Gyspsysmoke
Chieftain
This is a strategy that I have peiced together from reading these boards, and it has worked well on Noble and Prince settings...but there are people here that both know a lot more than me and play on a lot harder levels than Prince so I want to run it by the community. I use the Japanesse empire so I start with Fishing and The Wheel. Also, please note that these are not hard and fast rules, just a general way that I go about the game.
Stage 1: Chop Rush
Units: Warrior-->Worker-->Settler-->Warrior-->Worker-->Settler-->Warrior
Techs: Mining-->Bronze Working-->Mysticism-->Agriculture-->Animal Husbandry-->Archery-->Pottery-->Masonry-->Iron Working/Horseback Riding
Notes:
I send out my starting Warrior to explore the land and grab up villages and use the second warrior to defend the home city. First worker comes out right around bronze working. Use this worker to chop rush a settler/warrior which I send off to the nearest juicy city location. The first city will begin work on a worker. There will be a little "down time" while the capital is working on it's second worker so I do tile improvement/premptive road work while this is going on (or I pre-chop some forrests, ie chop them down to needing 1 turn to finish). Then I build my second settler/warrior and send them out (the 3rd cities first unit will be a worker).
When I get to mysticism, I locate a city with 4 forest tiles remaining and use them to chop rush stonehenge, this keeps me from needing to create obliseks in my cities (I'm also a big fan of the Eifel Tower if the game goes that far). This may be one weak part of the strategy that I will have to get rid of at higher difficulty levels
You will notice that "stage 1" has a lot more time tied up in tech's than it does in units. Usually once I have the 3 cities up and I am waiting on tech's I continue exploration/bolster my defenses with Archers/build granary's and barrracks/build tile improvements (I try to keep it to as few farms as possible but I have a hard time remembering to do that sometimes)/connect the cities via roads.
Once Ironworking/Horseback Riding is in hand I ensure that I have access to the neccesary resources. This may lead to war, as long as you have access to bronze you should be able to use an axeman/spearman rush to take any city (they will be defended with archers/spearmen at this point). I may be forced into founding a 4th city at this point, but I would like to try and avoid that if I could (taking a city is less costly - don't have to make a settler, usually get a worker or two out of the deal, and you will be needing those millitary units anyway).
Stage 2: Controlling Overgrowth
One word: Courthouses.
Tech: Writing-->Meditation-->Preisthood-->Code of Laws-->Monotheism
On Noble and Prince this allows me to found Confiscianism (doubtful it would on higher difficulty) which is another caveat to the strategy I will explore in a second. Once I have Code of Laws it is time to build courthouses in all the cities (chop rush them if possible). This gets my economy (which is running in the red) undercontrol.
On Religion: If I found a religion I immediatly convert and use the gift missionary to attempt to give it to my neighbor/ally. I want it in as many cities as possible for a few reasons. One, as long as I keep it as my state religion, I get LOS and can keep track of what is going on in the cities. Two, because of stonehenge I will be sitting on a Great Prophet (I make Moses sleep for a few hundred years before I let him do anything). I then create the great temple in my holy city and gain +1 gold for each city the religion is in. This strategy is based on controlling overgrowth (my tech will dip down low, sometimes to 10%, depending on conquests) but as I get my courthouses built and religion spread I am able to get it back up to 70%+ in a reasonable amount of time. Also, as soon as I get to Monotheism, I turn on Organized Religion and leave it on forever (I know about Theocracy, but I'd rather have the +25% to building times than the bonus XP).
During stage 2, I like to go to war. I will even take cities (I have 8 and its 1AD in my current Prince game). The wars feed the desperate need for gold and if stage 1 went correctly you will have the military tech lead so stacks of horse archers or swordsmen (with a few axemen thrown in) will take down the spears/axes/arrows defending the AI's cities no problem (yes even without seige weapons).
