Arnesson
Warlord
My Version is 1.6.1.1841 (45604) According to the Init file in my Logs folder. The Patches folder is empty.
Prince. What a difference!
- Thread starter Arnesson
- Start date
My Version is 1.6.1.1841 (45604) According to the Init file in my Logs folder. The Patches folder is empty.
"Balanced Resources"? I don't recall seeing that option anywhere on the startup menu.
So far I have played 14 games at Noble level. I won one (on points and on the second try), but lost the rest, placing well down in the pack. In all but one game there was no Bronze anywhere near my Capital, so I had to get to Iron Working before I could produce any worthwhile troops. In about 4 of those games, no Horses were nearby either. My strategy is now to go for the Oracle so that I can select Iron Working as my free Advance. Otherwise it just takes too long to get there, and I have to sacrifice most of the other early advances to acquire it. It's a . .. .. .. .. . when you have a Worker sitting doing nothing around because the tech isn't there for them to work on any tiles......
I didnt realize you were playing Vanilla so I dont know if the option Balanced resources is available. If its available you find it here: Single player / Custom game / Resources. You can choose Standard or Balanced resources.
I would recommend the Warlords expansion. In Warlords its easier to handle with the Barbarian attacks as the Chariot is much more powerful. It has a 100% bonus when attacking Axmen (with the patch). Its also available earlier in the game with the Wheel. When the Barbarians are attacking with Swordsmen you have probably a mined Copper resource so you can attack them with your Axemen (+ 50% vs. melee units).
"Balanced Resources"? I don't recall seeing that option anywhere on the startup menu.
So far I have played 14 games at Noble level. I won one (on points and on the second try), but lost the rest, placing well down in the pack. In all but one game there was no Bronze anywhere near my Capital, so I had to get to Iron Working before I could produce any worthwhile troops. In about 4 of those games, no Horses were nearby either. My strategy is now to go for the Oracle so that I can select Iron Working as my free Advance. Otherwise it just takes too long to get there, and I have to sacrifice most of the other early advances to acquire it. It's a . .. .. .. .. . when you have a Worker sitting doing nothing around because the tech isn't there for them to work on any tiles.
Correct me if I am wrong, but it appears that the AI's receive a bonus Warrior at the start, to guard their capital while their "normal" Scout/Warrior goes searching for Goodie Huts and resources. It also seems that they receive a bonus Archer when they build a city. I cannot believe that they can have 2 or 3 per each while I am desperately trying to balance building, research and recruitment. I am doing well to manage one Warrior/City in the early game!
Another thing that happens frequently to me is that the AI's start to really take off in the latter 500 years of the game. I usually manage to stay with them until around 1500 AD, then suddenly they are picking up Advances at twice the rate I can manage, no matter how much I micro-manage my cities and play with the sliders.
Sounds like you've gotten some sucky maps. Sometimes you just have to research archery for early defense and place archer on improvement you want to protect from pillaging barbs. Also, make sure you are fog busting if the barbs are a problem. I wouldn't recommend researching IW too early. (I actually usually research alphabet and trade for IW).
Late game research cottage spamming is usually the most productive. Along with the correct civics and techs. Make sure you specialize your cities and have a super science city that has oxford. The other key is tech trading. Try to figure out which tech you can research that will be a monopoly tech and then try to trade it to the other AIs to get caught up. Realize that the higher level you go the faster the AI can tech. So, on lower difficulty levels you can have a huge tech lead as you increase difficulty realize that you will usually be keeping pace at best (although on prince you can still out tech then).
Also, the higher the level the more starting advantages the AI gets. Not sure about prince but on monarch the AI starts with a worker and 2 archers I think. (That is what it looked like when the stupid map generator put my capital 2 squares away from the persian start
mad: - okay I just restarted as I don't think that is suppose to happen).First and foremost, you should look at the early game as a race. Until all the (good) land is taken up, you are essentially in a race with the computer to get that land.
In the early game, technology is only important insofar as it helps you acquire more land. (This is a bit of an oversimplification, but it's basically true.) So if dropping the technology slider to 0 means you can take more land, a lot of times you should do it.
Now, you do have to think long-term. You don't want the slider at 0 for fifty turns. You only want to use such drastic measures as a short-term solution.
What I'm getting at is this: the best way to solve the early economy problem is to war earlier. The earlier you war, the fewer units you need and, thus, the less drain on your economy the war is. I almost never keep early cities that I take - they're a drain on the economy, they'll be unhappy until I wipe that civ out, and they're probably not where I would have put them. The obvious exception here are holy cities and capitols; but even some capitols aren't good enough for me to keep.
So I would say that you should sacrifice economic growth whenever you're sure it will give you a military advantage. But think about this: if you delay your technology so long that you end up attacking units that are too superior to defeat, then you don't have a military advantage, do you? So it's a balance. But in the early game, the scales are tipped heavily toward the military side.
Your economic problems can be dealt with after the race is over. There will be a re-building period where you prepare for the next phase of the game, and then you basically do it all over again.
Arnesson
Warlord
Playing Saladin (yes I am paranoid about getting Horses AND Bronze, so I played the odds a bit). Epic, Continents (so I would only have to deal with three opponents rather than all 6). Followed the advice provided by you folks, as well as going back and re-reading the threads in the War Academy.
