Need help managing my empire.

[civver_764]

Ok so I've been playing some games on Monarch recently, and I need to stop being so lazy. Right now I'm sharing a continent with Kublai Khan, Willem, and Joao II. I'm looking for some help on specializing my cities and such(I have the biggest empire but I only have 7 cities, its a pretty crowded continent). My economy has slowly been recovering and I've just finished my first few courthouses. One turn away from CS for Bureaucracy.

I feel like I should be doing a lot more with my empire though. All I've been doing is cottage spamming on grassland and floodplains, mining hills, and ignoring plains. I've also not built a single national wonder, or really designated which cities do what.

So yeah, any advice on how to improve this game would be great. I've been trying to get a win on Monarch for awhile now(half the time barbarians completely destroy me so I'm doing pretty good so far), and I always end up screwing things up one way or another. Don't want to happen this time.

(I'm playing as Bismarck btw)

 

[Ignorant Teacher]

Hi civver_764!

Look, I'm no expert in this game and you can quickly see it if you just take a look in any of the games I posted. Anyways, I'm going to tell you what I would do with that land and environment. Maybe it can help.

First of all, you don't fall into the big cliche of having too few workers. You have 12 for 7 cities and that's a nice average. I would build 2 more because you have a lot of jungle and forests and it takes longer to improve those tiles. What I do think is you're using your workers the wrong way. You're building a road on the desert near the iron mine. There's no point in doing that just yet. I'd build that kind of road only when the cities are fully improved. I also like to pair my workers so that stuff gets built quicker.Then I leave a pair per city and they only leave when the city is fully developed.

Let's see the cities:

1-Berlin: It's a commerce city with the river. Cottaging there is good. I'd also put the National Epic there and, later, Oxford. Something that's very wrong is having it with two unhappy citizens. Besides costing you more for doing nothing you risk having the event of destroyed improvements and buildings. I forgot to see if you're playing with events on.

2-Hamburg: IMO it's a production city. You have a lot of hills and you can chain irrigate all the grass to allow growth. Don't build science there now! Build a barracks and start building units. You're way too weak. João is friendly with you so you're safe there, but both Willem van Oranje and Kublai Khan declare at pleased so you need more defenses. Don't run a scientist there, work a tile.

3-Munich: You have a worker sleeping in the city. Wake him up, man! Make him earn his living. This city is also a production city that generates some commerce. Work the cottages and the mines. It's also a strategic city, for it is your border with the Mongols. Never trust the Mongols too much. Every time you refuse something to KK you get a -2 hit, so it's hard to be safe next to him. Build a barracks then units.

4-Frankfurt: It can produce and work some cottages. It has a fish and another food source so you're good there. Just remember to improve the rest of the tiles.

5-Dortmund: I really see no point in this city. Alright, it claims the horse and with some cultural pressure it could steal the Gems from João. But you already have a source of horses and I don't think a culture war is the most important thing to you at the moment. You could build Moai there to see if it gets a little better.

6-Cologne: Production. Farm the grass. You could build Heroic Epic there.

7-Essen: Commerce. Chop everything riverside and build a cottage. When you're working all riverside cottages, you can run some scientists there.

You are in shortage of commerce overall. I think you can help that by building two new cities.
I- One on the plains 1W of the wheat. It's a nice commerce city with some riverside tiles, including floodplains.
II- Another 2N of the rice on the hill. It has some riverside tiles and also a clam.

I would start whipping more. A good thing is that you have a granary in every city, so you can whip more. I'd whip the rest of those courthouses and also a library in most cities because you always generate some commerce from trade routes, so getting it multiplied helps. Besides, when you get to education, you'll be able to whip your universities faster. The way I see it, there's no point in having big cities if they're working unimproved tiles, like grass forests.

You let KK claim the barb city of Khazak. It's a city with a lot of potential. It has 2 food sources and double dyes. That city can generate a lot of commerce to you. Whip 5 cats and 5 or 6 axes or swords and take what's yours. But be prepared! Once you DOW KK, he will send his army to Munich, so get some troops there to protect the city. Once you can, sign a peace treaty. Once you and him are running Bureaucracy and sharing the religion, you'll be friends again. I'd try to do it fast. Whip those unhappy demonstrators from Berlin and strike before he has Feudalism. Only João likes KK and he remains friendly after you declare.

I hope this can help you.

 

[civver_764]

Hey Ignorant Teacher.

About the workers: I'm really lazy when it comes to workers. I will have each city build their own workers, and then spam a few from my capital after it gets to a decent size and just automate them to build a trade network(I find it tedious to figure out the best road paths and such so I just let the AI do it for me). I will try to have at least one worker per city that isn't automated though. I will definitely try to pair them up though and then assign them to cities, especially since I've got plenty of roads at the moment.

Regarding events: I *think* I turned them off, but I can't be sure. I've never had an event involving unhappy citizens though. Should I just whip them, then?

Cities: Thanks for your help with the specializing. I'll see if they work out ok based on your ideas. Regarding Dortmund, it isn't a terrible city imo. It also secures my borders agaisnt Joao and KK. Now he's basically sandwiched between me and Willem. It can run cottages on those grassland tiles and when State Property comes I can workshop it into a production machine.

As for the barb city. I tried to get to it in time, but I was too busy trying to make enough cities to block off Joao and Willem. KK simply beat me to the punch. I do plan on taking it back from him(or maybe culture flipping it? Not likely since he's cre but there's a chance..). I've just started to raise an army now that my economy has recovered a bit. I think I have diplo under control with Joao at pleased and KK more pissed at Willem than at me(and Willem more pissed at Joao). I'll be building some units to secure my border cities though.

Thanks for your help.