Switching speeds

[Feanor01]

I am an excellent Noble player and can win almost any game on that setting. The problem I have is I play on Epic speed. My brother plays on Normal speed. Whenever I play on Normal, I get crushed. My axe rush is not effective, nor any warring strategy I previously had success with in Epic speed. It seems that the AI just produces units too quick. After I declare war and take a city or two and get to the third city the AI has 8 defensive units in it. They seem to build units too quickly! Does anyone else have this problem? What can I do about it?

 

[nbcman]

Bring more siege units. With sufficient collateral damage, you can capture any city-assuming you have enough attackers to kill the defensive units.

Or take the two cities and declare a ceasefire.

 

[Feanor01]

Yeah, I think I will have to make smaller wars. I went in with 6-8 swords, 3 bows, 1-2 spears, 5 axes and 5 cats. Found that hugely defended city (not even its capital) and realized that there are way way more units on normal pace.

 

[nbcman]

@ Feanor01

I would have brought less swords/axes and more cats (at least one third siege). After the cats damage the defenders, the non-cat units are typically just mopping up the heavily wounded defenders.

 

[djvandrake]

Yes, I have the same struggles when I moved from Marathon to Epic. It's quite an adjustment on the faster game speeds to make every turn count. One thing I'm attempting to do is be more effective with the whip in the slavery civic. I used to avoid whipping like the plague, but realize that can be to my disadvantage on the higher difficulties (monarch) and speeds.

Maybe someone with a lot more expertise than I can give you some pointers on how to adjust to the faster speeds. But, I feel your pain.