To whip or not to whip....

[Bamspeedy]

Just curious to see how often people use the whip in Despositism. On Chieftain, I never had to use it. But on the harder levels I tried using it and I definitely overused it , I had 20+ cities, but they were mostly all size 1, and that one citizen couldn't pay for all the improvements, so I was losing money fast!

 

[Padma]

I use the despot whip occasionally. A little more often than just emergencies, but it is not my preferred method of building anything.

 

[Furry Spatula]

I can sum this up pretty quickly.


When a problem comes along you must whip it, whip it good

and even when there isnt a problem

 

[Zachriel]

I believe a little discipline in the ancient age is acceptable. But I never use more than one pop point, and usually just to rush the temples along the cultural borders.

 

[Ripley]

Originally posted by Bamspeedy
I had 20+ cities, but they were mostly all size 1, and that one citizen couldn't pay for all the improvements, so I was losing money fast!

This appears to be one of my biggest problems playing Civ3, so I'll be watching this thread with interest.

I often use it way to much and end up with an army or improvements that I cannot support, yet can't afford to lose.

 

[MrFrodo]

I mostly use the dense build technique that BillChin describes.
But in addition, I usually pick one or two cities that have
an adjacent 3 food square (usually an outlying city with some
corruption) and put the brutal governor there. That way you can crank out horsemen (Mounted Warriors are best...) like crazy with the whip in just those cities, while the others are playing nice,
building a happy environment. The mean
cites get a temple, a granary and a barracks and then whip out
the horsemen. The other cities build settlers/workers and
eventually build themselves up with happy denizens. Then when
you've won your first few wars with the horsemen and have switched to a non-despot government, you can disband the
old whip-happy city and replace it with a new one
or reduce the pop to 1, stop growth, and keep the culture.
This gives you some power to win those early wars on the backs
of your slaves, but keeps you mostly happy and strong for
the future. There are some other strategies like this I've seen
posted here, just a combo of the dense build and the pop-rush.
It will be interesting to see which one works out better when multi-player comes around (If ever).

 

[enbee42]

If you righteous rage do not penalize in order you can crush your competitor, therefore in order not to become certain people dies, in upset of the building the popluation to stir, * the め which is less crowded do * doing, it is what which goes? commute to you

 

[LayZMan]

Damn skippy I crack that whip. I usually crack the whip on my own people when building two structures

1) Courthouse-Way I see it, the people are already slackers, may as well slay the criminals to establish courts and improve production and commerce (some cities cannot be saved however)

2) Aqueduct-the city isn't growing, cracking the whip can only speed thins up. 3-4 lives...big loss, lol. They'll be back.

In war, I slaughter foreigners ruthlessly for temples, barracks, and recruit a few of them in the form of defensive units.

 

[Kefka]

I usually crack the whip then the people start rioting and destroying Improvements!
first I give them some entertainers and whip them to rebuild the Improvement!

once I had a city at size 6 and they rioted and destroyed the barrick so I got them happy and I them to rebuild it and then them to build a temple! hell once I was done there was only one pop left :nya2: I figured that showed them who was

 

[Conan666]

what is that enbee? Are you using the www.ajeeb.com translation engine?

Not sure I understood the question!

 

[Dinorius R.]

Enbee:

I don't know what you're on, but I want about a kilogram of it :crazyeyes !!!


.

 

[eyrei]

I whip to produce an army of about 20 veteren horsemen, a temple and usually a library in each city, and a defender in corrupt cities. I try to accomplish these goals as quickly as possible, and then switch my government to republic or monarchy. If I find myself fighting for my life, I remain in despotism, and designate two or three cities as 'slave camps' that pop-rush a unit every time they grow.

 

[Hobbes]

"You have the spirit to fight back but the good sense to control it. Your eyes are full of hate, Forty-One. That's good. Hate keeps a man alive. It gives him strength. You are all condemned men. We keep you alive to serve this ship. So row well and live."

Quintus Arrius, From the movie Ben Hur

 

[The Danster]

I used the whip for the first time the other day. I felt bad, the city was just growing, but i really needed that Ironclad and being a true commie just had to have it...

I found that i liked it...

Then i used it again (well the first Ironclad was sank attacking a galleon nonetheless!!) in the same city... I felt a pang of guilt, but then saw those lovely shields and my eyes filled with glee.

The whipping spread to the neighbouring cities, soon a whole area of my civ were down to 1 population point... so i renamed the whole area Siberia, and put on my fluffy hat and a great thick moustache...

The world was never the same and I'm sure my whole playing style has been tainted, now that I know the power...

