This is NOT a rant...I just want to win at higher levels

[Terminal Strike]

Well, I have been playing about a month and a half as well and i have a hell of a rant to pick. This game is starting to become a complete waste of time. Those people that do play on the higher difficulty levels, how the hell are you doing it? Do you just restart the game if you get a crappy starting position? I just spent two hours trying to get somthing on regent level, same thing always happens. You step into someones territory and they tell you to get the f@%* out, but they have no problems running right through yours and starting a war if you tell them to leave. If you get a start on a penninsula or somthing your screwed, no place to put any cities near your capital and then where you can build cities, yep, nothing but corruption.
So you do have a good start and have gobled up some nice territory for expansion, then you find out you have no iron or horses. You think other civs give that up to you in trade... not a chance, again your screwed. Goodbye two hours. every game constantly has wars going on... micromanaging a minimum of 20 units even for years on end is bad enough, but then you get the ridiculous AI crapp ass cheating.... ummm sure that spearman took out my fortified mountain swordsman from acrossed a river... yeah, that works. These guys seem to have tried to take age of empires and turn it into a turned based game with some ridiculous results... yeah again, that spearman took out my tank, whatever. I have played several times and know what im talking about and I have just about had it, not to mention the AI seems to be playing a completely different game with no corruption or resource necessitites. sure you pillaged his infrastructure, dont matter they still produce wonders that you have no chance on... they really messed this one up in my opinion, get out before you waste as much time as i have.

 

[Hurricane]

Check out my conclusions of the early game here:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=14126

 

[BillChin]

I already posted my method, but I will repeat it. Build cities close to each other, one to three squares away. This reduces corruption, reduces the need for good land, and provides enormous leverage in the early game. Build double or triple the number of cities that an AI player might build in the same space.

I am playing on Emperor difficulty and bad land, and nasty neighbors are obstacles that can be overcome. For some nuts and bolts specifics, build one or two warriors, then a settler. Repeat. After you have two cities very close the capital, consider building a temple or granary, but not before. Use the first cities to build warriors and workers. Consider sending workers back to join the capital if you need the population for settlers.

Again, using this method on Emperor difficulty, I have survived a jungle start, a mountain/desert start, and starts with enemy capitals within twelve squares from my capital. I build eight to 15 cities then an army of horsemen, while I research Mathematics for catapults. I give in to any enemy demands until my army is ready. Revenge against these bullies becomes twice as sweet.

The key early resource is horses, so I research the wheel first thing to claim horse icons. If you can not claim horses, trade for them at any cost to build an offensive force of 20 or more horsemen and a couple of catapults. Used correctly this attack force can take out any Ancient age opponent.

Bribe your neighbors to stay out of the war when you are ready to attack. This last bit is critical, as a war on two fronts is a disaster. After you win a couple of battles, the other neighbors are much more likely to ally with you.

 

[ProPain]

I tend to agree with MightMakesRight. On higher levels starting position is critical. I started to emperor games, both gave nice starting positions. The first one I've won easily, conquest in 950AD with domination disabled otherwise it would have been over about 400 AD. I'm playing the second one now, it's still BC but I know this is going to be a winner too.

Played one Deity level game, ended up about 10 squares to babylonians on a crappy terrain, got defeated in a few turns. The AI gets a ****load of units at the start of the game, so he just walked over with his 10 unit army and after a short war made short work of me. How to win a deity game is still a miracle to me.

One tactic I don't agree on with MightMakesRight is to crank up your science level to 100% at the start of the game. When I play it usually takes the same amount of maximum turns (40 after the patch) to get a tech. Since it's gonna take 40 turns anyway I always go for maximum cash to by tech from other civs. Maybe this is different for different civ attributes. I always play Iroq. who are expansionist and religious. Could be entirely different for a science civ.

IMO the most important tactic at the start of a game is conquering your close neighbours. I've tried to outexpand the AI but I can't do it from monarch level upwards. Whats does work is building a sizable army quickly and start taking your neighbour's cities. It's impossible to build your own cities as quick as you can conquer them so I don't even bother. Just build two cities, then start building an army.

I think this is a problem for most civII players since civII alowed for outexpanding the AI quickly even on deity level. Playing civII I never use another strategy then to expand quickly, take a tech lead because you have more cities and then start warring with more advanced units. Forget this strategy for civIII cause it won;t work.

Hope this helps

ProPain