My early build pattern

[Mojotronica]

4 Warriors for early defense and exploration.

Settlers, settlers settlers! Expand peaceably until I have at least ten cities. I build the cities tight, 2 or 3 spaces apart. No less than 2. I favor coastal cities, w/ complete and overlapping coverage.

A Spearman in every city.

4 Horsemen for exploration and to provide active defense against invasion.

If I don't get Horses, I build an extra Spearman on each city bordering a neighbor.

A Worker for every city.

If I get Iron, and have a weak enough neighbor, I upgrade my remaining Warriors and build until I have 12 Swordsman and 3 Catapults, and take their Capital City.

Then I build Spearmen and Swordsman, until I conquer the minimum number of enemy cities to form a defensible border, or wipe them out.

If I don't get Iron, I build an extra Spearman on each city bordering a neighbor. I make peace w/ my neighbors. I focus on internal development and trade. I try to get to Republic or Democracy Gov't as quickly as possible.

I can't beat Emporer level consistantly -- anyone have any advice for me?

 

[Bamspeedy]

Don't bother with spearman if you are building your cities that close to each other. Swordsmen have the same defense as spearman, but you'll be more flexible in how you use them because of the better attack. Your inner cities probably don't need any defense at all, unless you need them for military police. For military police, just use cheap warriors.

Build lots of warriors, then upgrade to swordsmen when you get your iron hooked up. Disconnect iron, build lots more warriors, reconnect iron, upgrade. Rinse and repeat. Or build lots of chariots, then upgrade when you get horseback riding. Or build lots of chariots/horsemen then upgrade when you get Chivalry (knights).

 

[Mojotronica]

Why disconnect the iron? Money's tight early on! You're saying it's more efficient to build cheap and upgrade? Surprising!

 

[Chieftess]

I know why.


Iron has a chance of disappearing, so... If you upgrade all at once, and pillage the iron when you don't need it, you have very little risk of wasting the iron.

I did just that in the Tournament 3-5 game, which was a OCC. I had an iron resource, and I KNEW that letting it go would be fatal .So, what did I do? I only connected it when I had to. I even left an archaic, outdated pikeman to stand guard over it. It's good if you're stripped for resources. Also, swords are much more expensive than warriors, and take longer to build. There's another piece to the puzzle. 0% science at the 2 highest levels. (that's another strategy for another day), but... the money you save up there will go towards upgrades. It's a strategy that is being used in the current demogame.

 

[DaveMcW]

Originally posted by Mojotronica
Why disconnect the iron? Money's tight early on! You're saying it's more efficient to build cheap and upgrade? Surprising!

It is more efficient to build cheap and upgrade.

Money is useful for 2 things after you have iron working: upgrading units and getting to the middle ages. If you plan on extorting all techs from your neighbors or wiping out the world in the BC years you can focus entirely on upgrading units.

The warrior->swordman upgrade strat is especially useful if you have an early golden age to get even more money.

 

[Unregister]

Originally posted by Bamspeedy
Don't bother with spearman if you are building your cities that close to each other. Swordsmen have the same defense as spearman, but you'll be more flexible in how you use them because of the better attack.

All true however swordsmen, even with the new guerillas, still don't upgrade nearly as far as the spearman do. However Bamspeedy is right if you go for a quick win in the ancient ages because then spearman are not needed.:

 

[edawstwin]

Build a Granary before you build your first Settler - the difference in your Settler output is amazing (after a slow start) - you'll outdo the AI, even on Emperor. The only times I build a Settler before Granary is if I am very close to a neighbor and have to cut off his expansion, or if I have 4+ Food Surplus per turn (effectively a Granary).

 

[DaveMcW]

Having 4+ food is even more reason to build a Granary - then it is effectively 8+ food!

You should put your granary in the highest food-producing city, so if you see a better site than your capitol you can switch to a settler and build the granary in your second city.

 

[NetGear]

Originally posted by Chieftess
I know why.


Iron has a chance of disappearing, so... If you upgrade all at once, and pillage the iron when you don't need it, you have very little risk of wasting the iron.

I did just that in the Tournament 3-5 game, which was a OCC. I had an iron resource, and I KNEW that letting it go would be fatal .So, what did I do? I only connected it when I had to. I even left an archaic, outdated pikeman to stand guard over it. It's good if you're stripped for resources. Also, swords are much more expensive than warriors, and take longer to build. There's another piece to the puzzle. 0% science at the 2 highest levels. (that's another strategy for another day), but... the money you save up there will go towards upgrades. It's a strategy that is being used in the current demogame.

doesnt unconnected resource also have chance of disappearance? Or has this changed?

 

[DaDoo]

If I remembered correctly, way back on I think the general forum that one of the Firaxis guy posted that the resource will have a chance of disappearing once you have connected to it. It will still have a chance to disappear even if you disconnect it later. I can't seem to find the post but I know I read it on here...