What to do next? [250BC]

[Preston85]

I am in need of some serious advice, just finished my earliest war and it was a nice success I think, anyway here’s some background.

Vanilla Civ (patched) not warlords.
Egypt – Hatty
Monarchy Level
Fractal Map
Standard Size

Killed Cyrus, razed one city, as I wasn’t happy with its placement, kept two others.
Just founded Confucianism, I didn’t plan on it as I just wanted courthouses for post war.
This has caused me some confusion as I was thinking of siding with MM and Huayua against Saladin, but if I convert to my own religion I’ll annoy all those religious nutters.
I cut off a lump of land to the east by taking out Cyrus who started really close, but it’s got a lot of jungle, I’m currently scouting it using my sentry war chariot.
The rest of my army is 3 swordsmen (1x CRIII, 2x CRII) , 3 War Chariots (1x Medic, 1x Sentry, 1x Combat II) and a single combat I axeman.

Here’s some SS of the info/advisor screens:






I’m really stumped by the options, I know I have to sort out my commerce but am unsure how. The only wonder I have is the Pyramids, which is Heliopolis where Confucianism was founded. I was thinking of using all those food resources to run a specialist economy but was unsure due to only one city have a river close enough to farm so am just running a few scientists when I hit max happiness and cottage spamming.

The main things I am thinking about are:
Tech Path?
Settle East or War with X person?
Cottage Spam or Farms?
Religion?
Upgrade defences and where?

I’m sure there’s stuff I haven’t considered so any advice on my game so far and what to do next would be most appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Idlenessss]

Well i play monarch a lot and i have 2 suggestions. First of all, since you managed to take out cyrus u are probably gonna with this game anyway, u have already gotten over the big hurdle. And u built pyamids, U are in a position now thats hard to screw up.

In general the diplomatic advantage of being other key people's religion is drasically, drastically better than some silly owning holy city advantage.

If you have pyramids and you can cottage spam, then universal sufferage = victory. Forget representation.
Your tech slider is down drastic low. This is bad. U must get currency ASAP, and code of law, and get those cottages up, NOT farms...no more expanding, your empire is QUITE big enough. wow I never see an empire that big on monarch, before polytheism? sheesh. you did something all kinds of right so far haha.

 

[Preston85]

I got war chariots and iron working early, Cyrus didn't have copper or iron, I pillaged his horse to stop him making imortals so was just archers. Got a nice amount of gold from pillaging a couple of cottages then capturing the capital (planning on using it for production).

I avoided all the religious techs, just catching up now, I have just got Code of Law (hence founded the religion). Only had capital doing production, 3 great city sites (imho) doing running cottages from early has funded the teching, only just got Code Of Laws from the last of the conqured gold before my research slider dropped.

As for the war, my stack to take first city was just war chariots and caught it with only 2 archers. I then sent some swordsmen up to join them while they pillaged said cottages from there capital while picking off anything that left the capital. The war chariots were sent in first to weaken (cheaper than swords/axes) with their chance to withdraw then finished archers off with swords.

 

[slaze]

With your position, do everything. At 250 BC with the whole game in front of you, just go in one direction and fade into the next. In broad, general terms, i'd go through a slavery phase, a caste system phase, and ultimately an emancipation phase. Sorry if that sounds dumbed down, but hear me out. I mean, people ask if it's a question of cottages or farms, it's never one at the expense of the other. Don't be afraid to have "dynamic" terrain. Farms can be used to aggressively grow the cities which then get cottaged over. But then your cities are suprisingly high food, so maybe take it easy on farms. You definately have to irrigate your grains (memphis, heliopolis) with CS, so plan accordingly.

One of the beauties about your position is your spititual, you can aggressively change civics. You got all this new land and you need infrastructure? You can synchronize your cities to all whip at the same time. your playing normal speed? that's 4 turns in slavery, 6 turns in caste system with representation or serfdon to take down the jungle. Or whatever. On other speeds this would be even more of an advantage.

Specialize your cities but take it even farther. A "commerce city", especially in caste system, can be catered towards science or towards money. Markets are expensive (5 pop whipping) you might not need them everywhere at first (although they have happiness bonuses, so eventually, you will). With a shrine, a settled merchant or two, the appropriate buildings and specialists, Heliopolis could support your whole economy.

Techwise short term, you need calendar immediately and CS a little down the road. The spices alone will pull your slider to at least 60%.

Diplomatically, i would make friends for now. At least until you can afford another war. And on monarch, you can easily cruise from where your at. It looks like you have even more room to expand to the east so in time, do it (and soon, too). The gem/sugar/banana city will be another great addition to your empire, and also the river/grassland below it.

Militarily, you definately need to develope your new cities first, and maybe even hold off for a while. As spiritual, you can always whip a quick defense if attacked, so you have a little room to leave cities underdefended. Adopt judaism, and you'll only have one border to watch over. The most important unit however, is the worker. With all the work to do, you might need more than one per city, maybe even two.

Just get all the happiness resources hooked, grow to cap, and cruise. At monarch, the games already over, it's just a matter of how pretty you want to do it.

 

[Preston85]

mmm so plan would be:
Tech Calendar and Currency as priority. Then tech for Coliseums and Theatres as they are cheap for Hatty to push happyness even higher!
Get workers preparing those calendar resources from under the jungle.
Get working food and cottages and grow the cities quickly.
Run Representation (extra happyness! yey) when at max happyness run 2 scientists and work as many cottages as possible.
Run Slavery to whip important structures making use of the food resources to quickly regrow pop.

Would teching to Serfdom (can't remember what tech it is) early be advisable with so much expansion and jungle to clear?

How long would you wait till settling the next city or two? After the calendar resources are hooked up since I need my workers to clear that jungle before or once the city is settled.

 

[Jet]

A save is always important for questions like this. A save plus a map overview screenshot are what you want.

 

[Whitefire]

You should decide on how you want to win. Right now, you can win any of the conditions and your choice will determine the advise given.

 

[Preacherman]

Regarding the war plans you mentioned (You, Huayna and Mansa vs. Saladin), I have another suggestion. Your plan has the problem of letting two financial civs getting really friendly with each other (same religion and mutual military struggle bonus). They'd tech like crazy, keeping pace with you even though you have the greater territory. Besides, from the positions of the civs, they won't be much help in the war anyway. You'd take the most hits.

So, instead, use your newly founded religion, drown Huayna in missionaries and convert him. Then enlist his help against Mansa. That way, you could take out one financial civ, and leave the other as your pet trading partner. The religion divide would keep Saladin from getting too chummy with Huayna, so he shouldn't be much of a problem. You can take him out when it's convenient.