The conquest part of the strategy is one where you need a feel for the game. I think of it like Texas Hold'em, if you get the chip (military) edge, you had best use it to your advantage as quickly as possible (agression+agression+agression). If you can take out an AI...do it...don't wait for them to catch up, you just must be careful not to cripple your army/economy in the process.
Stage 3: Totalitarianism FTW
This is where the strategy gets a little vague. I like to get Alphabet, Monarchy, Feudalism, Civil Serice (SAMURI!!), Mathmatics, Construction then straight to Guilds for knights. On many maps you will have the game won at this point and it is time to press your advantage as quickly as possible.
On huge maps this isn't usually the case (do to inability to quickly reach oponents). The priorities are getting to Communism and Facism as quickly as possible while grabing currency and economics along the way (banks, marketplaces, and grocers are all neccesary components for this strat). I ran at -30 gold/turn for a millenia in my last Noble game using conquest and tech trading to feed the beast. Once I hit state property I was +30 gold within one turn (ended up winning domination in 1920...on a huge map it felt like an accomplishment, had 49 cities).
The key is to keep your military up and the relations with the AI as high as possible (odd to hear from a warmonger but I want to stab them in the back not see them rolling at me...though the AI seems to be REALLY REALLY bad at war...in a prince game FDR came after me with a single archer...my swordsmen razed his empire). If you are able to keep the economy under control your empire becomes a production powerhouse once it grows into its own.
Random Thoughts not contained in the last part:
Put the Heroic Epic in your best production city (alone with Ironworks later). Put National Epic in your best sceince/gold/culture city.
I will miss Pyramids, but if the city they are created in is close I will go take it so that I can get Police State/Universal Sufferage ASAP. I switch between these two civics depending on the mode (war machine versus building).
If the game lasts till the modern era, I ensure I get the Kremlin and the Eifel tower wonders.
There will come a point where you will have enough land for a domination win. Once I get to modern armor, I turn off tech, blast culture and wait to take over the land.
I just moved up to Prince, and due to increased experience I pressed my advantage at an early point...its 1 AD and the Egyptians, Americans, and French all lay dead...the Romans tremble...
Please people, point out the weaknesses and things I am leaving out, this kinda sounds like the Catherine cottage strat mixed with warmongering (I really do run a totalitarian state)
Stage 1: Chop Rush
Units: Warrior-->Worker-->Settler-->Warrior-->Worker-->Settler-->Warrior
Techs: Mining-->Bronze Working-->Mysticism-->Agriculture-->Animal Husbandry-->Archery-->Pottery-->Masonry-->Iron Working/Horseback Riding
Notes:
I send out my starting Warrior to explore the land and grab up villages and use the second warrior to defend the home city. First worker comes out right around bronze working. Use this worker to chop rush a settler/warrior which I send off to the nearest juicy city location. The first city will begin work on a worker. There will be a little "down time" while the capital is working on it's second worker so I do tile improvement/premptive road work while this is going on (or I pre-chop some forrests, ie chop them down to needing 1 turn to finish). Then I build my second settler/warrior and send them out (the 3rd cities first unit will be a worker).
When I get to mysticism, I locate a city with 4 forest tiles remaining and use them to chop rush stonehenge, this keeps me from needing to create obliseks in my cities (I'm also a big fan of the Eifel Tower if the game goes that far). This may be one weak part of the strategy that I will have to get rid of at higher difficulty levels
You will notice that "stage 1" has a lot more time tied up in tech's than it does in units. Usually once I have the 3 cities up and I am waiting on tech's I continue exploration/bolster my defenses with Archers/build granary's and barrracks/build tile improvements (I try to keep it to as few farms as possible but I have a hard time remembering to do that sometimes)/connect the cities via roads.
Once Ironworking/Horseback Riding is in hand I ensure that I have access to the neccesary resources. This may lead to war, as long as you have access to bronze you should be able to use an axeman/spearman rush to take any city (they will be defended with archers/spearmen at this point). I may be forced into founding a 4th city at this point, but I would like to try and avoid that if I could (taking a city is less costly - don't have to make a settler, usually get a worker or two out of the deal, and you will be needing those millitary units anyway).
