BillChin
Prince
- Joined
- Jan 7, 2002
- Messages
- 494
February's game is an Emperor level game. This is the level I play all the time so I thought I would share a few tips for people playing their first Emperor level game. These are suggestions, not rules, and they work for me. There are many other ways to go about it. I play random map, random civ, standard map size, default barbs, eight players. These techniques help me survive the worst imaginable starting positions on Emperor difficulty.
A fast build out is a must. There are two basic ways to accomplish this. The most popular is hurrying production using the whip (slave camps). I prefer a dense build, building my cities right on top of each other. Each method has advantages and disadvantages and you can read a lot more about each in the Strategy and tips section.
I prefer to build the first two settlers before building a temple or granary. I settle these first guys very close to the capital. Either one square away on the diagonal, or two squares away on the straight. There is zero corruption at this distance. It makes it very easy to connect them with roads to share luxuries and these suburbs can use the tile improvements made for the capital. There is some micromanagement of overlapping tiles. The suburbs can not grow up to be big sprawling cities, but they can often support pop 6 to 12 later in the game.
Under the articles section, I wrote about three basic starting strategies: Swordsmen conquest, Horsemen conquest and open map build out. As I read the January game thread, a fourth seems very popular: Warrior Gambit. Very quickly I'll outline each:
Warrior Gambit
Send the first two warriors looking for an enemy city. Attack. There is about a 65% chance of victory. In normal games, many players reload if they lose the first battle. Keep in mind that reloading is not allowed under Game of the Month rules. The odds of winning increase to about 75% if you send three warriors or one warrior and an archer.
Swordsmen conquest
Research Bronze then Iron. Build 4 to 6 cities. Claim iron. Build 10+ swordsmen or upgrade from warriors. If no iron, archers. Attack the nearest enemy and claim all their land. An excellent strategy for cramp conditions and this may be the best way to deal with hostile Zulus next door.
Horsemen conquest
Research the wheel to see horses. Build 8 to 15 cities. Claim a horse icon. Build 20+ horsemen. If no horses, swordsmen. Pick one enemy. Bribe the others. Attack in force and crush the enemy. Catapults are handy if the opponent has hoplites, legionaires, or pikemen. This is the strategy I favor. It has gotten me out of some of the worst imaginable starting positions.
Open land build out
Again, I like to build the first two settlers very close in. I scout out the surrounding area. If there are no enemy units at all, that usually means a lot of open land. In this situation an early switch to Monarchy often pays off big. Build cities nicely spaced, pay special attention to claiming luxuries.
A few other points:
On Emperor difficulty happiness is a big issue. Only one citizen is born happy, the rest need luxuries, temple, marketplace, etc. I usually limit population until I bring several luxuries on line. One key point in the game is switching governments. Republic and Democracy require at least three luxuries. Trying them with fewer can be very frustrating.
A fast build out is a must. There are two basic ways to accomplish this. The most popular is hurrying production using the whip (slave camps). I prefer a dense build, building my cities right on top of each other. Each method has advantages and disadvantages and you can read a lot more about each in the Strategy and tips section.
I prefer to build the first two settlers before building a temple or granary. I settle these first guys very close to the capital. Either one square away on the diagonal, or two squares away on the straight. There is zero corruption at this distance. It makes it very easy to connect them with roads to share luxuries and these suburbs can use the tile improvements made for the capital. There is some micromanagement of overlapping tiles. The suburbs can not grow up to be big sprawling cities, but they can often support pop 6 to 12 later in the game.
Under the articles section, I wrote about three basic starting strategies: Swordsmen conquest, Horsemen conquest and open map build out. As I read the January game thread, a fourth seems very popular: Warrior Gambit. Very quickly I'll outline each:
Warrior Gambit
Send the first two warriors looking for an enemy city. Attack. There is about a 65% chance of victory. In normal games, many players reload if they lose the first battle. Keep in mind that reloading is not allowed under Game of the Month rules. The odds of winning increase to about 75% if you send three warriors or one warrior and an archer.
Swordsmen conquest
Research Bronze then Iron. Build 4 to 6 cities. Claim iron. Build 10+ swordsmen or upgrade from warriors. If no iron, archers. Attack the nearest enemy and claim all their land. An excellent strategy for cramp conditions and this may be the best way to deal with hostile Zulus next door.
Horsemen conquest
Research the wheel to see horses. Build 8 to 15 cities. Claim a horse icon. Build 20+ horsemen. If no horses, swordsmen. Pick one enemy. Bribe the others. Attack in force and crush the enemy. Catapults are handy if the opponent has hoplites, legionaires, or pikemen. This is the strategy I favor. It has gotten me out of some of the worst imaginable starting positions.
Open land build out
Again, I like to build the first two settlers very close in. I scout out the surrounding area. If there are no enemy units at all, that usually means a lot of open land. In this situation an early switch to Monarchy often pays off big. Build cities nicely spaced, pay special attention to claiming luxuries.
A few other points:
On Emperor difficulty happiness is a big issue. Only one citizen is born happy, the rest need luxuries, temple, marketplace, etc. I usually limit population until I bring several luxuries on line. One key point in the game is switching governments. Republic and Democracy require at least three luxuries. Trying them with fewer can be very frustrating.
The game seems to become one faceted. The conquering strategy seems the only one to work well. I wish on harder settings the game was still balanced and all strategies would work equally. 
