What to do on a small island?

[Jiggr]

What should you do if you starts on a small island? With place for about 5 cities and pretty good terrain. And the closest island is faaar away.

Thats very hard I have observe...

 

[Irish Caesar]

Either try and get sails as soon as possible, or make the best damn island the world has ever seen.

Might be a good spot for tons of wonders and a space race victory, democratic, etc.

 

[carniflex]

It is the simpliest case.
And the easiest to win.

You have no military cost (in shields or unapiness) : it is a enormous advantage.
Switch to democracy as soon as possible: concentrate on masonry and maybe trade for caravans so as to build pyramids the earlier > switch to democracy.
Then, look for oracle and let lux=~50% so as to make your cities grow to size 10 thanks to "we love president" day.
Then look for MC & aqueducts ...
You should reach Alpha centauri around 1AD.

 

[Jiggr]

With only five cities this is impossible, isnt it?

By the way... what is MC?

 

[trada]

Maybe play a little handicap where you aren't allowed to step a foot off the island. No naval units or anything. Railroad the whole island, go for a spaceship victory, and get ready to defend it against landing parties. Much much harder then it seems at first.

 

[carniflex]

With only five cities this is impossible, isnt it?

I did it recently with six cities and one major handicap added: i was not on an island, but surrounded by 4 other civs.
Once again, on an island, id est with almost no military expenses, it would be easier.
Remember, the main key is the "we love president" day.

By the way... what is MC?

Michelangelo's Chapel.

 

[GoldBerg]

agree @ carniflex.

grow techs as fast as possible.
invent seafare, diplomacy, republic and banking.
change goverment to republic,
grow your cities with the "we love president" day.

make a lot of money (some 100 bucks)
move to the next bigger continent with other civ(s),
buy big cities when under rebellion (= cheaper)

build (more) diplomats -
bribe and buy more of those "AI" (= computer generated civs) cities.

build or buy marketplaces, banks, temples, colloseums and city wall buildings and 3 of the best available defense units.
make more money.

buy the wh0le ****** civ world.

 

[Jiggr]

I didnt thought that is was smart to buy cities in Civ. But it seems to be a nice thing.

 

[Ifrit9]

I treat buying cities as a cheat. It becomes too easy to win if you use it.

 

[carniflex]

invent seafare, diplomacy

Translation:
seafare means mapmaking or navigation
diplomacy means writing

 

[trada]

Yeah! It's civdos down here folks.. none of this fancy civ2 or 3 lingo here please

 

[GoldBerg]

I treat buying cities as a cheat. It becomes too easy to win if you use it.

...and what do you do? ...always fight?

think of reality: just the stupid (fundamentalists, stoneage people,...) fight - instead of get things going in any other way.

that's another point were civilization game is very close to reality!
you can bribe a barbarian very cheap, we all know -
under-developed civs you'll get for a string of pearls or a low price tv with satellite dish.

by the way:
it isn't THAT easy to do so (buy the world) at EMPEREOR level.

there's always 'a time' for some serious hard battles/conflicts (if you can't do anything diplomatic) -
but it's better to be equipped with armor and adv.flight (and so on)
when these things are 'on the table'...
it's good to be so powerful that even some nuclear attacks (or else) won't block your way to victory.

.
.
.

Translation:
seafare means mapmaking or navigation
diplomacy means writing

yeah.

 

[ForbiddenPalace]

Actually I like to stuck on a relatively small island so that I do not have to worry about building units for almost 200 turns.

 

[Ifrit9]

...and what do you do? ...always fight?

think of reality: just the stupid (fundamentalists, stoneage people,...) fight - instead of get things going in any other way.

The point is - AI doesn't use bribing cities as much, as player can do. So it's kind of advantage over it.

it isn't THAT easy to do so (buy the world) at EMPEREOR level.

It is easier 'cause the cost to bribe a well-defended city (walls + 5-6 defence units) is less than money-production equivalent required to take it.

It's more fun for me to lay long sieges than just to bribe all AI's strongholds and overcome him with no risk. But I do bribe poorly defended cities in order to save in-game time.

 

[GoldBerg]

The point is - AI doesn't use bribing cities as much, as player can do. So it's kind of advantage over it.

but the AI is a tricky opponent: 2 examples:
1. AI always trades sciences with other AI civs (and you don't see how the AI does it)
2. AI gets its caravan/trade routes without ANY build or visible caravan.

...and so on...
you're always behind AI at king or empereor level if you don't use any regular available trick.

It is easier 'cause the cost to bribe a well-defended city (walls + 5-6 defence units) is less than money-production equivalent required to take it.

add-on:
i think i never did conquer a citywall- and multi-highlevel-unit-defensed city at empereor level; at empereor-level you lose fights with battleships against triremes - so it's at empereor level just luck (or SAVEGAME cheating) if you can take such a city with (for example) 4..armor units.

It's more fun for me to lay long sieges than just to bribe all AI's strongholds and overcome him with no risk.
... ...

that's a thing I never did try!

 

[Ifrit9]

but the AI is a tricky opponent: 2 examples:
1. AI always trades sciences with other AI civs (and you don't see how the AI does it)
2. AI gets its caravan/trade routes without ANY build or visible caravan.

Well, AI is a cheater. It doesn't mean we should cheat too .

...and so on...
you're always behind AI at king or empereor level if you don't use any regular available trick.

Why are you so pessimist? I think it's not really hard to beat AI on Emperor level without any special "tricks" or something. At all difficulty levels AI players expanse very slowly - it's not hard to overrun them. And when you did, the victory is yours.

add-on:
i think i never did conquer a citywall- and multi-highlevel-unit-defensed city at empereor level; at empereor-level you lose fights with battleships against triremes - so it's at empereor level just luck (or SAVEGAME cheating) if you can take such a city with (for example) 4..armor units.

1) You actually WIN the overwhelming majority of battles between your battleships and AI triremes .
2) To take well-defended cities at Emperor level you just have to use a lot more attacking units than usual. For instance, to take a walled city with 4 fortified riflemen inside you'll need 8-12 tanks. Anyway, it's nothing in comparison to the Civ 3 siege proportions.

 

[GoldBerg]

... ... It doesn't mean we should cheat too.

i didn't 'say' that.

I think it's not really hard to beat AI on Emperor level without any special "tricks" or something.

that's right: just play economic and diplomatic and you will win.

At all difficulty levels AI players expanse very slowly - it's not hard to overrun them.

we are (still?) discussing the small island scenario here?

You actually WIN the overwhelming majority of battles between your battleships and AI triremes.

i am typing here about empereor level situations:
the chance that you lose a fight against a tireme is UNREALiSTiC high - imho some kind of roulette to try this without (save game - ) cheating. if i just would think: 'o.k. - i'll try'
- it's with ~90% the situation that i will lose a battleship vs tireme -
BUT:
this should just be an example what may happen in the game -
nothing more or less.

to play this game economic and diplomatic is no cheating, it's an option to play the game.