:slay:

 

[eyrei]

I once drafted 120 infantry in 3 turns during a war in communism. I then pop-rushed another 20 infantry. Needless to say, my people were not happy, especially since I wasn't actually at war. I quickly went from 2cd in population to sixth.

Edit: The war ended the same turn I drafted my first 40 infantry. I just enjoyed it so much I kept doing it.

 

[Zachriel]

Originally posted by Hobbes
"You have the spirit to fight back but the good sense to control it. Your eyes are full of hate, Forty-One. That's good. Hate keeps a man alive. It gives him strength. You are all condemned men. We keep you alive to serve this ship. So row well and live."

Quintus Arrius, From the movie Ben Hur

Judah Ben Hur to Quintus Arrius, "We keep you alive to serve this ship," while stranded at sea on a raft.

 

[The Danster]

Excellent

Muwahahahahahaha!!

 

[infanta]

i usually pop rush a settler once pop hits 4 (i build other units during the pop build up phase)

if i want a slave camp then ill often set up a city with a couple of irregated wheat or cattle squares, pop rush a granary (so pop regenerates once per 2 turns) and then use these cities to crank out swordsmen or horsemen

to be honest through once ya got pop 6 cities you can generally get most units out in 2-3 turns so less need of the whip

for me i use it mainly to keep pace with ai expansion (by they way its what they do, ive seen their cities go to pop4 then pop3 and a settler emerge)

usually i only pop rush on the borders where corruption makes things unbuildable and mainly units as im always fighting

to supplement my whipping ill often make worker farms to give a worker once per 2 turns (food surplus of 5 from 2 irregated wheat or cattle squares, mined grasslands and pop 6 with granary) and have that worker join a city and use the "bonus2 population point to pop rush the unit

 

[Lt. 'Killer' M.]

I often whip and run into fiscal problems. But just like the real world CivIII has an easy way out - conquest! I use the early phase of the game to make sure I have double to tripple the territory as anyone else - preferably everyone else

For that i keep one or two prodction-strong cities growing, otherwise whip temples, barracks and horsemen/immortals (if I have them).

When i go out to gain "Lebensraum" (I`m a complete ******* when it comes to playing Civ, but only then ) I make sure to destroy the Civs I attack quickly, or at least drive them from my continent. This way I have little to no risk of Culflip thus I can keep all them conquered cities. Often i can set research to 70 to 90 % because they still give me 1 gold 1 beacon and the big cities give lots of monea/tech since I have many resources because of my large territory


The Whip RULEZ!!!!!

 

[SirPleb]

I've found myself using the whip more and more. I'm currently playing a huge deity map and I have reached new depths of cruelty I started by putting my second city beside a wheat to rush it, then discovered cattle beyond it. So the third city went there. By the time I was done adding to the chain, I had 7 cities in a line from my capital, each with an irrigated wheat or cattle! Just about the time all 7 cities were up to speed (granary, temple, barracks) I found horses and linked them in. They've been pumping out Horsemen ever since. 7 * 4 food, 2.8 new citizens/turn -> 2.8 Horsemen/turn.

Around 10AD I took over a region owned by a rival where I saw another 7 cattle. I quickly assembled an new slave camp farm around them. They're up to speed now (around 300AD.) I have Chivalry at this point so the two slave camps are pumping out Pikemen. (They cost 1 citizen to rush vs. 2 for a Knight, and later on they'll upgrade along the path to Mech Infantry.) 5.6 Pikemen/turn. After 10 to 20 turns of this (once I've replaced all garrisoned Knights with Pikemen defenders) I'll flip the slave camps to Knights, getting 2.8 Knights/turn out of the camps.

Sometimes (just a bit in this game so far) I also rush galleys, to build up a fleet which can later be upgraded.

Immediately after capturing a rival's city and quelling resistance, I rush an improvement in the captured city. I rush the largest cultural improvement possible (e.g. Colosseum if it was a large city with remaining population 6 or higher.) I want to get the population down to 1 or 2 asap, to reduce the chance of a cultural flip. Later, after the city's borders grow, the improvement can be sold to eliminate the maintenance cost.

I don't know if this qualifies as "I'm the King slave-driver of them all". I certainly seem to at least have a bad case of it I've gotten worse as I play the game at harder levels...

It does feel a bit like an exploit. But, when I see 15 other Civs each needing only 60% of the food to grow, 60% of the shields to build, 60% of the science to research, and they are all trading the techs they gain furiously, I'll use any edge I can get!!! (It doesn't feel so much like an exploit after all, the whip seems to be addictive.)