new player needs some tips for BTS

[DBaron]

I used to play Civ 4 on and off, but not that seriously, now I just purchased BTS, warlords, and colonization over holidays. BTS is seriously kicking my ass.

Currently playing games on Prince difficulty. I played an earlier game on cheiftan and it was too easy. Everyone declares war on me, all the time. I try to play nice, but it just encourages them it seems. I try to keep the same religion as the others, but it doesn't matter. As soon as one goes to war, so do the others, and I can't keep up. Secondly, as if being at war isn't bad enough, the AI seems to have legions of troops. Does the AI cheat and get extra troops as the difficulty rises?

Most of the time, I quit around 900 AD as everyone is at war with me.

Thanks

 

[lymond]

DBaron - Welcome to Civfanatics. I recommend posting over on the S&T forum and perusing around on that board.

It's easier to ascertain what your issues are if you post a save over there with screenshots. You will get a lot of help.

 

[s.bernbaum]

Like lymond says, it is hard to help with no details. However, it is quite a jump from Chieftan to Prince. You might try a game at Warlord level (not Warlords expansion version). If that is still too easy, then try Noble. At Noble, no one has advantages. Starting at Prince the AIs get advantages. Below Noble you do.

 

[wolfblue]

ja. Noble is the most balanced level in terms of bonuses and penalties.

having said that a few tips to take note of.

BTS AI is the best AI in the Civ franchise and patch 3.19 or any of the mods make it even better. each leader has a different personality shaka and Ghengis are known for being unabashed warmongers. Ashoka and Mali love to build technology, Queen Isabel is an absolute religious zelot, Monty is flat out insane. learn the personalities of the AI as you grow in the game. then when your better try toggling unrestricted leaders and Random Personalities in order to spice up the game a bit more.

the AI has a secret dislike for any one who is on the top. its not hate the human, its hate the highest score. it wont show up in diplomacy and it is not a HUGE penalty just a -1 or maybe -2 but it is there so be aware of it.

the AI is much smarter than in any other CIV. AI will activly bribe other AI to fight you and will land naval assaults on your boarders without warning. it determins many actions just like a human would if your weak it will attack you just as most humans would attack an AI for no other reason than he is easy pickings.

ensure that you have at least 3 or 4 units defending each of your boarder cities to help ward off attack. dont be afraid to give in to demands when some one asks for something out of the blue. usually it means that the computer has a large army just out of sight and will attack soon if you dont give tribute. if your not ready for a war give in to the demands and build military to stop it from happening again.

a better tactic is to never be so weak that you have to bend to the AI will in the first place. ensure that you have at a bare minimum 3 or 4 modern troops in each of your boarder towns I am not sure if the computer is swayed by the units it can actually see and count or if its a background calculation which takes into account all of your units regardless of line of sight but I tend to stay safe when I garrison defenders in each city and maybe some cavalry that can quickly get to any battle.

hope this helps. dont be afraid to play the lower levels and move up gradually. there is a decided learning curve between each level. when you feel one level is to easy move up one level and you will notice all kinds of subtle differences that you will have to deal with in order to master that level.

good gaming.

dont forget your espionage

 

[Dr.Null]

Hi DBaron!

1 - Check out the War Academy series of articles.

2 - Check out the Strategy & Tactics forum, especially the threads where you can watch someone else play out a game.

3 - Build more troops!

4 - Build more workers!

 

[DynamicSpirit]

Currently playing games on Prince difficulty. I played an earlier game on cheiftan and it was too easy. Everyone declares war on me, all the time. I try to play nice, but it just encourages them it seems. I try to keep the same religion as the others, but it doesn't matter. As soon as one goes to war, so do the others, and I can't keep up. Secondly, as if being at war isn't bad enough, the AI seems to have legions of troops. Does the AI cheat and get extra troops as the difficulty rises?

Most of the time, I quit around 900 AD as everyone is at war with me.

