Play by play: A go at Monarch

[Spoonwood]

So you mean I should specialize my core cities to either cash or beakers (banks vs universities)?

Yes.

Which leaves the question what to construct in those corrupt nests? granaries I got through The Pyramids, which leaves aqueducts.

Settlers and workers, and get as many cities as you can (CxC spacing) in those areas. Once they hit size 6 (unless on a river), change as many citizens as you can, without starving the city, into scientists or tax collectors. Wealth also in those areas.

You still have extra food which you could convert into shields in your core cities either through mining of forestry.

 

[ionize]

Oho! Wealth? I always thought 'wealth' production was shunned and you should rather produce something.

Apart from that, the war vs America is in full swing. I got every nation to join via tech and gpt deals. Only Hittites chickened out after about 7 turns. That makes them my next target, just out of spite.

I got a lot of '6 scientist farms at the moment and outstrip even the Persians and Hittites in research by far. I caught up and am on my way to IA soon.

Right now the only thing I have to do is crank out settlers and fill gabs a.s.a.p..

Do you guys have any recommendation which techs I should research in IA first?

 

[Theov]

Oho! Wealth? I always thought 'wealth' production was shunned and you should rather produce something.

Apart from that, the war vs America is in full swing. I got every nation to join via tech and gpt deals. Only Hittites chickened out after about 7 turns. That makes them my next target, just out of spite.

I got a lot of '6 scientist farms at the moment and outstrip even the Persians and Hittites in research by far. I caught up and am on my way to IA soon.

Right now the only thing I have to do is crank out settlers and fill gabs a.s.a.p..

Do you guys have any recommendation which techs I should research in IA first?

Wealth is often a bad idea, but in corrupt areas, what are you going to produce? Nothing, that's what.
The idea is to have many many size-6 cities cramped together in high corrupt areas. Since they will not be building much (corruption), it's worth it to build wealth and have the citizens become scientists (there's no corruption on scientists).

 

[ionize]

AAAAARGH!!!! My game just crashed!
America was just erased, I hit the IA and I had put so much effort in everything. 7 turns wasted...

Anyways, will chill and return to game. Luckily I got my turn-log and can copy my moves with 20% deviation.

 

[vmxa]

There is an F3 bug that sometimes causes game crashes. I try to remember to save, if I use F3. Otherwise you may have an autosave, if you have it enabled. I don't, unless it is an SG.

 

[ionize]

There is an F3 bug that sometimes causes game crashes. I try to remember to save, if I use F3. Otherwise you may have an autosave, if you have it enabled. I don't, unless it is an SG.

Ok! Good to know. I replayed my turns and they're not 100% as good, but I don't care too much. The game is going great now. America is done to 1 city and I will hit the Dutch in a few turns. Xerxes and I are best pals and Mursilis seems to be envious.

I had a thought about that crash. Only a few minutes before I had enabled the ingame music, because I like the IA tune. Maybe there is a bug to that too? Anybody knows?

 

[Spoonwood]

From the sound of your game I think you would do best to research Steam Power and then shut research off and cash-rush armies/units. Or maybe research to Replaceable Parts and shut research off.

 

[ionize]

I'm on my way there:
-Got Steam Power and build rails in my core.
-Have a pre-build for ToE
-Research goes pretty fast, will have RP in about 5-10 turns
-The US is out, and the Dutch are bleeding. Am thinking about taking on the last two at the same time.

One more question! I never switched government after Republic, do I switch a second time? In this game I won't as the Anarchy is just a waste of time and I can have this game in 50-70 turns. But what about games where it drags on for longer? Is it good to switch in between wars to get the benefits of Democracy or Communism (for warmongers)?

 

[del62]

I would not switch, rebuplic is generally a better government than the other two anyway, Democracy may have its benefits but they dont outweigh the period of anarchy and if you get significant war weariness the government will just collapase, personally having played one game with communism, I found it crippled my economy as you lose a lot of trade.

 

[vmxa]

I won't have either Demo or Commie, so no switch will be possible.

 

[Spoonwood]

In general, one and only one revolution per game, unless playing as religious. Why the prebuild on ToE and why do you plan to research past Replaceable Parts?

 

[ionize]

Just to get you right, in a game where I would like Demo, I just wait for it -while being Despo all the time? I know the punishment on higher difficulties is just harsh with long anarchies, but wouldn't 100+ turns in despo be a punishment in and off itself?

