Scenario: Starting a game on Emperor and realizing that there is no one invadable. What do?

[Forbiddentwo]

By "no one invadable" I mean that:

1: CSes are not terribly close and/or they offer great suzerain bonuses.

2: Neighboring civs are too far away and/or behind a gigantic array of rivers/hills/forests or some combination of those.

3: I spawned in some sort of Bermuda Triangle of barbarians, and literally every time I even think about invading another encampment spawns, then when I'm dealing with that ANOTHER one spawns, in an endless chain.

4: The terrain around me is rough enough that I haven't realized 1, or 2 before committing to spamming archers.

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Is it better to just invade the closest CS regardless of all of the above, and keep doing so until I reach an enemy civ?

It seems like every time I see someone else's build order on here, they go even more aggressive than I do: I go slinger -> worker -> slinger -> slinger, and keep making slingers/archers until I have about six archers, all the while scouting in a rough circle around me to spot any encampments/get the audible notification when they spawn.

How do these people not end up screwing themselves in the above scenario?

I play with a friend who does something crazy like slinger -> settler -> worker, and spams the hell out of settlers in our games and somehow does way better...

But I keep reading (and I also personally believe) that early aggro is the way to go on higher difficulty levels...

FWIW it's not like this happens to me every time, but when it does, and I'm playing with a friend, I'd like an option other than "hang my head and ask for a restart".

 

[The Highwayman]

This is an excellent question. I cannot speak for anyone else, as the answer in SP for some may often be, hit escape button, exit to main menu. But here is the bright side: hammering out armies early keeps you from having to be reactive later on. Archers upgrade to Crossbows at Machinery...perhaps that's when you make your push when the land is more settled and rain forests are mowed and roads are established. Upgrade the Heavy Chariots to Knights and do a timing push. The bulk of your armies are created and you can do a later timing push or have the forces to defend. As soon as you realize no invasion will benefit you, switch to expanding and infrastructure. In the meantime, the army can deal with barbs, who are a wild card in my experience. They range from non existent to very manageable to a complete nightmare and the only true challenge in the game.

Some City State bonuses are way better than others. To get a return on investment, it maybe better to choose the lesser of the existing ones and conquer. Sometimes the snowball effect of extra cities will make up for a Suzerain bonus you may not get or get but cannot keep. If nothing is in range, you have to be honest and say this isn't going to happen right now and switch off to expansion. Squeezing in an early settler helps with this.

On Emperor and above, taking cities/settlers/builders is always more efficient. I don't play MP so I cannot speak on that.

 

[joncnunn]

On maps where barbs are a higher than normal problem, go with military units and settlers. Each new city will push where new barbs form further back and once enough of this is done, you'll be in a much better position to run your empire (e.g. conquering city states or developing the empire + building up internal trade routes)

It's early expansion that really is the key at higher difficulty levels; which can be via conquest but can also be via settlers.

 

[ShinigamiKenji]

My personal advice, but take it with a grain of salt since I mostly play Emperor.

Stop building Archers in the capital and go for Settlers. Settle in a food-rich area (at least one 3-food tile), but with 2-cogs tiles too. When you settle, first thing to build is either a Builder or military (Archer until you are able to build Heavy Chariots). This should take care of the barbs.

Tech-wise, I'd go for the Wheel for Heavy Chariots (or for your UU if it's in Classical Era), Currency for Commercial Hubs, then Construction for Siege Towers. But this is flexible and depends on how the game develops too.

Later on, you can take the Heavy Chariots for conquest, or wait until you upgrade them to Knights for better mobility.