Took out Isabella early on (which did get me Horses), then consolidated my cities and those taken from here. Built a solid Science city with 7 of them in place, along with the Academy, Library, University and a couple of Temples. That let me micro-manage the Reserach slider as well as the towns, to maximise Gold. Once the tech was in place, I could quickly upgrade to Macemen and Camels, then take on Mensa Musa who was still at the HA and Sword/Axe stage with his units. Granned another couple of towns and then sued for peace to consolidate again. By the time Louis came across with a couple of Galleons, I had no trouble wiping out his invasion force and grabbed a bunch more gold when he sued for peace. So he deceided to go after MM to regain his pride. Not one to be a spectator, I joind the fray and took his remaining 5 cities (Louis took none, but his Cavalry provided enough distraction that MM simply could not cope). By the time 2000 rolled around, I had 2/3 of the continent under control and the most powerful army, although I was far behind in tech (the Aztecs had tanks and Gunships by then, while I had bneither Industrialisation nor Combustion as yet). But he stayed at home against my overwhelming numbers of Infantry and Cavalry. At the end of time, I managed a points victory at around 6000.
That may sound pretty basic to you guys, but it is a major breakthrough for me.
Next I want to try Mao, and see how he fares.
Took out Isabella early on (which did get me Horses), then consolidated my cities and those taken from here. Built a solid Science city with 7 of them in place, along with the Academy, Library, University and a couple of Temples. That let me micro-manage the Reserach slider as well as the towns, to maximise Gold. Once the tech was in place, I could quickly upgrade to Macemen and Camels, then take on Mensa Musa who was still at the HA and Sword/Axe stage with his units. Granned another couple of towns and then sued for peace to consolidate again. By the time Louis came across with a couple of Galleons, I had no trouble wiping out his invasion force and grabbed a bunch more gold when he sued for peace. So he deceided to go after MM to regain his pride. Not one to be a spectator, I joind the fray and took his remaining 5 cities (Louis took none, but his Cavalry provided enough distraction that MM simply could not cope). By the time 2000 rolled around, I had 2/3 of the continent under control and the most powerful army, although I was far behind in tech (the Aztecs had tanks and Gunships by then, while I had bneither Industrialisation nor Combustion as yet). But he stayed at home against my overwhelming numbers of Infantry and Cavalry. At the end of time, I managed a points victory at around 6000.
That may sound pretty basic to you guys, but it is a major breakthrough for me.
Next I want to try Mao, and see how he fares.Arnesson
Warlord
Congratulations!
Thanks mate.
Arnesson
Warlord
That's probably where I am falling down a bit. I tend to put them in mountainous terrain, to exploit the 2 & 3 hammer hills, but that also results in low population levels due to a lack of food. Ideally they should probably be in a plains area, with a few 1 and 2 hammer hills instead, I suppose. That way the farms will produce the necessary 2 food as well as a hammer each (the gold doesn't hurt the economy either).
The attached starting position should be strong, but I cannot get it to work for me. There are horses to the east and south. bronze to the north and northwest, and iron a few tiles to the west. But before I can get started to exploit my resources I have all three AI's (Vicky, Cathy and JC) banging away at me. I can fend them off for a while, but they eventually wear me down every time. Nor will any of them ally with me against the others for some reason. I have tried every diplomatic gambit I can think of. Akosa, on the other continent, is HUGE. Well over 500 points ahead of any of the four of us when he makes his first appearance. He must have nicer neighbours I guess.
Arnesson
Warlord
I always have at least one, if not two, super Science cities. each with its Academy and 6 or 7 Scientists. One will have the Great Library and the other Oxford College; plus whichever Monasteries are on offer. It's the Production and Commerce cities where I appear to be weakest strategically. I don't generally bother with a Holy City, just lightbulb the Greta Prophets or add them to my GP farm.
Withouthatred
Chieftain
on any difficulty higher than noble, I'm just very very aggresive, I'll be at war for almost the entire game. Conquer cities quickly so you can increase your research speed and military output.
a more common way to do it is to have 1 or 2 super production city, all the rest being commerce cities
And small cities are a burden to your empire.
You want cities size 10 and more asap.
Arnesson
Warlord
a more common way to do it is to have 1 or 2 super production city, all the rest being commerce cities
And small cities are a burden to your empire.
You want cities size 10 and more asap.
Would that mean that the "Super Production City" and the GP Farm are one and the same Cabert? Most of the threads emphasize that a GP Farm is essential to winning at levels above Noble.
How does one go about taking a screen shot to display on these threads? I have tried the old CTL-A, CTL-C sequence, but that doesn't seem to work.
I just forgot the GP farm, because these days I go for multiple small GP farms that double up with production cities. (You just need the food to feed the 2 scientists you can assign with a library).
Of course you need a GP farm.
So that would be 2 super production cities, 1 GP farm, a helluvah lot of commerce cities.
For screenshots, just press printscreen. It generates a picture you will find easily in one the the game's subfolder. (Can't remember the name, but it's somehow selfexplanatory, like screenshots or something)
