OK... Really need help

[count23]

I'm a veteran of civ, played em all, but i've never really tried difficulty levels beyond Prince before (Always got bored of the game after playing through it a few times). Anyway, this time I've descided mainly because of achivements, that i wanna try the higher difficulties.

But i'm having major problems just surviving after 1AD. Usually I end up getting ganged up on a decimated by a few AIs by the 18th century, no matter what I do, so i really need some guidance on how to play on the higher difficulties.

My current playing style has been to try and establish at least 3 cities before 1000BC, leaving them to grow with a food (or gold, if I can keep growth) focus and have the citizens automatically managed, likewise i leave workers automated and let them run around... they seem to be doing a good job.

Normally when I'm playing this way, I have at least 1 other civilization (1-2, sometimes 3 cities) conquered before I hit the Medieval era, but after that it all seems to go downhill.

I've really got no idea how to progress, some tips and suggestions on what strategies i should take would be great. I've read through some of the strategy guides posted here already and they seem to be making wildly unpredictable claims (Like having enough gold to buy buildings by the time you're at turn 40 or so). I'm also at a loss as to how to make allies with city-states early on in the game when I'm constantly strapped for cash, no matter what I do.

 

[Botzarelli]

I often have similar problems on higher levels. I think one of the ways of keeping and growing your cash early on is to build fewer buildings and to make an early decision whether you want culture or not The culture buildings are expensive to maintain - if you like fighting you are better off building no more than just enough to expand borders to resources and building more units, particularly as they also let you go and kill more barbarians (money and XP, rather than buying XP at high cost and lost production through barracks). Doing CS quests is also a good way of getting early influence. If you can ally early on with a maritime CS the food it gives allows you to make more trading posts instead of farms and so earn more money.

 

[Kyroshill]

I was having the same problem until I made a quantum leap in my understanding of the AI..... it suxx

I'm serious though.... I played 9 games and only won 1 (all at King or Prince) and in that game I was isolated on my own continent and so could do pretty much what I wanted

Being frustrated I went back to crawling through the boards reading strats and complaints... and it hit me....

Micromanagers win while those of us who like to set commands and "hit enter" until something happens lose

So I played my next game as Wu Zetian and this time I controlled every hex being worked by citizens, gave orders to every worker and strictly managed growth to keep happiness and budget under control.... and I was able to define to game to an easy win.... here's how:

1 - DO NOT let the governor decide citizen allocation

The AI doesn't know how to finesse growth, nor which specialists are useful and which ones are bunk. The governor will always try to grow the city regardless of happiness caps and will happily run merchant specialists when TPs are superior for cash flow.

Using "Production Focus" "Gold Focus" and the like are no better. The governor goes all or nothing then... which requires you to micromanage to avoid starvation or other hassles.​

2 - DO NOT automate workers

They will begin by farming every tile they can find in an effort to create huge cities. Once again they have no care for happiness caps. Once that is done, they will spend forever attempting to create highways to nowhere... which was great in cIV... but maintenance will kill you in ciV

I also found that because I was managing citizen allocation, I could use fewer workers since I needed only a few tiles improved at any one time​

3 - Get one or two cities capable of production up early

You'll need units to keep the wolves at bay (or to eat those wolves for supper). You will also want to compete for a wonder or two.​

4 - Get at least one city capable of producing cash

Rivers are good for TPs... workable luxuries help (esp. gold and silver for mints). You'll need extra cash to keep CS happy... happy CS rule!

You also want cash for RAs...​

5 - Get at least one city running scientists

Get your beakers running high, but rely heavily on GSs and RAs for free techs (although GSs are undergoing a nerf in the next patch... so don't get used to them )​

Build units early... then upgrade them with cash later... keep in mind that not only do the promotions continue with the upgrades... but the special skills of UUs do as well (heart-eaters stay heart-eaters right into the modern day )

Keep AIs at each others throats with PoS and purchased wars

Maintain PoC with any civ powerful enough to cripple you

Then decide how ya wanna win.... conquest, science... or just play it out and see what happpens...

Good luck!

 

[ICanHasName?]

