What strategies are you working on?

[coko]

I've been working on abusing the research bonus from AV to really produce a quick researching power station. Trying to use it to reach high tier units quickly.

Never been a great player, but it is fun trying specific strategies to see what affect they produce (note to self, ORC rush attack most often fail)

But yeah be nice to hear what other people have tried, or feel like trying?

Maybe someone can look more into AV tech rushing, because once you've got it spread around you can really push up the research points!

 

[Nikis-Knight]

Never been a great player, but it is fun trying specific strategies to see what affect they produce (note to self, ORC rush attack most often fail)

Yeah, unless you manage to snag a few warg riders. I always beeline my goblins for the tundra, level them up with shock, then go bash some goody-goodies.

 

[Chandrasekhar]

Perfecting the early game cottage rush. Also, converting the world to the Order while dealing with those pesky Altars of the Luonnotar that my allies keep building.

 

[im_robertb]

In a recent Amurites (Dain the Caswallan) game I played, these strategies came up:

I originally wanted a Tower victory, but felt that it would be very difficult. With 15 mana types, and only getting 3 from my palace, I thought I'd need 12 mana nodes. Not so. Each religion's holy shrine (not sure about Cult of the Dragon) grants a different type of mana, so there's another potential 5 sources. Tomb of Sucellus and Soul Forge grant Life and Death, respectively. You -must- have 5 mana nodes on the map, which isn't that hard. You need another 1 for each holy shrine you're missing, and the same goes for the Tomb and the Forge. Also, don't double up on mana types - once a node is built as a certain type, it can't be changed.

No, you most likely won't be able to found 5 religions. But an enemy whose territory includes 2 untapped mana nodes and 2 holy cities is worth conquering, just don't forget that you'll have to somehow get the great people for the holy cities - Dain's Philosphical trait is helpful here.

Also, try to prioritize mana types in terms of what you need to get the others (often just fire), and what you need to start building a tower. Gaining the benefits of the lesser towers is obviously beneficial, and you don't want to have to wait for the lesser towers to finish once you have all the mana types. Honestly, Tower victory almost feels like it shouldn't include the Tower of Mastery at all - just the 4 lesser towers and all mana types at once.

If you don't think you'll be able to get all the mana types, don't worry if you're the Amurites. Even if you only get 10, that means a city with a Mage Guild and Cave of the Ancestors can pump out 10 XP (that's 4 promotions) adepts and immediately upgrade them to Wizards or Conjurers. With the right civics, you can bring that down to 4 mana types (meaning you'd need your palace + 1 to pull this off), though running Theocracy, Conquest and Apprenticeship is often unlikely.

 

[feydras]

Honestly, Tower victory almost feels like it shouldn't include the Tower of Mastery at all - just the 4 lesser towers and all mana types at once.

I like that you don't have to control all the mana types to win by the victory although i've never won by ToM. I have traded to get Entropy for long enough to build the Tower of Necromancy. Also, if you build a mana node and loose it due to city capture or a neighbor's cultural expansion you can build it as a new mana type when you reclaim it. Nice when it happens if you want a little more variety in your mages. Any unit that already has a sphere 1 in something doesn't loose it when you loose the mana type.

- feydras

 

[Nimai_R]

I thought the Veil didn't have a holy city?

 

[Nimai_R]

I wish to know promotion strategies, because I can never get this right >< Generally I get Combats, with vs Melee or Archers 80&#37; and City raider if they're taking down cities. I also like first strike, maybe from playing to much magic the gathering =P But it seems like a good idea.

 

[MagisterCultuum]

Of course the Veil has a holy city. The first to research corruption of spirit gets the holy city, just like any other religious tech. However its Holy shrine, Stigmata on the Unborn, now requires a Great Sage, not a Great Prophet. It provides Entropy Mana, extra beakers for every city with the religion, and grants all units built there the Stigmata promotion. This promotion grants a combat bonus equal to half of the AC.

 

[Nimai_R]

Dammit! That's why! I had a great sage and I was like where's my holy shrine Okay, thanks for the clear up =)

 

[im_robertb]

I wish to know promotion strategies, because I can never get this right >< Generally I get Combats, with vs Melee or Archers 80% and City raider if they're taking down cities. I also like first strike, maybe from playing to much magic the gathering =P But it seems like a good idea.

My promotion strategy: Don't.

That's right. Don't promote your units. At least, not until you need to or it's particularly useful. Let's say you're marching a stack of swordsmen, archers, and mages towards the enemy. Maybe give your mage Body I (haste), Enchantment I (enchanted blade), or Death I (raise skeleton), while keeping in mind that you'll need Fire II when you get near the enemy city. If you know you'll need Fire II and don't have promotions to spare, still wait until Fire II becomes useful.

This is more important with actual combat units. Let's say as you come up to the enemy city, he has a few stacks of Fire II mages protected by archers in the way, on forested hills, and each stack has a Disciple unit (Medic I). Damn, that's a tough placement to attack, especially if your swordsmen already have their promotions spent on City Raider I and II. Keeping spare promotions around can be helpful. If your mages can't fireball them hard enough to hurt them more than they heal each turn, some Guerilla I, Woodsman I swordsmen can flush them out. Better yet, Guerilla I, Cover (anti-archer) swordsmen, which will still have a bonus when you get to the archer defended cities.

