My Stunning Lack of Progress...HELP!

[nycpeach1]

Hey-
Can someone please give me some help? I always win on the easiest setting, but as soon as I try to start on the next level, I get royally spanked. I've either got 3-4 cities and everyone else has 9, or i have 9 cities all of which are being protected by a pretty scrawny warrior. Forget wonders, forget strategy... I just hate it when they laugh at me...... Do I just suck that bad? How come everybody else progresses by leaps and bounds, while I can barely squeak out a granary or temple before I am crushed?
Thanks.
NYCPEACH

 

[Zouave]

I suggest you deign to tell us what you do for the first several thousand years so people can see what is going wrong with your initial strategies.

 

[TrailblazingScot]

Pay your tribute like a good little boy and you'll be spared. The A.I will only demand cities if you are at war with them so all you'll lose is world map, tech, money and sometimes resources.

You may not win, but by avoiding getting into war and better still MPPs you can survive. Failing that get hold of a size one island and put a city on it!

You can thus be sure to avoid war and can concentrate on making a going concern of your empire...only once you have strength to fight a war (and the main danger is your enemy buying in other civs to fight) and win comfortably should you fight.

As for tech getting the Great Library is a massive boon (especially at the higher difficulties) and simply buying and swapping tech should keep you pretty much up to date on tech.


Hopefully from this base you can grow more confident and try out new approaches...

 

[Ironikinit]

I see two choices: develop those 9 poorly defended cities or make your 4 cities into military camps.

Either way, you want to build a barracks or two, IMO.

Even if they're bigger than you, it's possible to take cities from the AI in the early game. Not only possible, but sometimes it's the best and easiest way.

 

[jimmytrick]

Here is something to try. Set your science on zero and get a little coin. Contact a nearby civ and offer to buy tech. Agree to a combination lump sum and per turn amount. That gives the AI an incentive for twenty turns not to attach you.

I have tried this and it seems to work.

I tend to attack them on the 21st turn.

jt

 

[Hurricane]

Try not to think: "me vs. the AI", but rather in terms like "me vs. the Egyptians". If you try to fight all the AI civs at once, you will fail miserably.

Like kittenOFchaos said, always pay tribute. Usually they don´t ask for much, and if you fail to pay them, you will soon see the whole world team up against you.

Instead, build a few barracks and start to crank out horsemen and a few swordsmen as well as a number of catapults (from the cities without barracks). When you feel ready to go to war, try to pick a civ with a short border against you. This way you can use your catapults and the terrain to your advantage, while the AI advantage of a greater number of units is minimised. Now you know where he will move his units so they are easy to counterattack.

Eastblish embassies with your neighbors, so that you know which ones are at wat which whom. Try to attack the weakest, and if possible, make alliances with other AI:s.

It can help out to pick a civ with an early UU. When you win with the UU (beginning of your) war, you will enter a golden age, and this boosts your production quite substantially.

And of course, try to get as many leaders as possible.

 

[Shaitan]

Probably the biggest hurdle in learning the game is that technologies are a tradable resource. While in Civ2 it wasn't too difficult to get and maintain a technology lead all with your own research, it just doesn't happen in Civ3.

A good strategy in the beginning of the game is to set your research at the minimum possible to get a tech in 40 turns. When you've got a spare citizen, turn him into a scientist and put your research at zero. This lets you build up a significant amount of cash to buy technology from AI civs cheaper than you could research them. If the AI has a tech, sell it to every other AI that you can. If you don't, they certainly will. When your infrastructure can support it, begin researching techs on your own but continue buying and selling techs whenever possible.

 

[BillChin]

No one has posted the obvious: build faster. On Warlord (2nd level), you can build faster than the computer. A common build queue at the start of the game is three warriors then a settler, three more warriors then another settler. I usually put these first two settlers very close to the capital (one square away on the diagonal or two away on the straight) to get more production leverage and easier defense. With three core cities you can crank out settlers, units, workers, whatever you seem to need.

Take one turn to pick the best tile for the capital (thread: First City Bonuses). You need pop three to build a settler so build warriors until you can do that. I suggest holding off on a granary or temple until you have three cities.

Experiment with the early, early game to speed up the build out. With a little practice and an average map, you can turn the tables, and can have nine cities to the AI's four on Warlord difficulty.