The basic "play to win" strategy is a combination of ICS (Infinite City Spam), conquest and tech beelining (go straight for the important techs, ignore less important ones).

freedom is slavery

Make tons of cities everywhere, ideally in a hexagonal grid as close to each other as you can. If your people are happy you have to few cities. If your people are unhappy you have to few colosseums. Mostly you should just put trade posts everywhere, but its a good idea to have at least one city specialized for military units and at least one city specialized for producing "stuff" (wonders or whatever). Grow your cities by buying maritime buddies. Since you have infinite cities, each maritime CS provides infinite food which is actually a pretty sweet deal. Make sure to get Meritocracy in the early game, plus one happy per city amounts to a whole lot of happies. Don't conquer enemy cities, raze them and settle your own.

ignorance is strength

Skip all the techs you don't need. You want horsemans, artillery, riflemans, libraries and colosseums. Everything else is just "stuff". Generate as many scientists as possible and burn them on the expensive techs. Remember to micromanage beakers. If you are producing 100 beakers per turn but you only need 1 more to finish a tech, then the 99 extra are wasted. Hire and fire scientist specialists as needed to reduce the number of wasted beakers.

war is peace

There is no such thing as peace, a civ you share a border with is either currently at war with you, or not at war with you yet. A civ you don't share a border with is going to conquer other people until you do share a border. If you don't want to be at war with an AI civ, find them someone else to fight. Sign pacts of secrecy, pay them to fight, maintain a balance of power so the AI's fight bloody wars without a clear winner. Horsemen, riflemen and catapault/trebuchet/cannons/artillery are awesome and rushing any of those is extra awesome. Rushing Companion Cavalry as Greece is just so awesome its disgusting.

This next part is controversial but it works for me, your results may vary. The only really dangerous things an AI civ can do is swarm your territory with more units then you can kill. So prevent this by fighting perpetual defensive wars to prevent the AI from massing an army. Every turn, a couple of enemies will walk into your killzones and get converted into experience for your soldiers. Don't ever loose units and don't bother taking cities unless you need the land or its easy and safe to do so.

 

[count23]

Thanks folks, I'll keep that in mind. I've been trying to micromanage the cities but it's still rather annoying, but managing workers is easier, i've built what i needed to grow the cities fast (luxuries first, other improvements second) and then just let them automate to fill out a few remaining areas. Automated workers seem to build mines and roads first, and then trading posts everywhere if you have the tech for it.

So far i've managed to make it to the 16th century and have Artillery and Riflemen, i've conquered most of the continent I'm not (And i'm still not micromanaging much beyond happiness control). I'm really not sure how I managed to pull _that_ off, but it's working whatever I did.

However, I've found that spamming units without promotions is much more effective then levelling a few units (the units I promote seem to die fast anyway). I've found that during peacetime, staggering all my units on the border of an enemy empire and then marching them all in in a single turn when there's an opportunity (Two longswordsman can ambush a musketman for instance, or 3 riflemen can capture 3 workers), seems to pan out better.

 

[wurstburst]

However, I've found that spamming units without promotions is much more effective then levelling a few units (the units I promote seem to die fast anyway). I've found that during peacetime, staggering all my units on the border of an enemy empire and then marching them all in in a single turn when there's an opportunity (Two longswordsman can ambush a musketman for instance, or 3 riflemen can capture 3 workers), seems to pan out better.

If your units are dying, "you are doing it wrong". Your kill to death ratio should be 10-to-1 or 20-to-1. Occasionally, you'll have to sacrifice a unit to crack a particularly tough city or AI will gang up on a unit, but this should be the exception, not the rule.

Try to work on your tactics. Use a great general. Flank your target before attacking. Try not to leave your units exposed to counterattack on open terrain. Move slowly and scout out positions. Be patient and let the AI move it's units to you (they will, very often). Kill the units around a city before attacking the city itself. A unit with shock 3 or drill 3 promotions, plus march (heal while moving) is very powerful. Don't let your units die. Plus, every time you have to replace a dead unit, that's production that could be used to instead build something else you need.

