My strategy isnt working anymore...

[Efka]

I got this add-on pack recently, and have found that my (probably poor) strategy doesn't work out too well anymore.

I start a game and set down my captial city, and then make a granary. Then i build a settler and make a city with it. In that city i then build a granary while my captial continues to build settlers. Every city i build in i build a granary and then settlers, until i have filled all the space i can with citys. Then i build a load of workers. At this point i am WAY behind in research, and i really struggle to keep up again. In the past i was always able to somehow catapult myself through the rest of the first age and then half way through the second age, eventually overtaking most other civs. I always aim to go for monarchy when i first reasearch because of the financial and civil benefits, should i instead research towards libraries to boost the research right away?

Also, i spent ages researching a tech, and then i thought id change it at the last minute. Then i changed my mind again and went back to research the original tech - and i then realised that my progress had vanished! I always thought that you could switch techs and keep the research progress you have made?

 

[lbhhh]

Welcome to CFC!

About your tech switching question, it has always been this way.
Your basic strategy is fine, it seems to me you need to better choose what you research and trade more. There are techs such as literature that the AI doesn't go after and if you research it you can trade it around for a lot in return. Also note that in Conquests, being the first civ to research philosophy gives you a free tech, that can help you out a lot.

 

[sorky]

I think it's better to do the settler's factory (babylon deity settlers in the war academy iirc the name)
5 food + some with 2 food and shield for 4 turn/settler in your capital or a core city (2 food bonus and let's go ;à)
Perhaps 2 settlers factory... but all it's abusive and, seeing your experience, doesn't work
Another city for workers or one of the settler factory could make them. But if you wait to have filled all the space with border to build workers... you will have a lot of cities but very ineffective :/ ...


Other cities focus on what you want... depend of your strategy for this specific game.. military (always some anyway..) / culture / commerce ..etc

 

[Jon Shafer]

You probably don't need to build a Granary first in EVERY city. Just your capital and perhaps a few other high-food or early cities. Otherwise you're just dumping away shields that you could be spending on other improvements or increasing your army.

What difficulty level are you on? On higher levels the AI (obviously) researches faster and trades more liberally with the other AI civs.

How much are you trading with the AI? That is the best way to jump ahead in techs.

Are you building your cities close together to maximize your land and economic output?

If you want any tips on how to build up your civ economically then you can check out my "Case For Food" article in my signature.

 

[Quasar1011]

You might want to build a "worker factory". Roads bring in commerce, commerce brings in trade, trade bring in knowledge, knowledge leads to the dark side... oops wait, wrong movie. Anyway, you need to build roads as soon as possible to connect all your cities, as well as building the cities themselves. Also, research literacy and build libraries in ALL your cities!

 

[Gengis Khan]

Trying to kick out settlers non-stop in every city is a mistake. You should start prioritizing your builds depending on the terrain(eventually you start founding cities in the order of what you immediatly need).

High food/High Shield- perfect settler factories
High food/low shield- good worker pumps
Low food/High shield- military factories.

 

[nullspace]

Trying to kick out settlers non-stop in every city is a mistake. You should start prioritizing your builds depending on the terrain(eventually you start founding cities in the order of what you immediatly need).

High food/High Shield- perfect settler factories
High food/low shield- good worker pumps
Low food/High shield- military factories.

Yeah, do that. If the city has very low shields (due to corruption), then you're better off not building a granary even if the city will mostly build settlers or workers. If the city can continually build settlers/workers and not shrink in size, it doesn't need a granary.

From you post, it sounds like you are only building granaries and settlers, which would explain why you're behind in tech. You need workers to build roads for commerce to fund your science. Irrigation and mines will also make you build settlers faster, and the roads will help them get to their destinations quicker. You also need warriors for scouting and military police. Scouting will help your science by meeting civs to trade with. Using some for mp means you can spend less on luxuries and more on science. And using warriors for scouts means you can pick the best spots for your cities, and send the settlers straight there instead of having the settlers waste turns scouting.

 

[starrider]

I have been experimenting, and using my second city as the settler factory.

I usually play a seafaring civ, and the build order i have been playing around with is (on monarch):

Capital:
#1 Warrior - who is immediately sent out to fine a spot for city #2
#2 Those really cheap sailing ships i forget the name (for exploration and contact with other civs)
#3 Warrior (so when capital rolls over to 3 pop, no disorder)
#4 Settler

I'm using the inital worker to mine and build roads to maximize production in the capital.

Once I get the settler built...the second city goes like:
#1 warrior
#2 worker (for mining)
#3 granary
then settlers non stop. With the granary, the city hits size 3 just as the settler finishes. My other cities I can adjust to the situation, but for a good chunk of the early game, the second city builds nothing but settlers.

This change in what I had been doing previously (using the capital more for building settlers) has let me grab an early wonder, like the collossus. I never realized how powerful that wonder is until I built it. The culture and commerce makes a huge difference throughout the game. oh well randomness at midnight hehe

What do you guys think of this build order?

 

[starrider]

oh forgot one thing....don't build the collosus as the English....its not cool getting a GA with only 2 or 3 cities and in depotism Learned that the hard way

 

[starrider]

Yeah, do that. If the city has very low shields (due to corruption), then you're better off not building a granary even if the city will mostly build settlers or workers. If the city can continually build settlers/workers and not shrink in size, it doesn't need a granary.

From you post, it sounds like you are only building granaries and settlers, which would explain why you're behind in tech. You need workers to build roads for commerce to fund your science. Irrigation and mines will also make you build settlers faster, and the roads will help them get to their destinations quicker. You also need warriors for scouting and military police. Scouting will help your science by meeting civs to trade with. Using some for mp means you can spend less on luxuries and more on science. And using warriors for scouts means you can pick the best spots for your cities, and send the settlers straight there instead of having the settlers waste turns scouting.

Am I totally on crack because I thought irrigation did nothing during depotism because of penaltly? I only irrigate just prior to revolution to another gov...am I wrong here?

 

[ummmm........]

Irrigation is only useless in despotism if it takes a tile from two to three food (unadjusted). So you can irrigate food bonus tiles and plains/floodplains and see some benefit. If a tile goes from three food unimproved to four after irrigation, you get three (4 minus 1) instead of the two (3 minus 1) you were getting. (At least I hope that's the way it works, or I've been wasting a lot of time).