Need some tips to improve my gameplay

Aedos

Chieftain
Joined
Aug 3, 2012
Messages
23
Location
Australia
Specifically my early game. Ill be posting my game and hopefully someone experienced and nice enough can help me :lol:

Enough about that! Let's get onto the game. The settings are fractal, monarch, normal, random leader.

Looks like I was given Alexander! Here is a picture of my start
MIyd7.jpg


Should I move 1 NW as the game is telling me to? Only thing I miss out on is 1 grassland and some coast?
 

Attachments

Spoiler :
Looks like moving there was a good idea after all
12Nwc.jpg

Now my first question. What should I start with? I usually start with a worker 90% of the time then into a warrior and settler and another warrior to take the first one's place. Is that right?
 
This is the time when the blue circle seems like a good idea. You gain more land and production by moving, and only lose non-fin coast.

Edit: you already did that... you should wait a couple hours or a day for advice. Starting an offline game while waiting for advice is a good idea.
 
Yes, you should move. You gain land and lose nothing but coast. This is a good idea in almost all situations.

I agree with the previous comment.
If you ask for advices, you should really wait for replies before you play on.

Else it feels like we are wasting our time. :)
 
Your opening strategy is about right.

Starting with worker first in this game is probably right as well. Since you have two nice agriculture resources that should be improved.

If you have access to a forested plains hill, or some other way to get alot of hammers, going workboat first is usally better.
 
Spoiler :
50 turns have passed so far. met two civs; rammus and gilgamesh.

cBEdj.jpg


I was thinking about settling the stone city but it's next to his holy city so it will probably have alot of culture problems. Should I rush him with some aggressive chariots?


Also some other questions before I continue.

What should my worker;city ratio be?
How many chariots would I need to take him down on morarch if I decide to chariot rush him?
What techs should I be prioritising here with this start and leader?
What buildings are most important and what order should I build them in?
And lastly how is my city placement looking?
 
Its true, not much value in asking for advice and then pre-empting it. As it works out it was a pretty solid move.

Alex starts with hunting and fishing so there could be a debate about when you build your first WB. In this instance I'd go worker first while researching Ag and mining. You've got 2 ag resources, 2 GH and 2PH so there's plenty for a worker to do.

edit: and you've played 50 turns before I posted this! I'm not sure you grasp what we meant by posting early and playing shorter sets.
 
Edit: you already did that... you should wait a couple hours or a day for advice. Starting an offline game while waiting for advice is a good idea.

I approve this message:king:
 
Post saves with each report, but yeah..you are getting way ahead of yourself here.

Why in the world are you teching Archery?


Questions you should ask yourself as you scout your surroundings in the early game?

1) How close is the AI?

2) How good is my land to expand to a reasonable 6 to 8 good cities?

Then base your approach on the answers. Are you going to peacefully expand or gear up for some early warfare to grab good land.


As for playing/reporting and I mentioned in the other thread, but will expand:

1) Play not more than 20 to 25 turns. Less may be even better
2) Post a save
3) Screenshots are nice. Usually showing surrounding land. Later, after alpha, post the Tech screen. Post pics that you think will be interesting or informative. 1 or 2 is fine, but more the merrier. This draws people in. It mesmerizes and seduces them;)
4) Lastly, write up a little summary of what you did that turnset - teching, who you met or any diplo actions, builds and maybe an overall thought process. Your input is valuable even though a lot of people may disagree with you at first. That's part of the learning process.

I guarantee that you will improve dramatically and quickly if you adhere to this and stay patient.
 
Problems so far based on screenshot:

- no garrison in capital, and unhappy face, but two warrioirs in second city = bad idea.
- you shouldn't tech archery, as lymond said, unless you are preparing for a HA rush, which might be a good idea since you are boxed in. But even then, archery could wait after Horseback riding. I'm sure there are techs that would help your early expansion and tech rate.
- The stone city spot would be culturally overwhelmed because there is a holy city nearby (3 tiles south)

My advice:
Settle the deer spot and the other fish. Then chop/whip some HAs and (after scouting Ramesses and his metal resources thoroghly), attack him.
Focus yor tech path and builds, it is very important when rushing. There are some excellent guides on rushes, you should check them out first (I believe there is one in the War academy)

You should also check if there are other AIs, being alone with Gilga after a succesful rush might be a bad position. This can be easily checked by an exploring workboat.
 
You definitely don't need archery here. The barbs are going to be almost non-existent on this little peninsula. All you need here is two or three fog-busting warriors, and you won't even see any barbs.

Looks like you got stuck with some pretty sorry land. Not too much commerce or hammer potential there. The status quo isn't going to work on this map. I would advocate one of the following:

1) The peaceful approach. Settle that aggressive stone city ASAP and try to build the Pyramids so that you can run rep scientists. It may already be too late for that, but it's Monarch, so there might be time. If you go for this you need to get Masonry very soon, and also be prepared to build a pretty long road network + chop some forests around Athens.

