Tips before moving to monarch?

[del62]

Just had a look at your 1600bc save, 4 cities and only 2 workers even with industruious seems a bit low, workers mean exta production and extra trade, that includes faster markets and libraries

I think would have build barracks and not temples and then some immortals as the persians, also as you get cheap libaries i might have fgone literature before maps

 

[Aabraxan]

Quick question: What do you guys build in the most corrupt cities? . . . .

Nothing. I use the most corrupt cities as specialist farms. IOW, water everything, build nothing (in terms of buildings), and hire as many specialists as I can. For more information on this, I'd recommend Bede's article, "The Role of the Specialist Citizen."

Have you discovered the Civ III War Academy? There are a ton of good articles in there.

 

[vmxa]

It seems to me that 30 shields in the very early game is not something I should just be careless about losing. It takes time to make that sword and I want to up my chances of winning the battle.

If you expect to only use them on defense in town, build spears instead and save 10 shields per unit. If you use them attacking, then the extra HP will win a lot of matches early as the AI will be playing like you are, not using vets.

You also have to consider that replacements are not going to get on station very fast as roads will be rare so early in the AI's land.

Did not look at the save, but I am with del62. A couple of barracks can mean taking towns or not. A couple of temples means very little to me, unless I am going for a culture win and I won't be.

At least 1 worker per town or RoT for me is enough to not have citizens working unimproved tiles. They pay for themselve.

 

[AnthonyIII]

del62 and vmxa, you're both correct of course, it's too few workers. However, since it was my first game on a new difficulty I tried to grab as much land as I could, that's why I had more cities than workers. I now know monarch more and take the opportunity to build workers without beeing afraid of losing too much land. And now also build barracks before granaries if I want a military game. That little extra hit point can be very useful, yes indeed...
Aabraxan, I have discovered it and found it extremly helpfull. Especially the articles about settler factories and the first turns helped me a lot. Will read your recommended article now!

 

[del62]

The thing I have learned about granaries is to build them in the right places, say you have 7 cities, and three have food bonuses, build them where you have food bonuses, these cities can build settlers and workers and you can even build workers from them to add to slow growing but shield or / and commerce rich cities.

Once you enter republic or monarchy you might want to use workers to get towns to size 7, but not at the detriment of workers for improvements.

 

[AnthonyIII]

Hey again guys! So the last few weeks, I've managed to thrive on monarch - thanks to your tips. I'm gonna move mo to Emperor very soon, but I have to achieve some more victories first, got 8 now with 8 different civs. The reason I'm posting is that I'm kind of lost in my current game. I play as the Iroquois and have destroyed Egypt, England and America. France is the only civ left on my continent, with 11 cities and I plan to conquer them in 5-6 turns - I have 54 cities. After that the continent will be all mine! BUT: Since I have been used to play on tiny pangea or tiny continent I now don't really know how to approach my victory. Because on the other continent is Germany, Russia and China, trading and thriving. Germany has 11 cities, Russia and China both have 28+. So I guess conquest is out of the questionj, no? I could crush the germans I guess, but it will be hard to take on the others, espescially since I have to move troops by boat. Domination is also difficult, after I crush the french I will have 1100 tiles more or less and need 600 more for domination according to Civassist2.
It's 1250AD and I'm ahead on points and tech.

What path would you guys recommend to go next? I guess I forgot to focus on a VC because I had a hard war with the Americans. This has been my most enjoyable game by far since I started playing, so fun with alliances! But it's strange that if you have an alliance with France, you also have to ask for ROP to move troops trough their terrioty to help them! No bigge though. Anyway, i hope for some help!