Thanks

As the difficulty goes up, the AI gets to build things with fewer hammers, and generally has an easier time (lower maintenance costs, needs fewer beakers for research etc.) But at prince level the difference is only about 5%, so not huge. If the AI are always going to war on you, that probably means you haven't built enough troops, so they see you as an easy target. Check the power graphs to make sure you're not too low. But also read strategy articles and ask specific questions here. Once you know how to play well, you'll find it's not too hard to win wars with only a fraction of the military the AI has, because you can be so much cleverer in how you use your units. One point, is that you could try not adopting a religion. If you adopt any one religion there's almost always a few AIs with a different religion who'll be upset about it.

Also, I'd echo s.bernbaum's comment that if prince is too hard, you should try warlord or noble.

 

[DBaron]

Thanks for the tips. I did try an easier difficulty on warlord, still was a bit too easy. I did set it to always peace for that game though.

 

[Ataxerxes]

Thanks for the tips. I did try an easier difficulty on warlord, still was a bit too easy. I did set it to always peace for that game though.

Take off the always peace and try again on Warlord. You'll have more opportunities and more things to focus on. I'd try moving up one level at a time.

For a more gradual move-up, play the same level as a weaker leader. Say, do a game as Huayna Capac. If it's too easy, try a game as Toku.

 

[DBaron]

I don't really know what is considered a weaker leader versus a stronger one.

 

[BobDole]

I don't really know what is considered a weaker leader versus a stronger one.

I'd look around at the guide section, as there's some guides on the leaders there, along with guides for pretty much everything else (including general strategy guides and the like). For an easier time, try not to play against the untrustworthy/crazy leaders, such as Monty, Shaka, the Khans, Alexander, Ragnar, etc. They like to declare war a lot, and if you're still struggling with that aspect of the game, having them as a neighbor could be tough, although the good news is that they tend to fall behind in tech as a result.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=345910&highlight=leader has a list of the "untrustworthy" leaders. Ones not on the list can't backstab (declare war at pleased) and so are generally easier to deal with if you're decent at diplomacy. Just keep them at pleased and you won't have to worry about DoWs under a majority of circumstances.

 

[Ataxerxes]

I don't really know what is considered a weaker leader versus a stronger one.

People have opinions about which leaders are better than others. This is based on starting techs, traits, unique units and buildings. You should be able to win with any leader, however. In general, the difference in difficulty level is greater than the difference between leaders.

This is a controversial area. Everyone has a different opinion. The general opinion is that Protective and Aggressive are weak traits. On Warlord level Organized isn't an especiallly strong trait (note: on high levels Org is one of the best traits). There've been a number of polls about strongest and weakest traits, UUs and UBs. Philosophical is a strong trait but takes experience to get the full benefit.

The ones almost everyone considers strong are Egypt, Inca, Elizabeth. Inca are often ranked #1 - some people won't play them if they roll them as they think they make the game too easy.

Toku is generally considered weak although his UU is pretty good.

I've probably said more than I should because someone will disagree with me. Even the best players will disagree a lot about the merits of one leader vs. another.

 

[Archon_Wing]

It's always a good idea to post a save when you get lost; that way people can give specific advice and other people can try to play the game.

For now I'd just focus on building more workers and improving your tiles. Your early research needs to be focused on allowing workers to improve the relevant tiles in your vicinity. After that, you'd want bronze working and chop trees down to get stuff out faster.

It's also a good idea to focus on making 2-3 good friends, and telling their worst enemies to buzz off. You can't make everyone happy, but fortunately usually someone can become a pariah that you all can get people to hate.

It matters not if Shaka/Monty dislikes you if they hate someone else worse. You also get brownie points for joining their wars. They may still declare on you even when they are pleased with you, but at the same time, you can bribe them to attack someone else.

Another thing that can help is during warfare, is to turn down the research slider and turn up the culture slider a bit. That will reduce the effects of war weariness. You also suffer less war weariness if you fight within your own borders. So it's a good idea to wait for them to come at you and abuse the roads to hit them with 9463863 siege.

And that's another thing. When I moved to BTS after a few games of Vanilla. I had trouble with chieftain until I started using siege. Collateral damage is extremely deadly to AI armies; that alone let me reach Noble. When in doubt, build more siege. That's because even if a siege weapon dies when attacking it will still damage other units on the same tile.

Well, obviously you need guys protecting them, but yea.