Some advice plz.

[dmc-ice]

Hey all,

I play warlords and I'm a first time poster, sorry for the long post:

So far I've been a regular on these forums to get tips and it helped me a lot! It made beating noble almost everytime, unless I had a bad starting pos but even then I managed to win. So on to Prince, I was a bit scared and sure enough the first bunch of games I lost.

This game however I seem to be doing ok (well I'm sure there's lots and lots of room for improvement but I never got this far and not lagging behind in techs to much).

Much to my dislike Ghandi, although obvious techleader, decided to go under the wing of Mansa Musa. Who himself also vasalised two others, for a long time however Mehmed II of the Ottomans was leading the board but was never as advanced as Ghandi or Mansa. He was strong though, and eventually dowed on me, now I decided I needed a vassal aswell as I was loosing the game to Mansa.

The problem was Mehmed proved to strong, destroying a big piece of my army and peeps like Shaka and Peter were lurking so I decided to hold on to my gained land and holy city and declare a peace. Obviously planning to continue later.

Mansa however dowed on Mehmed who was allready beat down by me, 3 or 4 turns later Mehmed is also a vassal of Mansa....

Mansa is leading by nearly 1000 points with 4 vassals, I was thinking to invade Peter but just to see what would happen I decided to Dow on mansa and take him and his pets on... big mistake... I thought I had a chance as I was the only one with assembly line and a couple of my production cities were allready completing their factory upgrades.

I thought that would compensate my losses but Mansa proved to strong, his pets I could handle but the big stacks he send onto my land were unbeatable. I know I should've had more siege for defence and hurt his stacks but I want to use my tech advantage straight from the factory upgrades.

Neway my question is: is this game winnable and how so? Also if there are big flaws or problems in my game so far point them to me so I can improve on these points in my next game. I beat noble mostly cuz of a strong cottage economy and never even specializing cities that much. Well science for my capital but other than that I wouldn't do it as I didn't need it.

On Prince i noticed I needed it and started trying to use it but so far I'm pissed off at the fact that even that doesn't give me an edge over my enemies.

Sorry for the long post, but I really want to know if I can win this game and where I wen't wrong (cuz I know my game is up for improvement).

Download the savefile: http://www.dmc-hq.nl/Ice_images/DaanAD-1581.CivWarlordsSave

Hope u can use that save in BtS aswell, if not than I hope some1 out there is also running warlords.

 

[CIV-RAZOR]

play settler diffuculty until you feel at peace with your anger... lol

 

[dmc-ice]

Well, maybe I didn't put it in a right way. It's just frustrating as hell that I can't seem to get an edge on Prince while on noble I can usually beat it during the middle ages.

Meh I'll just try a new game. and then another one.. and another one just like noble

 

[Marigwen]

I made the jump by focusing on a particular area and practicing until I got it mastered, then going on to the next. How to do war, then city specialization, then using specialists, then corporations, then espionage, etc... After a while, I had enough that I could do Prince.

 

[dmc-ice]

I know, I might go for a specialist game on noble and see. It's pretty hard not to use a tactic which works for me 90% of the time on noble. I tried it b4 but when I noticed it wasn't working like I had hoped I just switched back to my old style and won.

 

[Peteyboy]

Essentially it seems like you lack a little direction in your game.

First thing to note - some games can just work out really badly - I had one where I did everything right as far as I knew but early wars and a techer was way ahead - much like Mansa in the mentioned game.

But the best thing is to concentrate on a good start plan. On Prince you should be able to get cities out quicker than opposition and get a sustainable army together. With all levels above Noble you will atleast temporarily find yourself down on technologies. Try to get to 4-5 cities covering a range of resources if possible.

I found my biggest improvement came when learning how to quickly conquer - if you have a close neighbour (who isn't Tokugawa preferably) look to amass a quick army and use his cities to build to your empire - then whilst you suffer some maintenance - especially on Prince its not too bad - focus on getting to currency and you should be ok.

Technology wise - focus on key techs - there's a common run like Paper, Education which the computer doesn't tech quickly - often you can if traded well get a lot for these. Look to try and have caught up by the renaissance era - and as you improve this time of catch up will be reduced.

Diplomacy - Tis can be a good tool - it can help get strong players into wars with opponents and hold off warmongers like Shaka till you have a war on your terms. Often games will only go against you if someone continues to conquer cities - and squeezes you for room or just wildly out-techs you.