 

[Lord Emsworth]

Hey again guys! So the last few weeks, I've managed to thrive on monarch - thanks to your tips. I'm gonna move mo to Emperor very soon, but I have to achieve some more victories first, got 8 now with 8 different civs. The reason I'm posting is that I'm kind of lost in my current game. I play as the Iroquois and have destroyed Egypt, England and America. France is the only civ left on my continent, with 11 cities and I plan to conquer them in 5-6 turns - I have 54 cities. After that the continent will be all mine! BUT: Since I have been used to play on tiny pangea or tiny continent I now don't really know how to approach my victory. Because on the other continent is Germany, Russia and China, trading and thriving. Germany has 11 cities, Russia and China both have 28+. So I guess conquest is out of the questionj, no? I could crush the germans I guess, but it will be hard to take on the others, espescially since I have to move troops by boat. Domination is also difficult, after I crush the french I will have 1100 tiles more or less and need 600 more for domination according to Civassist2.
It's 1250AD and I'm ahead on points and tech.

What path would you guys recommend to go next? I guess I forgot to focus on a VC because I had a hard war with the Americans. This has been my most enjoyable game by far since I started playing, so fun with alliances! But it's strange that if you have an alliance with France, you also have to ask for ROP to move troops trough their terrioty to help them! No bigge though. Anyway, i hope for some help!

Make those three civs war each other. But don't dog-pile, because that only creates monsters. Instead, make the teams as equal as possible in strength, so that all sides suffer as badly as possible. If there are tree civs, you might want to pit the strongest of the three against the weaker two.

And then ... It is entirely up to you. You can get over there and conquer, you can dominate, you can soar ahead in technology, or a combination of it.

 

[AnthonyIII]

Wow, excellent plan Lord Emsworth. I'm sorry for asking, but how do I make them fight eachother? And by not dogpile you mean not have one large stack of units somewhere, but rather spread them out? Germany is the weakest by far, while China and Russia are somewhat of equal scientific and military strength. I also should mention I'm the only civ with cavalry.

 

[vmxa]

Often one of the drawbacks to humans on continents at Emperor is that you are crippling your potential research partners. This may lead to the other continent having better research, till you make contact with them.

Now you can do whatever you please. It is quite possible to conquest the other continent, even at Sid. I just did that in Tupac's SG. That was harder as one nation owned all the land on that continent. Here you have three, so all you need is to take down one at a time. I am not fond of getting them to war with each other as there is the danger that you will make one verfy strong. In this game the Germans would likely be crushed and someone gains that land. I like to get up a few armies, with only three units so I do not need transports, only galleons.

Bring over those armies and a extra cavs to add after landing. Bring as many defenders as I can ship. Either take a settler or capture a town. At that point you will need to have enough defense to withstand the rush. This is easier, if you do not have to fight everyone. Once I invade I may elect to get the others in on my side, depends on wheither I feel I can take them all on at once or not. If you settler your own town you could reduce the fury of the counter. If you capture you can expect them to go hard as they can. The invasion force will be as many armies as I can take and as many defenders as I can carry.

Should I have more ships, then I want a mix of cavs and cannons. If I have more than I can bring then I have to decide how long I will delay or if I will delay the founding or capture. IOW if the invasion force is marginal, I may let them sit, till more can arrive and then capture or found a town. By sit I do not preclude pillage or razing. Just not holding.

My town will get a wall, unless it is a captured city, then a barracks. The reason I do it that way is the wall has to be up already to be used. A barrack will provide the heal due to the timing of the game. It will complete the build, before it does the heals. So the barracks will act as if it was there all along. Now it depends on how much I have and how much they are expected to send. If I can, I like to prevent anyone reaching the town, untill the wall is up. Then if I can spare them a few armies to sit in the open (on hills if I can) so they may get in some ZoC shots.

I prefer to not have to leave my armies in town as the AI will put them up even when they are redlined, unless the other defenders are infantry or better. This is how you tend to lose armies. Hateful to see those full health units sit while your 4HP cav army fights three more units. Of course look for landing sites that let you be on a hill and ideally have only a few tiles that can be use to attack you. The key in my invasion was I had water on the rear and one side. Blocking required only 3 armies and when I open it I could open just one tile.

 

[Lord Emsworth]

Wow, excellent plan Lord Emsworth. I'm sorry for asking, but how do I make them fight eachother? And by not dogpile you mean not have one large stack of units somewhere, but rather spread them out? Germany is the weakest by far, while China and Russia are somewhat of equal scientific and military strength. I also should mention I'm the only civ with cavalry.

