New Game- random leader:Roosevelt

[joe6778]

hey joe - i'll add my 2cents to these questions



I'm not quite in touch with your current position, but if you've got Construction then you definitely want to be using cats to take cities.



This a good question and problem one of the main concepts that newer/struggling players have a hard to grasping, as well as being a major roadblock to their progression.

First of all, as to razing cities, that is obviously situational. Certainly keep caps which are almost always good cities. If at all possible keep cities that are just plain good - good food and good resources. Raze crap cities that just won't contribute. AIs do have a tendency to settle crap cities. Make sure you get trade routes setup asap to all conquered cities.

However, back to the concept of maintenance, keep in mind that it is "relative". What I mean by that is you have to take into account all factors present in you current situation. The fact is maintenance cost are going to go up with more cities, more citizens, and certain civics. That's a constant.

However, newer players seem to fret tremendously when they start to see the slider going down. As I've mentioned to you more than once, you don't have to keep your slider at 100% or anywhere in between. If I'm conquering early, after attaining the techs I need to conquer, I will shut down research indefinitely. Relying mainly on some scientists specialists to keep some research in play. As you conquer cities you get gold from that. Then you can raise your slider back to 100% to get the next important tech like CoL.

Do you have Currency? If you have Currency you generally don't have money issues. Just build wealth in cities that don't have pressing builds. Simple as that.

The bottom line though is that if you are in positive gold at 0% research, then you aren't in trouble.





Well, the only time emancipation should come into play, especially on lower level is if you are going for space wins, maybe diplo. Again, keep in mind that you have been playing very sub-optimally in the past. Even your military victories are achieved far later than normal. That is why emancipation is in play in your games. As for later games like space, well sometimes you might have to switch to emancipation then. Not so big a deal except that in late space games I usually like to be in Caste at that point running Rep and lots of specialists. There are ways into happiness to counteract emancipation, including raising your culture slider a bit.



Diplomacy is often one of the harder concepts to master. The key is understanding the various ways to boost diplomacy with the AI. I'm sure there are things you don't realize. Also, making sure you understand who your rival is and doing things to make sure other AIs like you more than him/her.

Positive Diplo modifiers:

1) Open borders
2) Fair Trade - up to +4 (i'm sure you've seen that)
3) Shared Religion (amount varies among leaders based on how they value religion)
4) Favorite Civic (both you and the AI must be in that civic)
5) Resource trades (over time you can get up to +2 from that and it is very easy obviously...you should always be trading resources. I'll even give away single copies if I don't need them presently. Great thing to do early with EXP or Char civs since they have extra health and happiness already)
6) Shared Technology (gift enough techs and the AIs start to appreciate. You can get at least +2 from that)
7) Giving into request/demands
8) Mutual Wars (bribe your friends into war with the enemy....this can get a huge bonus with some AIs...think warmongers)
9) Liberating cities (plant crap cities within 9 tiles of an AIs capital and you get a Liberate city bonus. You can keep doing it to. Or capture an AIs old city that another AI captured and liberate it back to them. )
10) Vote for them - this is temporary though.

There may be some I missed. It's important to start to understand the differences between the Leaders. As you've probably learned, they are not at all alike. Some value religion more. Some value war. There's a lot of different parameters about the leaders.

One thing I fear (that has happened before) is getting into a war and turning down the research slider only to have another AI out-teching me. I know this is a result of getting bogged down in protracted wars- I have improved my technique since then.

I remember trying to win a diplo victory once and I gave away everything I had, but still couldn't get the last AI to vote for me.

 

[UnforcedError]

Here are my thoughts on the next 1-2 turns:

You have 1 cat and tons of melee units standing next to Beshbalik. Beshbalik has 2 archers and an axeman. What you want to do is smash the catapult (promoted to city raider I) against the stack and attack with your axes. Check the winning odds before attacking. If they're low, promote the axe to city raider I first. Do not promote if the odds are >90%. In this case giving a promotion after the attack to heal the unit is better. You will lose some units this way but you will also get gold from getting the city, and that is important:

We want to have Monarchy before your golden age is over so that we can make the switch without anarchy. We can do this is we take both Beshbalik and Karakorum imt. Teching Monarchy will take 5 turns in total, I'd say.

You also have 1 axe, 2 chariots and 3 catapults assembled on the GH forest tile. Let's take Beshbalik (do not move all units inside the city, your wounded units will need protection) and see if Kublai's culture retreats from the copper. If it does, move the cats, axe and chariot to the stack. If it does not, they should stay where they are this turn. They will move next turn.