2) The not-so-peaceful approach. HA rush Ramses. It won't be a great HA rush since you don't have a lot of commerce to get there quickly, but i think you can pull it off. You still want at least one more city for this, and i think the Deer + Fish site is good for the food and the forest chops. You will need Archery for this, but, as Shaandore said, go for HBR first and then you may be able to trade for Archery later and save some beakers.

Try to scout Ramses out some and see what he has going on over there. I see double gold and floodplains, so it looks like he has some juicy land, but it's important to figure out if and where he has metal too.
 
Worker:City ratio is really the wrong way to think about it. About 1.5 workers per city is a ballpark, but the real goal is to have enough workers that your cities aren't working unimproved tiles. Your land is modestly forested and has no jungle, so I'd be surprised if you need more than 4 workers for your first 3 cities.

Chariot rushing... probably too late already. A chariot rush has a very early expiration date, because ideally you're hitting before they have many (if any) spears... since you'll lose 90-100:hammers: of chariots for each 35:hammers: spear the AI makes. Since you do not have horses pastured or roaded yet, you wouldn't even start making chariots until about when a chariot rush should ideally be arriving. Generally on Monarch 10 chariots is a bit of a gamble, 12 is safe (more if the target is PRO or has a hilltop capital).
On the other hand, a Horse-Archer rush is a definite possibility on this start (in fact, I'd say it's almost certainly the right move). If you decide to go that way, tech HBR -> Archery, build a stable in the capital while teching archery, spam out a dozen HAs with slavery, chops, and such. If you can take out Ramses you'll be in terrific shape going forward... two holy cities, lots of floodplains, multiple gold, and plenty of empty land to fill. Since it's Monarch you might even be able to steal a late stone wonder or two after the rush goes through.

Priority techs... it'll depend on your plan. If you're thinking HA rush, then you go HBR -> Archery right now. Otherwise, the land you're working with calls for Bronze Working, Agriculture, Fishing, Animal Husbandry, The Wheel, then you're good to head off along the Pottery -> Writing -> Alphabet/Math/Aesthetics line unless you want to try something fancy. Basically I'm just looking at what resource tiles you really need to improve and calling out the worker techs needed for them.

Important buildings... every city gets a granary. If you're thinking HA rush, consider trying to sneak a barracks in with your capital and/or Sparta; otherwise, that's the only infrastructure I'd get at least until Writing here. Then your capital will want a library for the 2 scientist specialist slots. More generally, your cities should be specialized - decide whether a city is primarily there to give you commerce, GP points, or production, then get the improvements that are needed for that purpose only. Commerce cities get libraries, often markets, and not much else until the Renaissance. Cities working water tiles get lighthouses. Production cities get forges, barracks, and maybe stables. GP farms get libraries or markets (often not both). Cities that need a border pop get a monument unless they don't urgently need the border pop and need a library anyways, or you have a cheaper way of getting them 10 culture.

City placement looks good. Sparta is an excellent choice for your second city site; in fact, it doesn't even really need a border pop (make sure you transferred the wheat from your capital to it). Mine that hill, work wheat + cow, get a library and throw two scientist specs. down there, and it's fine at size-4 for a while (at least until you get around to raising your happy cap). The deer-fish-furs site to the north is quite strong in the short term (especially if you steal that plains-hill mine from the capital). The really nice land is all off to the west, but taking any of it will likely require attacking Ramses at this point.
 
Hmm i actually dun know, if Ramsy runs Hindu will Memphis get 5 culture from Juda?

iirc, holy cities do generate culture, even thought you are not in that specific religion yourself.

Not 100% sure though, I seldom pay that much attention to culture and religion.. :(
 
Chariot rushing... probably too late already.

Not necesserarily. Looking at the situation, I am pretty sure Ramesses II is stronger than him, making the bragging function still active (normally vanish fast on monarch).

Just talk to Ramesses multiple times until he talks about a military unit; then it means it is the strongest the AI has right now. If archers, just one chariot or two will do the job to keep him from connecting any strategic resource.
 
iirc, holy cities do generate culture, even thought you are not in that specific religion yourself.

Not 100% sure though, I seldom pay that much attention to culture and religion.. :(

Holy cities generate their 5 culture unless you have a different state religion that prohibits the heathen religion to produce culture or influence. Early game, often, no one has adopted a religion given the few uses. Early game is about units! Later OR.
 
Mempis shouldn't be getting the holy city culture since Ramses is in Hinduism. I never get culture in my Confucian or Taoist holy cities when I'm already running a different religion. I don't see why it would be different here.
 
Mempis shouldn't be getting the holy city culture since Ramses is in Hinduism. I never get culture in my Confucian or Taoist holy cities when I'm already running a different religion. I don't see why it would be different here.

Sorry for the confusion. (I was thinking about my own games, but there I don't have a state religion around the time of founding another, so I do get culture in my holy cities.)

So stone spot is a good idea then.
 
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