Strategy

[Houman]

Hello,

I really enjoy to play Conquests with the Teturkan Map (not MOD). I have four questions to experts:

1) Usually I start to build some warriors and send them to each directions to make new contacts. On the other hand I do not spend any money on research but collect the taxes.

So its easy to trade techs with new civs and since they don't know anything about each other I stay uptodate.

The only problem is (I choose the difficulty Monarch) the AI players and me reach the middle ages too fast. Still in 100 BC middle age? Cmon.

What do I do wrong? How can I prevent that?

2) Its hard to settle for new cities. I have only about 4 cities and a weak army. The AI has stronger army, builds Wonders and few AI more advanced in science and we reached already the middle age. Back to the first problem...

3) Maybe the difficulty Monarch is too much for me? But I still need a challenge....Which one is considered to be fair?

4) The Feudalism has the same corruption and production as Monarchy but is more expensive for Units. So why should someone take Feudalism?

Any comments?
Houman

 

[sabo]

There is no way to slow down the AI's tech research pace as far as I know, the only possible way to do that would be to keep them all at war with each other. You are right though, the lower the diff level the slower they will research. You think Monarch level is too fast, try a deity or Sid game sometimes, it will blow your mind.

 

[Ginger_Ale]

Hello,

I really enjoy to play Conquests with the Teturkan Map (not MOD). I have four questions to experts:

1) Usually I start to build some warriors and send them to each directions to make new contacts. On the other hand I do not spend any money on research but collect the taxes.

So its easy to trade techs with new civs and since they don't know anything about each other I stay uptodate.

The only problem is (I choose the difficulty Monarch) the AI players and me reach the middle ages too fast. Still in 100 BC middle age? Cmon.

What do I do wrong? How can I prevent that?

Well, that's just the way the game goes - like sabo said, the only way the AIs slow down when researching is during a war (or anarchy).

2) Its hard to settle for new cities. I have only about 4 cities and a weak army. The AI has stronger army, builds Wonders and few AI more advanced in science and we reached already the middle age. Back to the first problem...

The computers *do* get a bonus on higher levels, but: workers are very important. Try to make sure every terrain your laborers work is roaded; that way, you'll get gold which you can spend to keep up in techs.

3) Maybe the difficulty Monarch is too much for me? But I still need a challenge....Which one is considered to be fair?

Regent is where the humans and AIs need the same amount of shields to build stuff. Higher than regent it costs the AI less, lower than Regent (Chieftan or Warlord) it costs the AI more. The AI also need less/more food to grow to a new size, depending on your difficulty.

4) The Feudalism has the same corruption and production as Monarchy but is more expensive for Units. So why should someone take Feudalism?

Any comments?
Houman

Feudalism is good for a big empire with small cities. If you have 16 cities, all below size 7, you'll get a lot of unit support. The only problem is that you can't rush units with gold, like Monarchy (I use Monarchy more than Feudalism).

 

[Houman]

Regent is where the humans and AIs need the same amount of shields to build stuff. Higher than regent it costs the AI less, lower than Regent (Chieftan or Warlord) it costs the AI more. The AI also need less/more food to grow to a new size, depending on your difficulty.

This explains the problems I have. Thats why the AI is rushing so unrealistic. Good to know.

Feudalism is good for a big empire with small cities. If you have 16 cities, all below size 7, you'll get a lot of unit support. The only problem is that you can't rush units with gold, like Monarchy (I use Monarchy more than Feudalism).

Yeah, many are blaming Feudalism. It is just because everyone is thinking about the future and having ig and productive cities. Feudalism works different. Having few big productive cities, but many small cities to support the army. Since Force Labor is possible, you could control the size easily and build faster stuff and even more Army. It is indeed very interesting but hard to understand...

Thank you guys for sharing your ideas. Now I got it.

Houman

 

[sourboy]

If you have accelerated production on, that will also effect advancement. Also, how many Civs are scientific? That grants a free tech each new age for each of those Civs (could add up if they each get different techs and trade them). If you're looking to have in game ages stay relatively true to where they were historically, play on Regent on a standard map and have some wars (globally speaking), but nothing major - and make sure accelerated production is off. When you learn to play ahead of Regent, try Monarch - the changes are reasonable. Outside of those two difficulty levels, the cheating for or against is ridiculous.

 

[Grogs]

Hello,

2) Its hard to settle for new cities. I have only about 4 cities and a weak army. The AI has stronger army, builds Wonders and few AI more advanced in science and we reached already the middle age. Back to the first problem...

Any comments?
Houman

This really sounds like the source of your problem (and I don't consider #1 a 'problem' - it sounds like you're doing a good job at tech trading, which is essential for high levels.) If you only have 4 cities by 100 BC, you either had a pretty bad starting position or didn't do very well in the expansion phase. During the first part of the game, your number one goal needs to be to build as many cities/claim as much land as possible. To this end, you should focus on building 1) settlers 2) workers and 3) military units to protect your cities. You'll also want to build some granaries and barracks in the cities producing the settlers and military units. How well you do during the expansion phase will largely determine how well you do in the rest of the game.