I'd say we will need 1 catapult, maybe 1 chariot, 1 axe and the sword to take his iron city. We still have a bit of time until the sword gets there so we can use one of the catapults currently on the way. The three cats with the axe will go towards Karakorum.

City builds look really good at the moment

 

[bernds]

One thing I fear (that has happened before) is getting into a war and turning down the research slider only to have another AI out-teching me.

The thing to do is not to worry about it. It's expected to some degree, and you'll start out-teching them as soon as your newly captured cities come online and start to contribute to your now larger empire. The only thing to keep in mind in the early game is that you need to be able to reach key economic techs (Writing, Alphabet, Currency, CoL) without going bankrupt.

 

[lymond]

^^^this is a good point by bernds, but I'd also add that, Joe, that you have yet learn how to really use great people as well.

Even warring on Noble...and Prince, Monarch and even Emperor, you should be able to out-tech the AIs after Alpha/Currency.

 

[joe6778]

Here are my thoughts on the next 1-2 turns:

You have 1 cat and tons of melee units standing next to Beshbalik. Beshbalik has 2 archers and an axeman. What you want to do is smash the catapult (promoted to city raider I) against the stack and attack with your axes. Check the winning odds before attacking. If they're low, promote the axe to city raider I first. Do not promote if the odds are >90%. In this case giving a promotion after the attack to heal the unit is better. You will lose some units this way but you will also get gold from getting the city, and that is important:

We want to have Monarchy before your golden age is over so that we can make the switch without anarchy. We can do this is we take both Beshbalik and Karakorum imt. Teching Monarchy will take 5 turns in total, I'd say.

You also have 1 axe, 2 chariots and 3 catapults assembled on the GH forest tile. Let's take Beshbalik (do not move all units inside the city, your wounded units will need protection) and see if Kublai's culture retreats from the copper. If it does, move the cats, axe and chariot to the stack. If it does not, they should stay where they are this turn. They will move next turn.

I'd say we will need 1 catapult, maybe 1 chariot, 1 axe and the sword to take his iron city. We still have a bit of time until the sword gets there so we can use one of the catapults currently on the way. The three cats with the axe will go towards Karakorum.

City builds look really good at the moment

I'm on the verge of conquering KK.

 

[UnforcedError]

Nice I will check the game tonight when I get home

 

[UnforcedError]

Joe, you kind of ran ahead again

You teched Monarchy as I suggested but you forgot to switch to Hereditary Rule during the golden age Let's do it right now
You took Karakorum and Ning-Shia much later than I expected. Why?
You still don't have a medic unit.

Instead of MC let's get CoL.

As for the war it seems to be going well. Tip for games where you are actually behind in techs: make peace after beating the opposition down to one city and get their techs. E.g. after taking Turfan you could make peace for Poly, HBR and Archery. Not really needed in this game though as you can trade for them with others.

Trade Meditation to Ragnar and Bismarck for gold. Do not forget to monitor for trades every turn.

First question to decide: do we want to build more units? Do we want to attack Bismarck right away? (He has juicy cities and he has no elephants yet due to not having Construction. So I'd say the answer is yes.
And in this case we will continue building units. Whip your cities dynamically, no need for rushing anymore, we have a large enough stack to deal with Bismarck atm.

Take Turfan and use a small stack (1-2 cats and 3-4 units) to get Old Sarai. Imt road up Munich. Let's assemble our stack in Turfan (no need to stand around outside of your cultural border for longer than you need, that costs extra maintenance).

Some mistakes creeping in in the city builds again.
Nobamba, Bulawayo and Ulundi should continue with units. Nobamba should grow now and resume whipping.
Beshbalik: whip that monument.
Ning-hsia needs a granary now.
Umma should switch to villages, hamlets and gold (will have enough happy next turn after the switch). Give the pig back to capital.
Ondini: build a workboat here.
kwaDukuza: build a unit for military police. A market is useless for this site.
Nodwengu: whip a galley / catapult into the library. Meaning: build the galley or cat until there's 19 hammers in (ideally, but most importantly less than 20 but close to 19) and then 2-pop whip into the library.

 

[joe6778]

As you can see, some bad habits are hard for me to break.

I wanted to move ahead a little to see if you can analyze the mistakes I make on a regular basis when left to my own devices. Some mechanics still haven't sunk in yet.

