Need tips for Emperor and beyond

[invector]

Hello everyone.

I used to play Civ 3 years ago, and recently started playing again. Somehow I can't let go of this game... I am a kind of a guy who wants new challenges, but NEEDS to succeed. I want to win this game fair and square on the hardest setting on a huge map.

First of all, let me say the specifics of my "map".

Worldsize: Huge
Landmass: Pangaea (60% water)
Barbarians: none
Climate: Arid
Temperature: Warm
Age: 3 billion
My civilization: Iroquois
Victory condition: all except wonder victory
AI aggression: Normal
Rivals: All random
Difficulty: Emperor

I reloaded the game until I got at least one cattle with a river near my capital.

I expanded and expanded with building only warriors, settlers, and workers, until there was no other places to settle. I managed to get these resources:

Horses: 4
Iron: 2
Saltpeter: 2
Ivory: 2
Silk: 1
Spices: 2

I got into war with China twice, attacked their archer+settler combos twice, to get slave workers, succeeded in both, then made peace. I got into war with mayans because they wanted a monopoly tech from me for free, and I refused, not a single unit came from them to fight me, then made peace.

Let me show me my map:

I have the Chinese on top left, Americans on top right, and there is a single Portuguese city between me and China. I declared war on Americans, took 4 cities(with ivory, and saltpeter) and planning on taking two more, one has silk with it. I outnumber them and I have knights, they don't have horses or saltpeter, they can only make pikemen, medieval inf, and longbowmen.

I built only one Wonder, Sun Tzu's Art of War(I read the book btw, had great info on real battles) in Salamanca.

I've only built temples and libraries in my cities as buildings, no aqueducts, no universities(as of yet)

I am leading the technology tree as of now, I got Chivalry and went straight to Military Tradition. I sell my techs for gold, gpt, and other techs. Most of the AI love me.

I am importing furs, dyes, and gems from other countries, and exporting saltpeter, horses, spices, and two ivories to other countries.

I am planning on a domination victory by the way.

Can you give me tips on what to do? What not to do? Its VERY hard to find good stuff on forums, because the search engine is very poorly done, and most people give advice for regent difficulty players.

Lastly, a bit info about my game:

I added my savegame too.

 

[Lanzelot]

Looks like you have the game completely under control... You can win this without any tips.

But anyway, here is what I would do in the given situation:

• You are already researching Military Tradition, which will be done very soon, so with Cavalry mopping up the AI should be a piece of cake. Unfortunately you have "wasted" some time with Chivalry, this slows you down. Tip: disconnect (pillage) your iron and build Horsemen (30s) instead of Knigths (70s). Slow down research so that MT will finish in like 10-15 turns instead of 5 turns. By that time you should have a large stack of Horsemen, and a pile of gold. When MT gets in, upgrade all existing Knights and Horsemen to Cavalry and roll up the AI. (It will go like hot knife through butter...)
  Of course you stop research after reaching MT and put a warrior and 3 workers on your saltpeter tile. Pillage it every turn, set your cities to Horsemen, then reconnect the saltpeter for upgrading the Horsemen the following turn. That way you can use both, your shields and your gold, for producing a huge army quickly.
• Your knowledge of the map is "a bit limited". You want to find out a) whether you can conquer 66% territory with only land units or whether you will need a navy and b) how the best route for the attacking forces is and c) where critical resources (iron, saltpeter, horses) of the enemy are located.
  You probably neglected the exploration phase during the ancient ages, but better late than never... So send out 2-3 Galleys (or Caravels, if you have them) and also sign RoPs with the other nations and send a few Horsemen/Knights to explore their territory.
  On the outbreak of war, these explorers can then form "special mission squads" and pillage the enemies saltpeter, iron and horse resources right in the first turn of war. After defeating the units the AIs currently have, you will encounter only Spearmen and Archers as reinforcements from them, and these are no match for your Cavalry...
• If you have a government tech (Republic, Monarchy, Feudalism) that the enemy does not yet have, gift it to them the turn before you attack! The AI always goes into anarchy when it gets a new gov tech, no matter whether the new goverment is actually "better" than the one they currently run... I used this trick once when I was building an important wonder and a spy found out that the French (currently a Republic) would finish it a turn before me. I gifted them Monarchy, surely enough they revolted the same turn, spent 3 turns in anarchy --- and became a Republic again... In the meantime I had finished that important wonder...
  So anyway, sending them into anarchy right the turn before you attack, will make your task easier. Especially when they can build only Spearmen and Archers by the time they get out of anarchy again...
• One more thing: don't build Musketmen. What are they good for? (Remember, this is Emperor, not Deity!)