 

[dojoboy]

nycpeach1,

Don't fight too soon, and don't fight too late. I usually become an agitator when I can build swordsmen. Of course, your limited to who you share borders with in the early game.

I attack early for several reasons:

(1) to get a great leader to rush build an important wonder
(2) to deny a neighboring civ a strategic resource, like iron for swordsmen. This will dibiliate them in a protacted battle.
(3) to increase my number of cities.

Pay attention to your advisors. If their army is larger, more strategic planning is called for (Plan A, Plan B, etc.). If its about the same sixe, go for it.

Do buy in other civs against your opponent. Even if they're far away and will not be a factor initially, because they will stop trading with your target civ.

Like you, I'm early in my civ3 experience and in only my second game at warlord level. As the Germans, my expansion was slow compared to the other civs, but I wheeled and dealed with them and never gave up my territorial and world maps. I'll sell them later. At the moment, I in a war with the Russians to my south. My first skirmish w/ them netted me two cities. They paid for peace. I then stocked up on knights and, after "having enough," began a second war. My first target was their only connected source of iron. Also, I brought England into the conflict.

Be patient and be smart, plan and you will over take the AIs.

 

[TrailblazingScot]

Never played lowed than Regent level...so I usually have to be VERY careful on whose toes I tread.

In my present game in my mod just one Chinese stack heading towards South Africa contains no less than 40 Cavalry...to know that this is a mere fragment of their military is awe inspiring!

 

[Dragoten]

Originally posted by kittenOFchaos
Never played lowed than Regent level...so I usually have to be VERY careful on whose toes I tread.]

Haha, I have played 5 games on chieftain and I have never won....I must REALLY suck...


I think I spend too much time on science/culture rather than expanding...

 

[Switch625]

Originally posted by Dragoten


Haha, I have played 5 games on chieftain and I have never won....I must REALLY suck...


I think I spend too much time on science/culture rather than expanding...

I'm not a power player, as I play Regent when I want a challenge, and Warlord when I want to relax. However, I am a culture builder, so I can give you a few tips.

DISCLAIMER: I've gotten spanked in a loud and grotesque military manner anytime I've tried to play at a level higher than Regent, so I make no claim that the following strategy will have any value at the harder levels.

In the beginning, you can't try anything fancy. Just expand. Don't start wonders, don't build barracks, don't even build temples at first. Don't stand around admiring yourself. Be fruitful and multiply. Breed like rabbits. Be a virus upon the land. Crank out warriors and settlers only at first. Only when I have about ten settlements will I switch the core cities over to producing other things. Just remember to keep the outer settlements making babies.

In my book, the first "must-have" wonder is The Great Library. If you can land it, and you won't always, you can build up a cash reserve by paring back on research. In one game I played, I completed the Great Library while still all by myself. I scaled back on research, and started building up a treasury. When I finally found someone, I paid cash to get communications with other empires. I think I got SIX technologies right on the spot. I went straight from the middle of the ancient era to the medieval era in one shot. Boy, that felt good!

Building culture is fun. It's my favorite game strategy. But you have to have a solid base upon which to build that culture. YOU may appreciate all that culture, but the AI only cares about how big your military is.

 

[Dragoten]

Thank you for the tip....


I started a new game and did just what you said...It worked great!

I am in first place with the the largest military...I am now beginning to focus on science a bit more

Obviously, the key strategy is to expand in the beginning, however I always build the pyramids as soon as possible regardless of my situation....

 

[brody]

Originally posted by dojoboy
As the Germans, my expansion was slow compared to the other civs, but I wheeled and dealed with them and never gave up my territorial and world maps. I'll sell them later.

BIG bonus there... I never realized just how much tougher the AI has it if you absolutely REFUSE to give away your maps! The AI may get mad, and may even declare war on you. But if you have a decent defense (easy to do on Archipelago map), you can keep them at bay, especially since they only know about 1 or 2 cities! The big AI strategy is to hit a weak city... not so easy to do if they only see 2 strong cities and a bunch of black on their maps.

Originally posted by Dragoten
Obviously, the key strategy is to expand in the beginning, however I always build the pyramids as soon as possible regardless of my situation....

I also always build Pyramids... it's really bad because I end up being so far behind, but I just HATE building granaries! Oh well... in the long run, not building granaries does help, as long as you don't get attacked while wasting time on the Pyramids