Do you think some people are just made to be all-out war-fighting bastards and some aren't? I have tried - only on Noble - to be a really early, aggressive war monger, and I think it's just not for me.
I started on a small map, quick game, 3 AI civs. Frederick, Mansa Musa & Monty. I immediately chop-rushed some axes and went and conquered the Germans next door - which was fine, because I had the initial lead from chopping, and luckily I cornered them on a little coastal notch on the land mass. I then tried to take over Mansa Musa, but couldn't get the job done. This was because I found myself in a vicious circle:
My cities were so awful (compared to how they are if I'm playing relatively peacefully) I couldn't lead with technology very well, so I was churning out all these units and it was just taking so many to capture cities because they weren't really superior to the AI's units. Eventually I was on a par with all AIs in terms of units, and I decided to try to get my techs back on track and get a more advanced unit to crush them with.
So I made peace with Mansa Musa (leaving him with 1 city) and then before I could do much, Monty had his inevitable period and declared war on me. I then got stuck in a seriously boring stalemate whereby we were just slaughtering hundreds of our riflemen against each other, with absolutely no useful outcome. I managed to advance 3 tiles towards his land by 1940. Seriously.
At the same time, Mansa Musa founded little cities everywhere while we were fighting, and his existing cities crushed the ones I captured with his superior culture.
In conclusion, I've decided I can't even be bothered to finish the game, and I;m just gonna stick with what I enjoy - which is peacefully building up my civ then crushing everyone with my superior units. It's all about fun, and I just found all-out war really boring, unsatisfying, messy and tedious.
I started on a small map, quick game, 3 AI civs. Frederick, Mansa Musa & Monty. I immediately chop-rushed some axes and went and conquered the Germans next door - which was fine, because I had the initial lead from chopping, and luckily I cornered them on a little coastal notch on the land mass. I then tried to take over Mansa Musa, but couldn't get the job done. This was because I found myself in a vicious circle:
My cities were so awful (compared to how they are if I'm playing relatively peacefully) I couldn't lead with technology very well, so I was churning out all these units and it was just taking so many to capture cities because they weren't really superior to the AI's units. Eventually I was on a par with all AIs in terms of units, and I decided to try to get my techs back on track and get a more advanced unit to crush them with.
So I made peace with Mansa Musa (leaving him with 1 city) and then before I could do much, Monty had his inevitable period and declared war on me. I then got stuck in a seriously boring stalemate whereby we were just slaughtering hundreds of our riflemen against each other, with absolutely no useful outcome. I managed to advance 3 tiles towards his land by 1940. Seriously.
At the same time, Mansa Musa founded little cities everywhere while we were fighting, and his existing cities crushed the ones I captured with his superior culture.
In conclusion, I've decided I can't even be bothered to finish the game, and I;m just gonna stick with what I enjoy - which is peacefully building up my civ then crushing everyone with my superior units. It's all about fun, and I just found all-out war really boring, unsatisfying, messy and tedious.