My first regent win!!

[pkorten]

Okay, after playing on chieftain for a while, since I am a newbie, i decided to play regent. I played as the French (commercial ,industrious), and i was going for the Space Race victory. First i built the Great Library, and set my science expenses to zero. (thnx for the tip), which resulted in a lot of cash which i used to upgrade my units once in a while. Unfortunately, when Education was researched the Great Library became obsolete. Throughout the rest of the game i was 1 or 2 techs ahead of the rest, and when a civ researched an advance i didn't have, i bought it from them. After building Theory of Evolution i got 2 techs for free I had the highest score, and the second and third civ were fighting a war. Ideal situation
So, in 1850 or so i built my space ship and won. Maybe just beginners luck, but i hope that it means i'm getting better at it!

 

[Lab Monkey]

Well done! I had my first space race victory on regent the other day, but I didn't build it until 2031! I even had the German science bonus, but I was hampered by small archipelago islands, the Zulu, and the Indians.

 

[:)civ2]

Regent isn't hard to me ,but Deity damn thats some hard sh*t!

 

[Moff Jerjerrod]

Congratulations!

My first win at regent was a space race win as well. Play a couple of more games at regent so that you can verify that you can rountinely beat the AI at regent. Then it's off to monarch level!

 

[Trickey]

Congrats :b:

 

[Civanator]

i played on regent once, though i never finished and was 10-13 techs behind the AI and had no cash after switching to a republic.

 

[bobgote]

congrats on the win.

my first regent win was a domination. I worked until i easily won every regent game, then moved to monarch. This step is huge. After many games, i'm only now looking like winning one. It was very hard for me to make this step. I suggest trying some games playing to win in a conquest/domination manner in regent before you even think of moving to monarch. In my game this time, I outexpanded the zulu, while keeping my cities connected and all improvements made. When i started monarch there was no way i could do this.

My advice - build military quickly and expand as quickly as you can. I found that it was easiest to do with an industrious civ.

 

[Fistandantilus]

Very good. I just played another game on regent (I usually play on monarch), and I got a diplomatic victory in 1680. Try playing monarch and then going back to regent and you can try tons of new stratagies . I actually won on accident. A few more games and you should too.

 

[Raijer]

Awesome pkorten. I too felt I was ready to graduate from chieften status, but only tried the next level up - warlord. That level is currently pounding me. Maybe I shouldda moved straight to regent instead?

 

[Gastric ReFlux]

Originally posted by bobgote
I suggest trying some games playing to win in a conquest/domination manner in regent before you even think of moving to monarch. In my game this time, I outexpanded the zulu, while keeping my cities connected and all improvements made. When i started monarch there was no way i could do this.

.

I heartily recommend Arathorn's Always-War variant when looking to move from Regent to Monarch. When I had reached the point that I pounded on Regent AI time after time, I began playing the Always-War method. First few tries, my butt got kicked around, but I gained some insight. Finally, I won two of those games and made the jump to Monarch. I haven't lost a game yet at Monarch level, and am having decent success at Emperor level.

 

[pkorten]

Thnx for all the advice! It seems it was beginners luck though, the next few games at regent didn't go that easily. I notice how important it is to have a good starting location for your civ, a lot depends on that i think. Anyway, now i'm playing at warlord to practice a lot before i try regent again. Trying to get a domination/conquest victory as you guys adviced. Man, i wish i could play at emperor already, can't wait!

 

[SirJethro]

My advice is to "practice" on the harder levels. I've learned more getting beaten on Monarchy than whipping the AI on Warlord.

 

[pkorten]

For example, when i played on regent, in no time the americans declared war, and took 2 of my cities, because i hadn't built that much defensive units yet. The lesson you can learn is to build more units earlier on. But i also want to build settlers, workers, barracks , wonders. I find it very difficult to make the choice what to build next. And if i build more units in the beginning, you have to pay to support them, so that you must lower your science rate.
Very hard to find the best balance, it is very game-dependent, i think. I wonder how the AI does it

 

[bobgote]

The only terrible place to start is in a jungle.

Gastric ReFlux. That game i mentioned has now become my first monarch win.

 

[Sullla]

I believe the best way to improve at the game is a steady progression up through the difficulty levels one by one. The idea is that you should always be playing a game that is a little bit more difficult than what you are used to, which will force you to get better. My first game was on Chieftan, second on Warlord, then 3 games on Regent, followed by 4 or 5 on Monarch. I did win my first Deity game before my first Emperor one though . Now Emperor is a breeze for me, so I have been focusing just on Deity and am still learning new and better ways to play all the time. I say this though after playing Civ3 for six months and compleing over 20 full games - don't expect to become great overnight. But with enough time and practice, you can amaze yourself at this kind of game.

 

[Barker]

Congrats on your win! I also have just succeeded in my first 2 attempts at Regent. The first was a Space Race victory in 1850, and the second was a cultural victory (by accident) where I was really kicking butt.

I used to play a builder style on Chieftan and Warlord, but that got pretty boring. I had great fun in my last game trouncing the Aztecs who sneak attacked one of my weak cities.

I did notice one thing, however. In both games, the AI only gave competition up to the end of the Middle ages. After gaining the the tech advantage, I could basiclly trounce any civ at my leisure. I guess I should move up in difficulty to see if it will get harder.

 

[Mullet Crusader]

I'm playing on regent and getting the crap beaten out of me! Dammit. Stupid AI attacking me just 'cause im small and feeble

 

[pkorten]

That's the same what I got 2nd time I played on regent, mullet.

 

[bobgote]

keep pluggin away guys, it'll get easier.

 

[Arathorn]

Probably the most important lesson anybody can teach you when you move up levels is to NEVER GIVE UP! Situations that seem hopeless rarely are. The longer the game progresses (usually), the better the human does. Just keep pluggin' away at it and see if you can pull out the game that seems beyond hope.

Getting attacked and losing cities is not the end of the world -- it happens to everybody pretty frequently -- even the best of players very often lose cities/units to the AI. Shore up at the next defensive level and prepare for the next onslaught. It can be done.

I took an odd path myself -- one warlord abandoned (hadn't even read the rules and just started playing -- probably winnable as the player I am now but not then), one warlord very narrow win, one regeant win, emperor win, a few deity losses, and then a few deity wins and then variety of levels and variants.

Also, don't overlook the value of alliances in dealing with an overzealous AI. The computer is even worse than a human at fighting a two-front war, so keep that in mind. It might be expensive, but, oh is it worth it!

Keep trying (and reading, if you learn that way like me!),
Arathorn