[BTS] Stopping a runaway

[salty mud]

Playing a Monarch game as Caesar, Continents map. Had a slightly rough opening; I was eyeing that beautiful land around where Angkor Thom is when Sury got there first. He was rexxing like crazy (he had 7 cities within 100 turns ) and I was boxed in by Willem to the west, so I had to fight my way out. I banked on having iron nearby so researched IW, luckily had some in my borders and hooked it up and then went to town on poor Sury. His empire was massive, but poorly defended with archers. I took four decent cities from him and my workers are tending to the land as we speak.

Willem, however, lurks to the west. Even with my sizable army of praets, he is still allegedly significantly more powerful than me; spies are en route to see what he has. He is techs ahead and this concerns me. His land, however, looks amazing. Utrecht is a holy site and a potential production powerhouse. Amsterdam has gold and a cottage-able river valley. I want it.

How would you approach this situation?

 

[Gumbolt]

My German isn't great. Images not brilliant either as resource bubbles are off. I would post a save.

You should be able to command a tech lead on monarch settings. You should also be first to a second city on monarch.

Usual rules are worker first. Improve resources first. Settle cities with resources in inner ring.

With Romans and preats an early war should of been easy vs Willem.

I think your start is the issue.

 

[lymond]

7 cities in 100 turns in nothing special in the slightest. That 's a mod right? LoR? Not sure what advice to give you there other than get siege.

yeah, those images are rather small. I can't even tell what date you are on here.

If you want advice on how to improve here, probably best to play vanilla BTS first. Some things you learn will apply to LoR when you play it later...it is not super different.

 

[salty mud]

My German isn't great. Images not brilliant either as resource bubbles are off. I would post a save.

You should be able to command a tech lead on monarch settings. You should also be first to a second city on monarch.

Usual rules are worker first. Improve resources first. Settle cities with resources in inner ring.

With Romans and preats an early war should of been easy vs Willem.

I think your start is the issue.

I was first to a second city; I just wanted the spot Angkor Thom was on for a subsequent one. Nevertheless, I still got it.

I appreciate your taking the time for the advice, but I've played this game for 15 years. I'm familiar with the very basics.

7 cities in 100 turns in nothing special in the slightest. That 's a mod right? LoR? Not sure what advice to give you there other than get siege.

yeah, those images are rather small. I can't even tell what date you are on here.

If you want advice on how to improve here, probably best to play vanilla BTS first. Some things you learn will apply to LoR when you play it later...it is not super different.

This is epic speed and the other AIs had at most three cities by that time, so it seemed quite out of the ordinary. I have no idea why the images would be small; they are at 2560x1440 size and are fullscreen for me. I've played LoR for years and won a few games on Monarch, but for this one I've disabled the revolution component.

I'm not sure if the strength indicator bugged out, but Willem was a pushover. I took three of his best cities and took most of his techs in a peace deal. New picture attached. I sued for peace because it looks like Sury is mounting an attack and I'd rather not right on two fronts.

 

[Gumbolt]

Yes often taking down a tech leader is best way to control them early on. Especially if you get a lot of their techs in a peace deal. Seems to me your at war with most of map now. Sury in war mode and you are a possible candidate.

In any case you have answered your own thread.

I stopped playing epic many years back as it supposedly makes game easier for the player.

 

[lymond]

ah..epic speed...we'd assume normal unless stated otherwise.

Seems you have things under control.

 

[Anysense]

I was first to a second city; I just wanted the spot Angkor Thom was on for a subsequent one. Nevertheless, I still got it.

I appreciate your taking the time for the advice, but I've played this game for 15 years. I'm familiar with the very basics.

This is epic speed and the other AIs had at most three cities by that time, so it seemed quite out of the ordinary. I have no idea why the images would be small; they are at 2560x1440 size and are fullscreen for me. I've played LoR for years and won a few games on Monarch, but for this one I've disabled the revolution component.

I'm not sure if the strength indicator bugged out, but Willem was a pushover. I took three of his best cities and took most of his techs in a peace deal. New picture attached. I sued for peace because it looks like Sury is mounting an attack and I'd rather not right on two fronts.

First advice I was given on this forum was to grab the best food available first and then kill your neighbour ASAP. It seems that you were told the same thing and remembered second part but forgot first one - Antium is a decent helper city but it is not a kind city you need early, Utrecht or Angkor Thom location would have been perfect second city.

Nah, strength indicator isn't bugged out, its just misleading. AI tends to have a lot rather worthless population just working farms and has at least 2 units in every city which stay there even during war when they are needed elsewhere... As a rule of thumb 0.7 is OK to start a war, you just need to be careful and focused - can't afford to waste units or spread out.

 

[salty mud]

See, this is where advice can become contradictory and confusing. Most advice I read here is that early cities especially should be located close to the capital and, if possible, share a food source. Antium is growing off of Rome's rice; perhaps it's difficult to see in the picture. So early in the game with so many barbarians about, is it wise to send a settler off on a distant expedition to settle those city spots? It would take so much longer to hook the cities up to trade, send workers across and reinforce as necessary.

 

[Fippy]

Depends on city quality.
Sharing capital food early can be good, and most likely best if surroundings are poor.
But if you have good spots in range, with strong tiles for themselves they are better.

Advice can only go so far in complex games
Tile sharing & settling close are often mentioned cos it can get overlooked, however nothing replaces making your own judgment on what cities deliver.
For example trade routes are not that important beyond the first cos they only add 1 now.
Or river tiles & specials like gold/gems/any happy can make up for distance cost.

 

[Anysense]

See, this is where advice can become contradictory and confusing. Most advice I read here is that early cities especially should be located close to the capital and, if possible, share a food source. Antium is growing off of Rome's rice; perhaps it's difficult to see in the picture. So early in the game with so many barbarians about, is it wise to send a settler off on a distant expedition to settle those city spots? It would take so much longer to hook the cities up to trade, send workers across and reinforce as necessary.

Those are really good spots and not that far away, more than worth the effort and a bit more maintenance. You also need to take into account the likelihood that AI will settle there first, leaving you without any good places for new cities, as happened in this game. Barbs, of course can alter the course of the game significantly, although they should not be a problem with the area packed with AI's. You are playing with mod, though, no idea what it does to barbs, AI or anything.

 

[Gumbolt]

Barbs on monarch are really not that bad. With fog busting not even an issue.

Blocking ai from land can be standard play. Play the map.