Nothing simpler than that. You declare war on one civ and get an alliance with another. Just because you are at war, doesn't mean you yourself have to get involved.

And dog-piling is actually signing a lot of military alliances against a single civ. And mostly this means that you end up with a very asymmetric power-balance and the poor piled-on civ is torn to shreds in a relatively short time. My point is to avoid such asymmetry; do not, for example, pit Germany against France and Russia. You'll only make those two stronger. Instead figure out who of the two is the stronger (the Musketeer may play a role it that evaluation - it is a terrific defender) and pit that one against the other two. That way they will all exhaust each other. (AI-AI warfare is downright insane.)

 

[AnthonyIII]

Woha, thanks for the advises vxma! That's very impressive what you did on Sid. I once tried to conquer the Zulus, they were on a island with 9 cities and make me think of the article regarding island start, wether it's a fortress or would hurt you. In this case it as a fortress by all means. They rushed and rushed, and it's only lately I've noticed the importance of bringing defenders along with offensive units. After I learned that, war became much more fun. So I'll do what you say on that topic for sure. Bring lots of defenders and a city for units to heel. I'm not ready to send a big invasion force yet, but when I do I'll probably take out the germans as you suggest. Top notch vmxa, thanks again!

Lord Emsworth, haha - that is so cruel! And I like it. I had something similar earlier on my own continent, but I felt I had a moral responsability to help out the poor english. Before I crushed them. When the battle is overseas, I might just sit and watch... Aha, now I get what you mean by dogpiling, thanks. I'll probably play China and Russia against eachother then, and take out the germans after.

So I think I'll try your tactic first, vmxa. Take out the germans and see how I stand then. If my invasion goes down the toilet, I'll try your tips Lord Emsworth!

 

[creamcheese]

Woha, thanks for the advises vxma! That's very impressive what you did on Sid. I once tried to conquer the Zulus, they were on a island with 9 cities and make me think of the article regarding island start, wether it's a fortress or would hurt you. In this case it as a fortress by all means. They rushed and rushed, and it's only lately I've noticed the importance of bringing defenders along with offensive units. After I learned that, war became much more fun. So I'll do what you say on that topic for sure. Bring lots of defenders and a city for units to heel. I'm not ready to send a big invasion force yet, but when I do I'll probably take out the germans as you suggest. Top notch vmxa, thanks again!

Lord Emsworth, haha - that is so cruel! And I like it. I had something similar earlier on my own continent, but I felt I had a moral responsability to help out the poor english. Before I crushed them. When the battle is overseas, I might just sit and watch... Aha, now I get what you mean by dogpiling, thanks. I'll probably play China and Russia against eachother then, and take out the germans after.

So I think I'll try your tactic first, vmxa. Take out the germans and see how I stand then. If my invasion goes down the toilet, I'll try your tips Lord Emsworth!

What I would do is ally germany and someone against the strongest AI, then wait until germany is gassed (has run out of offensive units) while you build up your landing force. Then wait until your alliance runs out so you don't break your reputation, and land on their shores! You will face a weak and possibly still at war Germany, and you also get a beachhead on the other continent, not always an easy thing to do. Then you make peace with the others and build up your end game army and go out and conquer everything.

 

[Lord Emsworth]

Woha, thanks for the advises vxma! That's very impressive what you did on Sid. I once tried to conquer the Zulus, they were on a island with 9 cities and make me think of the article regarding island start, wether it's a fortress or would hurt you. In this case it as a fortress by all means. They rushed and rushed, and it's only lately I've noticed the importance of bringing defenders along with offensive units. After I learned that, war became much more fun. So I'll do what you say on that topic for sure. Bring lots of defenders and a city for units to heel. I'm not ready to send a big invasion force yet, but when I do I'll probably take out the germans as you suggest. Top notch vmxa, thanks again!

