zerksees
in remission
Just put those cities to work building workers!
Superslug: Emperor
- Thread starter superslug
- Start date
Just put those cities to work building workers!
I've just been informed by the computer that Sun Tzu's Art of War was completed in the same city that already possessed the Great Library. Talk about painting a huge bullseye target...lucky for me it's within striking distance of my current borders. 
It's now 890ad in my game, and I have to admit, I've just about given up on this even making the HOF. Honestly, at this point, I'm not even sure I'm going to win, much less get a high score.
The Pyramid gambit I described earlier in the thread worked wonderfully for my Chieftain and Monarch HOF entries, but on Emperor, it's just too slow. Despite snagging five luxuries, having Greece as a first opponent was painful. Those damn Hoplites tore my Riders up. I did eventually reduce Greece to one city, but the price was steep.
Now, I'm going against the Celts with Riders, while they have Muskets and Cavalry. I did get America, Russian and Arabia allied against them, but I'm still in very poor position. I've gone back to automated workers and razing cities, but I don't feel an ounce of regret over these 'bad' habits since I'm now playing for pure fun.
I figure the only chance I have left is a suicide charge up to the Great Library...anyway, here's a save if you want to have a look:
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads5/superslug890ad.sav
I should have just made another run on Monarch...
The Pyramid gambit I described earlier in the thread worked wonderfully for my Chieftain and Monarch HOF entries, but on Emperor, it's just too slow. Despite snagging five luxuries, having Greece as a first opponent was painful. Those damn Hoplites tore my Riders up. I did eventually reduce Greece to one city, but the price was steep.
Now, I'm going against the Celts with Riders, while they have Muskets and Cavalry. I did get America, Russian and Arabia allied against them, but I'm still in very poor position. I've gone back to automated workers and razing cities, but I don't feel an ounce of regret over these 'bad' habits since I'm now playing for pure fun.
I figure the only chance I have left is a suicide charge up to the Great Library...anyway, here's a save if you want to have a look:
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads5/superslug890ad.sav
I should have just made another run on Monarch...
I am back in business! 
American Cavalry had softened up the defenders in Richborough tremendously and made it very easy to take. I know have the Great Library and Sun Tzu's! The GL slingshot me from Engineering all the way up to Military Tradition and Theory of Gravity! By selling accumulated techs to the AI, I was then able to purchase Magnetism from the Celts.
I tried gifting/selling the three Scientific civs up to the Industrial age, but they all generated Nationalism. Oh, well, I'll have Steam Power in 19 turns.
I plan on using that time with a Settler flood to claim the swaths of empty territory created during Celt War I (currently at peace). I'm also going to send out two boats to finish off the remote Greek towns. After that, I'll deautomate workers in order to utilize resource disconnect and pile up Cavalry faster.
A happy thanksgiving indeed! I can't possibly convey how happy I am this game may be HOF yet, considering I turned down the chance to spend the day with family only a few hours away in order to stay home alone and play Civ! Yes, I guess I'm a little hard-core...
American Cavalry had softened up the defenders in Richborough tremendously and made it very easy to take. I know have the Great Library and Sun Tzu's! The GL slingshot me from Engineering all the way up to Military Tradition and Theory of Gravity! By selling accumulated techs to the AI, I was then able to purchase Magnetism from the Celts. I tried gifting/selling the three Scientific civs up to the Industrial age, but they all generated Nationalism. Oh, well, I'll have Steam Power in 19 turns.
I plan on using that time with a Settler flood to claim the swaths of empty territory created during Celt War I (currently at peace). I'm also going to send out two boats to finish off the remote Greek towns. After that, I'll deautomate workers in order to utilize resource disconnect and pile up Cavalry faster.
A happy thanksgiving indeed! I can't possibly convey how happy I am this game may be HOF yet, considering I turned down the chance to spend the day with family only a few hours away in order to stay home alone and play Civ! Yes, I guess I'm a little hard-core...