Instead of attacking the cities at low odds, I had to break down defenses first.

I think monarchy came in after GA completed so HR caused anarchy. Although I may have just missed it.

 

[UnforcedError]

Instead of attacking the cities at low odds, I had to break down defenses first.

Catapults are there to get suicided against a stack. In these cities you had to deal with fortified axes and archers. Yes, Karakorum had to be bombarded down a bit due to its 40% culture but awaiting a huge amount of catapults just wasn't necessary, simply because there weren't too many units in the city. In a war every turn counts. The opposition can whip new defenders.

You didn't get Monarchy during the golden age because you didn't have enough gold to tech it. And you didn't have enough gold to tech it because you were too late to take Karakorum.

 

[joe6778]

I lost a swordsman at Turfan at 95% odds.

Not sure what to do with my GG.

All my units (4) were killed trying to take Old Sarai.

 

[Robert FIN]

Always change to Hereditary Rule when you tech Monarchy ! It is as cheap to run as Destpotism (or whatever..) and it gives you more bonuses! Well, I didn't mean that I'd always remember to do that !

 

[UnforcedError]

Joe, did you attack Old Serai with 1-2 CR I catapults first??? (And I mean not bombarding the city defenses, I mean smashing the catapults into the defenders.)

Robert FIN: there are times when you don't want to afford the anarchy right away. Situations include:
1. You're close to teching / trading for another tech that would allow a double switch (most notably Monotheism).
2. You don't need the happiness in your cities urgently (you can whip dynamically and you have some happy resources). In this case you may want to get the most out of your cities and switch when you're down on pop.

Of course if you're SPI there's no reason to postpone the switch, unless you get say Mono within 5 turns.

 

[joe6778]

I smashed 1 CAT. Three other units died.

 

[UnforcedError]

Nevermind. You have several units to attack with still. Let's finish him off.

As for next time: always take your time to find out which unit has the strongest odds. If it's still not strong enough, promote the unit if possible.

Your GG should become a supermedic.

 

[joe6778]

I have a peace treaty with KK. I was planning on attacking Bismarck ASAP.

Should I attach the GG to a chariot? I usually settle GGs in cities as instructors so I don't have much experience attaching them to units. Do I attach to a stack?

 

[lymond]

Always create a supermedic with your first GG, Joe. Scouts or chariots make good super medic as they are less likely to defend a stack. Another good option is to attach to a Woody3 Warrior and then give him the other medic promos as you can (you may recall me recommending you get one of those Warriors to woody3 out in the wilderness against barbs.). Woody3 is a strong medic promo itself. Then just keep him as a warrior indefinitely so he does not defend the stack. After medic promos, Mobility is a good promo so that the medic can move faster to help out other stacks or run from danger.

Supermedics are a fantastic way to keep the war machine moving and heal fast in enemy territory. You can often heal your stack as your cats are taking down defenses.

Settling other GGs in your future HE city is fine otherwise. For fun, I may create a super unit general or "nutcracker" type, but it may depend on how much I'm warring or if my leader is IMP. Sometimes I'll create more than one supermedic though if fighting on multiple fronts. They really are so valuable.

Yeah, Robert, you don't always need to switch to Monarchy asap. Depends on your immediate happiness needs or if you want to get diplo boost asap with AIs that have that fave civic and are actually in it.

 

[Lennier]

I have a peace treaty with KK. I was planning on attacking Bismarck ASAP.

Should I attach the GG to a chariot? I usually settle GGs in cities as instructors so I don't have much experience attaching them to units. Do I attach to a stack?

Don't promote the chariot/scout/warrior while they're part of the stack. The 20 xp from the GG gets spread amongst all the units in the stack, so you want your supermedic to get all of those points.

 

[UnforcedError]

Joe: do not attach the GG to a stack. Use either a scout or chariot as Lymond suggested or... you don't have a Woodsman III guy yet, do you? Let's just go with a scout or chariot. (I usually use chariots to get a chance to level up further if it gets an easy kill. Never attack with your supermedics under say 95% odds though, they are too valuable.). Move the unit and the GG to the same tile (without having any other units there) and click attach to unit on the GG. The unit will now be able to take Combat I, Medic I, Medic II and Medic III.

 

[joe6778]

Any specific directions for my next turn(s)?

 

[CivNoobie]

Joe, post your most recent save so that we know what the current situation is, even if it's only been 1 turn