Tips with Gold & Leader AI

[OldBoy318]

Sorry if this question's been covered numerous times, but I'd really like a concise advice on a few issues.

-What should I do with my excess gold?
I've been using them for unit upgrades, but I've been careful to use them during trades/diplomatic options. My last game on Warlords Noble was extremely punishing because of my lack of Diplomatic allies. Should I start spending gold to buy friend/aid early on?

-Any specific leaders to watch out?
I've been reading the forums carefully to now realize that the leader AIs act differently. Most notably, Montezuma, Alexander, Saladin, etc. seems to push with military force. Any other that I should be aware of? Thanks.

 

[carl corey]

Excess gold: Well, there are many things you should do with it, but first, let me ask you, how do you obtain it? If you're running a very high science slider than it usually means you have room to expand. Switch to war civics, build units and attack someone when you have a nicely prepared army. Once you've either depleted your forces and need to heal, or reached a low (<50&#37 science slider you can stop the war, ask for some techs and/or money for peace and start building some infrastructure in the new cities (theaters & courthouses come first pretty much everywhere).

Ok, so what to do with the gold you already have: sometimes you can even put some gold in a tech trade if you really need that tech right away. That happens pretty rarely for me, but don't keep it like there's no tomorrow either, it's meant to be used.

Upgrades are useful only for promoted units. For example upgrading a warrior with no promotions to a maceman is a huge waste of money. A City Raider 3 axeman on the other hand will be totally worth it.

Unless you have the Pyramids and run a very early Universal Suffrage - never happened to me, but hey! - there's not much else you can do with the money. Keep them for future mass upgrades, or if nothing of the kind is in range you can just run with the slider at deficit.

Diplomatic-wise maybe try to make some choices. If there's a religious block somewhere you can probably trade with all of them without incurring the "worst enemy" penalty. But otherwise choose your partners in function of their position, strength and tech advancement. You don't want to help the tech leader, but neither do you want to get stuck with a trading partner that's waaay behind everyone else.

Tough leaders: Monty and Alex are probably the worst. If they can attack they will attack, period. Isabella gets very angry if you don't share your religion and will promptly attack you for it. Catherine is also to be watched. I thought Rome and Mongolia are pretty aggressive, but I've managed to coexist peacefully with them in some games (until I wiped them out, that is) so now I'm not that worried about them.

On the "teching" side, you should be careful with letting Mansa Musa, Washington or Gandhi get away with the game. Once they get the tech lead it will be a nightmare to catch up.

 

[lilnev]

Run your research slider higher. Excess gold shouldn't be a problem. Upgrading units is very expensive until ~ the gunpowder age. It may be worth it for highly promoted troops (especially city raiders) or emergency defense, but shouldn't be an everyday priority. Don't use gold to buy friends. You can give away outdated techs for that if you need to. Co-religion is the best way to make allies. Alex and Monty are the most likely to ruin your game early, but keep a close eye on anyone with the Aggressive trait and anyone with close borders diplomatic penalties.

peace,
lilnev

 

[namliaM]

Excess gold? Geez... That has been a long time...

Step up the research or step up difficulty I would say....

 

[Sisiutil]

Don't give the AI gold if you can avoid it. They get ultra-cheap unit upgrades, so even a few pieces of gold can leave you facing Longbowmen instead of Archers. (shudder).

My favourite use of excess gold is to run the research slider higher than I otherwise could. Either leave yourself running a deficit, or pump up the slider to shave off the last turn or two of research, or a combination thereof.

(By the way, there are lots of ways to get excess gold, especially by mid-game: capturing cities--AI or barb; requesting gifts from allies and tribute from enemies; selling off obsolete techs and/or your world map; getting beaten to a wonder, which some players do on purpose...)

On to your second question: in addition to the other leaders already mentioned, watch out for the Frenchmen. Louis is a "slow burn"--he'll gradually like you less and less as the game goes on and come after you when he thinks he has an advantage (usually once he gets his Musketeers). Napoleon will also wait until mid-game before getting aggressive, and when he does, he'll mass forces (especially Cavalry) and come after you big-time; he's usually a more effective version of Monty, and he's one of the few AI civs I've seen completely wipe out another AI civ. Or mine.

 

[futurehermit]

agreed, nappy is a nightmare mid-game if he has you in his sights. monty is a nightmare early game. alex can be tough, but for some reason i've never had a problem with him in the way i do with monty and nappy.

how much excess gold are we talking about? if its <1500 mid-game i would say run the tech slider higher, expand your empire more, build a larger army, etc. if it's >1500 i'd say raise the difficulty level.

 

[OldBoy318]

Wow, thanks a lot guys. Such great answers for a noob like me

I don't know why, but I always felt that I needed excess gold in my hands... I'll spend them more on research. Thanks for the leader watch lists as well

 

[wioneo]

Once I'm within about 30 turns of universal suffrage, I stockpile gold, and somehow manage to never need to worry about gold after that...