Questions on Prince level

[pangu]

This is my 1st post. I would like to thank this website and all the writers for their valuable input in the game. It makes playing this game far more enjoyable and I never regret buying it.

After playing Noble for a few weeks which I did not have much problem with any type of victory, I tried to move up to Prince last week. It got a bit more challenging...

I find that it is almost impossible to score a Space Race Victory, simply because AI seems more aggressive. 4 out of the 5 games I won so far (as Rome, Babalyon and Celt), I beeline Stonehege, Pyramids and Great Library asap (and try for Statute of Zeus) and go for Police State, switch to Therocrary / Vassalage when I get them, and never looked back (I spent most of the turns at war)... In the 1 remaining game, I wanted to grab a Space Race Victory but yet, due to constantly being declared war and got my spaceship parts destroyed , I ended up with a domination victory just as I launched my spaceship.

I have a few questions which I hope some experts can enlighten me:

1/ Maintenance - I seem to have a much tougher time with maintenance than at Noble level. I am not sure why... Maybe it is because I try to get Statute of Zeus and Great Library quickly, so I was slow in getting Code of Laws and Currency. Do you normally beeline courthouses in Prince level (i.e. for the priesthood + writing route) risking that you may lose the GL? Maintenance seems to get under control once I get Courthouses and Markets going but before that it is hell...

2/ Picking an enemy - I normally rush a techie civ than an aggressive civ, simply because imo, with the research handicap at Prince level, it is better to attack techies early to kill them off and hope that my large army will put the aggressive civ off from attacking me. Similarly, I prefer rushing a protective civ coz it seems easier to kill off 3-4 cities defended by prot archers early than to kill off 10-12 cities defended by prot riflemen later. How do you pick which civ to rush?

3/ Peaceful win - How do you do that??? From what I read, the way to go is to bribe aggressive civs to attack others whenever they sit around doing nothing, but than what often happens is that the techie civ will voluntarily vassal to a 3rd civ and together, they force the aggressive civ to capitulate, or the techie civ will capitulate to the aggressive civ. Either way, it is a disaster.

4/ Trade - Finally, just to confirm something I suspect... if an aggressive civ who is annoyed / furious with me but offers me money for a tech, does that mean it is going to attack me very very soon after? I mean, it specifically did not make a demand to avoid the 10 turns peace treaty?

Thanks in advance to your help.

 

[LlamaCat]

the reason you're having a tougher time with maintenance costs now is simple: you're playing a higher level. On Prince, the maintenance costs are 10% more than on Noble. It's also 10% more expensive to research techs, maintain units, and paying for civics. And inflation is 5% more. So you just need to adjust your playing to compensate for this a bit - maybe expand a little more strategically or whatever. Just depends on the individual game. No reason to beeline courthouses if you only have a few cities or you have the Organized trait, for example.

AI attitudes are the same on Prince as on Noble so there is really no difference there, in terms of your question for how to get peaceful wins. You can do it any number of ways but overall it will be more difficult just because everything costs more and the AIs get certain other bonuses vs. you. But their personalities don't change for the worse at this level vs. Noble.

regarding question # 4, the answer is no, there is no relation to that kind of trade and whether they attack. Their decision to attack is hard coded into the XML and works at various levels of diplomatic status. For example certain leaders will be more likely to declare war at "Annoyed" than others. And they do not necessarily decide to attack on the same turn as when they "decide" to go to war with you... they may take several turns later to actually declare on you.

 

[Balkans]

my advice to you is to try have stronger economy. Try not to fall in research rate lower than 60-70% after expansion and than focus on economy. Check the demographics charts to see where you stand on gold. If you want good result, early space victory, diplomatic win in 1800 you have to be 1st. That's my tactic mostly and it never fails(monarch), have a very strong economy, that means research , that means power. And when you decide economy is strong enough to expand then you choose what cities to take. Always take opponent that has cities placed that way so that another Civ don't take them over by culture and that they are well placed for forbidden palace...
About your questions: I always rush good position, direction of expanding, potential threat.

 

[Bleys]

One of the best strategic adjustments I made when moving up in difficulty is directly related to religion. I dont bother founding them anymore, if it happens it happens, and never build Stonehenge anymore, its obsoletes so fast because Calender is such an important tech for happiness and such. Religion really angers many AI civs, I dont even adopt one until I am sure I can handle the diplomatic negatives.

Later, I almost always end up taking a holy city off an AI. Izzy is especially good in contributing these financial powerhouses, and will often end up with double holy cities, even on Emperor. Once you become more willing to let the AI do the grunt-work for you, and learn to wait until the best times to take them, you will find your games progressing much more smoothly.

 

[Refar]

Specializing cities is for a good and balanced economy is the Key.

Try to have one production city constantly pushing out units - interrupt only if you really need to build something there - like market for happines - then back to troops. The AI will declare on you far less, when you have a decent force.

Which one or two good military cities (usually one is enought) the rest of your empire is free to build up infrastructure for your economy to provide the teching-power you need.

 

[PimpyMicPimp]

Anything I could say has been said, I just wanted to comment on how different we are. I'm fairly new to Prince as well, but it's a breeze. I already am not allowing myself Space Race unless I have too simply because it's a, barring backdoor culture/AP win, gaurenteed win for me. I havn't noticed anything change much on Prince. Noble, on the other hand, took me AGES to figure out.

It feels almost wrong that I'm already thinking of moving up to Monarch, where I know I'll have my ass handed to me.

 

[Winth]

The problem I see is that you are playing the same way every game.
-specialize cities. The ones with good terrain (mainly grasslands, flood plains and some food resource, too), especially with a river across will go cottaged to provide needed cash.
The cities with a lot of hills, especially with some horsehockey terrain (but still enough food to grow and let it work its hills!), should be directed towards production.
The cities with plethora of food (2-3 food resources) or some flood plains should go toward specialists (GP Farm).
-you should definitely think more about Code of Laws and Currency path. With courthouses around your territory, you can "get a breath" a bit, and with Currency (+1 trade route and markets) you will produce income nicely.

If you want, you can take Caste System after Code of Laws - to make a specialized GP farm - one to pump Scientists, the other to pump Merchants. I never tried it (heard about it), however.

If you want to expand even more (mainly by war, because the land should be taken after those two techs, unless you make a ridiculous beeline), you should go Civil Service (bah, you should research it anyway!), Guilds and Banking.
-religious shrine helps a lot, but it's not usually a matter of life and death. On Prince, I remember a lot of games when I killed my economy only to recover it soonish.
-Refar is right, at least one city should spam (spam, spam, spam, spam, lovely spam!) new units only. Add only Barracks, Forge, and if costs of army are skyrocketing, then just stop for a moment.