance of Power? I said to place warriors along their border, but just outside so that they don't see us. Those mountains were perfect for a "Sentry Net", and we really shouldn't waste time on setting one up. (or atleast, shouldn't have). A few well placed Spears would serve as excelling scouts.

Stack Attack - you can press CTRL-J to attack with an entire stack of units. Not sure how this is in PBEM though.



I think our main problem in this game was a lack of a MP plan. From what I've seen, players choose civs based on early attacks, pillaging, and speed. The Aztecs would have been a perfect choice with this terrain, had we found that chokehold before GCA did. One strategy I've noticed is MP games is pillaging. Pillage, and pillage hard. Think like the Vikings - "Head east to where the sun sets, and there you will find a city. Raze, pillage, and plunder all that you find.".

Sounds ruthless, but apparently, that's the way MP works. Here's some VITAL techs: (not in this order)

Ancient Era:

HBR (horses - Mounted Warriors for the Iroquois)
The Wheel (shows the horse resource - Chariots, War Chariots)
Masonry (walls)
Bronze Working (spears)
Iron Working (swords - Immortals, Legions <-- not good for MP BTW)
Map Making (galleys)
Pottery (granaries - not as big as SP, but important)
Warrior Code (archers)
Math (catapults - do we even HAVE any????)

Middle Ages: (TAKE EXTREME NOTE OF THESE TECHS!!!!)

Feudalism (Medival Infantry - this is a biggie)
Chivalry (KNIGHTS!! Riders, War Elephants <--- major biggie)
Astronomy (caravels)
Gunpowder (muskets)
Metallurgy (cannons)
Military Tradition (Cavalry)

Industrial Age: In MP, rubber is King, not oil.

Steam Power (for rails of course!)
Replacable Parts (the SINGLE most important tech in the industrial age next to Motorized transport).
Industrialization (factories to pump out units)
Motorized Transport (more of a luxury unit in MP, since if you don't have rubber, cavs and artillery will overwhelm you before you even REACH tanks!).

Modern Era:

Kind of obvious (doubtful if the game will get this far)
Synth. Fibers, Computers and Robotics.

Notice the pattern here -

Offense, Defense, support.

Dedicating cities as specific production centers -

This is a known SP tactic.

City #1 - settlers only
City #2 - workers only
City #3 - defense only
City #4 - offense only

 

[FortyJ]

Great Stuff Madame VP!

Clearly though, some of those things are intended for MP simultaneous play or similar modes, not for PBEM. I'm not sure that the speed advantage of moving an entire stack of units to attack pays off in PBEM.

I think that we would be best served by adapting parts of this strategy to our current situation in the game. Perhaps we should re-dedicate Shen Ling to pumping out Settlers and establishing another 2 or 3 cities along the western edge of the mountains and other nearby locations....