I would think I still need a monument to get the food, so the cities with food in the second ring would still take a while to set up right? (Unless I go with what @pmarc said and switch to caste system, which seems like a good idea at this point)
Noble Shadow game - Washington
- Thread starter dudey1234
- Start date
Here is my gameplan for the mid and late game (I will play tonight)
Keep researching towards Liberalism, get astronomy, and then head towards Communism. In the meantime, I will try to whip Libraries in all my cities before switching to Bureaucracy/Caste system in one turn (also settle cities with food in them)
After getting Communism I switch to State Property and start switching from cottages to watermills/workshops.
Let me know if there’s something I’m missing!
Keep researching towards Liberalism, get astronomy, and then head towards Communism. In the meantime, I will try to whip Libraries in all my cities before switching to Bureaucracy/Caste system in one turn (also settle cities with food in them)
After getting Communism I switch to State Property and start switching from cottages to watermills/workshops.
I think this tech path is good after that, maybe get some military techs in between so I can declare war on Elizabeth and take some of her cities.
Let me know if there’s something I’m missing!
a pen-dragon
Prince
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- Jun 8, 2024
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As long as a tile is within your borders and in the first or second ring of a city, that city can work that tile, independent of whether it would control that tile on its own.
For example a city for the clam/wheat/horse spot could work the clam immediately upon being founded.
If you go down that route, don't forget to whip 6 universities (including the capital) and build Oxford in your capital.
You should whip maybe 2 Caravels (with Optics) to find the other civs across the ocean and trade techs with them.
Maybe after Education you need to pause the path to Communism and focus on preparing war, it's better to not wait for the AI to get stronger techs.
How many units do you have right now and what types? It looks like you built quite a bit of military based on the power ratings on the screenshot. If Elizabeth doesn't have feudalism and longbows, catapults (with Construction, can anyone trade that to you?) with a mix of melee units (maces and axes) might be sufficient, otherwise maybe go straight to Gunpowder (muskets) and try to back them with some siege like catapults and later trebuchets (with Engineering).
If you have Gunpowder and Engineering, you can research Chemistry next and the path to Sci.Method and Communism opens that way (no need for Astronomy, and you can delay it until after Communism). Using Liberalism on any tech worth more beakers than itself it fine, you have to balance the benefit of waiting to Lib a stronger tech with the risk of someone getting there first.
Maybe after Education you need to pause the path to Communism and focus on preparing war, it's better to not wait for the AI to get stronger techs.
How many units do you have right now and what types? It looks like you built quite a bit of military based on the power ratings on the screenshot. If Elizabeth doesn't have feudalism and longbows, catapults (with Construction, can anyone trade that to you?) with a mix of melee units (maces and axes) might be sufficient, otherwise maybe go straight to Gunpowder (muskets) and try to back them with some siege like catapults and later trebuchets (with Engineering).
If you have Gunpowder and Engineering, you can research Chemistry next and the path to Sci.Method and Communism opens that way (no need for Astronomy, and you can delay it until after Communism). Using Liberalism on any tech worth more beakers than itself it fine, you have to balance the benefit of waiting to Lib a stronger tech with the risk of someone getting there first.
Here's a screenshot of my current units:
They're pretty much all used for my happy cap though so I suppose I shouldn't use them?
I think Elizabeth doesn't have feudalism based on this screenshot right?
Should I not get liberalism first?
What's the move for liberalism here? Should I wait until after construction? So Education -> construction -> liberalism? And then go for communism?
That's a lot of units. Since you don't have hunting you should still be able to use cheaper warriors instead of axes for happiness (they cost the same in maintenance, but having to use whipping more often for axemen also probably means getting more unhappiness than needed, and less population to work commerce tiles). This is not an easy map commerce-wise (few rivers), but still your initial teching seemed a bit slow... generally it's feasible to get Civil Service around 1 AD when focusing on it in Noble. That said your economic position seems better now.
I see basically two options for war now. Elizabeth has crossbows which are strong against axes, but you can weaken the defenses (both bombard, then collateral damage on the units) with catapults. Hence Construction. It should be fast to research, and you only need to start whipping a few catapults (maybe 1-2 produced per city) since you already have the axemen (feel free to send many of them to combat and replace them with warriors built with the whipping overflow, for example). The goal with this option is to attack her before she researches either Feudalism (longbows are tough city defenders especially on hills) or Engineering (castles add a lot of city defense).
The other option is to just keep growing your economy and attack later with gunpowder units. In that case I think I would go Liberalism (pick Astronomy), then Printing Press, and at that point before Communism you can go for Rifling. Cannons are also a popular option, but they require a detour via Engineering / Chemistry / Steel that is less beneficial economically than Astronomy and Printing Press. That's a safer option perhaps even if it's slower, although you tech pace may still accelerate as your cottages keep upgrading.
If you're going with the 2nd option and won't need to whip anything for a while, then you could switch to bureaucracy and caste system together, then you can run as many scientists as you need to stop growing into unhappiness. You can run artists for a turn in any city that needs to grow its borders. Before caste, you can whip a library but I wouldn't bother with universities right now, they are really expensive for only +25% science, I would wait for forges later to build them at a discount.