 

[Mizar]

Well you're doing reasonable good, this game is already in the bag (tech lead and sizeable land).
-> cavalry charge for first wave of expansion, finishing off the domination victory with artillery/tanks (on standard size map cavalry charge would already win).

You seem to build enough workers (core tiles improved), always a problem with players at lower levels.

From the screenshot one thing I notice where you can improve: your core cities are the most productive ones.
At 500/600AD, they should be size 10-12, not 4,5, 6.
Here the corruption is low and citizens are the most productive, make it a priority to get your first and second ring cities maxed out at 11/12 like you did with your capital (before hospitals anyway) as soon as possible.
On huge map, even ring 3 cities can contribute nicely to mass cavalry (and later tank/inf/artillery) production.

 

[Lanzelot]

I got Chivalry and went straight to Military Tradition.

Well, that is a "contradiction in itself", isn't it... This is rather a "round-about route" to MT. In a domination game, one either goes to Chivalry, or to Military Tradition, but not both.
And in particular, when playing the Iroquois, Chivalry was not only a waste, it even made things worse for you: the Iroquois Mounted Warrior with attack-3 for 30 shields is a much much better attack-unit than the Knight with attack-4 for 70 shields!
(The extra defense is not needed on Emperor. The AI is too weak to counter-attack in large scale. And if you are really worried about losing units agaisnt counter-attacks, you can send 2-3 Pikes with your attack stack in the beginning. After the first few turns the AI will not have any attack-units left, so you just leave the Pikes behind and press forward as fast as those horses will ride. Day and night...)

 

[Lanzelot]

cavalry charge for first wave of expansion, finishing off the domination victory with artillery/tanks (on standard size map cavalry charge would already win).

Most probably on this map, with the AI trailing behind in tech, Cavalry will already be more than enough to finish off the domination. (But you need to stop selling techs around...)

I go even one point further: if this turns out to be one big Pangea, then already the Iroquois Mounted Warrior would have sufficed for a quick domination victory. (Of course one needs to be ready for the large scale offensive by 500 BC, not 600 AD, but on Emperor this should be possible.)

 

[invector]

Wow, really great replies! I appreciate the feedback like I appreciate a poorly defended city that has a wonder

Screenshots coming up, just to show you how I'm doing:

Summary:

After my war with America, I set my target: Take that single Portuguese city, and declare war to either China or Arabia. I took the Portuguese city in one turn, and got 500g + worldmap from Portuguese when signing for treaty.

Then, I declared war on China. Took three cities in the first turn with my cavalry, Chinese army has one or two cavalry, a lot of medieval inf, some longbows, and half muskets half pikes for defense. After three turns, Arabia declares war on me. So I just fought both of them and took their cities one by one, with the captured cities, I starved them to death and produced only workers and settlers to find new cities. I destroyed the poorly placed cities and found my new ones instead.

After some turns of war, portugal joins the fight with couple of medieval infs, which I destroy immediately. They had a city inside China, I took it also. War weariness was immense at this point(being a republic) so I made peace with China, they only have 2 cities now. Made peace with arabia after I took two of their main cities, Medina and Baghdad, then I made peace, because of a new tech, and war weariness.

I researched Railroads, then Nationality, then Communism. I'm gonna be a communist All hail Karl Marx lol. I like being a communist in Civilization when I'm the one doing the fighting.

By the way I got a military leader from my war with America, which I filled with 3 elite Cavalry, also got a scientific leader from researching Communism.

Now, I plan to destroy America, and research Scientific Method. However, as much as I want to build tanks so bad, I wonder if I should go for the hoover dam before doing so?

Which two researches should I get with the leader-rushed-evolution wonder, industrialization and replaceable parts, or atomic theory and electronics?

I am loving the tips, especially the government one, will most definitely try it against Maya, when I attack them, and if they won't have Communism at that time.

Can you guys help me become better equipped for the Demigod level? Feel free to comment on anything, I appreciate every comment.

