Strategy Discussion and Guides

[youtien]

France SVN strategies, anyone? Domination, Monarch/Normal

My usual strat is as follows:

Found Paris, start Settler, send army south towards Rome. Research Guilds. Revolt to Slavery and Theocracy
Flip cities, Marseille starts a catapult while Bordeaux starts a galley
Whip all these things, send the settler to the British Isles to found a city on the Iron
With three catapults, take Rome and burn Venice
Whip infra and then Knights to take Iberia
Tech Astronomy, settle America

Thoughts?

1. Found Amiens, switch to theocracy + warrior code, no need of slavery. Chop the forest near Frankfurt before 850 AD.
2. Army go conquer Rome, empty Marseilles to lure 2 pikemen out, you can take out the remaining 2 longbowmen by your starting force. Conquer Naples as well afterwards.
3. Marseilles build settler, Bordeaux build galley, to settle Scotlond iron. Also settle Brest to get dye in your homeland.
4. Research meditation -> engineering -> aesthetic line or paper. Vote Isabella to make Spanish friendly to you, they'll get guilds in 1050 or so, trade with them.
5. Naples build a galley, other cities build army, conquer Alexandria and Cairo, then Jerusalem and Mecca.
6. Research toward astronomy, settle America and play at will.

 

[Pulastro]

Any Ethiopian strategies for domination? UHV is easy, but Ethiopian stability is terrible (I collapsed a few turns before completing the spaceship, controlling east and subsaharan Africa, Mecca and Jerusalem)..

I usually switch to pantheon at start, try to snatch some ancient wonders if available, go for theology (stele->priest) for UHV 1, Apostolic Palace and The Church of Holy Sepulchre, send a galley with a scout and a trireme escort to take Japanese, Indonesian and Australian huts, take the ones in Africa too, research towards Feudalism for levies to fight impis (no copper or iron, and I don't like having a city in Egypt because of constant Egypt respawning), take Mecca when Arabs collapse, expand along east coast towards south Africa and Congo (conquer or settle both).. Tech-wise, I'm normally leading with few techs ahead the second..

I'll try and settle Gondar (Durban-gold) earlier, as the second city with axe escorting it via land or the third city via galley, and see how it goes..

But stability is killing me, and i hate it because for some reason Ethiopia is my favourite civ..

edit: oh, and I'm on the last no-SVN version

 

[Hojsimpson]

Viking domination strategy
If you want to have many population in your core you can found 7 cities there.
Oslo, Mälmo, Stockholm, the city 1N of deer, Nidaros, Bergen and one in Denmark, build farms.

1. Initial cities: (Don´t care about this)
You could found 2 cities and keep the other settler for later(Mälmo(as capitol or not) on copper and Uppsala(as capitol or not)
OR You could found 3 cities(Oslo, Mälmo and one in Denmark)
OR Whatever you want, I´ve made different tries with different cities and there is no so much difference.
0% , You will use the money to use mercenaries early. (you will research compass later)
2. Raze Marseille and Bordeaux (you will need a bit of luck) and if you could Barcelona.
3. Settle cities on France and England after they spawn so it won´t flip to them.
(first turn they appear, second they found a city, third turn cities flip, fourth turn you settle the cities).
4. Build a courthouse somewhere to get a great spy, after you steal guilds (and whatever you want) from someone (I steal from Portugal) research optics and astronomy by yourself.
5. Capture Kiev and switch to mercenaries.
6. Destroy France after the 10 turns of "Cannot declare war". Now you control a foreign core, UHV2 completed.
Don´t found a city on America, UHV3 is so easy.

Play at will.

Economy:
Conquer and build courthouses. Founding protestantism could gave more than 2k gold, you can research printing press or wait a lot and buy it from Mughals(for example),(if you conquered Europe nobody will found protestantism)

Sorry for my english, I don´t know if I have many mistakes.

