Tech list for early warfare

[Hawkster]

For those who wish to try and achieve domination / conquest of neighbouring tribes as early as possible I have put together the following guide to the best early techs to research. Researching these techs and only these techs should give the player access to Musketeers/ Riflemen / Cannon and Cavalry before the AI can obtain them - giving the player the advantage in war.

The techs needed are:-

Alphabet
Warrior Cose
Horseback Riding
Bronze Working
Masonry
Ceremonial Burial
Writing
Code Of Laws
Mathematics
Feudalism
The Wheel
Iron Working
Currency
Construction
Mysticism
Philosophy
Trade
Engineering
Chivalry
University
Monarchy
Literacy
The Republic
Leadership
Invention
Banking
Metallurgy
Democracy
Gunpowder
Conscription
Tactics

Following this tech path also gives the benefit of phalanx , catapults , crusaders and knights along the way which should be more than enough to keep up with any neighbouring civ. Many of the early wonders will also be available namely Colossus, Great Wall, Pyramids, Oracle, Hanging Gardens, Great Library, King Richard's Crusade,Sun Tzu’s War Academy, Maro Polo's Embassy, Statue of Liberty and Leonardos Workshop.

 

[duke o' york]

You don't have either Poly- or Monotheism on that list!!!
Without elephants or crusaders then you'll have to wait for knights until you have a viable mobile attack force. If you're trying to take enemy cities with legions and catapults only then a mobile defender will crush them every time they get within a square of the city. You need to be able to strike from further away with the attack power of the crusader! A big gang of crusaders and Sun Tzu's War Academy will wipe out the vast majority of AI civs before they can get pikemen to stand up to your hordes, and even then you can fight by attrition. This tech list would take far less time to get if you had Monarchy near the top and not near the bottom because in Despotism you'll be crushed by corruption and unable to research anything very quickly.

 

[AnarchyBoy]

My quickest route to early conquest is usually Trade for the diplomats if I have a lot of money to incite revolts, and steam engine for Iron Clads. It's easy to destroy all the units with an iron clad, then send a mounted troop in to take over the city. For conquest very early in the game, I usually use catapults for attack, escorted by legions for defense.
I don't know why Tactics is so important, those alpine troops don't have anything that musketeers or riflemen don't have. If there's any later tech I make a beeline for it's mobile warfare: the AI doesn't stand a chance if I have tanks and they don't. I've even wiped out other civs in only one turn that way.

 

[funxus]

Tactics is important because you get to build cavalries, which are mobile and have an attack of 8. Compared to crusaders this is a lot better. There is also a big difference between alpine troops and musketeers, at has 5 in defence and musks have 3.
With vet status the difference is a lot bigger

 

[Hawkster]

A couple of points

1.The aim is to get to the gunpowder units first - getting elephant/crusdaers etc is an alternative I agree. I often find getting cannon and especially cavalry first gives me a big advantage - especially if with Leos you can get upgrades easilly (build lots of cheap units like horesmen/warriors early and let them upgrade),

2.The list is not in order - just a list of the techs - get all of them as fast as you can

 

[Old n Slow]

The list looks good to me -- I recall that Tactics has 30 prereqs. I find Tactics also a good place to step & visit in force -- it is only a bit after the leadership (19)/gunpowder (14) era (it might take 5-10 turns per tech early on; later on, techs can be had at a faster rate -- often every other turn at this stage). The other aspect is by this time I’ve also gone down a bit of the side paths & have some other aspects developed, so I have some techs arriving quickly -- the turns from leadership to Tactics seem less than those from other offensive material to dragoons.

Why the changeover at Tactics & not later? (Sometimes I do keep on going until robotics) Cavalry, Alpines, & Artillery (for the musket defenders) operate at a solid threshold, and allow Leo’s & Sun Tsu to continue working; waiting for Tanks, extinguishes the operative value of those wonders.

Why wait until Tactics? If I were better/faster, maybe I could wage war at an earlier time with the material at hand -- however, many of the early techs take time & offer so much so that early war is difficult to justify unless forced into it.

 

[ElephantU]

Definitely go for Monarchy as quickly as possible, to maximize production and terrain specials. Instead of using your "off" tech for Bronze you could consider either Horse for quicker early exploration or WarriorCode for solid fighters. Then get to Elephants and Legions, set up some Barracks, and pump them out.

It would also help to get MarcoPolos to trade for maps. You may have to have made peace for that (I cannot remember whether I have ever tried NOT making peace and then getting maps!), so you may have to break some treaties when you start attacking... By your title I gather that may not be an issue...

Managing early warfare in Republic or Democracy is very difficult. Some mid-game Wonders can help, but if you have gotten to Dem you could just build the Statue and go Fundy. I would say from your list you are really talking MID-GAME conquest, rather than early. The AI is likely to have Legions or Pikemen in their cities and working on researching Gunpowder. If conquest is your goal you want to try to get it done before then!

 

[Marlos]

Originally posted by duke o' york
You don't have either Poly- or Monotheism on that list!!!

I am with you, duke. I aim for Monarchy from the get-go. Along the way, I usually grab Masonry and/or Warrior Code and/or Feudalism as well if a Monarchy prerequisite isn't offered. After that, I go right for Monotheism (getting the Philosophy bonus along the way ).

While this strategy is always unbeatable with the government and military (Monarchy, Crusaders and Pikemen) as well as the wonders (Pyramids, Sun Tzu, and Mike's), I use it because like to win!

 

[Priha]

Originally posted by ElephantU

It would also help to get MarcoPolos to trade for maps. You may have to have made peace for that (I cannot remember whether I have ever tried NOT making peace and then getting maps!), so you may have to break some treaties when you start attacking... By your title I gather that may not be an issue...

You don't have to break treaties before attacking. Starting a war via diplomatic actions may take a bit longer but won't damage your reputation. Just keep teasing the Civ by demanding troop withdrawal even if they have no troops on your territory. Eventually they'll get irritated. Strike them with demanding tribute and they'll declare war on you.

 

[deitydude]

The quickest war path (in order) is

Ceremonial Burial
Horseback Riding
Alphabet
Code of Laws
Monarchy
Warrior Code
Feudalism
Chivalry

8 techs and you have knights and pikemen. You have monarchy. You can build Sun Tzu's. In an MP game you may not have much of a jump on other players but against the AI you can win the world by conquest at this level.