Will my strategies still work on Monarch?

[LightSpectra]

I'm currently winning every game on Prince, so I'm going to step up to Monarch.

Currently, my strategy is to be a tech whore as either Wang Kon or William of Orange. I NEVER trade techs with my allies unless I'm brutally behind, or they are and I'm giving them a tech everybody else already has. But I do buy the ones I currently don't have with gold. That way, I end up ages ahead of everyone else and I can conquer with a small excursion force of units much more advanced than they are.

Should I expect that to stop working on Monarch, or do you think it'll still be feasible?

 

[axident]

I rarely trade. I know it's popular to do the whole SE/scientist bulb-and-trade thing to Liberalism. I say bah humbug, the net result of such a strat is that you wind up with a modest tech lead by Liberalism and perhaps not even that much land. I say, trade only if you can get an outsized return for it. Research and/or steal the rest. Your no-trade thing should work even without espionage theft on Monarch or higher, as long as you are efficient.

 

[InvisibleStalke]

I expect you will need to change tactics on Monarch. Buying techs with gold is expensive - you would be better off just researching them yourself. And trading techs usually involves you trading the same tech as many times as you can to get the most out of your own research. Better to trade one tech 3x than trade 3 new techs to the AI.

 

[Airefuego]

Hmmm - interesting strategy.

I would say that if your victories depend upon using a specific leader AND a specific style of play, you might not have the flexibility to deal with everything the next level will throw at you...

Maybe experiment a bit more... and once you can win most games with random leader and random map type, I'd say you will surely dominate the next level!

 

[OTAKUjbski]

I find that in BtS, Monarch is the new Prince. What I mean to say is the jump from Prince to Monarch isn't near as difficult in BtS as it was in Warlords.

I used to win about 50/50 Monarch in Warlords; now I win about 80% of 'em even using Random Civ/Leader!

Pretty much every strategy that worked at Prince still works at Monarch, with the exception of the Gandhi-Orace-Paper Slingshot (using a Stonehenge/Temple GP for Theology).

Hmmm - interesting strategy.

I would say that if your victories depend upon using a specific leader AND a specific style of play, you might not have the flexibility to deal with everything the next level will throw at you...

Maybe experiment a bit more... and once you can win most games with random leader and random map type, I'd say you will surely dominate the next level!

If you prefer a specific leader and style and don't deviate from it, then you can very likely move up to Monarch/Emperor with that leader.

However, if you decide to branch out later, you'll probably want to drop back to Prince while trying out new leaders or strategies.

 

[madscientist]

I find that in BtS, Monarch is the new Prince. What I mean to say is the jump from Prince to Monarch isn't near as difficult in BtS as it was in Warlords.

I.

I definitely agree. Monarch was a definite challenge in Warlords for me because of the tech pace, but no problem at all in BTS. Similarly, BTS emperor seams closer the Warlords Monarch but still not as tight in teching.

On the other hand, the AI tends to play a more balanced game, meaning there are AIs trying for domination, diplomatic, and cultural wins.

 

[xanadux]

You will probably do better if you trade techs. It is possible to research metal casting early and get literature, CoL, Math, Currency, Calendar, and Iron Working all in trade for it, effectively giving you 4x your beakers in return. Trade for the currency first, and you might also make a few hundred gold in the process. Athough this may not be necessary, if you can pick up several techs all in exchange for your 1 monopoly tech, you will definitely out tech the AI quicker than holding on to it. Sometimes what you can get for a tech is just too good to pass up.

 

[Florian]

I find that in BtS, Monarch is the new Prince.

I've never actually played Warlords Monarch level, as I was ready to make the jump from Prince at exactly the same time as BTS came out. It doesn't feel much different, though, so that squares with what Otaku and many others are saying. Based on my early games at Noble and Prince, I was expecting to lose a lot when I first got to Monarch, but I'm 4-for-4 so far with 4 different leaders (Pericles, Justinian, Gilgamesh, and Roosevelt).

I hear this difficulty scale is more in line with the one in the vanilla game. Hmmm... this could explain why it took my so long to beat Prince regularly. I think I switched to Warlords soon after making that jump. So maybe my long tutelage at Prince prepared me to play Vanilla or BTS Monarch.

Anyway, I'm seeing another jump likely in the near future unless a patch makes things harder again.