@Spoonwood Yeah, I'd like to keep the techs coming. At the moment I outstrip the AI in tech speed and got a nice surplus of cash. I plan on at least get to techs and industrialization (via ToE maybe). After that I'd be done.

 

[Spoonwood]

Why would you want Democracy? There exists little that I know of advantageous in becoming a Democracy. It requires both Printing Press and Democracy to come as known, and it takes too long to get there. I honestly don't think I've ever used, except maybe when I first played Vanilla.

Yeah, I'd like to keep the techs coming. At the moment I outstrip the AI in tech speed and got a nice surplus of cash. I plan on at least get to techs and industrialization (via ToE maybe). After that I'd be done.

Then it definitely sounds like you'll slow yourself down. I feel confident in saying that you'll have an earlier win date if you turn off research and buy/upgrade units/combat settlers/workers so you have more you can throw at the AIs, except maybe for Replaceable Parts.

 

[ionize]

Why would you want Democracy? There exists little that I know of advantageous in becoming a Democracy. It requires both Printing Press and Democracy to come as known, and it takes too long to get there. I honestly don't think I've ever used, except maybe when I first played Vanilla.



Then it definitely sounds like you'll slow yourself down. I feel confident in saying that you'll have an earlier win date if you turn off research and buy/upgrade units/combat settlers/workers so you have more you can throw at the AIs, except maybe for Replaceable Parts.

Well then... Let me try it with your advice and see for myself. This has been a highly educational game so far (thanks to all you guys) and I will keep going.

I'd like to try Emperor next! (Though I sometimes think the game would've been very different if the terrain hadn't been this harsh for the AI and me. Volcanoes, jungle and mountains just gave me a completely different game from what I usually have. )

 

[Aabraxan]

Good points (especially nothing I ever considered). So you mean I should specialize my core cities to either cash or beakers (banks vs universities)? Makes sense! I always considered having both is good. Stupid me. . . . .

If you're curious, there's an article in my sig about multiplier buildings (banks, libraries, etc). That may explain why specializing for either cash or beakers may be a good idea.

Well irrigating all the corrupt cities should be no problemo, I got an army of workers at my disposal. Which leaves the question what to construct in those corrupt nests? granaries I got through The Pyramids, which leaves aqueducts.

Again, if you're interested in the "whys," of specialist farming, head to the War Academy. Look for an article called "The Role of the Specialist Citizen," written by Bede.

 

[ionize]

@Aabraxan Thanks for the hint. I read your article and it was very informative. Though I have to admit that I'd keep markets in every core city and specialize in either commerce and science from there.

 

[Aabraxan]

Ionize, that's what I do, too.

 

[ionize]

Ionize, that's what I do, too.

Great!

Well, I'm at work and have had some time to think. I made up my mind how I want to finish this game and I think I rushed into things too soon.

The alliances will be over soon and after that I will sign for peace and do the following:
- grab the now-open land with settlers
- build up my military and upgrade all outdated units (though I'm almost done with the latter)

Therefore I will do this in my core:
- all cities >"10 will produce military only
- all cities <"10 will produce settlers/workers to grab land and work it
- I'll sell all universities and libraries, as I stop research from here on out

The result I hope to achieve is to prepare the ground for a final all-out war with massive artillery/cavalry/infantry groups. Also I will have filled all the tiles with cities.

This might take me a lot of turns, and the AI might catch up in tech, but I still earn a lot of money and can easiliy compensate for that (I think). This way I will initiate the final war, once all the freed land is taken. That'll be my deadline.

Any comments and criticism based on my statement are welcome.

 

[Spoonwood]

From the sounds of things it doesn't matter if they will catch up in tech.

 

[ionize]

Xerxes is fun to play against. When I finally settled down, made a little peace with the Dutch and wanted to REX the empty lands, I discovered Xerxes' units in my territory and demanded them removed. He declared war on me and is now bleeding for his stupidity (just like Brennus did ). So far he captured 2 of my empty cities with quick cavalries, while I removed his 3 cities from my continent and liberated 2 former American cities on his continent.

The best part is, he got 1 galleon en route to my core, where I have all rails and a great host to repel him, while I got 4 galleons worth of artillery, cavalry, infantry and guerilla close to the border of his core. I also located one of his weak points and will have fun to teach him a lesson.

Interestingly enough the Dutch and Hittites jumped in (after I seduced them with goodies of course) and Xerxes is fighting a 2 front war.