One last thing, from that tech trading screen you can see Elizabeth has 80 spare gold so I would definitely trade Code of Laws for that. It will allow you to run 100% science for a while. Same for Alexander there are cheap techs like Mysticism he doesn't have so keep checking for when he gets 40-50 gold and trade him a really old tech.
I see basically two options for war now. Elizabeth has crossbows which are strong against axes, but you can weaken the defenses (both bombard, then collateral damage on the units) with catapults. Hence Construction. It should be fast to research, and you only need to start whipping a few catapults (maybe 1-2 produced per city) since you already have the axemen (feel free to send many of them to combat and replace them with warriors built with the whipping overflow, for example). The goal with this option is to attack her before she researches either Feudalism (longbows are tough city defenders especially on hills) or Engineering (castles add a lot of city defense).
The other option is to just keep growing your economy and attack later with gunpowder units. In that case I think I would go Liberalism (pick Astronomy), then Printing Press, and at that point before Communism you can go for Rifling. Cannons are also a popular option, but they require a detour via Engineering / Chemistry / Steel that is less beneficial economically than Astronomy and Printing Press. That's a safer option perhaps even if it's slower, although you tech pace may still accelerate as your cottages keep upgrading.
If you're going with the 2nd option and won't need to whip anything for a while, then you could switch to bureaucracy and caste system together, then you can run as many scientists as you need to stop growing into unhappiness. You can run artists for a turn in any city that needs to grow its borders. Before caste, you can whip a library but I wouldn't bother with universities right now, they are really expensive for only +25% science, I would wait for forges later to build them at a discount.
One last thing, from that tech trading screen you can see Elizabeth has 80 spare gold so I would definitely trade Code of Laws for that. It will allow you to run 100% science for a while. Same for Alexander there are cheap techs like Mysticism he doesn't have so keep checking for when he gets 40-50 gold and trade him a really old tech.
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Wow yeah I hadn't realized that. And I'd never thought of doing a construction rush in 1000 AD, but you're right, Lizzy doesn't have Feudalism. I keep forgetting this is Noble.
and I couldn't even launch the attack 
I think this is a reload here so I'll start the game over (ill save the game at this point though)
You had Galleys earlier, can you upgrade them to Galleons with gold?
I suggest turning the tech slider to 0% for now until you meet Civs across the ocean (also provides the gold to upgrade the galleys). Maybe you will be able to trade with them for techs like Feudalism / Guilds / Banking to save turns of research towards Rifling. I didn't do the exact math but I assume you can turn it off for at least 10 turns to get enough gold to restart teching at 100% after.
Work one or both incense tiles in Atlanta. Avoid working the ocean (2 food 1 commerce) tiles. Improve the whale for happiness (fishing boat). Can you really not trade for any other happiness resource with the AI? Can you sell your extra incense for gold per turn at least if you can't trade it for a useful resource?
I suggest turning the tech slider to 0% for now until you meet Civs across the ocean (also provides the gold to upgrade the galleys). Maybe you will be able to trade with them for techs like Feudalism / Guilds / Banking to save turns of research towards Rifling. I didn't do the exact math but I assume you can turn it off for at least 10 turns to get enough gold to restart teching at 100% after.
Work one or both incense tiles in Atlanta. Avoid working the ocean (2 food 1 commerce) tiles. Improve the whale for happiness (fishing boat). Can you really not trade for any other happiness resource with the AI? Can you sell your extra incense for gold per turn at least if you can't trade it for a useful resource?
I was working the ocean tiles so I could grow my city quicker and eventually include the incense tiles (both 0 food), i wasn’t sure which way would be more efficient
Unless the AIs on your continent are anything close to getting grenadiers (e.g. having Chemistry) I wouldn't worry about backing Riflemen with Cannons. I think it would be better to just go on to Communism and then Steam Power towards Assembly Line. That said, one cheaper tech I would consider getting now if you don't have it yet is Engineering, it speeds up movement on friendly / neutral (but not enemy) roads which is good for both your army and workers.
Yes, you should switch to slavery to produce Riflemen. After producing enough troops, also make sure to have additional workers to start converting your cities to workshops (and watermills) in planning for State Property.
Yes, you should switch to slavery to produce Riflemen. After producing enough troops, also make sure to have additional workers to start converting your cities to workshops (and watermills) in planning for State Property.
How many troops you mean depends of what the enemy has. You should sent a scout (not necessarily a literal scout, could be a worker) to England to see how many defenders they have per city and what type, also try to spot their main stack... if they're not actively warring it might be just sitting in the capital or in a border city with Greece. Having about 3x the units vs. the defenders of the first city you plan to take, or 2x those of their main stack, is generally what I would aim for to start fighting. You should focus on conquering in a path to their main / most productive cities rather than getting distracted with peripheral ones. In a science game, I would probably try to capture everything that will be good with workshops... that's different from a domination / conquest game where you might prefer to vassal them quickly and move on.
Now that you've got communism, you should switch to State Property and Caste System and build workshops on any spare tile, replace farms where possible as well as underdeveloped cottages (up to villages) with shops. Any available river tiles should get watermills and mines replaced by windmills. You might need to build some workers for this, you'll need about 1 per city.
Is it okay to be doing this while I'm in a war?
Yes, because your cities can just keep producing units and it will immediately boost your production. Don't worry about the anarchy
I still have a great spy from Communism, should I use that for a Great Age?
