OK! How the F is the AI...

[fuzzynutz]

How is it even possible that I scroll out and see the AI has about 13 cities and I'm pushing maybe 4 cities, it really crushes my ego for some reason and I usually feel like I am getting beaten bad and I should just give up.

How are they not running broke? If I tried to expand like that I would be broke, no infrastructure, no army, it would be a nightmare, but somehow the AI can pull this crap off? I dont like that at all, it really seems to cheapen the game.

I usually play on Prince/Continents/Standard.

For instance in a recent game, the Portuguese Joao has me swallowed in with his huge expansion, he also has a good tech and warphants I can see in his borders running around.

 

[Snovvdog]

Prince ai starts with a bit more iirc and is handicapped.

That said, I can just keep up with the ai in population, growth, gdp, prod etc on prince lvl, it's touch though and requires lot of micromanaging and planning&planting your cities carefully.
Also I regenerate the map till i get a satifying starting situation ( as in good resources in the BFC like a gold source or alot of floodplains. )
Also this is on epic speed, I'm just a too poor micromanager to play @ standard speed, I need more time to finetune my stuff so more turns so there is more room for mistakes.
Fractal I play at, but this often generates continent like maps.

Just try to use the best of the civ and mainly make a good start, link up stuff like gold or food asap and reaearch only the techs you really need, trade in the rest: Never research something the ai has and is willing to trade, go for a tech worth more or worth equally and trade in.
Specialize cities asap, make sure you get at least 2 good commerce and 2 good research ( or 4 combo reseach/commerce) cities and at least 2 good production cities ( wich can be merged with other types of cities, I find myself often mixing up great people farms with any other type of city and my capital is pretty much always a hybrid city with great commerce, research and production.

 

[MyOtherName]

How is it even possible that I scroll out and see the AI has about 13 cities and I'm pushing maybe 4 cities, it really crushes my ego for some reason and I usually feel like I am getting beaten bad and I should just give up.

How are they not running broke? If I tried to expand like that I would be broke, no infrastructure, no army, it would be a nightmare, but somehow the AI can pull this crap off? I dont like that at all, it really seems to cheapen the game.

(1) When in the game are you seeing this? Once your research and core cities are sufficiently developed, you can essentially expand indefinitely.

(2) If you want to expand fast, it's possible. For example, I have one start I was practicing with where I had 9 cities by 1 AD, and was making 68 science per turn profit, I had monarchy, and was 6 turns from currency, all self-researched. It was a Monarch level game, I had no gold or gems or other good commerce tiles, and I was (vanilla) Hatsheput so I had essentially no help from my traits.

(3) Expansion is expensive. If they're expanding and you're not, then you can spend those resources to build an army that can take their land from them. (Of course, you have to actually take their land before they can use their expanded size to catch back up)


Basically, if you really, really want to expand fast, then you have to get your cities developed quickly. You need lots of food, hammers, and commerce; you need to focus on what you need your new city to do, and have one or two workers improving its land accordingly (or chopping if needed) from the very moment the city is founded. (And even before the city is founded, if possible!) Of course, you should usually be doing these things even if you aren't planning rapid expansion...

 

[fuzzynutz]

I have been reading alot of the strategies here, maybe I just need more practice. I will be completely honest, I have yet to win a game of Civ hahah, although I started at Prince level I have lost maybe 20 games now if not more. But it is extremely challenging which is fantastic, so I dont really care about losing.

I have noticed on games where I did decide to build an army that I was able to beat Capuac who was more than double my population and land area with my 3-4 cities because he was an era behind me in weaponry. Then I realized a guy on the other continent had almost double my score when I found him, so I quit haha.

 

[MyOtherName]

I have been reading alot of the strategies here, maybe I just need more practice. I will be completely honest, I have yet to win a game of Civ hahah, although I started at Prince level I have lost maybe 20 games now if not more. But it is extremely challenging which is fantastic, so I dont really care about losing.

I have noticed on games where I did decide to build an army that I was able to beat Capuac who was more than double my population and land area with my 3-4 cities because he was an era behind me in weaponry. Then I realized a guy on the other continent had almost double my score when I found him, so I quit haha.

Leading the scoreboard is not the same thing as winning. And even if he is winning, that's not the same thing as "you cannot beat him".

 

[Verge]

I have been reading alot of the strategies here, maybe I just need more practice. I will be completely honest, I have yet to win a game of Civ hahah, although I started at Prince level I have lost maybe 20 games now if not more. But it is extremely challenging which is fantastic, so I dont really care about losing.

I have noticed on games where I did decide to build an army that I was able to beat Capuac who was more than double my population and land area with my 3-4 cities because he was an era behind me in weaponry. Then I realized a guy on the other continent had almost double my score when I found him, so I quit haha.

There's no shame in dropping a few difficulty levels to better learn the game; winning your first game on Settler is far better than losing your 21st game on Prince.

And to reiterate, don't pay attention to score.

 

[oyzar]

I started out at noble.. I think starting out at prince when you don't have a clue what you are doing would be rather hard... That said there are some people who struggle with warlord... You should maybe try a lower difficulty? Oh and if you post a save it is easier to comment on what you do wrong. Usually it is about settling the wrong spots not building enough workers and not growing your cities well enough by working and improving the correct titles for beginners...

 

[Snovvdog]

Ah, well definatly start on settler, then do your 2nd game warlord and keep playing warlord till you can beat that lvl with ease, it's what I did and thus far I've reached just prince, noble and below being the only lvls I can easely beat.

 

[Gooblah]

Same. Theoretically, I could win a Prince, but I'll get so bogged down in a poorrly planned Axe Rush that my research gets sapped...or I'll pay too much attention to espionage and push that slider to much at the expense of everything else.