Switching to Monarch

[tproc]

OK, I recently switch to Monarch (OK, all of you who only play Diety, stop laughing).

I have (what I see) as 2 basic problems earl in the game. And once I am behind I don't catch up.

1) Not a big enough army. I expand until I am butted up against my neighobors, should I build more units early instead of expanding? Because I my army is not huge, if I attack an enemy (no matter who started the war), I only seem to be able to take and hold a few citied (around 5), but then my army has been pretty well reduced.

2) Usually at the end of my war, all my cities are unhappy, being this is early in the game, i end up spending a lot of turns building Catherdrals and Marketplaces to fix happiness.

OK, now, I see I can fix my happiness problem by increaasing the happiness percentage, but that hurts my Tech tree (not enough $$$ or science depeding on if I am ahead or behind in Techs. I will note that my government is Republic.

What can the experts offer in the way of advice.....

 

[farting bob]

ive tried monach, but since im a builder and dont like to be forced to make very unfair deals with AI for techs i cant cope. i beleive you must be in early wars to succed. so what you might try and do is to build somethign liek settler, defender, attacker, workr, settler, defender, attacker and worker in your core cities, then as soon as your in war, build happy improvments in as many cities as you can whislt maintaining your army. so go for unit, unit, building, unit unt and then any other buildings that make peopel happy.
by using thi kind of start ive got the furthest ive ever got in a monach game, up to industrial when my cavalry just cant cope with tanks, despite only beign 4 tehcs behind, i was poor and coudlnt buy the techs needed for tanks in time.

 

[kb2tvl]

Monarch, if your religious, is probably the best first goverment. Otherwise, "I" would take their "deal you can't refuse and be quiet.

Monarch has less trade but all your extra trade goes to cash luxaries if at peace in republic. Once you get 2 or 3 markets then rep is probably a better gov if your at peace.

I am not sure I would change to monarch unless you have blood in your eyes. That is you don't plan on changing gov't untill you hit demo and go monarch -> demo and be a good boy during the industrial period.

 

[handyandy]

he means dificulty level i think as he coments on the fact that diety players should stop laughing

 

[Flern]

Depending on the starting location, I can sometimes build a small invasion force (couple of warriors, archers). Let them explore, beat up barbarians, get promoted, and take your neighbors capital. The AI does not have a huge starting bonus so don't expect a big retaliation. Also, you can send a small force around the map to simply harass. Capture settlers(2 workers)and workers and sue for peace. This also costs the AI population points to replace these settlers and workers, while you are getting free labor to advance your infrastructure (a big key to early success)

This works for me most of the time on Monarch.

 

[amirsan]

Ok, monarch, I was there, done that.

OK, you have to start strong, at this level is the last one untill every civ starts with extra units, Monarch, they dont though. I would always start by building one warrior and an Archer if your Militarialistic. Most capitols are defended by only one warrior so if your not Militarialistic, you can pull it off with like two warriors (one if on high ground). Attacking your nearest nieghbor is vital. You secure alot of territory.
For you builders out there, attacking your nearest nighbor is still an option, then you can build for the rest of the game with lots of territory.
If your not expansionist, then I reccomend researching Pottery at max. for the granary.
Granary=more food= more citizens= more production= more settlers= more territory.

Depending on what civ you are with what UU determines when to declare war. If you are able to finish you nearest enemy in the beggining then all you should do is build horsemen to upgrade to Knights. If not, attack with a combination of Horsemen and Swordsmen. You should be able to get a couple of cities in.

For more better info then visit the War Academy, they have everything, helped me alot.


A good SG

 

[toothpaste100]

Use monarchy over republic definetly. You seem to be a warlord, you can't support ANY kind of military with Republic, so you end up saving $$$ per turn with Monarchy. Plus you should have 3 units in those unhappy cities acting as Military Police.

