thelibra
Future World Dictator
I've recently begun to play BTS on Monarch. I was previously -barely- a Monarch player on Warlords, but BTS set me back a notch, and now that I've been forced to become better at the game, I'm now starting to "get it", even if there's a lot I have left to learn...
So, a few thoughts for those attempting, or thinking about attempting, the same thing. And if you have some thoughts of your own, please add them.
1.) Every turn counts - I thought turns were precious in Prince, now each turn carries the weight of the entire game. Gone are the days where I could just let the worker finish building that improvement before I started on the other improvement I really need, or when I could let my city finish a building I don't really need yet in lieu of one I needed yesterturn. I have to carefully consider each build queue, each worker's impact, each traveled square, if I am to make up the gap between my starting point and the AI's advantage.
2.) Normal speed is too fast - And "quick" games are right-out. Even Epic feels rushed now. I can't make up the gap between my start and the AI when the game flies by too quickly to exploit better use of turns than the AI, and attacking with obsolete units is right out.
3.) Warrior rushes aren't possible now - Except possibly the Quechua, which gets a bonus vs. archers. But the days where I could chop out five or six warriors and knock out a neighbor before they could get archers is now impossible since they start with archers, and apparently are now smart enough to build on hills.
4.) Hill-Cities are a lot more appealing now - In Warlords, it didn't seem that important, even on Monarch, but apparently they fixed something between then and BTS, because Hill-cities are SUPER hard to crack even without a wall. Give 'em a wall, and you'd better have one helluva stack of doom. I mostly build on hills now, even if it means sacrificing a resource in my fat cross.
5.) Welcome to Prison - Just like prison, when you get there, your first day, you better either beat someone up or become someone's b-tch, cause otherwise you're going to get...unpleasantly attacked. I've found that I have to have destroyed a civ by 1AD if I don't want the other civs to think they can gang up on me at some point. Either that, or I better be rich enough to pay the local badarse whatever he wants.
6.) Diplomacy is no longer Optional - I used to pretty much ignore diplomacy. I could just tell everyone no to any demand they had and enjoy still being on top. Now I gotta say yes, but I gotta make sure I say yes to the RIGHT people, cause if I say it to the wrong ones, the bad man comes and takes away my cities. Every turn I now study the diplomatic relations between everyone and keep track of it on a chart.
7.) Stack Composition Is Critical - Gone are the days where I can just spam out my UUs (except possibly the Quechua) and overrun cities with sheer numbers. I must make a well-balanced stack that is Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger than my opponant. They need -at least- barracks experience, and preferably enough to get two levels (or play Aggressive plus barracks xp). And I can forget about attacking until I've got seige engines now, meaning I can no longer ignore the construction/engineering branch.
8.) Over-REXing is MUCH more likley - There's a real steep dropoff between just right and one-too-many cities. Last night I was playing Monty, and got my first two cities up and sat around 60-80% science depending on my city configs that turn, but I also had an extra settler handy, and wanted to cement my hold on my side of the island with another city. OMFG!!! As soon as I found the city, I plummet to 30% science, still in the red, and within a couple of turns, down to 20%. You can't recover from a mistake like that unless you're attempting something like the Praetorian Diety Domination win.
9.) Without a constantly upgraded, well balanced defense, you'll die. That pretty much sums that up. Have at least one unit to counter any one unit type in the game. (ie, one archer, one spearman, one axman, one chariot, etc).
10.) Barbarians are MUCH more bloodthirsty. - Briefly I played Shaka last night, to test out his UB. Within mere turns of Barbs being released, they'd founded a city just outside of my borders, and sent HORDES and HORDES (like 7 or 8) of warriors towards my archerless, walless capital, which they quickly overran and made me sad. And there was no random event displayed, they just did it to be mean. Stupid barbarians.
Anyone else have some wisdom they want to share on this? Or want to correct what I think I know? I'm aaaaaalllll ears. Ready to learn.
So, a few thoughts for those attempting, or thinking about attempting, the same thing. And if you have some thoughts of your own, please add them.
1.) Every turn counts - I thought turns were precious in Prince, now each turn carries the weight of the entire game. Gone are the days where I could just let the worker finish building that improvement before I started on the other improvement I really need, or when I could let my city finish a building I don't really need yet in lieu of one I needed yesterturn. I have to carefully consider each build queue, each worker's impact, each traveled square, if I am to make up the gap between my starting point and the AI's advantage.
2.) Normal speed is too fast - And "quick" games are right-out. Even Epic feels rushed now. I can't make up the gap between my start and the AI when the game flies by too quickly to exploit better use of turns than the AI, and attacking with obsolete units is right out.
3.) Warrior rushes aren't possible now - Except possibly the Quechua, which gets a bonus vs. archers. But the days where I could chop out five or six warriors and knock out a neighbor before they could get archers is now impossible since they start with archers, and apparently are now smart enough to build on hills.
4.) Hill-Cities are a lot more appealing now - In Warlords, it didn't seem that important, even on Monarch, but apparently they fixed something between then and BTS, because Hill-cities are SUPER hard to crack even without a wall. Give 'em a wall, and you'd better have one helluva stack of doom. I mostly build on hills now, even if it means sacrificing a resource in my fat cross.
5.) Welcome to Prison - Just like prison, when you get there, your first day, you better either beat someone up or become someone's b-tch, cause otherwise you're going to get...unpleasantly attacked. I've found that I have to have destroyed a civ by 1AD if I don't want the other civs to think they can gang up on me at some point. Either that, or I better be rich enough to pay the local badarse whatever he wants.
6.) Diplomacy is no longer Optional - I used to pretty much ignore diplomacy. I could just tell everyone no to any demand they had and enjoy still being on top. Now I gotta say yes, but I gotta make sure I say yes to the RIGHT people, cause if I say it to the wrong ones, the bad man comes and takes away my cities. Every turn I now study the diplomatic relations between everyone and keep track of it on a chart.
7.) Stack Composition Is Critical - Gone are the days where I can just spam out my UUs (except possibly the Quechua) and overrun cities with sheer numbers. I must make a well-balanced stack that is Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger than my opponant. They need -at least- barracks experience, and preferably enough to get two levels (or play Aggressive plus barracks xp). And I can forget about attacking until I've got seige engines now, meaning I can no longer ignore the construction/engineering branch.
8.) Over-REXing is MUCH more likley - There's a real steep dropoff between just right and one-too-many cities. Last night I was playing Monty, and got my first two cities up and sat around 60-80% science depending on my city configs that turn, but I also had an extra settler handy, and wanted to cement my hold on my side of the island with another city. OMFG!!! As soon as I found the city, I plummet to 30% science, still in the red, and within a couple of turns, down to 20%. You can't recover from a mistake like that unless you're attempting something like the Praetorian Diety Domination win.
9.) Without a constantly upgraded, well balanced defense, you'll die. That pretty much sums that up. Have at least one unit to counter any one unit type in the game. (ie, one archer, one spearman, one axman, one chariot, etc).
10.) Barbarians are MUCH more bloodthirsty. - Briefly I played Shaka last night, to test out his UB. Within mere turns of Barbs being released, they'd founded a city just outside of my borders, and sent HORDES and HORDES (like 7 or 8) of warriors towards my archerless, walless capital, which they quickly overran and made me sad. And there was no random event displayed, they just did it to be mean. Stupid barbarians.
Anyone else have some wisdom they want to share on this? Or want to correct what I think I know? I'm aaaaaalllll ears. Ready to learn.
)
