stuck on noble

[urbanknight]

after conquering the ai at lower levels, i confidently moved to noble, where i am now STUCK ! my cities routinely fall behind others, even when some new civ shows up, they are several hundred points ahead; i usually play as augustus caesar or mensa of the mali; this takes place on panagea or continents, doesn't seem to matter; i usually slingshot bw, iron, wheel, pottery, and alphabet as augustus and more or less the same as mensa, figuring i will just trade for lesser techs; usually around 1100 bc or so, someone, usually monty, declares war on me; if i build up my military, i fall behind economically/ build cultrally or commerce, i get stomped into another game ( restart );help !

 

[nullspace]

If you've got Praetorians and alphabet, then go to war. This is good for your economy in the short run because conquering cities will give you money with which you can research at 100%, and then you can force your enemy to give you tech for peace. Then your economy will slow down due to paying maintenance on the conquered cities, so make sure you research currency and code of laws for the trade routes, courthouses, and markets. Once you have those things, your economy will be good again.

If you're falling behind before 1000bc, you might need to work on your opening moves. Are you improving and working good resources early enough? Are you chopping trees and using slavery to speed important projects? Are you focused on your strategy, or are you chasing things you don't need, like religions or wonders? Are you finding iron and building praetorians early enough to fight off barbarians and win wars against other civs? Those are some things to consider in the early game.

 

[Tyrael]

I'd definately recommend you read through Sisiutil's All Leader Challenge series. I was having the exact same problem, but now I'm winning some games on Monarch! It's a resource that any player should take advantage of. Link: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?p=5320091