My First King Victory

[VladDrakken]

One day I decided to play Civilization Revoultion on King, feeling as I was ready to take on(And curious of how the busts in the gallery would look). I picked the Aztecs and was up against(if I recall right), China, Russia, Mongolia, Rome. At first things were going alright, but soon I was caught in war after war. Rome was destroyed and I forgot if I conquered the Mongols or not. about 80% of the game was me trying to survive against the Chinese and Russian Hordes attacking me from two fronts. Russians constantly landing from their island onto my lands, and even taking my capital. The chinese for the most part was held off. We launched wave after wave to take back the capital, and so far each attack failed. At this point, the sheer amount of battle started making me sing this song to myself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_p2CZ9EZFRE

At last, the war turned in our favor. The Capital was retaken, and we refortified, often taking turns for control of a Aztec city not too far from the capital until we started to take measures of defence. Then a devestating counter happened to the Chinese. The lower cities started to fall one by one as we pushed closer to their capital. I think we took it, I'm not sure, but we knocked them completely off their homeland. I was suprised to have won through Time Victory, though it was declared a domination victory. Almost the entire empire was a battlefield and many were lost, but in the end, it is the Aztecs who conquered the European powers!

Long live the Aztec gods and the snake goddess COATLICUE!


...Yes that was very necessary.

 

[hazeroth]

I think we're on the same track here, Vlad. Whenever I try the next difficulty up, I invariably go with the Aztecs only because of their auto-heal ability - it's SO good...

Hmmmm.... I don't remember ever playing a game where I can stand losing my capital. I've definitely had my share of lost games, but I usually quite before my capital city is anywhere near threathened. It's like a kick in the guts!

My first King victory on CivRev wasn't too long ago either, and this difficulty still provides heaps of fun, and lots more heartache than Warlord and Chieftain. At least my win rate on King is above 50% now, so the consistency is improving.

I tried Emperor for the first time yesterday, Aztecs caught between the Russians and Egyptians. Held these two off ok, thanks to some choice hill locations and catapult armies that arrived just in time. But I got too caught up in unit-building that before I knew it, the Romans on my left flank flipped two of my cities, which was a substantial part of my empire. Argh...

Is it me, or do walls always seem to be impossible to build in time/rush at the very moments I need to? I've rushed heaps of walls in all the games I've played, but it's been at my leisure when I had nothing else to build and it was pretty much end-game. Other times when the other guy's banner is flashing big above my city, it's always when I'm caught short on gold and the bloody things take 30+ turns to build.

haz

 

[VladDrakken]

No kidding. Though mother goddess help me if I ever take on the game on Emperor or Diety level. I barely progressing into warlord on the pc games!

 

[ericball]

Listen to the Grayson/elthrasher Revcasts and the strategy section. The usual keys to winning are to explore (and conqueur if possible) early (2 forests to build 2 warriors) and expand quickly (typically using your capital as a settler pump - 2 grasslands to size 3, 2 forests + 1 grassland to build a settler and back to size 2). More cities = more trade & production.

 

[elthrasher]

Is it me, or do walls always seem to be impossible to build in time/rush at the very moments I need to? I've rushed heaps of walls in all the games I've played, but it's been at my leisure when I had nothing else to build and it was pretty much end-game. Other times when the other guy's banner is flashing big above my city, it's always when I'm caught short on gold and the bloody things take 30+ turns to build.

Walls are generally pretty useless. In fact, most buildings in CivRev ain't too good. Walls in particularly are really expensive and don't do much for you. But your city is going to flip? Don't build out toward an opponent you suffer to live. If you start off with a good horserush, you can almost always take at least 1-2 caps which gives you a lot more space to spread out.

If you don't want to rush, just find space where the AI isn't and get there fast. Islands are good. After that, build a couple more cities and then get to Code of Laws and the Republic government quickly and try to get 10ish cities or so. If you pull that off, the game will seem absurdly easy from there on out. The key is not to get sidetracked with buildings or useless techs like Irrigation. If Irrigation is still there after 10 cities, go pick it up. If not, forget it. You don't need it to win. My rule of thumb is no buildings before the industrial age (though of course there are exceptions).

 

[hazeroth]

Yup walls are expensive, and they are pointless after Hollywood of course. Since I don't currently have an internet connection at home, I've yet to face human opponents and I can imagine the games would be GREATLY different to AI. The vast majority of the times I've had to build walls is when I've just captured an enemy city so naturally it'll be right on the border. If I've managed my empire right before then, my culture levels would buff me against such losses.

 

[djclifton]

Walls are great in the late game when you have plenty of production power and some money. In the Communist government after conquering a city, they tend to want to flip back, so you build a wall and wall-a no flipping.

I have won at the Emperor and Diety level where I started out going for a different type of victory, then switched to a domination strategy, especially with Communism, because you can really crank out some units. After conquering a number of cities, I would end up with many more famous people from the conquered cities. All of a sudden my advisor is telling me - look sahib you can go for a Cultural victory by building the United Nations wonder. I would then go onto the United Nations wonder and win a Cultural victory, set up by domination tactics.

 

[djclifton]

I agree that walls are usually to expensive early in the game, but late in the game they can be useful when you have enough production to build them fast or gold to rush them. They are particularly effective late in the game to stop flipping. Last night I was playing a game where I had modern infantry just built against artillery. Without a wall the modern infantry got their butt whipped big time. I added a wall real quick and that was enough to make the difference. The new modern infantry was able to hold off the artillery until I could counter-attack on the next turn.

I prefer to build buildings all along. It depends on whether I have enough defense around to hold off any attacks. The length of time to build also is a factor.

 

[hazeroth]

On a slightly different topic (apologies to OP), I've tried Emperor difficulty a couple of times now and gave up on them. "You'll need to perfect your strategy." - indeed!

I do think I've a handle on King now though, even if I get the rare surprise now and again. My last (incomplete) Greek game had me holding down a large land empire, but I was literally surrounded by the four opponents who'd go beserk and declare war on me without even the niceties of a threat. It was "you exist so I hate you" and when the Japs began sending the bomber squadrons and tank armies against my knights, I knew the day was lost.

 

[elthrasher]

On a slightly different topic (apologies to OP), I've tried Emperor difficulty a couple of times now and gave up on them. "You'll need to perfect your strategy." - indeed!

I do think I've a handle on King now though, even if I get the rare surprise now and again. My last (incomplete) Greek game had me holding down a large land empire, but I was literally surrounded by the four opponents who'd go beserk and declare war on me without even the niceties of a threat. It was "you exist so I hate you" and when the Japs began sending the bomber squadrons and tank armies against my knights, I knew the day was lost.

If you are having trouble with the difficulties above King, odds are you aren't expanding enough. The AI are programmed to be bullies. If you appear weak, they will produce several legion armies and attack you. If you appear strong, they will cower in their cities and build archers. In either case, they don't get very aggressive in the BCs unless they wander past your empty city or unprotected settler. The key is to do a lot of expansion early. 10 cities by 0 AD is a good measure, but of course it's game-dependent. If you massively out-expand the AI (pretty easy to do), it will only make feeble moves in your direction and pre-1000AD victories of all varieties become rather easy to pull off.