As mentioned in other posts - Try specialisation - but I'd say perhaps securing the basics of quick rushing and REX'ing may initially be more beneficial, over time you'll develop your own way to specialise - but it shouldn't be needed on Prince - Monarch & Higher is where more 'developed' tactics tend to be required.

Lastly - this is only scraping the surface - there's loads more that can be said, and some of what I've said may not suit you - but hopefully this will help!!

 

[dmc-ice]

Awesome stuff Peteyboy thx a lot!

I started a game earlier tonight (can't believe it's 2 in the morning allready rofl) also on prince. I just don't wanna go back to noble cuz I really think I masterd that 1.

So off I go with Frederick the German thinking the fast GP growth and fast courthouse would be a great help.

I started off with a lot of tundra near my capital so I was thinking: hmmm maybe just quit and start another one, but decided to scout the area neway. Man was I happy to see to my south there were rich land with lots rivers connecting met to others for trade. I started off with silver and fur in my capital radius, also corn and 3 seafood tiles. So I took some advice I got from other posts on here and started working them fast.

WOW my techs only cost me like 9 turns marathon, I was thinking this can't be right but it was. The boost from the fur and silver is awesome! I was techleader for quite some time but then Kubla Kahn (soz of I misspeled) caught up with me. Fearing another Mansa Musa game I quickly went about building up my force (I only put 4 cities out as I was pumping out workers for all those rich tiles to my south). So soon I had about 5 axes and a couple of spears and I decided to dow on my weakest neighbour. Man I kicked the . .. .. .. . outta Hatsaput and took a holy city.

The beauty of it was, cuz I was concentrating on getting those courthouses fast (the advantage of frederick) I also found confucio. Being in the center of the map with loads of rivers I quickly spread my religion everywhere without me buillding even one missionary. So I put down the holy shrine and I put my slider on 100% research and I was still making 17 GPT.

So as u can imagine after vassalising Hatsaput and later Roosevelt I'm techleader and having the edge!!! over my enemies. haha! Man this is one awesome game, I feel . .. .. .. . for quitting but I have to. 2morrow I will finish my war vs. Stalin and vassalise him aswell. Next stop will be Kubla Kahn If I get to kick his ass the game is mine and I beat my first prince game.

Fcourse I got lucky for not drawing Ghandi or Mansa as AI opponents. Shaka is there but he loves me for having the same religion. The others are pretty much peacefull, which is probably due to me being no.2 in power atm. Kubla is still a tough nut, but I will crack it.

Aah, sorry for yet another long post. But I'm just thrilled that I'm actually winning on prince (albeit with luck, still feels awesome!).

 

[mariogreymist]

If I read your op correctly, you took on superior numbers in a war based on your manufacturing capability, and superior troops. Because infantry dominate riflemen, your timing is only off by a little. You definitely need to get all your production cities pumping out infantry with factory upgrades for several iterations before going to war. Planning to beat an opponent based on the military you can build is a bad idea, because it eliminates options. You simply must remain 100% dedicated to mil production once you start, and this will usually backfire in other areas of your civ if you don't win a dominating victory.

So delay your attack until you have a good big stack of infantry, and enough cannon to annhialate any invasion force. Attack with a plan to destroy the core of your worst enemy's productive and scientific capabilities in short order. I would raze and come back in 50 years to clean up after the losses have stopped their progress...but then again, I am evil.

 

[dmc-ice]

Well in my Mansa game I see I intervened to late. Although Ghandi just selling himself to Mansa is something I can't control I could've tried and stop Mansa from vasalising the world. Ghandi and Mansa just seem to be handing eachother techs, and even handing it to my immediate neighbours who are catching up quickly.

The problem is I noticed that right after I finish my factories Peter of Russia also completes the assembly line. So I tried to vassalise him and hold on to the tech, but to no avail as he seems to trade it with Ghandi, who in turns gifts it to Mansa (yes gifts cuz I don't think Mansa has anything to offer to Ghandi).

The save I posted is where Mansa is in the lead by a staggering 1200 points which is half of the points I accumulated myself. Thx for the tips tho, I'll try to remember to use more siege units for defense. In my new game I have lots of siege equipment. Stalin dowed on my while I was fighting elsewhere, I delayed his initial stack enough for my grand army to return and mopped the floor with him.