When possible, save your promotions until using them will be helpful. Don't say 'This guy will be a city attacker, I'll spend his promotions on City Raider I and II' until you get to the city, because until you're at the city gates, they're actually useless.

 

[coko]

Yeah, I often feel the need to click the flashing lights for the upgrades, but I see the HUGE benefit in waiting. I find however with my Heroes' unless I'm in a huge war already, I'll push the 5 combat upgrades for any unit I plan to use in combat always. Just because of the all-round benefit it gives.

 

[MagisterCultuum]

A better reason would be for Heroic Strength I and II

 

[Nimai_R]

Hmm.. So do they keep getting xp if they didn't take the promotion? Because that was the one thing I was worried about, because I know of the great advantages of waiting, not only because the promotion HEALS the unit so if you have a stack and sling em on a city, then promote and heal you can sling em again immediately. But I didn't want my hero being stifled at level 1 because I never took my promotions.

But I do like what you said robertb. Thanks a lot of the advice

 

[coko]

He'll continue to get his upgrades, it'll just stack up, allowing you to do multiple upgrades when you decide to.

 

[MagisterCultuum]

You should keep it in mind that without the actual promotions a units level does not rise. For adventurers this means you may need to add some promotions already to upgrade the units. Also remember that that units gain free promotions for each level of channeling, so an adept should get its promotions so you can upgrade it .

This strategy really isn't that innovative. It is in Sid Mier's tips for Vanilla Civ IV.

 

[coko]

Yeah, but some of us are very lazy when it comes to reading such things! I've been going through religion tech running, and noticed that if you can do AV or Order quick enough so that the others haven't spread yet (I do this by working out what there are more of, good or bad people) and get it spread around a bit, you can get the Ai in your pocket, and rift apart those of the opposite point of view.

I take these two over the other three, because for some reason people seem more willing to adopt them than the previous 3, or will just convert to Order/AV when they've researched it, ignoring their previous religious status.

So I tech rush to it, and then swap it around with required researches with my new found allies. And I then get a huge bonus from them, and make them join an "end tier" religion, where they are less likely to change from.

Now Order seem easier to spread, but AV provides far more enjoyment, and considering you've just lost out on research, useful in pumping that up again!

 

[Nimai_R]

I know it's in the CIV tips, but they don't really elaborate on it. They kind of just say, save your promotions because they can be used to heal you later! Or something along those lines. Not to mention FFH is much much different, Your guys go up levels much faster because of raging barbs, heros, etc, not to mention there's different promotions.

 

[Mesix]

I like to abuse the agriculture/specialist combo to its fullest. With agriculture producing so much food, cities grow very fast and more citizens can be turned into specialists. This in turn creates more great people and all the added benefits of both the specialists and the great people. With the Altar of Lunonatar priests have the potential to produce three production as well as culture and research (with the proper civic options) so the production hit that agriculture is designed to generate is more than offset. Merchant specialists and great merchants also add a lot of income which I supplement with a few cottage tiles. By mid game my main cities are usually about 25-35 population with as many specialists as I can cram into them. I can produce most units in one or two turns in any of these cities and I can churn out wonders faster than an icecube melting on the hot pavement of the Vegas strip in July. Once it is up and rolling, this strategy creates an economy that produces more culture, research, and production than the AI can keep up with. It is also maliable to almost any civ and religion combo.

 

[attackdrone]

I tend to enjoy playing Bannor, Malakim, or Elohim. For religion I usually go for a dual Kilmorph/Order religion. The Kilmorph religion is great for having enough gold to sustain high research and conquests. I change my state religion into Kilmorph long enough to research the specific tech and build as many stonewardens as I can crank out in ten turns (Who then become my Inquisitors - the enchantment divine spells are my personal favorite spells). Then I remain as The Order for the rest of the game, building heroes and high priests.

I enjoy staying agricultural and focusing on the Altar of the Luonnotar - my army usually consists of crusaders and the obligatory three paladins. This is where the synergy from the Kilmorph religion comes into play - they all get enchanted with the Spiritual Hammer and Shield of Faith promotions. Priests of the Order fulfill the role of siege weapons in my crusader armies - with ring of fire, flame strike, and bless.

In summary, producing a blessed Crusader with mobility, combat IV, shield of faith, courage, and spiritual hammer every turn from my priest-filled agrarian capital of thirty million people is my kind of game.

I of course focus on converting as many people as possible into the Order religion, then marshalling them into an unending series of holy wars to wipe all trace of the ashen veil and the octupus overlords from the world. Depending on how charitable I am feeling, I might let the neutral and good leaves/kilmorph civilizations survive.

 

[kevjm]

Using the Tsumani spell to carve choke points into the terrain can be very useful- and can also be good for making an inland city a coastal one. Being Overlords or Amurites is useful for this with there archmage heros.
The main problem with this strategy is that you usually have to tsunami the same tile for some time before it floods.

Also, teaching your entire army the escape spell can be useful if your attacking stack gets into trouble. Can you tell I've just been playing a very scrappy game as the amurites?