 

[youtien]

Greek general strategy

Now we have to build cities in core area for stability. So my placing is:

1. Korinthos 2. Ephesus - 3N3E from Corinth, 2S2E from Byzantion, you can found it on the next turn. 3. Epidamnos - SE from Balkan copper 4. Byzantion - found it after Trabzon (Anatolia horse).

Conquer Egypt with initial army, capture a worker near Jerusalem, Ephesus build pagan temple, work boat then barracks, research masonry - iron working, Egypt build settler... conquer Jerusalem before Persia spawn. Then it will be easy.

 

[youtien]

Is it possible for Greeks to bulb metal casting by a GE before turn 75? Yes.

Conquer Egypt on turn 55, it usually has the Pyramids or the Hanging Gardens built, that's 5 GPP per turn. Build the Great Sphynx or the other wonder, send workers to mine copper, I managed to get a GE out... on turn 75. I'll try again.

 

[youtien]

Is it possible for Greeks to bulb metal casting by a GE before turn 75? Yes.

Conquer Egypt on turn 55, it usually has the Pyramids or the Hanging Gardens built, that's 5 GPP per turn. Build the Great Sphynx or the other wonder, send workers to mine copper, I managed to get a GE out... on turn 75. I'll try again.

Done! Got a GE out in turn 74 by building the Great Sphynx. The Oracle is for currency!

 

[Hojsimpson]

Why do you need the GE before turn 75? What happen at that turn?
Does the Greeks auto-collapse?
I played with them, I was solid but then collapse (I don´t know the turn)

 

[mrrandomplayer]

Why do you need the GE before turn 75? What happen at that turn?
Does the Greeks auto-collapse?
I played with them, I was solid but then collapse (I don´t know the turn)

Tech costs increase.

 

[Sanguivorant]

Any ideas for Khmer UHV? It seems really difficult. I've only tried from 3000 B.C start by the way.

To first condition is to get four Buddhist and Hindu monasteries and Wat Preah Whatever before I think 1100AD. So that obviously means I need to get four cities.

I found the first one on the spot, found the second one on Hanoi, I hope that Pagan is still alive to conquer, and I conquer the Indonesian city with the Iron. Usually, the Chinese have four workers at their border, working a jungle tile. I steal those workers, knowing the Chinese cannot invade me with that jungle (Thank God for Khmer UP, intensely useful).

I guess the strategy for this is to whip up missionaries and monasteries until you have your four cities. The wonder requires philosophy, and it means that either I tech it or I generate a great person to bulb it, which seems like the reasonable solution.

However, if the Chola are still alive, they will stage an army to conquer that city in Indonesia, which makes things that much more difficult, since they are using freaking crossbows and trebuchets, whilst I have Elephant Ballistae.

The first condition appears to be the most difficult. I should only switch from Slavery after I whip up those monasteries I need. After that, I should build Barays, wonders and cultural buildings, and I should be able to finish the UHV.

So any ideas?

 

[apenpaap]

If you start in 600 AD, there's no Chola to worry about. You're correct about city placement. Use mercenaries for Pagan and an Indonesian city. If you're lucky, they may found Singapore, which means you don't even need a navy to attack them.

 

[youtien]

Phonecian overexpansion strategy:

1. Found Gebal 1N from Sur, The other settler go settle Anatolia marble and build the Oracle (for currency). Switch to militia - mercenary still have extra upkeep cost!

2. Starting army conquer Babylon if possible.. I beat 1 bowman and 1 warrior. Babylon build a settler to settle Carthage then.

3. Gebal build 3-4 warriors, mine the Cyprus copper ASAP, and upgrade your warriors to axemen. Load 4 axemen to conquer a city in Egypt and/or Greece, then make peace and let army go back for Jerusalem.

4. Have 4 axemen wait by Jerusalem in turn 86 (Persia flip), attack! Its 2 GP and 1 free priest is very important. Make peace later, you don't need any more eastern city, and you want tech trade.