 

[amirsan]

Not exactly, you can support a moderatly good military and still have a good gpt. On my Diety Games I always take Republic over Monarchy. Though if you going for a Conquest or Domination Victory, then Monarchy is the way to go.

 

[general_kill]

Take some unfair deals early on. Like your tech and 50 gold for their tech. This builds up relationship. But don't work too hard to build up a good rep because your gonna need to break it later.

When expanding look at where you are on the map, if you in the top left corner scout south east and keep expanding south east until you blocked off the enemy's expansion into you terriotory. When you blocked them off fill in the wholes in you land.

Try not researching unneeded technologies early on. Because you can get them from your wars.

Start wars and set reasonable goals. Often times it should be to take the enemy's capitol. You should make peace at least once during the war to get techs and money. If they cannot expand anymore and you have denied them of all resources make peace and use them to get tributes. Or use them to make elite units.

Don't turn on your deals because it make you a liar and a cheat.

Never trust anyone even your allies in an existing war because they will backstab you in a heart beat

 

[kb2tvl]

OOPS, misread when I first posted. I play on monarch level and can win/play on diety. On monarch level you can still tech and keep up with the other civs. I would highly suggest pottery -> alaphabet -> writting -> map making(aquire maps and trade for tech with maps) -> lit(build a library).

alright, depending on your civ will depend on what you start with but if your the Germans(for example) I would go for the tech tree I mentioned. I would also not trade for pottery but learn it yourself and trade for alphabet. Another thing you need to do is make contact(before writting) with as many civs and you can. This means building a warrior and send him out into the world. Depending on your starting food bonuses will determine how many warriors you build before you build a granary. Also, if your expansionistic, you can meet civs quicker and this reduces the tech cost early in the game.

On a final note, move your worker manually. Take a lot of time to figure out what the best move to make is and restart on a new map if things are not going your way.

Now the questions of butting up against your neighbor. Generally I have very low production that early and I try to build buildings which will help me down the road. The AI tends to build mil units which allows them to bully you but if you can trade tech as soon as you get the tech then this reduces issues with regards to them bullying you. What I means is for you to look at the tech tree once a new tech comes in and decide on a new tech. This should have already been done on the previous turn but do it anyway. Now that you are looking at the tech tree, go to the trade window and look for the best trade you can make. This takes pratice but It will come. After trading, change your tech to the next tech you want...

Now ways to expand: an early granary is crucial to pumping out settlers and irigating food bonsus in depostism is also crucial. This goes hand in hand with knowing how to move your workers manually. also, start building roads into the wildness. One turn to get a settler to its building location can be the difference between getting the land you want and not.

Next, do you want to fight or not? If you fight an early war then you need to put all your cities on mil unit building. Offensive units need a barracks and defensive ones can survive being regular. However, you will fall behind the AI in tech but that is ok as long as you are not too far behind and you can make good trades to catch up. Similarly, sometimes having a large population is not as good as researching a new tech. That is, you don't have to have everyone working tiles but have some entertainers at first.


Now, I won't fight early wars and I avoid water trade if I see barbarian galleys running around still. It is not worth the rep hit. If you want to have a good chance at the space race then wait untill industrial age and expand with cav. Buy the resources, if you have to and hit mobilization. This will pump out cav pretty quick. You can also produce knights and cash upgrade them.

I am not sure that answeres the question but to improve your game, move units manually and work on your trade savvy.

 

[tproc]

Just to answer the confusion, I was talking about the Monarch level, not the Gov. Sorry about the confusion. But thanks for the pointers.

I only hope it's as simple as amirsan made it sound about knocking out a neighbor early. I will keep reading and take all suggestions.

 

[kb2tvl]

one piece of advice on fighting. Try to get a couple(3) spearman on a moutain near their territory. The ai will generally go after those spearmen and if they can not take them all out then generally they won't be able to take any of them out. Warriors work ok also but you just need more and the maintence starts to go up.

Now once the AI is throwing units against your fortified spear, you can start building 6 or so archers to take out a city.