Okay, I was just up in General Discussions and reading yet another corruption thread. Bamspeedy posted that one of the ways HOFr's generate tons of cash is by making all of their specialist citizens taxmen. Damn, this was news to me...
Having city governors manage moods is yet another 'bad' habit I'm trying to break with this game, but I've been making mostly scientists. Are taxmen really that powerful? Is anyone here doing this?
For crying out loud, what other tricks and strategy's am I missing? Keep in mind this isn't a newbie crying out for help, I've used RCP, I've added Palace jumping to my repertoire, the only nonpopulation improvements I build are marketplaces, I road every tile...
Mind you, I'm not asking anyone to give up their secrets. I'm just a good player trying to become a great player...
Having city governors manage moods is yet another 'bad' habit I'm trying to break with this game, but I've been making mostly scientists. Are taxmen really that powerful? Is anyone here doing this?
For crying out loud, what other tricks and strategy's am I missing? Keep in mind this isn't a newbie crying out for help, I've used RCP, I've added Palace jumping to my repertoire, the only nonpopulation improvements I build are marketplaces, I road every tile...
Mind you, I'm not asking anyone to give up their secrets. I'm just a good player trying to become a great player...
Darkness
Shadow creature
If possible, I make my specialists taxman, yes. I find them to be more helpful than scientists, but that's just a gut feeling, no hard facts...
I'll give you one secret: Ottomans. Sipahi make all the difference in the world. They can easily dominate the middle ages as well as the first part of the industrial age, giving you plenty of time to conquer the world. Plus they give a well-timed GA.
I'll give you one secret: Ottomans. Sipahi make all the difference in the world. They can easily dominate the middle ages as well as the first part of the industrial age, giving you plenty of time to conquer the world. Plus they give a well-timed GA.
SirPleb
Shaken, not stirred.
Glad to see you back in business Superslug!
About specialists, I generally:
1) Don't use any unless I either need them for happiness or all tiles are worked.
2) If I need one for happiness, and I can avoid disorder by just having one non-entertainer specialist, I make him a taxman.
3) If a food surplus is resulting in extra citizens, I usually assign entertainers first, until all working citizens are happy. (For score.) After that I set any further extras to taxmen. In corrupt towns which need entertainers and don't have marketplaces, I slowly build a marketplace. When the town eventually gets its marketplace finished, the entertainers can flip to become taxmen.
4) I generally use taxmen instead of scientists, just because I can always use more gold. But if I want max speed research and can't get it (i.e. four turn rate) then I'll assign scientists. And if I want a 40 turn research then I'll assign one scientist.
About specialists, I generally:
1) Don't use any unless I either need them for happiness or all tiles are worked.
2) If I need one for happiness, and I can avoid disorder by just having one non-entertainer specialist, I make him a taxman.
3) If a food surplus is resulting in extra citizens, I usually assign entertainers first, until all working citizens are happy. (For score.) After that I set any further extras to taxmen. In corrupt towns which need entertainers and don't have marketplaces, I slowly build a marketplace. When the town eventually gets its marketplace finished, the entertainers can flip to become taxmen.
4) I generally use taxmen instead of scientists, just because I can always use more gold. But if I want max speed research and can't get it (i.e. four turn rate) then I'll assign scientists. And if I want a 40 turn research then I'll assign one scientist.
Gentlemen, I highly appreciate your insights.
In regards to the game, I completed research of Steam Power in 1110ad (which I guess isn't a bad date to procure that tech). I don't have coal sitting inside my borders, but a former Greek city taken by the Babylonians right outside my border does. I'm going to attack them and take it, banking on the risk that I can sue for peace before they get any forces across from the other continent where they primarily reside.
Greece will likely be exterminated within one turn. They only have two towns left and I've got 4 Riders each ready to smack up their spearmen. Then, I'll be pushing northward through the Celts, Russians, Americans and Arabia.
