Whats wrong with me?

[The_Trinity]

For some reason, Im having a real tough time on noble. I mean, not so much my playing ability, as my tenacity. Can anyone help me?

For example, I am Julius, and i have built a small empire 3-4 cities peaceful. Then, Mansa Musa steps in with a large army. As soon as the war begins, I quit.

 

[Civ4rulesTH]

I have an idea. Try a lower difficulty level.

 

[The_Trinity]

But warlord is real easy, I just have a big problem with some of noble. Again, its more, I think, a problem of tenacity than ability

 

[a4phantom]

Mansa is a much better peaceful builder than Caeser. You should attack him as soon as you get Praetorians or he will outgrow you.

 

[bitplayer]

Theres an always peace option in the custom games if you just want to build.

 

[Brian Boru]

a small empire 3-4 cities peaceful. Then, Mansa Musa steps in with a large army.

That's probably your problem, expanding too slowly. If Mansa has a large army, he probably has close to 10 cities at this stage.

You need to keep founding cities consistently, otherwise you'll be outgunned in all aspects. You can get a feel for how you're doing by contacting other leaders for diplo and counting how many cities they have listed. You don't want to fall more than say three behind, since each city is extra commerce, territory, unit production capacity etc.

As it happens, Julius is ideal for aggressive city building with his Organized and Expansive traits [unless they changed in Warlords?]. So a good guy to practice with.

 

[bassist2119]

Trinity,
1.) How many turns have elapsed at the point where you acquire your 3rd city?
2.) At what point do you research BW and how frequently do you chop- and pop- rush?
3.) What's your first three builds in capital?
4.) If you want to move forward, don't restart as soon as a seemingly unstoppable stack approaches. Experiment; discover methods of adapting.

Also, in his own cheeky way, Civ4rules has a point. I recall only a few weeks ago when I was in your EXACT same position. I lowered to Warlord for a few games (not necessarily finishing all of them). This is where you learn the application of all the strats you find in this forum. A final note of inspiration: As aforementioned, I was in the same position only a few weeks ago. Now Prince is a breeze, and I rarely get bloodied in Monarch.

Good Luck

 

[The_Trinity]

Usually, I try to expand a lot, but by the fourth or fith city, I totally am like 50% from matinence. Also, I usually like to engage in a border war against my enemy.

For Example, in my most recent game as the Inca (I have warlords so thats Inti+Fiancial and Industrious+Terraces) I had like four cities, declared war on Hatty, used only spearmen and Inti and got like trhee cities + a lot of land. I didnt xpand too much

Even with organized the Matinence cripples me. However, I usually have an ecom0ic recoolution with COL and Currency

 

[The_Trinity]

PS, Im playing on reandom personalites (JEez, no wonder Monty didnt try to rape me)

 

[Xiahou Mao]

If you drop down to 50% maintenance that quickly, then you're not focusing enough on Commerce. Seek out areas for your early cities that offer high commercial yields. Rivers, gold, gems, fur, coastal resources, things like that. If you're the type to normally farm normal grasslands, try putting a cottage on it instead. At the start of the game, if possible, scout your surroundings for goody huts and the gold they'll often give, as that will let you run your first 2-4 cities at 100% research for many turns.

You need Commerce to grow in techs, and eventually to ensure that your research% doesn't need to drop too far due to maintenance. Concentrate on it more than you are currently, and you'll see things turn around soon enough.

 

[a4phantom]

If you take a city that isn't great, consider razing it instead of paying the maintainance costs. Then pillage all the improved tiles around it, for a little gold and to keep someone else from using them.

 

[The_Trinity]

thx for all the suggestions (just to let you know, my fav leader is Huayna_)