Need To Vent!!!

[mongo81]

Ok so same thing four games in a row and getting pissed, here is the deal. Pangea, Small, Prince, Epic. Ok so early expansion is crucial so i pretty much get as many good cities as possible (never make a city just for the sake of having it, needs resources or strategic position) this usually kills the economy. But thats all good got the librarys built and got the scientist going in every city making good research progress with slider at 10% because of it. Cant afford many units or strike will just take them away so i defend with what i can which aint much. Now comes code of laws, COURTHOUSES!!!! ready to get the whip cracking and get this economy back on track. I got my neighbors pleased with me by giving them free resources cause lord knows i cant goto war. And now the economy is fixed, My empire is set up well and ...... BANG!!!! One of the two neighbors that is pleased with me (not one negative remark) and recieving free resources from me attacks me just as im about to gt me army going now that I can afford it. FOUR GAMES IN A ROW!!!! why have diplomacy as a option in the game if they will attack you no matter how pleased they are with you. PISSING ME OFF!!! ok i feel better now, had to vent to people who understand me, my girlfriend cant understand how I can get so pissed at a game. if she only knew.

Thanks for reading,

Mongo

 

[mica8911]

Sounds pretty bad. I am guessing it has to do with the difficulty. I have not yet gotten to Prince yet.

 

[Gothic_Empire]

If you're militarily weak, a neighbor WILL attack you. If you could get free cities, wouldn't you?

 

[mongo81]

Yes, you got a point, i guess i will just have to expand slowley so i can afford a army, its just that on the harder lvls of play having a small empire early pretty much means you will be at war for a very long time untill you get your empire up to a size that is competitive.

 

[Cashew]

Civ is not a professional ass kissing game. You can gift all kinds of things to an AI and it will still attack you if it has the appropriate reason. You being hella weak is one such reason.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Raise you happy cap, and build/work cottages, and you can afford more military. And more cities. Like, 10 cities on immortal pre-courthouses (although 8 is more realistic without trait help).

It's usually possible to steer the AI into other AIs and avoid declarations even when weak, but it's highly dependent on the map.

 

[ventrue]

It sounds like you are overexpanding to me. Unless you are a very good player, it is pretty difficult to come back after your units have gone on strike. You end up getting too far behind.

I would make about 6 or 7 good cities and that should put you around 20-30%. You need to whip courthouses, libraries, markets and forges. You can then recover by specializing your cities. You can build a gold city, science cities, production cites, etc..

After you recover, you can squeeze in a few more cities. You just have to find the right balance. It helps to block off your neighbor or neighbors and have some land to expand to later on.

This has been working for me on Prince, but I don't know about the higher levels. I will be on Prince for a little while longer.

 

[Spartan117]

Ouch I cant remember the last time I had units disband because of strike. Obviously the ai will attack you depending on what would seem like a very weak civ. But some ai are more prone to attack then others. So it would be wise to determine beforehand.

 

[dirtyparrot]

I remember with I first got Civ IV, I made the mistake of over-expanding and my civ when on strike (I think that back then they disbanded your buildings first). Anyway, I kept think that being under anarchy at least made like bearable. I don't think I finished that game.

 

[KingLoraxII]

I find a balance by expanding to what I want - see who is close and just prepare to take their cities - seems to work....

And of course - rushing - it seems even easier to just rush a capitol early and wipe someone out - it seems to give you just more breathing room and the game just seems to go better - that and now you likely have a very powerful city to your empire.

I would advise looking into a rush strategy of some sort for your level.

 

[Dhaulagiri]

Try a different approach. Instead of expanding early to 8 cities, put those hammers into building a decent army and get your 8 cities through conquest. Axe rush a neighbor with your early 3 cities, or get 5 cities going while building your army with swordsman/iron. Then take some cities from a neighbor. Then whip libraries and courthouses and recover. This way you have less cities to maintain early so your tech should be ok while you build your army.

 

[PureE]

Beeline hereditery rule. Now building an archer means extra defence and happiness, it's growth and defence in one!

 

[Willem]

It sounds like you are overexpanding to me.

Yes, if you're reaching the point where your troops are going on strike then you've pushed your economy far beyond it's limit. Go for less cities at first and get the ones you do establish producing Cottages and paying for themselves before you create any new ones.

 

[Willem]

Try a different approach. Instead of expanding early to 8 cities, put those hammers into building a decent army and get your 8 cities through conquest.

That's not necessarily a good idea either. Distance from your capital is a factor in a city's maintenance costs so unless the civ you conquer is very close by, you will be paying through the nose for his/her cities. You're much better off building your own close by and razing anything your neighbour owns to give you more room to expand. Keeping a foreign city is only a good option later when you have your economy on a solid footing, not when you are just starting out.

 

[Dhaulagiri]

Right, it depends on the map like any advice. It sounded like his two problems were overexpansion and a small army which invited pile-on attacks.

Instead of focusing on grabbing all the good land, I was suggesting going with less cities early so research is 80% or so, and building a decent army. Don't panic if they start crowding in with their cities, the closer the better because they'll be yours soon.

With 4-5 cities you'll have a good shot at having iron. So get pottery, writing, ironworking, and be working on CoL while you attack a nearby neighbor. If you have those techs its pretty hard to get an unrecoverable economy, especially losing half the army's unit maintenance by taking cities without catapults.

Then just whip out the buildings to help your economy and with those veterans and land you should be in decent shape. Its not the greatest strategy but it works and gets you out of the settling too many cities habit.