OK maybe some of it is obvious, or should have been. But some of it surprised me.
I'm trying my first game on Prince because I want to try playing with espionage and that only works when the AI civs can tech a little better. Continents map and for a change Shaka was blocked in by me insted of vice versa (well I assumed this based on geographical markers and it turned out to be the case). Playing as Alex.
I knew he was going to attack me (he IS Shaka after all - even if he wasn't boxed in.) but the first time round I played it a little safe and I can't believe how many units he was able to crank out. It wasn't necessarily a losing proposition right off the bat, but I would have gimped myself so badly trying to hold him off that even with espionage it wouldn't have been worth it. I would have come out as backwards as Monty on a peaceful start - I couldn't keep up with his military production and develop my few cities at the same time.
Reload and attack a little earlier - send archers in to pillage his copper mine (which sadly wasn't on a hill so I lost a few before I could get some Phalanx out).
I managed to kill the one city that wasn't on a hill and then perched some units on the copper (which was essentially outside of his second city) and outside of his cap waiting for a stack to be able to take one or the other.
Now I know an aggressive civ is, well, aggressive. But he took 2 of his 3 axemen and 4 archers and tried the counter attack. Leaving 2 archers in his cap and an axe and an archer in his second city which made things cake frankly (well that and a lucky Iron in my cap's BFC)
I don't remember any civ really doing this, just going on the offense that recklessly. Is this a Prince thing or a Shaka thing or did I just get really lucky (clearly I did with the iron, I mean his behavior). Usually if I try a choke or an early (REALLY early) rush like that they hole up and build 30 archers in their cities. He kindly cleared them out for me!
On the upside, I'm now on a continent with Wang and Darius - should be some nice, juicy techs to steal if I can learn this strat and pull it off. Although Wang seems to like his spies, too - gotta watch that.
I'm trying my first game on Prince because I want to try playing with espionage and that only works when the AI civs can tech a little better. Continents map and for a change Shaka was blocked in by me insted of vice versa (well I assumed this based on geographical markers and it turned out to be the case). Playing as Alex.
I knew he was going to attack me (he IS Shaka after all - even if he wasn't boxed in.) but the first time round I played it a little safe and I can't believe how many units he was able to crank out. It wasn't necessarily a losing proposition right off the bat, but I would have gimped myself so badly trying to hold him off that even with espionage it wouldn't have been worth it. I would have come out as backwards as Monty on a peaceful start - I couldn't keep up with his military production and develop my few cities at the same time.
Reload and attack a little earlier - send archers in to pillage his copper mine (which sadly wasn't on a hill so I lost a few before I could get some Phalanx out).
I managed to kill the one city that wasn't on a hill and then perched some units on the copper (which was essentially outside of his second city) and outside of his cap waiting for a stack to be able to take one or the other.
Now I know an aggressive civ is, well, aggressive. But he took 2 of his 3 axemen and 4 archers and tried the counter attack. Leaving 2 archers in his cap and an axe and an archer in his second city which made things cake frankly (well that and a lucky Iron in my cap's BFC)
I don't remember any civ really doing this, just going on the offense that recklessly. Is this a Prince thing or a Shaka thing or did I just get really lucky (clearly I did with the iron, I mean his behavior). Usually if I try a choke or an early (REALLY early) rush like that they hole up and build 30 archers in their cities. He kindly cleared them out for me!
On the upside, I'm now on a continent with Wang and Darius - should be some nice, juicy techs to steal if I can learn this strat and pull it off. Although Wang seems to like his spies, too - gotta watch that.
No Dresden 
)