In regards to domestic progress, I'm building nothing but Settlers and Horsemen. I haven't bothered doing a manual count yet, but I'm hoping that the map is approaching the 512 city count limit, and so I'm pushing towards it as fast as I can. My intention is to use that to choke off AI growth so that no one beats me to claiming land cleared out during my offensive.
This obviously implies my intentions of razing just about everything. After I took Richborough (GL, Sun Tzu) I piled dozens of Riders in it for garrison duty. It culture flipped back anyway...
EDIT: Oh, yeah. All but one of my specialists are taxmen, with the exception of a lone scientist.
In regards to the game, I completed research of Steam Power in 1110ad (which I guess isn't a bad date to procure that tech). I don't have coal sitting inside my borders, but a former Greek city taken by the Babylonians right outside my border does. I'm going to attack them and take it, banking on the risk that I can sue for peace before they get any forces across from the other continent where they primarily reside.
Greece will likely be exterminated within one turn. They only have two towns left and I've got 4 Riders each ready to smack up their spearmen. Then, I'll be pushing northward through the Celts, Russians, Americans and Arabia.
In regards to domestic progress, I'm building nothing but Settlers and Horsemen. I haven't bothered doing a manual count yet, but I'm hoping that the map is approaching the 512 city count limit, and so I'm pushing towards it as fast as I can. My intention is to use that to choke off AI growth so that no one beats me to claiming land cleared out during my offensive.
This obviously implies my intentions of razing just about everything. After I took Richborough (GL, Sun Tzu) I piled dozens of Riders in it for garrison duty. It culture flipped back anyway...
EDIT: Oh, yeah. All but one of my specialists are taxmen, with the exception of a lone scientist.
wohmongarinf00l
Immortal
- Joined
- Feb 15, 2002
- Messages
- 452
one of the best ways to aavoid flipping seems to be to leave the city with just a small garrison inside the city and a bigger one outside to re-take the city if it flips. that's not empirically tested.
overall, the strategy is to leave a bunch of fortitifed units in the middle of the liberated cities where they can strike at any city that flips in 1 turn or 2.
overall, the strategy is to leave a bunch of fortitifed units in the middle of the liberated cities where they can strike at any city that flips in 1 turn or 2.
also, if you leave some units behing to guard against flips, make sure they are elite(if you have any extra). cause if the city flips, it will only have one unit defending and it very possibly could be a spearman. could get an easy leader that way.
Game abandoned...
...I'll use this thread for my next attempt as soon as I find a new map, but I'll be tackling Emperor again.
I abandoned because my attempt at getting coal lead to a war against Babylon that didn't go well, I lost a lot of cities. Additionally, despite setting many towns to wealth and creating slews of taxmen/women, I was only able to come up with about five Cavalry per turn. That was slower than I was losing them. Since I saw no upward momentum whatsoever, I decided it wasn't worth dozens and hundreds of hours of my time.
...I'll use this thread for my next attempt as soon as I find a new map, but I'll be tackling Emperor again.
I abandoned because my attempt at getting coal lead to a war against Babylon that didn't go well, I lost a lot of cities. Additionally, despite setting many towns to wealth and creating slews of taxmen/women, I was only able to come up with about five Cavalry per turn. That was slower than I was losing them. Since I saw no upward momentum whatsoever, I decided it wasn't worth dozens and hundreds of hours of my time.
I wish I had more time before work to post further more than one screenshot of my current game, but it should by itself tell you that I'm doing much better than my last game! This is also at Emperor:http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads6/superslugemperorIII.jpg
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads6/sorryjoan.gif
Okay, I wound up with a spare minute before having to head out the door. (I can surf the forums at work, but no access to Civ itself.
) Anyway, the one civ missing on the screenshot is India, but have no fear, Ghandi is in with the rest of us!
Okay, I wound up with a spare minute before having to head out the door. (I can surf the forums at work, but no access to Civ itself.
) Anyway, the one civ missing on the screenshot is India, but have no fear, Ghandi is in with the rest of us!that city layout looks frightning, superslug I never got the point of such tight builds -although I've often read about succesful ICS performances, my implementation has been way too weak.