5. Research math and calender and take out Greeks. Switch to agrarianism and warrior code.

6. Final target: Rome. Then you'll have a large empire with -50 expansion stability....

 

[adhiraj.bose]

Has anyone made an Iran strategy earlier ? I just can't seem to be able to get the culture goal while building up my troops for the conquests . Also how best to use the Iranian UP ? On paper it sounds good, with zoroastrianism you can spread that religion to your cities and build the religious buildings for science and culture boost. But for the UHV you'll have to build artists and Qizilbash's and bombards. How to balance ?

 

[youtien]

Has anyone made an Iran strategy earlier ? I just can't seem to be able to get the culture goal while building up my troops for the conquests . Also how best to use the Iranian UP ? On paper it sounds good, with zoroastrianism you can spread that religion to your cities and build the religious buildings for science and culture boost. But for the UHV you'll have to build artists and Qizilbash's and bombards. How to balance ?

It is possible in 1700 AD scenario, with 5-6 great artists... use either city states or republic. And... mercenary?

 

[adhiraj.bose]

I've tried playing the Iranians in 1700 AD, they start with a large and capable enough stack but I find the culture goal difficult. Conquering India and Trans-Oxania seems easy enough but Mesopotamia, not so. Even so, I'm tempted to give it another try. I'm still playing the old version btw, I haven't been able to download the svn.

 

[Hojsimpson]

Any ideas for Khmer UHV? It seems really difficult. I've only tried from 3000 B.C start by the way.
So any ideas?

I was going to win, 600AD start, but Thailand spawned and my capital dissapeared, loosing more than 4000 culture, I used there great artists. I could have won if I used the Great artist in Hanoi, for example

Switch to Budism
Capture Pataliputra, this city gives you many gold which you can use to buy techs or to put culture slider up
Research Alpha and trade techs, Japan gives you aesthetics and Korea gives you Drama (unless they hate you, sometimes they just don´t want to give you Drama)
You could research or buy Sailing and buy calendar from Tibet
Bulb Philosophy with a great scientist

I captured the 2 Chinese coastal cities, build monasteries there and let them grow
Put culture slider up and get a great artist(1 or 2)

 

[DC123456789]

I thought human cities couldn't be autorazed?

 

[youtien]

I was going to win, 600AD start, but Thailand spawned and my capital dissapeared, loosing more than 4000 culture, I used there great artists. I could have won if I used the Great artist in Hanoi, for example

Switch to Budism
Capture Pataliputra, this city gives you many gold which you can use to buy techs or to put culture slider up
Research Alpha and trade techs, Japan gives you aesthetics and Korea gives you Drama (unless they hate you, sometimes they just don´t want to give you Drama)
You could research or buy Sailing and buy calendar from Tibet
Bulb Philosophy with a great scientist

I captured the 2 Chinese coastal cities, build monasteries there and let them grow
Put culture slider up and get a great artist(1 or 2)

Capture Pataliputra, whip a library, GS bulb philosophy or GP bulb theology, either way you can buy calender & currency. Switch to mercenary, buy an army to conquer Korea, Japan or China.

Indonesian has a chance to declare war on spawn, they are weak, simply take out them by your elephants.

 

[Hojsimpson]

Capture Pataliputra, whip a library, GS bulb philosophy or GP bulb theology, either way you can buy calender & currency. Switch to mercenary, buy an army to conquer Korea, Japan or China.

Indonesian has a chance to declare war on spawn, they are weak, simply take out them by your elephants.

Do you build a third city in your core? Khmer have a very bad expansion stability and
there is no need for having more cities to complete the UHV, with just a few you can get more than 200 culture per turn, just get great artists.

I conquered Indonesia in the first turn (They only have one archer) but then they respawn :S So wait a few turns..

 

[youtien]

Babylonian UHV is impossible now - they suffer tech penalty from start.

 

[adhiraj.bose]

Has anyone tried playing the Japanese on 1700 AD scenario ? They start with first UHV complete and only the other two remain. I tried it, but its almost hopeless to try and catch up from the utterly backward position Japan is left with at the start and complete the tech goal. The conquest goal is linked of course but how to balance ?