NEED SOME HELP WITH my game

[shanemcain]

I NEED HELP i am unsure which civ to use or how to make my strategy better. First off my favorite civs are the japanese and the french. When I play as the french i build my first city and try to get masonry first cuz the french already know pottery. After i build two or three barbarian units and explore. Then I build a galley and settlers to build more cities and fortify each city with archer armies. Somehow I often loose even though i fully utilize choke points and defence. I do not think im utilizing france's culture what should I do?!?!? I have pretty much the same strategy for the Japanese but with the Japanese i build next to water and build libaries in prosperous cities. What buildings or wonders should i build? What civilization should i use? which technologies should i research?
Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

[someguy486]

Well I am going to assume that all of the other civilizations gang up on you since that happens to me every game. Your best bet is to knock out one civilization early in the game so that that is one less civilization to deal with and it makes you stronger. Here is very good first 25 moves Japanese guide posted by vinstafresh in another thread. Hope it helps

When you discover that you're alone on a big stretch of land, try putting a city on a region with water on both sides (a so called choke point) and defend that city with all your might. The land behind is quiet so you can take your time settling and building buildings in stead of units.

My first 25 turns are as follows, mostly as the Japanese (or Chinese for a quick victory):

Found the city and switch to production only. This will produce a warrior on the 3rd turn. Find a barbarian hut for experience and gold (or unit). On the 5th turn you get your second, follow the first. Attack barbarians from hills if possible to reduce casualties and skipping a turn healing. On turn 8 you have 3 warriors out there. Unite the 3 and form an army. Destroy every barbarian village you encounter. If you find a capital before 2200BC, find a hill and attack. Beyond that, don't bother, since they'll have multiple archer units and a backup warrior unit. Unless you're really lucky, you won't pull it off. When the 4th warrior is done at turn 10, switch to science only in the capital. The +1 food on sea regions bonus for the Japanese makes the city grow. Switch tech to pottery and after that, masonry. Masonry gives you a free city wall and at 100 hammers, it costs as much as a wonder to build. Huge bonus! Usually that's around turn 17/18. If you're lucky you've found a friendly village who gave you bronze working and you can start fortifying with archers. Be thankful for the people who attack for boosting your archers with promotions like that

Once you discover mathematics, stack your cities with catapult armies and attack your attackers from within the city limits. Don't go for the military techs right away, but focus on the techs which give bonusses for all your cities, like irrigation, engineering, industrialization, coorporation, religion, literacy.

Another tip: don't build a settler yourself early in the game, but use your 100 gold settler for that. If you're stuck at around 88 gold or so, switch from science to gold for a few turns until you get the settler. After that, switch back to science and build a road to your new city and buy an archer to defend it.

 

[natetm]

Well I am going to assume that all of the other civilizations gang up on you since that happens to me every game. Your best bet is to knock out one civilization early in the game so that that is one less civilization to deal with and it makes you stronger. Here is very good first 25 moves Japanese guide posted by vinstafresh in another thread. Hope it helps

thats helpful

 

[vinstafresh]

Cheers for the credits

 

[Bismark96]

How are you losing? Are your cities just being overrun by stronger units?

France has a great jump in culture because of their cathedral, and it tends to give them an advantage as far as attracting great people early on. If managed correctly, you should be able to maintain that jump throughout the rest of the game as long as you don't over-extend yourself too early.

 

[I-am-a-panda]

don't research masonry first, research alphabet. that all i have to say. Then bronze wking,, writing, literacy and take it from there. You're mediaval and the worlds your pearl.9 not your oster)