How are you planning to go on with your conquest? the others might get to Infantary too soon, and Industrial Age is easier with large, productive cities -from my expierience, at least.
I never got the point of such tight builds -although I've often read about succesful ICS performances, my implementation has been way too weak.How are you planning to go on with your conquest? the others might get to Infantary too soon, and Industrial Age is easier with large, productive cities -from my expierience, at least.
In regards to the build, what I did in the initial expansion was to lay down my cities three tiles apart. This is the farthest you can space them and maintian contiguous borders without holes or gaps. Once I ran out of room, I started filling in the 'middle' slots reducing the spacing to the minimum. The largest advantage (I think) is that since population chokes up space, I wound up with a lot of specialists (all taxmen). I did at least grab more space than anyone, so I'm #1 in territory. The AI has been paying gpt for ROP's!
This ICS build may not be the best approach overall, but for me, it's good enough for now. Rest assured, I don't pack them in that tight after the reposition phase. The 512 city cap prevents you from going that tight and hitting Domination. It's purely an opening sequence...
In regards to the Infantry, yeah, you're right, I'll probably run into them, but I'm not too worried about them. I do have the Sipahi, remember, and by then their teeth will have been sharpened (promotions).
It's interesting the you mention tech pace though, since that's a primary reason I decided to smack France up. Judging by my end of turn 'conversations' with all the AI, France and Greece alone are doind research. Everyone else is either researching slower, or buying scraps off the table. Between the two, they're averaging 20 turns a tech, so R-Parts should be 40 turns away for them. Of course I plan on it being longer since France should be history then and Greece is next on my list. They've got Sun Tzu's...
And if I face infantry, I face infantry.
EDIT: I guess I should mention that none of the AI have any techs that I don't...
This ICS build may not be the best approach overall, but for me, it's good enough for now. Rest assured, I don't pack them in that tight after the reposition phase. The 512 city cap prevents you from going that tight and hitting Domination. It's purely an opening sequence...
In regards to the Infantry, yeah, you're right, I'll probably run into them, but I'm not too worried about them. I do have the Sipahi, remember, and by then their teeth will have been sharpened (promotions).
It's interesting the you mention tech pace though, since that's a primary reason I decided to smack France up. Judging by my end of turn 'conversations' with all the AI, France and Greece alone are doind research. Everyone else is either researching slower, or buying scraps off the table. Between the two, they're averaging 20 turns a tech, so R-Parts should be 40 turns away for them. Of course I plan on it being longer since France should be history then and Greece is next on my list. They've got Sun Tzu's...
And if I face infantry, I face infantry.
EDIT: I guess I should mention that none of the AI have any techs that I don't...
Darkness
Shadow creature
I'm not so sure that's actually an advantage. After all, specialists only give one point to your score, where happy citizens give 2 points. But that of course can't be possible without a sufficient number of luxuries. So how many have you got?
I don't recall off the top of my head how many luxuries I had at the time, but I think it was only two. The point of going for more specialists wasn't for score, it was for taxmen and income. It was also partially for having that many more towns creating horsemen. I mean, as long as 90% of them are only going to generate one shield per turn, I might as well go all out right?
This is either a prime example of war weariness, a player in over his head, or both:http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads6/whoops.jpg
Darkness
Shadow creature
That doesn't look very good! Do you have any ideas as to how to solve that problem?
Before I respond to your question, Darkness, I just want to thank everyone who has posted here. I've found the comments, and criticisms especially very constructive!
In regards to the war weariness, I'm definitely going to play a few more turns before deciding on whether or not to abandon, but it's seeming likely. Since I allied everyone against France, I'd take some serious rep hits if I sue for peace. On the flip side though, I really don't want a government collapse during a GA.
In regards to the war weariness, I'm definitely going to play a few more turns before deciding on whether or not to abandon, but it's seeming likely. Since I allied everyone against France, I'd take some serious rep hits if I sue for peace. On the flip side though, I really don't want a government collapse during a GA.
