No resources for early war?

[outootus]

Hello,

I have recently began (trying to) play on Noble. Usually I like to go for an early war (before the ADs, earlier if possible), and obviously this relies on having the resources near. In a recent game, copper/iron/horses were not available nearby. My question is, if I can't go for an early war, what should I focus on? Usually I bypass religion and just hope to capture a holy city. I tried to focus on military techs in this game in the hopes that I'd be able to go for an early-midgame war, however I found myself far behind.

Any tips or advice would be appreciated!

 

[a0161613]

Try playing some games where you ignore war entirely.

 

[outootus]

I've considered it, but I think warring is half of the fun and I'd like to get good at that first...

 

[vicawoo]

Warring is tedious micromanagement

 

[Manco Capac]

Sometimes, I feel warring is for the inept. I get to war so often I see my economic skills are pretty bad.
Skills come from peaceful "autarcy".

 

[Ringo Kid]

No resources? Maybe you need to scout more or earlier. Somebody near you has to have some you could take. Settle your land first. Research towards construction and Feudalism for catapults and longbows. Then build many of both, and take the iron or horses or copper.

 

[Manco Capac]

^
He's right. On noble, you almost always have a chance to a get a strat. resource. If really boxed in, then go to Construction for a Archepult.

 

[VoiceOfUnreason]

I have recently began (trying to) play on Noble. Usually I like to go for an early war (before the ADs, earlier if possible), and obviously this relies on having the resources near. In a recent game, copper/iron/horses were not available nearby. My question is, if I can't go for an early war, what should I focus on?

Catapults are made from wood. Just sayin...

Good alternatives to early war: land grab, research. A very common approach is to gun research for Rifles. Key techs would be Writing, Civil Service, Education, Liberalism..., maybe Alphabet to ensure that you can trade into the bottom of the tech tree.

 

[Manco Capac]

On noble, I frankly don't see the necessity to wait until rifles to get a strategic resource inline.
Sometimes, it only takes to sack one to three cities before getting one. Just need Construction+Archers.
Sometimes, you can even trade a highly costly strat. resource for a limited period and make the enough supply of units, then cancel in 10 turns.

Of course, on EMP+, it's better and more efficient to stay away from wars and wait riflemen to rolfstomp the whole continent.

It's just the the noble maintenance cost is so low that conquer early is better.

 

[Kaitzilla]

No resources at all?

Longbows, Catapults, and Monarchy are the holy trinity of "jeez I got nothing!"

 

[Zx Zero Zx]

Resources are unneeded on Noble you have Archers.

 

[Ringo Kid]

Strongest unit at this point in the game is the horse archer, because of the 2 moves and flanking ability. No micromanagement needed, just build as many as possible and smash them in stacks of ten or so into the enemy cities.
So if you see horses - go get them.
Single move units will do the job, but more slowly and with more micro.
You will also want currency to avoid going broke from all the towns the horse archers capture.
Engineering is great for the extra road movement which speeds up your horsemen even further.

Somewhere is a thread by Me In Team as I recall that explains how to set rally points so your horse archers go where you want them on auto pilot, for less micro management. Just set a common rally point for all your towns, and set them up to make horse archers one after the other forever. When enough horsemen accumulate at that point you can form a stack and send that stack wherever the next target is at.

When you get guilds and iron your cities will even start making knights automatically.

 

[Revent]

What about elephants?

Oh and on noble, you can warrior rush the closest AI...

 

[Ringo Kid]

Elephants are great - but relatively slow.

 

[Zx Zero Zx]

Elephants are the strongest non UU unit of their era. You can use them until the AI has Pikes, HA are only good until Longbows. Move speed is only good in times when you have a large advantage, when you are on par Elephants, and Catapults are always better.

 

[Pisskop]

Its just a matter of adjusting your teching to match your war-needs. If you have no resource, you could try an economic or cultural approach. started early enough it goes well.

And, treachery and diplomacy are tools of statescraft war.