... now I wonder if I should land with style, or take another leap to the next difficulty.
After digesting this thread plus the challenge threads about higher difficulties, I've made progress. After just a couple of games, the tables are turned completely.
Maybe I should move on to Noble...?
I won't start a new "do this, and do that" thread, there are too many of those. But I'd like to point out what helped me the most. The small revelations I had during the late nights. As war has been the most difficult part, it's mostly here I've learned a lot:
First of all, one word: SoD. The stack of doom is the flavor of the current patch. Getting a giant Juggernaut ready when the borders clash has helped a lot. Either if I declare war, or if I'm declared war upon.
Whipping: Or how to get those annoyed people a proper job. I understand now why I've always been so slow when I've run out of forest to chop.
Civics: Bureaucracy: Gain from early tech, helps a lot on the economy and production as your capital is usually the best city. If you miss out on pyramids, try to get at least Hereditary Rule to get some happy faces.
Right buildings in the right cities: What's the point with +50%
if you only get 1 per turn in that city on 20-30% gold? Some buildings should be built everywhere though. Like courthouses and forges. National wonders isn't built in the first city possible and I've started skipping world wonders I don't need. Plus if I don't have a huge tech lead and lacking the resource for the WW I don't bother try building it.
Specialization cities: Production cities goes without saying. Farms and mines/forest. But I found it's important to have at least one cottage city for paying the bills. Later I can turn to Universal Suffrage to get an extra hammer from the tiles too. Can be on par with the best farm/mine cities. And if I can, I make a specialist city. Just farms, and a lot of them to get the GS and GE. Micromanagement is fun in the early stages. Later on you don't have to micromanage that much. But concentrate on world domination
Coastal City and a caravel: Discover remote civs and open borders at once. The income should increase drastically. Then use the caravel to be the first one around the globe.
Early war economy, or the lack of. I can't count how many times I've fallen behind in research after a few battles. In earlier civ-games you could plunder a tech. Not anymore. But there is a way to solve this too. When you win cities and pillage the countryside, you get a "lot" of money. At least enough to be able to have a negative income and a good research rate. And when it gets too bad, I ask for peace. And get paid for it in tech or gold. This way I get at least 10 turns where I can get units upgraded and redeployed, and the "reset" economy.
In the current game I got Isabella on my back while battling Julius deep into his land. Luckily I could bribe the khmer dude to wardec her. I guess that resulted in small single units instead of a SoD. I got peace after eliminating a lot of the attacking force. Even got paid. But to avoid another attack, I bribed the khmer dude again to keep her busy. That way I could finish off the Roman empire, without further interruptions.
Now I got the tech lead by far and the score is almost twice as high as the other known civs. Having eliminated both the germans and romans have given me some space for expansion.
So maybe I should aim for the next level and get my behind handed to me... again?
After digesting this thread plus the challenge threads about higher difficulties, I've made progress. After just a couple of games, the tables are turned completely.
Maybe I should move on to Noble...?
I won't start a new "do this, and do that" thread, there are too many of those. But I'd like to point out what helped me the most. The small revelations I had during the late nights. As war has been the most difficult part, it's mostly here I've learned a lot:
First of all, one word: SoD. The stack of doom is the flavor of the current patch. Getting a giant Juggernaut ready when the borders clash has helped a lot. Either if I declare war, or if I'm declared war upon.
Whipping: Or how to get those annoyed people a proper job. I understand now why I've always been so slow when I've run out of forest to chop.
Civics: Bureaucracy: Gain from early tech, helps a lot on the economy and production as your capital is usually the best city. If you miss out on pyramids, try to get at least Hereditary Rule to get some happy faces.
Right buildings in the right cities: What's the point with +50%
if you only get 1 per turn in that city on 20-30% gold? Some buildings should be built everywhere though. Like courthouses and forges. National wonders isn't built in the first city possible and I've started skipping world wonders I don't need. Plus if I don't have a huge tech lead and lacking the resource for the WW I don't bother try building it.Specialization cities: Production cities goes without saying. Farms and mines/forest. But I found it's important to have at least one cottage city for paying the bills. Later I can turn to Universal Suffrage to get an extra hammer from the tiles too. Can be on par with the best farm/mine cities. And if I can, I make a specialist city. Just farms, and a lot of them to get the GS and GE. Micromanagement is fun in the early stages. Later on you don't have to micromanage that much. But concentrate on world domination
Coastal City and a caravel: Discover remote civs and open borders at once. The income should increase drastically. Then use the caravel to be the first one around the globe.
Early war economy, or the lack of. I can't count how many times I've fallen behind in research after a few battles. In earlier civ-games you could plunder a tech. Not anymore. But there is a way to solve this too. When you win cities and pillage the countryside, you get a "lot" of money. At least enough to be able to have a negative income and a good research rate. And when it gets too bad, I ask for peace. And get paid for it in tech or gold. This way I get at least 10 turns where I can get units upgraded and redeployed, and the "reset" economy.
In the current game I got Isabella on my back while battling Julius deep into his land. Luckily I could bribe the khmer dude to wardec her. I guess that resulted in small single units instead of a SoD. I got peace after eliminating a lot of the attacking force. Even got paid. But to avoid another attack, I bribed the khmer dude again to keep her busy. That way I could finish off the Roman empire, without further interruptions.
Now I got the tech lead by far and the score is almost twice as high as the other known civs. Having eliminated both the germans and romans have given me some space for expansion.
So maybe I should aim for the next level and get my behind handed to me... again?
