WTF is wrong with this game?

[Incan Emperor]

Im playing a game with Frederick, I have a pretty nice Capital, but I spawned in the middle of a large continent, I do my best to fogbust while having to spam 3-4 cities ASAP to block off Vicky and Hannibal, but since the only AI north is Cyrus theres a LOT of unclaimed land in between us and loads of barbarians attack me, crippling me, I can never finish ANY wonders due to spending hammers on defense. By when I notice the Imp/Char Cyrus has rexed like crazy and blocking the other AIs only served good to him since he still managed to box me up with only 4 cities and space for 2-3 more at most.

Does anyone have this same problem? It seems to happen everytime I spawn in this circumstances.

 

[r_rolo1]

First Cyrus is Imp ,making his settlers cheaper than yours.

Second, I suppose that you're playing above Noble, where the AI have extra bonuses against barbs.

Third, Barbs have absolute knowledge of the map

Fourth, Barbs target the weakest targets ( they aren't ( that ) stupid.... )

Sum all and the response is easy... mass barb dogpile on human and Imp AI ReXing

 

[mystyfly]

Also, if you play, say above monarch, you should know that you can't rex AND build early wonders. Fred isn't even Ind so spending those hammers on Stonehenge/mids/GW is a waste if you don't really need them.

 

[Wlauzon]

And now you see why the GW is a very high priority if playing large maps with barbs.

 

[mystyfly]

the GW doesn't protect your settlers. So you still need to build units to escort your settlers or you'll be left with 2-4 cities.

 

[Incan Emperor]

First Cyrus is Imp ,making his settlers cheaper than yours.

I know that and while I did expect him to Rex pretty hard it thought that by blocking Vicky who is also Imp I would stand a shot to a mid sized empire.

Second, I suppose that you're playing above Noble, where the AI have extra bonuses against barbs

.

Im playing on Monarch plus Cyrus built the GW.

Third, Barbs have absolute knowledge of the map

This I didnt know, I guess thats the reason why some times they seem to wander away when Im strong.

Fourth, Barbs target the weakest targets ( they aren't ( that ) stupid.... )

Same as above.

Sum all and the response is easy... mass barb dogpile on human and Imp AI ReXing

Yeah I know but it shouldnt get to the point where it becomes unplayable.

 

[Incan Emperor]

Also, if you play, say above monarch, you should know that you can't rex AND build early wonders. Fred isn't even Ind so spending those hammers on Stonehenge/mids/GW is a waste if you don't really need them.

I play Monarch like stated above, I wasnt trying to ReX, just block off the AIs, and backfilling later. If Im Philo and dont get the Mids Im pretty much left with a subpar CE with a few more spontaineus GP than usual, again.

 

[Incan Emperor]

And now you see why the GW is a very high priority if playing large maps with barbs.

They where already in top of me by when I researched Masonry. And still the GW was built like 5 turns after I finished researching it.

My path was pretty solid, I had cows and a nice long river with a gold and two silks, the silks where riverside, so I went AH/BW/Agriculture/Wheel/Pottery/Masonry (For the Mids)/Writing/Alphabet.

I really had a shot at the Mids since I had done some Pre-Chopping but the Barbs really put me off.

 

[futurehermit]

If you suspect barbs will be a huge problem due to the map layout, you can 1) build the GW; 2) secure a military resource and pump military = free xp from barbs then attack a neighbour; 3) Go for archery early and pump archers then use them to fortify on hills outside your cultural boundaries to fogbust; 4) Do 2) or 3) while REXing pretty hard (COL and Currency become priorities) since the more land you cover the less there is available to barbs.

 

[BalbanesBeoulve]

Just turn off barbs. it's what I do.

 

[Incan Emperor]

I just ended up starting a new game, Im more of a CE player, and therefor Im used to tech pretty strongly throughout the entire game, and getting stronger as time goes by, Im not used and I HATE the lightbulbing SE which everyone seems to run. I like the WE/SSE where I settle my especialists instead of bulbing, and this approach is imposible without the Mids, now I realize how OP Phi/Ind would be, right now for the type of SE I like to run I find Ind much more valuable than Philo unless I have Stone in the BFC or on a spot where I can found my very next city.

If you play like Augustus, spam forums, leverage Ind into the Parthenon and run Pacifism, the Philo bonus becomes negligible specially considering that with Philo you would probably not get The Mids nor The Parthenon nor TGLib.

What I have against the lightbulbing SE is that there is a point where poping GP just gets really hard plus even when you get some, a lightbulb is only good for half a tech, plus when you think of all the beakers you waste lightbulbing some techs worth less than 1K beakers its just not profitable.

Once you reach a certain ceiling you either make the painful transition to a CE, or go all out war to leverage your current lead, its just to close ended honestly I dont play for the scores I play for fun and I really dont go all out for a victory condition I just take whatever the game offers me, I strive for a thriving civilization not for some obscure World War campaign that I was planning since 4000 BC.

Whats diplomacy for then huh? Ill just DoW you in my way to Victory, been there done that too many times since Civ I, this is the first Civ game that I feel is worth playing till the future Era and Im not wasting that winning all my game in the Renaissance just because I dont know how to play past there.

Finally I feel the Lightbulbing SE has gone too far, some people plan it so well it becomes borderline exploitative.

Well this didnt have much to do with my original topic so iguess Im starting a new one.

 

[Incan Emperor]

OK I realized what the problam was, I usually play on normal speed, Im playing on Epic now, the grace period before Barbs spawn does not scale up in between time speeds, it also obviously takes longer before you can fill the map, and also barbs get to you quiker, also it makes it much more difficult to steam a defense.

That was the problem, well Epic, thanks but Im going back to normal.

 

[futurehermit]

you don't need pyramids for the WE/SE, it just makes it more powerful. lightbulbing economy is not exploitative, it is a strategy like everything else. you are trading short-term economic gains for long-term economic problems if you don't have a complementary economic strategy.

 

[Xurr]

Yeah I know but it shouldnt get to the point where it becomes unplayable.

A few strategically placed axemen outside your cities on the border to the fog is all you need to halt the barbs. This gives them all great experience and I sometimes rotate out a few to get the max experience for a number of them.

You can usually determine the flow spots for barbs by watching where they come in. Find a good spot in a forest or hill where the bards will pass by on flat land. Then just snip them off 1 at a time as they come in.

 

[ParadigmShifter]

Find a good spot in a forest or hill where the bards will pass by on flat land. Then just snip them off 1 at a time as they come in.

Oh no! The bards are coming! William Shakespeare is back, and this time he's out to pillage!