 

[Kyroshill]

The basic "play to win" strategy is a combination of ICS (Infinite City Spam), conquest and tech beelining (go straight for the important techs, ignore less important ones).

freedom is slavery

Make tons of cities everywhere, ideally in a hexagonal grid as close to each other as you can. If your people are happy you have to few cities. If your people are unhappy you have to few colosseums. Mostly you should just put trade posts everywhere, but its a good idea to have at least one city specialized for military units and at least one city specialized for producing "stuff" (wonders or whatever). Grow your cities by buying maritime buddies. Since you have infinite cities, each maritime CS provides infinite food which is actually a pretty sweet deal. Make sure to get Meritocracy in the early game, plus one happy per city amounts to a whole lot of happies. Don't conquer enemy cities, raze them and settle your own.

ignorance is strength

Skip all the techs you don't need. You want horsemans, artillery, riflemans, libraries and colosseums. Everything else is just "stuff". Generate as many scientists as possible and burn them on the expensive techs. Remember to micromanage beakers. If you are producing 100 beakers per turn but you only need 1 more to finish a tech, then the 99 extra are wasted. Hire and fire scientist specialists as needed to reduce the number of wasted beakers.

war is peace

There is no such thing as peace, a civ you share a border with is either currently at war with you, or not at war with you yet. A civ you don't share a border with is going to conquer other people until you do share a border. If you don't want to be at war with an AI civ, find them someone else to fight. Sign pacts of secrecy, pay them to fight, maintain a balance of power so the AI's fight bloody wars without a clear winner. Horsemen, riflemen and catapault/trebuchet/cannons/artillery are awesome and rushing any of those is extra awesome. Rushing Companion Cavalry as Greece is just so awesome its disgusting.

This next part is controversial but it works for me, your results may vary. The only really dangerous things an AI civ can do is swarm your territory with more units then you can kill. So prevent this by fighting perpetual defensive wars to prevent the AI from massing an army. Every turn, a couple of enemies will walk into your killzones and get converted into experience for your soldiers. Don't ever loose units and don't bother taking cities unless you need the land or its easy and safe to do so.

Boy this sounds fun

 

[Izmir Stinger]

freedom is slavery

ignorance is strength

war is peace

Very clever, but by the rhetorical pattern you were going for the second heading should be "ignorance is knowledge," or possibly "ignorance is wisdom."

 

[Nunya]

I see someone hasn't read the novel 1984.

 

[count23]

Thanks for all the help folks, I won in 2022AD with Giant Death Robots crushing Siam and Songhai.

I found that even if i fall behind a bit technologically as the era rolls up, the AI doesnt seem to upgrade their older units, only buying new ones, so there is a lag period where I'm still capable of beating the enemy with superior numbers, even if they've got more powerful weapons. After about the 18th century I secured my continent and used Songhai as a springboard to attack the Siamese on the other continent, took their capital in the 19th century or so, conquered Songhai's capital in the 2022 period (Siam didnt really like losing ground).

It seems that if you can survive to the 16th century and have about 5-6 puppet cities, you'll be able to keep up.

So I'm officially a King... with Rome at least.

Now I want to play emperor, but the AI are getting to the Classical Era before I even finish two techs, what's the best approach with the Emperor tier difficulty?

 

[Nunya]

Now I want to play emperor, but the AI are getting to the Classical Era before I even finish two techs, what's the best approach with the Emperor tier difficulty?

Playing better than on king.

You could try a Horseman rush, followed by ICS.

Horseman rush goes like this:
1. research Animal Husbandry to reveal horses.
2. build Scout, Worker, Settler
3. research Wheel, then Horseback riding
4. If capital doesn't have horses when the Settler is finished settle your 2nd city directly on a nearby Horse resource (to save the time you would normally need to build a Pasture). If capital has horses just make the city in a good spot. Preferably near a Horse resource.
5. Build 2 Horsemen in capital, 1 Horseman in 2nd city.
6. Two possibilites:
a) You're doing a 4 Horse rush. Buy a 4th horseman when the 3rd is 1 turn away from being finished. This costs 410 gold so save it. Then you use the Horsemen to attack your nearest neighbour.
b) You're doing a 2+2 Horse rush. 1 turn befor you finish first Horseman in capital buy a Horseman (in the capital). You attack your nearest neighbour with them and then when your other 2 horsemen are built you send them as reinforcements.

