The ballance of power

[thomson_2001]

I have recently found that if i go into earlyish wars with my neighbours i tend to drift ahead in research to a point where i cannot trade with anyone on my island. when i find the other continent(s) often they are tech advanced as they have been trading with other wheres, although im the boss of my island, im behind overall.

so is there an argument for keeping your neighbours strong enough to allow you to tech trade with ypu. at least until later in game?

 

[xanadux]

Sometimes. What level do you play at? Usually you can do better using the AIs land for your own economy than keeping them alive to trade with. I suspect your problem isn't so much not being able to trade as it is not having a strong enough economy.

 

[madscientist]

I have recently found that if i go into earlyish wars with my neighbours i tend to drift ahead in research to a point where i cannot trade with anyone on my island. when i find the other continent(s) often they are tech advanced as they have been trading with other wheres, although im the boss of my island, im behind overall.

so is there an argument for keeping your neighbours strong enough to allow you to tech trade with ypu. at least until later in game?

This greatly depends on how masterful you are of your own continent and what the makeup of the other is. If you have alot of land with few threats (meaning you have beaten everyone into vassals) you should be able to sore a head eventually because you will alot more commerce.

Als o, research techs the other continetn does not have and trade. My experience is the other continent will eventually fall into war and start lagging unless it's populated by alot of Elizabeths and Mansa Musa types, which usually means building an armada and start razing the Timbuktus and Londons.

 

[thomson_2001]

i usually play on emperor or monarch and even when my economy strong and i push for science in my specialst economy i still find im behind by a few techs. this can becaught up thru the game but its a recurring theme if i war with my neighbours early on

 

[cababika799]

I have to agree with xanadux. It depends on your skill level, but if you are taking the cities with a lot to offer and razing the ones that don't, then you should be strengthening your game in every aspect (of course after the war is over).
It seems a little off balance when you say that you have a whole island to yourself (I'm assuming it's fairly large if you are sharing with a few civs), and yet you are lagging behind civs who have to share their land with others.
Tech trading is valuable when available, but your science/turn ratio should be outstanding if you can harness a whole island or continent without competition.
I do have a question though...how long are you waiting to check out these other islands after you've conquered your own? The reason why I ask is because the growth of your conquest will not be instant. You may need to work your land first and allow it to see it's full potential before making a comparison.

 

[madscientist]

I think you may want to consider moving to a CE or hybrid CE/SE once the continent rivals have been subdues. Takes a while but will evetually our perform the AIs on teh other continent.

Once you beat your rivals, get courthouses, pick a nice FP city, and cottage spam.

 

[Johan^^]

I might have the answer for you. Try NOT to found any early religions. The more religions the other continent have, the greater the chances of war is. If you and your rivals on your on continent grab all the early religions you will face a "happy" continent of 1 religion and they will tech trade like made.

So even if you get a great start and are far ahead in techs, this might bite you in the end. So when you go for techs in the beginning, try going for techs which improves your economy.... though not CoL before another players founds confu. Hopefully your continent will only get 1-2 religions and hopefully not any of the early ones on your continent.

This might seem strange, but it works great. If you like founding a religion, try to go for Cristianity and build the apostolic palace. If you dont convert imidiately, you will have a greater chance of open borders and thereby the means for spreading the religion to other players which might allready have a religion.

 

[xanadux]

Getting the AP and using it to stir up trouble on the other island through selective religion spreading is nice.

Here's another option that can work well:

Beeline up to chemistry after Civil Service. Take astronomy or steel with Liberalism. Spam privateers and starve the AI's coastal cities on the other continent. Promote the privateers along the drill line. Drill privateers do about the same against caravels and galleons as combat privateers, but the drill privateers keep getting 2 exp per battle against caravels while the combat ones only get 1.

 

[Johan^^]

Yes the spamming of privateers can be VERY effective. I´ve even seen AI economíes collaps with STRIKE as a result.

Though as i understod it, you where allready behind at this point. And it the AI got frigates...the privateers are of almost no use.

 

[Crighton]

One of the alltime best tag lines in a signature i've ever seen went something to the effect of:

"What great general? oh that one, no I'm not at war, and just where did all those privateers come from?"

The concept alone made me laugh enough to try it out, privateers are week, but if you get enough of them out early enough you can cripple other civs (particularly if they have lots of island cities or coastal cities).

 

[Indiansmoke]

More land will almost always win at the end. You might be behind at 1700 and be way ahead at 1900.

 

[Big Boss Man]

Suggested Tactic : Adopt Religion of strongest main land A.I. , Improve Dip and get open borders . Jointly declair war on their weakest neighbor if possible . Or just go it alone , make the most of your element of surprise - be quick . You just might end up with a couple of new cities or at least have one hella " Pillage Da Village " operation . Raise any city that you cant hold & beware of the A.I.'s counter attack Stack'O Doom ...