Playing with a poor start?

[Rynian]

My previous game was a warlord game as japan. I had trouble keeping up with the other civs, and I lagged far behind the entire game.

My current game as egypt, I have plenty of floodplains and I am attacking archers and swordsmen with muskets.

I can dominate well with a good start, but what are strategies for when your hand is bad from the get-go? Like I know if you have floodplains to build cottages, or a ton of food to go specialist, but what if you have neither, and/or your nearby land is poor quality?

For that matter, playing on higher difficulty is optimized for being behind, as you start behind regardless of your starting land.


Any advice on this?

 

[Randy Random]

If you struggle at all below say Emperor, there are likely major holes in your game that can be easily corrected by posting a game with photos and saves and getting advice from many of the Immortal/Deity players who browse these forums.

 

[elmurcis]

Playing Toku is like playing 1/2-level higher (than with any of strong civs, including Egypt that has early unique unit), playing with poor start (like dry Rice and 2 Flood Plains as "food" only ) is 1/2-level higher more.. but thats it. So there are some issues with early gameplay, tech choises, worker management, diplomacy, "situation reading" and so on... We all have been there, thinking - is this game for me? Is this life for me? Is this planet good for me?

 

[Kouvb593kdnuewnd]

Some sort of rush is most likely your best bet as the longer you delay expanding into good land the worse you situation become. Animal husbandry and bronze working are useful to look for horse/copper. If you have horses you should tech to horseback riding and build horse archers and if you have copper you should build axemen.

 

[lymond]

We probably need to know more about the actual poor start you are referring to here. What you perceive as a "poor start" may not be what more experience players would perceive. You are playing on Warlord level and struggling, so it is not the start that is the problem.

Generally though, with poor start you look to break out fast. Heck, on warlord level you can usually capture an AI capital or two with a warrior rush.

Another possible option which is very map dependent is building the Great Lighthouse if you have coastal spots to settle..can really help boost economy.

Really though, you should be playing at least Noble or Prince level.

I know you find it ..erm..cumbersome...but taking some time to play a shadow game will really pay off for learning the game fast and moving up levels. It's highly doubtful you will learn some of things you need to for success on your own...I can assure you of that...