After researching HBR you go for whatever tech you need for your nearby luxuries, then you research Masonry (for Coliseums) and Writing (for Libraries). Possibly you can research Writing first and Masonry second. That depends on your situation and your civilization. For example China's UB is a Library that gives gold.

ICS is basically about spamming cities, but you need a few things first. Most importantly you need to be able to build Coliseums and Libraries. You'll also need a maritime city state ally, but that's not that urgent.

The trick with ICS is simple. A city produces 2 unhapiness + 1 per population. A Coliseum gives 4 happiness for 3 gold upkeep. A size 2 city with a coliseum is neutral in regard to hapiness and gives 3.5 trade gold income. So basically it covers it's own cost. But it also produces science, especially when you also have a Library. If you run 1 scientist specialist in such a city (requires Library) you'll be making 6 science per turn from it. And if the other citizen is working a tile with a Trading Post the city is also providing you with 1.5 gold per turn. And it costs no hapiness because you have a coliseum so you can have as many of these cities as you want.

So basically what you do is you keep spamming these cities and settle them as closely together as possible. then when they grow to size 2 you click "avoid growth" to keep them that way.

One thing that helps a lot is taking Liberty -> Citizenship -> Meritocracy as your social policies. Liberty will speed up settler production and Meritocracy givs +1 hapiness per city in your trade network. So if you wait until you get Meritocracy before starting ICS you can grow your filler cities to size 3 which basically means either +2 gold per city (if the extra citizen is working a Trading Post) or +3 Science per city (if the extra citizen is working as a scientist specialist).

You'll also want to bild the Forbidden Palace wonder. It's the best wonder in the game if you're using ICS. It reduces unhapiness per city by 1 so you can grow cities to size 4 which is another 2 gold per city. That doesn't sound like much, but when you have 40 cities it makes a difference.

For civilization I'd suggest one of these:
Greece - best Horseman rush in the game, cheap city state alliances
Mongols - almost as good as Greeks at Horseman rush and better if you keep warmongering into the Medieval Era
China - unique building is great for ICS, you will be swimming in cash
Egypt - unique building is good for ICS, +2 happiness and culture for no upkeep. Allows you to grow filler cities 2 sizes larger than normal.
France - unique ability is great for ICS, you get your early policies quicker and you may actually get a 4th policy naturally (go for Freedom)
Babylon - you get great scientists 2x as fast so you tech faster



Edit: I noticed I forgot to mention maritime food. So basically if you're the ally of a maritime city state you get 2 food in every city before Renaissance Era and 3 food in every city in Renaissance and later eras. If you get two of these a city that is literally anywhere can grow to size 4 just from the basic 2 food provided by the city tile and the 6 food from both Maritime allies. So you can put your filler city in the middle of the desert or even on snow and it will still grow and provide you it's benefits.

You will also need production cities. That's your capital, the captials of the enemies you conquer, and maybe your 2nd and 3rd city you settle. You use these cities to build units and wonders.

Also check this post from this thread. It's got pictures how to use Horsemen properly.

After you have Horseback Riding, Writing, and Masonry the key technologies are Banking (for Forbidden Palace) and Rifling. Once you have rifling go for Dynamite. Burn Great Scientist to get to these last two techs quciker, they are gamechanging. If you're the first to get Rifles and Artillery your army will be unstoppable.

Apart from Coliseum and Library your filler cities will only build building that have 0 upkeep (stuff like Markets or the Egyptian Burial Tomb) and possibly Universities. Universities depend on whether you want more science or more gold.

 

[count23]

I finished emperor, didnt ICS or horseman rush or anything, I have no idea how it happened, played Standard map on emperor as Wu Zetan, conquered the world by the late 18th century....

 

[generalwar]

I was winning king easily and every time without loosing almost any units, but I couldn't win emperor. But, today I have conquered my pangea in 16th centuary with riflemen and artillery at the end. The secret was in the horse rush. It's just too powerful! And I don't like razing cities. I built 5 of my own cities and had 12 or 13 puppet states and razed others( I like having a big empire to stop AI's expansion) but I have won too slowly because I had no production city in these game and neither a particular good science city what I usually have. So, horse rush + science= win, always.