quicker warmongering on Monarch?

[GunsOfCarthage]

Hey there, first time posting, though i've been reading the forums for a month or two which is also about as long as I've been playing Civ4.

I've yet to beat a game above Warlord but I decided to start off by trying to beat Monarch, since they start with Archers and I feel like anything less would hardly be a challenge. I've been working on the early warmongering phase but keep hitting various flavors of wall.
What usually happens is one of the following:

a) I get a nice (e.g 2food1gold) start, settle two decent cities ASAP, get some workers chopping and hooking up resources, start stacking axemen. I check the date and its 400BC, everyone else is already 100-400 points ahead of me in score. Restart.

b) I get a ridiculously good start (e.g 1pigs2fish, gold, gems and all military resources nearby), settle 3-4 cities, somehow stay ahead in tech and take out the weakest civ. I rebuild and assault the next civ, everything going as planned. Either I finish them off or they stave off my attack with waves of units, usually knights. Either way, while I'm fighting Monty/Shaka, Brennus/Ghandi/Mansa is DOUBLE my score and I'm hopelessly behind in tech. Regretful restart.

I find that being given numbers as a GENERAL guideline helps when improving - what size should I be growing my capital before spitting out settlers? What does the number of cities I settle (as opposed to conquering them) depend on - available space, food?
What's the latest date for an axeman rush? I've started around 20 monarch games and feel like I must be missing something - I'm just not getting things done fast enough.

I would like to say that I know some basics to prince+ level play - not wasting worker turns, initial teching, where to settle - but its entirely possible that I'm messing some of these factors as well.

In conclusion, any advice is welcome.

 

[lymond]

Score is irrelevant..don't base your progress or present situation on score.

400 BC is generally quite a bit late for a straight up melee rush on Monarch. By that date you want siege.

I'll caveat most things further with saying...and you hear this a lot..many things in CiV IV are situational. So this number game thing is not always easy to describe. It's more about playing the game and getting a feel for what works best for a given situation or goal.

For instance, size to first settler depends for me a bit on how strong food/growth I have. If good food, will often switch to Slavery asap, and 4>2 pop whip a settler into a worker, try to max the whip overflow if I can or adding a chop in the process. Less food/more production, then size 3 is usually the way to go..or even size two with chops if I feel I really need to rush the guy out. Again, there are many factors at play here. My preferred approach for some time though as been the 4>2 pop whip into worker.

Early rushes can be very situational. Proximity to AI, strategic resources access. If you have copper or horse in BFC and a nearby neighbor, I may rush out chariots or axes with just one city or at most two. Likewise, if you need the second city to obtain a nearby strat resource. Non-siege rushes should be quick and decisive. No specific date parameters here but just to get it going asap. Horse Archer rush in my opinion is the the best. 2, 3, maybe 4 compact cities and focus on getting to HBR asap. You likely won't need barracks or stables either. Ofc, you just have to go with what you have, ofc.

If AIs are a bit far away, you may want to focus more on expansion and economy and work on a later type attack.

As for the rest, like your experience in item (b) above, it hard to really help you unless we know more about how you play the game. I often find with newer players that those issues are a matter of sub-optimal tech paths, not utilizing tech trading correctly, inexperience with economy building, and not focusing on getting Currency as soon as you can....oh..and great people, ofc. Diplomacy skills are also a factor.

We need to see your games, so post some saves or try posting a learner/shadow game. The folks here can get you sorted out in no time.

Food for thought:

Most important things in the game ->>> Food, Slavery, Workers, Granaries..and IMO Currency

 

[DrCron]

Everything Lymod said sounds good to me. I would only add, thinking of your specific "b" example, that after you do an early rush to destroy a nearby enemy, you might want to focus on developing your economy before going for the next victim. You probably don't want to chain wars unless your economy is already developed.

Even later on (after you have currency, some libraries, an academy, etc.), in high difficulties every war will slow down your research a bit, so you'll probably only keep doing non-stop wars if you have a good chance of invading the tech leader (Mansa, Saladin, Pacal....), or if you have SO many cities that you can do a war without focusing all of them on making units.

 

[Ringo Kid]

One opening Dutch, continents map, strategy I like is to build two workers first while researching bronze working - then build two settlers chopping or whipping them as the terrain allows. So that gives you three cities and two workers as a starting point. Build the great wall. This will give you a great spy that you use to infiltrate your strongest teching neighbor. Also allows faster settling because they don't need escorts. Settle the rivers and military resources. Spam cottages along your rivers. Beeline the military techs with your own research. Steal and or trade the other techs. Try to steal whatever techs the other civs will want to trade for so you get max value from the steal.

Then use your advanced military to conquer your neighbors. Usually a good idea to vassal them asap and tech trade with them.

I know many players dont like to build the great wall, but I do.

 

[lymond]

^^^yikes..sorry

 

[Ringo Kid]

^^^yikes..sorry

It works well, and solves the problems with falling behind in tech, and builds a strong military.

Not saying it is the only strategy or the best one. Just one that I like.