Winning on emperor - but need polishing

[sakhmet]

Hi everyone

I play and win - mostly - on emperor. But I feel that certain things need to be optimal for this to happen, so I often restart. My game needs polishing.
And I'm hoping you can help me. So I'm posting a screenshot and uploading a save for my recent game - as Catherine the hawtness of Russia.

I started in a wonderful location with floodplains E, SE and S. Settled in place and began with Agri, AH (actually hut popped!), the wheel and BW. Found two! copper in great locations nearby - settled both these places and then chopped/whipped an army of promoted axes which took care of pacal - except his last city - holy judaism. The whole continent is almost jewish. Imagine the luck. I finished of pacal a while later and now I'm recovering from the war.
I have great cities, and I run scientists in most, but my empire is quite overstreched. I just sold drama to HC for 380g or so - needed the cash. And I'll have my hands on MC in 4 turns.
And what do I do next? Research toward lib? Or do I wage another war? I have a decent force of axes with great promotions for city attack - with some cats and swords I could take out one more civ. But at the cost of running the slider at 10% for another hump of turns.

The save is in BUG 3.6 and BAT 2.0 - I hope this doesn't affect anything. Just got 'em yesterday. Blue marble is so pretty!

The screenshot is an appetizer.

 

[DaveMcW]

With 8 cities at 80bc it's normal to have money problems. Get currency and courthouses to greatly increase your income.

Work ALL your cottages. Building research from mines is inefficient.

 

[sakhmet]

Thanks for taking the time, dave.
Well, I guess I should work all cottages. The fact that I'm not is dumb. I'll reassign the population. But now we've only covered the economical aspect.
What would you do regarding victory/war?
I think, I'll do what I normally do. Go for riflemen and then take them on, one at a time. Probably starting with alex, just to make him beg. Then the map is open. I fear hatshepsut will be too advanced for an all out >tech rifle attack. But maybe that's the best option then. Take out the score leader. Nobody likes her anyway.

 

[troytheface]

in essence- "I win because i reload to get things my way"- i cheat.
is the question "how can i win on emperor without cheating all the time?

i suggest that stopping reloading may be a start.

 

[cabert]

with alex as neighbour, you may not get to rifles before he declares on you.
you share religion but he is only cautious.
IMHO you should :
- recover economically (currency->CoL)
- get catapults and maces go for alex
- recover economically if needed
- get trebs and maces and go for the next one
...
IMHO, you're just not agressive enough + a bit of sloppy play.

 

[sakhmet]

in essence- "I win because i reload to get things my way"- i cheat.
is the question "how can i win on emperor without cheating all the time?

i suggest that stopping reloading may be a start.

You now what? Point taken. Actually kindda emberrasing that you need to point it out. But I do have the backbone to admit this then:
I need some pointers, so I don't need to reload and restart all the time.
I hope this takes care of it.

@Cabert
Don't mistake insight of better play for sloppy play. I simply don't know how to make my civ play more effective.
Nonetheless, I do feel that I can win this game. It'll take a while, but I feel confident that I can take out alex. Cats and macemen, yes. I can probably get them before alex and then his large army of phalanxes will die.
On a side note. Don't you think he'll go for hatshepsut?

Thanks for your time.

 

[cabert]

@Cabert
Don't mistake insight of better play for sloppy play. I simply don't know how to make my civ play more effective.
Nonetheless, I do feel that I can win this game. It'll take a while, but I feel confident that I can take out alex. Cats and macemen, yes. I can probably get them before alex and then his large army of phalanxes will die.
On a side note. Don't you think he'll go for hatshepsut?

Thanks for your time.

you're the land target.
Hattie is pretty safe on the other side (I only say so from the jpg, I didn't open the save).
Sloppy play is here when :
- you press enter while you're not clear on what you intend to do = lack of a plan
- you're focused on one aspect, leaving the rest to the AI = lack of (micro)management. Some people know how to give good oreders to the governor, so he behaves. Still, you need to check your cities better, if you're building research instead of working cottages.

 

[CHEESE!]

Can you upsize the photo?