Lord Emsworth, haha - that is so cruel! And I like it. I had something similar earlier on my own continent, but I felt I had a moral responsability to help out the poor english. Before I crushed them. When the battle is overseas, I might just sit and watch... Aha, now I get what you mean by dogpiling, thanks. I'll probably play China and Russia against eachother then, and take out the germans after.

So I think I'll try your tactic first, vmxa. Take out the germans and see how I stand then. If my invasion goes down the toilet, I'll try your tips Lord Emsworth!

Combine. The invasion tactics that vmxa describes are absolutely correct, and I do it in the same way if I expect heavy resistance. The point of making the AI war is that you won't find such heavy resistance to begin with.

But regardless of what you do, if you plant a town on a hill or somewhere and soak up lots of AI attacks, expect high levels of war weariness. In case you are a republic. (Trying to soak up waves of AI attacks as a Democracy is governmental suicide.)

 

[AnthonyIII]

Well, I've now taken out France which actually was kind of time consuming. They had loads of musketeers. Since then I've turned my focus back on my empire, built more units and improvements and entered the modern era. I also now trade with Russia and Germany and they are polite towards me. So it looks like China is going down... I started to trade with them because I couldn't sign any military pacts with any of them - do I have to be established on the same continent as they are to sign an allianse? If that's the case I will build a city soon and do as you all have described over. I'm now 600 tiles from domination. I think I'll be going for that. But first I need to have an allianse... It doesn't show as an alternative when I approach the other civs leaders.

 

[Lord Emsworth]

Well, I've now taken out France which actually was kind of time consuming. They had loads of musketeers. Since then I've turned my focus back on my empire, built more units and improvements and entered the modern era. I also now trade with Russia and Germany and they are polite towards me. So it looks like China is going down... I started to trade with them because I couldn't sign any military pacts with any of them - do I have to be established on the same continent as they are to sign an allianse? If that's the case I will build a city soon and do as you all have described over. I'm now 600 tiles from domination. I think I'll be going for that. But first I need to have an allianse... It doesn't show as an alternative when I approach the other civs leaders.

If Military Alliances don't show in the trade screen you need an embassy.

In addition, one of you needs to be at war already. If not, you'll just get "They would never accept such a deal".

 

[AnthonyIII]

Aha, that explains it. I'll get right to it!

 

[Aabraxan]

. . . .My town will get a wall, unless it is a capture city, then a barracks. The reason I do it that way is the wall has to be up already to be used. A barrack will provide the heal due to the timing of the game. It will complete the build, before it does the heals. So the barracks will act as if it was there all along. . . . .

I never knew that. One more arrow to put in my quiver.

 

[Raliuven]

Unless you are dead set on Conquest or Domination, you could either build the UN for a diplo victory or build a Space Ship. Launching a Space Ship is probably more gratifying then winning a UN vote - and if you've been rampaging all over you island you may not have the votes - and in the UN vote, size also matters. If you've got 3 competing civs for the vote, that could sink the idea.

Just another option if you don't want to invade. Of course, invading is probably more fun.

 

[vmxa]

I never knew that. One more arrow to put in my quiver.

Yeah finally realized that. Of course there can be compelling reason to do a barracks first, for me that is when it is not going to be a dangerous invasion. If I had landed with say pikes and had learned how to make musket or whatever the next defenders was at that time and I wanted to upgrade asap, then a rax could go first.

If I knew I was not going to be attack for a few turns, say no roads and bad terrain or they had only 1 move units and I wanted tp upgrade some units. These are infrequent situations though.

 

[vmxa]

AnthonyIII you always have to evalutate the situation. Going for the strongest is an option, if they are a danger to win. If they were likely to get nukes first and put me at risk, I may have to run at them and again maybe get friends.

If you need to invade on the light side, then going for the biggest is probably not the best plan. Here I don't know what armies you have, but you said you were not really ready. So the weakest is the most likely to work and the least likely to get others to help them.

If you were out in front on research, then waiting for better units is an option. IIRC you mentioned being down a tech or two. That suggest that the other guys are doing well at research. Getting them and keeping them at war slows that down, but makes invading harder.