Trouble with Monarch

[marowaker]

After successfully thrashing prince easily, i thought it was time for Monarch. Recently i have been trying (and failing) to move up to Monarch. I have a save with me and i would like a few pointers to see what I could do to improve my game. A short summary:

Starting as Huanya,(2.08), I quickly found Toku as a neighbour and successfully quechua rushed him. After exploring most of the map on my continent and Toku's death, I found myself with a bit of land to expand to. I went almost bankrupt trying to build the cities. I built Stonehenge, the GL and the Parthenon(all except the GL was to try and get a bit of money).

I now have 6 cities and ready to get another 2(settler and barb city). I just can't actually afford them at the moment. I have Currency and COL, should I whip markets and courthouses in my cities?

Any help appreciated

http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/101359/Incan_Monarch.CivWarlordsSave

 

[Bhruic]

Ok, some comments:

I'm not sure why you chose to build the GL and National Epic in Machu Picchu? It's not going to have enough food to make it a serious GP city, nor is it a primary commerce city, so you won't be (or shouldn't be) focusing on it as a research city.

Second, while you've got a lot of cottages out, very few of them are being used - making them effectively useless. Ollantaytambo, for example, is running 2 scientists instead of working cottage squares. Other cities are using a lot of hammer squares instead of cottages. If you want your cottages to grow, you'll need to focus on them more.

Also, Cyrus will trade Spices for Marble - you aren't currently using it, so it's a good trade, you can get your happiness up. And you can also trade Copper to Genghis for Silk. Again, a good trade, as you have Iron, and he almost certainly has Iron, making Copper effectively useless - and you get another happiness boost. Your cities have quite low population because (I'm assuming) of the happiness cap. But you've got a religion! Spread Taoism to more cities so you can build temples - even if you choose not to adopt it for diplomatic reasons.

Otherwise, you're not in a horrible position. You've still got a nice buffer between you and Genghis, and if you can make contact with the other continent, lots of trading potential.

Bh

 

[marowaker]

Thanks, my thoughts

I'm not sure why you chose to build the GL and National Epic in Machu Picchu? It's not going to have enough food to make it a serious GP city, nor is it a primary commerce city, so you won't be (or shouldn't be) focusing on it as a research city.

I built it there since that was my highest production city at the time, and I am used to losing out on it if I put it in a GP Farm. When on Monarch does the AI usually finish the GL? I put NE there since the GL was there.

Second, while you've got a lot of cottages out, very few of them are being used - making them effectively useless. Ollantaytambo, for example, is running 2 scientists instead of working cottage squares. Other cities are using a lot of hammer squares instead of cottages. If you want your cottages to grow, you'll need to focus on them more.

Good point, I changed the scientists to the cottages. How many cottages should you put out per city while not putting down cottages that won't be used?

Also, Cyrus will trade Spices for Marble - you aren't currently using it, so it's a good trade, you can get your happiness up. And you can also trade Copper to Genghis for Silk. Again, a good trade, as you have Iron, and he almost certainly has Iron, making Copper effectively useless - and you get another happiness boost. Your cities have quite low population because (I'm assuming) of the happiness cap. But you've got a religion! Spread Taoism to more cities so you can build temples - even if you choose not to adopt it for diplomatic reasons.

With Cyrus, if I need the marble, i can cancel the trade but lose the happiness, but i could use HR for happiness. The genghis trade is good, i hadn't thought of that. I guess I cancel it when the SOL arrives. I thought Taoism would spread on its own but i could try using missionaries.

 

[Bhruic]

I built it there since that was my highest production city at the time, and I am used to losing out on it if I put it in a GP Farm. When on Monarch does the AI usually finish the GL? I put NE there since the GL was there.

Generally, I check to see if anyone else has got Literacy yet, but that can be hard to do when you haven't got contact with another continent. Still, my GP city usually has a lot of excess food, letting me get a very high population, allowing for some rushing. Plus I usually keep some forests around to chop for it - I consider the GL one of, if not the best wonders to get.

Good point, I changed the scientists to the cottages. How many cottages should you put out per city while not putting down cottages that won't be used?

There's nothing wrong with having cottages that aren't going to be used right away, if you've got nothing else for your workers to do. My point was more that you were using other squares instead of your cottages. I'd switch some of the production tiles over to cottages to get them growing.

With Cyrus, if I need the marble, i can cancel the trade but lose the happiness, but i could use HR for happiness. The genghis trade is good, i hadn't thought of that. I guess I cancel it when the SOL arrives. I thought Taoism would spread on its own but i could try using missionaries.

That's the point, you can cancel those trades whenever you need, but for now they provide you with happiness that you are desperately needing. At your point in time, you should be working with much larger cities, but you haven't got the happiness to push that high right now. Since happiness is the main obstacle to your growth, it's absolutely worth it to sacrifice a little in the short term to get more happiness.

Again, you're not really in a bad position, the other Empires on your continent aren't vastly out-teching you. You're about to get Construction, so you can get some Catapults out if you want to continue warring. But you really need to boost your economy - through city growth and working more cottage squares.

Bh

 

[obsolete]

I've been trying to win on Monarch with Ghandi. Just seems to be impossible. With Ceasar I have a good chance.

 

[martin031]

I've been trying to win on Monarch with Ghandi. Just seems to be impossible. With Ceasar I have a good chance.

You should check out this link. http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=190690

He did not finish the game, and it is at a higher level than monarch, but it is a good demonstration on how to leverage Ghandi's traits.