what do you think?

[DaveMcW]

Quecha rush - which only really works on Monarch or above

Warrior rush works on Prince or below.

 

[InFlux5]

"Specialist Economy" is a somewhat novel CivFanatics concept which rests on a specific set of civics (among other things) and is best for specialized situations. Stick with CE until you get to Monarch. SE is rigid and specialized, while CE is easier and more flexible, being applicable to more situations. Avoid leaders that scream SE, like Ramesses; mastering the SE is not at all essential to moving up to Monarch, which is, to my mind, where the game really begins.

(Note, of course, that this doesn't mean you shouldn't use specialists, ASAP in most games.)

Try to forget about, for a while, whether you want to do CE or SE. Instead, think about how your difficulties are happening on this new difficulty level.

Agreed. Again, those concepts are only useful to a point. Most of my games are essentially a hybrid economy. A bit of micromanagement helps in that case. When production needs are low, switch a city's labor to tiles with more gold on them, taking advantage of Libraries, etc. Then eventually your older core cities replace everything with +gold improvements (e.g. cottages) and voilà!

(I have to add that coastal cities are not that bad, and with a Lighthouse they become automatically profitable, because of the micromanagement mentioned above. Work a couple forests or hills in order to build, switch to 23 Coast tiles otherwise. One seafood resource and now you have a very lucrative city that can also run 2 scientists.)

 

[Winston Hughes]

Warrior rush works on Prince or below.

hehe, fair point, but how many Prince-level players can actually pull off a Warrior/Quecha rush with any consistency?

And isn't the Monarch+ Quecha rush a different beast to the Prince-or-lower Warrior rush?

That's certainly my experience - I had to back out of a Q-rush in a recent Prince game, whereas I can consistently pull it off on Monarch or Emperor.

"Specialist Economy" is a somewhat novel CivFanatics concept

CE and SE as formal concepts are both unique to those who discuss civ strategy, but an understanding of the actual mechanics by which you get your research from specialists is another matter altogether.

The first time I played the game I couldn't see any value in cottages, went for what I now realise was an SE (settling all my GPs), and beat noble at the first attempt. And that's the way I continued to play until I got curious about getting my research from trade routes, did some experiments, and came across civfanatics while looking for a few hints.

Only once I started reading here did I learn how to play CE (thanks Dave!). My SE and trade route games undoubtedly improved as a result of reading stuff here, but my CE game only came about as a result of the forums.

I'm not saying SE is better, or that trying an SE will necessarily lead to a dramatic improvement in a player's game (though it might). What I'm saying is that it works, it's fun, and it's different - just as the CE was for me when I first discovered it.

I just don't buy all this "don't try that strategy/leader/etc." lark. If the OP tries an SE and doesn't like it, then I'm sure he'll go back to what he does like. So where's the problem?

 

[lordqarlyn]

Personally, it seems using a good combo of cottages and specialists seems to be the optimal strategy that works for me.

 

[Revenant27]

Yeah I think I am just going to continue playing on prince and learning/losing until I get it right.. Noble is just to much of a cake walk to the point that I feel like I'm just going through the motions to beat it. This is probably the quickest way to better my game

 

[Khirron]

Ever heard of SSE?

I'm going to take a stab in the dark and say SETTLED specialist economy? I've been trying some SE on Prince and this interests me.

 

[Gone Dark]

Yeah I think I am just going to continue playing on prince and learning/losing until I get it right.. Noble is just to much of a cake walk to the point that I feel like I'm just going through the motions to beat it. This is probably the quickest way to better my game

I'd recommend that. I stayed too long at noble, til the point where I knew I was going to win as soon as I saw the blue ring beneath the first settler.

Moving up in skill really improves your game though, I went back and played a little on noble, managed to snag gunpowder with the Oracle around 300 BC as Lizzy