 

[amirsan]

I thought it was simple when I first played it...

Just build a warrior. Explore and find another capitol. Move your archer and attack it if it is defended by a warrior and is under size three.

 

[IKHAM]

Well i wouldnt laugh at you for playing on Monarch level and im sure people playing on Deity wont laugh either. I've only just moved to warlord level and am just mastering it. Ill be moving to the next level soon.

We've all got to learn of course and many of us are at different stages of the game. So well done from me.

 

[civarchitect]

Monarch is my personal choice for difficulty level. I find that you can still use whatever opening strategy you enjoy from warmonger to builder. But you do need to know which strategy you are playing and stick with it. To really give you advice, it would be good to know how you like to play and which civ you are using. For example, if you are a builder with an expansionist civ, start making some scouts to pop goodie huts. But this is really only useful if you have a large landmass to explore (continent or pangea). So what are you playing with?

 

[handy900]

This has never yet failed me on Emperor, Monarch, Regent playing as Persia (small & regular; pangea & continents maps). Higher level just means a longer game. I'm sort of a builder/warrior hybrid player.

* First & foremost, read the War Academy articles.
* Set research to 10%
* I'll build 3 quick warriors & scout immediatly. Leave 1 at home if there are barbs nearby. Read the "Quick Start Challenge" timelines at the GOTM Link to learn about great opening play
* Try to always build your first few (5 to 7) cities next to a river or fresh water lake to aviod needing an aqueduct. Read the war academy on ICS (Infinite City Sprawl). Make these cities a "Ring" around the capital to increase production (lower corruption). Only exception is to build cities further away to aquire luxury and or strategic resources. I always go hard for luxuries as they are so powerful in that they keep everyone happy! The "build far away & fill back toward the capital" strategy is fine for lower levels. It is certain death on higher levels.
* Research Iron Working first. Build barracks in your "war production" cities. Build warriors to upgrade to Immortal. I'll avoid war until I get iron. In a few cases I've had to go through an archer war to get iron which definitely makes the games longer & harder. You better bring a lot of archers to the party. Also pays to fight for horses. You'll want them so you can build horsemen to later upgrade to knights. I try to avoid trading Iron Working. I'll be purchasing or going to war to get techs.
* BUILD MINES. Never irrigate plains early on. It offers no benefit in despotism & you need the extra production!!
* Get one city building only settlers (see the "Settler Factory" article in the War Academy)
* Avoid war until you have 12 Immortals & 3 citites making Immortals.
* Have a clear objective!! In early wars I fight for only these reasons:
a> to get iron (Settle near mountains early in hopes of getting lucky and having it in your territory!)
b> to get a new luxury (when I get 4 luxuries early + iron, I know it's just a matter of time. I've got it won.)
c> to make them give me techs
d> if the war is going good, I'll wipe out my neighbor to get all of his territory. If I need techs, I make peace & then try not to break the treaty in the early game. (Later when I have cavalry I'll break a treaty the next turn if I need to).
* Try not to take size 1 cities. If you do they turn into rubble. Let them get to size 2, then attack.
* The AI will continue to send out settlers even when at war with you. Kill them and you get two free workers. This is key as you can use them to improve your cities or to increase your population if you have the luxury support to keep 'em happy.
* Next big war will be with knoghts. Build as many horsement as you can after taking over your neighbor. You'll be taking neighbor #2's land with knights.
* After takning neighbor #2's land you should have 2 core rings of productive cities (Palace & FP built with a leader) & be in Republic (for Persia). You should also be in tech lead or at least at parity. From there go for your perferred victory condition. I find domination easy for my style, but next game I'm gonna shoot for conquest to see what that is like.

Basically you let the AI build settlers while you build Immortals to take his cities & capture workers. Get luxuries to keep everyone happily working. Build marketpalces

One more thing: I NEVER NEVER build early wonders. I let others build them them I capture them. I love it when a neighbor builds the pyramids for me.