Despite the fact that I've had civilization 4 since it came out on release, I hardly touched it because on any difficulty above settler I usually get steamrolled into last place before 200 BC--while on settler, I end up dominating.
Anywho, I've been reading through the War Academy to see if I could try and get good at this game, and this time around (at Chieftan difficulty -_-) I decided to play a little more aggressively, look at chop rushing/city specialization etc, and its gotten me in a better position than the previous few games. By now it's about 800AD, and after learning from my past mistakes of a previous war, I bribed Pericles, my nextdoor neighbor, to go to war against Pacal II because he was the only nation ahead of me in score. That works after I cheated and gave myself a handicapped relations boost with the guy so that even if I'm at war with him, he'd still be friendly. <_<;
At an indeterminate point during this war, Shaka also declared war on Pacal II and was also hammering away at him.
So anyway, the war seems to be leaning in Pericles's favor, so I decide to help him out and declare war on Pacal II as well. I end up using spies to remove the defenses, hoard in trebuchets and then raze down one city with berserkers and a few other guys in Pacal's land before Pericles can claim it and get even more territory. Unfortunately, Pacal's the guy with the horses and Pericles is the guy with ivory, so I have to stick to non-mounted units. Bah. Anyway, at that point I declare a ceasefire since city-taking doesnt seem to happen all that often between AI's anyway. So, the declare war->siege->ceasefire all happened at one turn with some planning.
Next turn, this happens:
(in case if the pics don't work, 6 other nations all declared war on me at the same time, including Shaka who is already at war with Pacal!)
Now, after looking back on it I ended up in a really crappy starting position--I have no horses, no water routes, no ivory, and one iron resource as far as military resources goes, and Corinth blocked my southward expansion until I took it by force. But regardless of the actual tactics I used, er, does anyone have any tips or explanation for why everyone declared war on me? The apostolic palace was built by Pacal if I remember correctly, and all Taoists (or is that confucian?) declared war on me because I went after mr holy city founder, but that doesn't explain a few things:
1) Pericles ended his war with Pacal and declared war on me
2) Bismarck and Tokugawa declared war on me
3) Shaka is still at war with Pacal, WTH?
2 might be explained by diplomatic reasons, but 1 and 3 just confuse the hell out of me. Anyone got any ideas?
And now for general questions:
The AI like to love eachother, including me. It makes expansion messy and results in the above situation. How can I make two AI's hate eachother, and does this type of gang up situation occur at higher difficulty levels? Prior to any of this mess, generally one or two nations were annoyed with one other nation, and that was it. Everyone was friendly with eachother, and so bribing for war becomes nearly impossible.
Are there any guides for what military/research to go through in the middlegame? All I can seem to find here are either post-industrial or earlygame strategies, but nothing that deals specifically with the 'before gunpowder/cavalry but after spearmen' eras.
Anywho, I've been reading through the War Academy to see if I could try and get good at this game, and this time around (at Chieftan difficulty -_-) I decided to play a little more aggressively, look at chop rushing/city specialization etc, and its gotten me in a better position than the previous few games. By now it's about 800AD, and after learning from my past mistakes of a previous war, I bribed Pericles, my nextdoor neighbor, to go to war against Pacal II because he was the only nation ahead of me in score. That works after I cheated and gave myself a handicapped relations boost with the guy so that even if I'm at war with him, he'd still be friendly. <_<;
At an indeterminate point during this war, Shaka also declared war on Pacal II and was also hammering away at him.
So anyway, the war seems to be leaning in Pericles's favor, so I decide to help him out and declare war on Pacal II as well. I end up using spies to remove the defenses, hoard in trebuchets and then raze down one city with berserkers and a few other guys in Pacal's land before Pericles can claim it and get even more territory. Unfortunately, Pacal's the guy with the horses and Pericles is the guy with ivory, so I have to stick to non-mounted units. Bah. Anyway, at that point I declare a ceasefire since city-taking doesnt seem to happen all that often between AI's anyway. So, the declare war->siege->ceasefire all happened at one turn with some planning.
Next turn, this happens:
(in case if the pics don't work, 6 other nations all declared war on me at the same time, including Shaka who is already at war with Pacal!)
Now, after looking back on it I ended up in a really crappy starting position--I have no horses, no water routes, no ivory, and one iron resource as far as military resources goes, and Corinth blocked my southward expansion until I took it by force. But regardless of the actual tactics I used, er, does anyone have any tips or explanation for why everyone declared war on me? The apostolic palace was built by Pacal if I remember correctly, and all Taoists (or is that confucian?) declared war on me because I went after mr holy city founder, but that doesn't explain a few things:
1) Pericles ended his war with Pacal and declared war on me
2) Bismarck and Tokugawa declared war on me
3) Shaka is still at war with Pacal, WTH?
2 might be explained by diplomatic reasons, but 1 and 3 just confuse the hell out of me. Anyone got any ideas?
And now for general questions:
The AI like to love eachother, including me. It makes expansion messy and results in the above situation. How can I make two AI's hate eachother, and does this type of gang up situation occur at higher difficulty levels? Prior to any of this mess, generally one or two nations were annoyed with one other nation, and that was it. Everyone was friendly with eachother, and so bribing for war becomes nearly impossible.
Are there any guides for what military/research to go through in the middlegame? All I can seem to find here are either post-industrial or earlygame strategies, but nothing that deals specifically with the 'before gunpowder/cavalry but after spearmen' eras.