And I just lost Baghdad to Arabia, meh.

 

[invector]

Attacked America, took me two turns to get all their cities but one, and it was captured immediately by Byzantines. Now I have a huge border with Arabia, plus two cities of China. I will attack them one after the other whenever the 20 turns elapse.

Now I'm communist, I'm always in war-mode and making cavalries by all cities. Workers are on automated mode now, making railroad everywhere. I simply stopped making settlers, I'm just going gung ho, just attack, kill everything that moves.

I decided it wasn't worth buying gems from Maya(strongest after me) for almost 100gpt, and two turns later they asked for ANOTHER monopoly tech from me, for free. I refused, they declared war.

I joined up with EVERY civ against Mayans, except Arabia and China. I gave them the tech Mayans asked me for( ) to declare war to Mayans. First I'll eradicate the Arabs and Chinese, and then I'll go for Mayans, even if only for pillaging their resources.

By the way, Mayans have these resources:

Coal, Gems, Horses, Iron, Silk, and Dyes in a very enemy surrounded area. they don't have saltpeter! They can only trade from Porteguese, Chinese, and Arabia, and they don't seem to have two saltpeters.

Now I'll attack Arabia and China, then I'll update here.

 

[invector]

So, lets update it a little, huh?

Summary:

I declared war on China and annihilated them in one turn. Then, I declared war on Arabia. Seems they had Nationality and made a bunch of Rifleman already, like, 2 or 3 veteran rifles per city. They had like 10 cities, and one of them was surrounded by jungle and mountains, so it took me like 6 turns to completely destroy them. Started making workers and building temples with the captured cities(to get all the land).

Then, Byzantines declare war upon me. But they are in war with Maya as well, so I'm literally watching Byzantium Cavalry fight Mayan Riflemen. Mayans use Riflemen to attack also, its the best unit they have, having no saltpeter.

Now I have all resources, all luxuries except gems, without any trading.

Japan declared war, not a single fighter came from them. Gonna ignore them until they want peace.

I decided not to go for hoover dam, I'll go straight for Tanks.

Now, I'll finish up Mayans(with some artillery help, I hope), I need the artillery because riflemen defend good against cavalry, even though I have more than 100.

If some unlucky miracle does not happen, I have won this game

 

[Everkane]

The game was already won at 670 AD.

 

[MrRandomGuy]

Wow this looks really cool. I'm not at the Emperor level like you yet, but I did see something that could be done differently. It's too early to automate workers. You need to use them to railroad your original territory as well as conquered territory. Automated workers just don't do the job as well as a human does. You can have a path railroaded into conquered territory in just a few turns and spend less turns moving your cavalry into enemy territory.

Keep up with the updates please

 

[invector]

The game was already won at 670 AD.

There is always the possibility of me getting attacked by 5 nations at once and rage-quitting though

Wow this looks really cool. I'm not at the Emperor level like you yet, but I did see something that could be done differently. It's too early to automate workers. You need to use them to railroad your original territory as well as conquered territory. Automated workers just don't do the job as well as a human does. You can have a path railroaded into conquered territory in just a few turns and spend less turns moving your cavalry into enemy territory.

Keep up with the updates please

You're right, I'll give you that. However I'm waaaaay to lazy to manage 100+ cities, and 100+ cavalries, making new cities do something and keep an eye on empire management, happiness, research, and trades, and s**tload of war happening all around the world. I just couldn't do it after some time. Perhaps I'll control 20 or so workers to make them do railroads.

Surprisingly enough, when I Was attacking Arabia, even with the little time my workers had, they did a brilliant job of connecting all my cities to my conquered cities, I had no problems atttacking arabia. However, I'm now having trouble attacking the mayans I'll surely take 20 or so workers in my hands and make them build roads and railroads to mayan cities(I can't believe how lazy the AI is, darn Americans didn't even build roads in their desert cities!).

I'm at work right now, will post more when I go home and play civ

 

[invector]

Attacked the mayans, made a railroad to mayan land with workers. Captured a lot of cities, only 11 of their cities remain, and one of them is inside another country. I'm giving heavy casualties now, because all they have are riflemen and little longbowmen, nothing else. I -almost- got their gems, and their capital is surrounded by my army, cavalries, and like 12 artillery. I'm now really dominating the game. Shooting straight for Tanks, but I reckon it will be too late. I'm almost ready to invade the other side of the world by ships.