Stage 2: Controlling Overgrowth
One word: Courthouses.
Tech: Writing-->Meditation-->Preisthood-->Code of Laws-->Monotheism
On Noble and Prince this allows me to found Confiscianism (doubtful it would on higher difficulty) which is another caveat to the strategy I will explore in a second. Once I have Code of Laws it is time to build courthouses in all the cities (chop rush them if possible). This gets my economy (which is running in the red) undercontrol.
On Religion: If I found a religion I immediatly convert and use the gift missionary to attempt to give it to my neighbor/ally. I want it in as many cities as possible for a few reasons. One, as long as I keep it as my state religion, I get LOS and can keep track of what is going on in the cities. Two, because of stonehenge I will be sitting on a Great Prophet (I make Moses sleep for a few hundred years before I let him do anything). I then create the great temple in my holy city and gain +1 gold for each city the religion is in. This strategy is based on controlling overgrowth (my tech will dip down low, sometimes to 10%, depending on conquests) but as I get my courthouses built and religion spread I am able to get it back up to 70%+ in a reasonable amount of time. Also, as soon as I get to Monotheism, I turn on Organized Religion and leave it on forever (I know about Theocracy, but I'd rather have the +25% to building times than the bonus XP).
During stage 2, I like to go to war. I will even take cities (I have 8 and its 1AD in my current Prince game). The wars feed the desperate need for gold and if stage 1 went correctly you will have the military tech lead so stacks of horse archers or swordsmen (with a few axemen thrown in) will take down the spears/axes/arrows defending the AI's cities no problem (yes even without seige weapons).
The conquest part of the strategy is one where you need a feel for the game. I think of it like Texas Hold'em, if you get the chip (military) edge, you had best use it to your advantage as quickly as possible (agression+agression+agression). If you can take out an AI...do it...don't wait for them to catch up, you just must be careful not to cripple your army/economy in the process.
Stage 3: Totalitarianism FTW
This is where the strategy gets a little vague. I like to get Alphabet, Monarchy, Feudalism, Civil Serice (SAMURI!!), Mathmatics, Construction then straight to Guilds for knights. On many maps you will have the game won at this point and it is time to press your advantage as quickly as possible.
On huge maps this isn't usually the case (do to inability to quickly reach oponents). The priorities are getting to Communism and Facism as quickly as possible while grabing currency and economics along the way (banks, marketplaces, and grocers are all neccesary components for this strat). I ran at -30 gold/turn for a millenia in my last Noble game using conquest and tech trading to feed the beast. Once I hit state property I was +30 gold within one turn (ended up winning domination in 1920...on a huge map it felt like an accomplishment, had 49 cities).
The key is to keep your military up and the relations with the AI as high as possible (odd to hear from a warmonger but I want to stab them in the back not see them rolling at me...though the AI seems to be REALLY REALLY bad at war...in a prince game FDR came after me with a single archer...my swordsmen razed his empire). If you are able to keep the economy under control your empire becomes a production powerhouse once it grows into its own.
Random Thoughts not contained in the last part:
Put the Heroic Epic in your best production city (alone with Ironworks later). Put National Epic in your best sceince/gold/culture city.
I will miss Pyramids, but if the city they are created in is close I will go take it so that I can get Police State/Universal Sufferage ASAP. I switch between these two civics depending on the mode (war machine versus building).
If the game lasts till the modern era, I ensure I get the Kremlin and the Eifel tower wonders.
There will come a point where you will have enough land for a domination win. Once I get to modern armor, I turn off tech, blast culture and wait to take over the land.
I just moved up to Prince, and due to increased experience I pressed my advantage at an early point...its 1 AD and the Egyptians, Americans, and French all lay dead...the Romans tremble...
Please people, point out the weaknesses and things I am leaving out, this kinda sounds like the Catherine cottage strat mixed with warmongering (I really do run a totalitarian state)