 

[splunge the 2nd]

My 2 cents:
Eleite cavs in an army waste their portential for a great leader. I beleive units in armys can promote but don't build leaders. I'd have put vet cavs in and leader fished with the elites.

It could just be style, but I don't bother moving out of republic. I suck up the war weariness and concnetrate on a productive core rahter than the diffuse waste/corruption in communism, using the corrupt fringe cities as specialist farms. When you've got momentum in warring, I'd be afraid of the many turn anarchy and loss of worker productivity.

 

[Theov]

Perhaps I'll control 20 or so workers to make them do railroads.

I always tell them to 'build a railroad to...' and have them build railroads from one end of the country to another. All cross each other so every corner is connected.
After that I rail from the inside out.

 

[invector]

My 2 cents:
Eleite cavs in an army waste their portential for a great leader. I beleive units in armys can promote but don't build leaders. I'd have put vet cavs in and leader fished with the elites.

It could just be style, but I don't bother moving out of republic. I suck up the war weariness and concnetrate on a productive core rahter than the diffuse waste/corruption in communism, using the corrupt fringe cities as specialist farms. When you've got momentum in warring, I'd be afraid of the many turn anarchy and loss of worker productivity.

True about the army, though I usually lose all of my elite cavalries to defenders, I know the tricks of attacking low health enemies with elite cavalries to make leaders, but it rarely works, as almost all my enemies are fortified in cities anyway. I'll admit, you're right, but making my current army stronger(even though it CAN get stronger with time) seems more important to me. I'll take this into consideration though.

I had to move out of republic because I'm sick of making peace now, and war weariness tears me apart. Now I have no place to spend my monies, because I am far ahead on research and I almost have all the resources(I seem to have 6 rubbers, lol), The only one I'm lacking is gems, and its just a matter of a single turn now.

I had to make a break from war to change from Republic to Communism anyway, because I was busy making railroads everywhere and needed to recover from recent war.

I always tell them to 'build a railroad to...' and have them build railroads from one end of the country to another. All cross each other so every corner is connected.
After that I rail from the inside out.

How does this work? how do I make the order of "build railroad to" ? Seems too awesome to be true.

 

[splunge the 2nd]

How does this work? how do I make the order of "build railroad to" ? Seems too awesome to be true.

It's a command for workers. If I remember correctly, in options, you can select for expanded worker choices and it'll show up. You still have to command each worker but setting them in stacks can get efficient use. I looked up thiese hotkeys:CTRL-R Workers Manual Build road to waypoint
CTRL-SHIFT-R Workers Manual Build railroad to waypoint

 

[invector]

It's a command for workers. If I remember correctly, in options, you can select for expanded worker choices and it'll show up. You still have to command each worker but setting them in stacks can get efficient use. I looked up thiese hotkeys:CTRL-R Workers Manual Build road to waypoint
CTRL-SHIFT-R Workers Manual Build railroad to waypoint

 

[Theov]

Oh you... you didn't know?

Under preferences (ctr+P) you turn on 'advanced unit order button' (or something).
Then you can select them to 'rail to'.
Remember that workers work most efficient in groups of 2. The math is:
1 worker: 24 turns
2 workers: 12 turns
3 workers: 8 turns
4 workers: 6 turns
5 workers: 5 turns
6 workers: 4 turns
7 workers: 4 turns
8 workers: 3 turns

Note that the workers do less work, the more you stack em.

 

[invector]

I didn't know. Now that I DO know, I will use it!

Yesterday I destroyed the Mayans, lost an army(city flipped, fml) but made two new armies, with veteran cavalries

Now attacking Portugal, and when I take all their land, I'll continue on my warpath to East, into Byzantines. Now I'm dominating the battlefield with my artillery, infantry, and cavalry, made factories with my main cities(Salamanca and Grand River and stuff) and producing cavalry with them like crazy, either two or three turns it takes them to make one.

Got gems too, from Mayans, now I have all available luxuries and resources.

 

[invector]

Now I'm just playing to see "you're victorious" screen, and be officially awarded the "emperor winner" ribbon

Then, I'll make another thread of me starting a new campaign, same rules, but difficulty will be demigod!