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Second Lieutenant
Last Seen:
3/12/2009 8:52 PM
Posts: 1,440
Visits: 3,752
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WE WILL DESTROY YOU
Last Seen:
3/11/2010 10:53 AM
Posts: 6,812
Visits: 31,300
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Veteran Sceptic
 
Last Seen:
3/3/2008 5:09 PM
Posts: 367
Visits: 579
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I don't seem to have much problems with keeping up on emperor level with techs. I used to have some before, as I tried the completely militaristic japs.
I think there are some aspects which are positive about playing a marathon against 18 AI on huge map. You get more opportunity to trade techs, but your opponents get it too. Moreover there's a higher propability that some opponents will get particularly well developed and they will start eating the weaker ones, so you will find someone to fight with even in the late game. It is harder for you to grab a religion or a world wonder, when facing many opponents.
If you are successful on monarch, to jump higher the way goes through the details. Remember that most cities don't need most buildings, there are techs what you need at some time and some that can wait. You can't be schematic and you have to really pay attention by managing priorities.
And for those who despise the war: I don't see any solution of being successful on emperor without conquering one of your neighbors at either dawn of classical or rise of medieval era depending on the situation. At that point your civ should have an economy able to support the expansion and it would be very inefficient to deny it. Exceptionally you could try an early conquest, but do it only if you have special unit at that time.
Prudent warmongering allways pervails. The AI is dumb and war is the best area, where you can outsmart it.
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"A wise game designer is not one that has hundreds of ideas of what should be added, removed or modified in a game, but one that is always aware of what shouldn't be added, removed or modified in the first place" - mik1984
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Residing President
Last Seen:
3/14/2010 5:06 PM
Posts: 467
Visits: 1,876
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Elite Warlord
Last Seen:
6/29/2009 7:29 AM
Posts: 406
Visits: 422
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Veteran Sceptic
Last Seen:
3/3/2008 5:09 PM
Posts: 367
Visits: 579
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In the begining of the game, you need to decide weather you want religion or not. If you don't have mysticism it is advisable on monarch or higher to forget about it.
Ensuite, you should think weather you need archery or not. It depends on the level of barbarian threat. If you play on an archipelago, you don't have much to worry about, but if you border with large unhabitated landmass, then beware. The real barbs start to spawn in after 3000BC. If you're playing also with raging barbs your primary objective on such map would be to survive thier attacks, which really aren't a joke.
When fighting them, instead of sitting in your cities and allowing them to pillage your coutryside, create barb free buffer zones around your civ by overwatching the terrain by fortified units in strategic locations. The further away from your cities they spawn in, the more probably they will prey on your opponents.
But back to techs. The next techs you'll want to have are those which you need to develop your resources on map and build nessesairy tile improvements. But don't research i.e. mining or agriculture "because you'll be needing it anyways". My brother does this and he's stuck on Noble. I never enter classical age having all techs from the bottom line of the tech tree.
Now I assume you don't have any early UU. If so, you should develop it as soon as it is efficient and wage a very early war against a neighbor. You should base you strategy on that unit. The extreme one is Quechua. The strategy is Barracks and then Quechuas chain production. When you have at least 6 go for war, but don't stop producing them.
Following, you'll have to decide about your way to the classical age, through Alphabet or Iron Working. If you have at least 3 contacts, which should be still friendly at that time, go for A, since writing allows to build libraries, which can give your cities something sensible to produce. An early A will allow you to deal the cards in the area of science and you'll be a match for your opponents. However you risk not having Iron in you borders. In medieval times you just can't get around without it. And your opponents will most propably not trade you IW, even if they have it.
So if you have two or less contacts, go for IW. This will allow you to see where the Iron is, when there are still areas left to colonize. Having no iron in classical age doesn't knock you out, horses or copper aren't bad, but you need to go for conquest and swordsmen are best for it and you still have your options open when it comes to a slightly later war. If you've got both h&c, you are not in a bad position at all there's no real counter against a mix of spears, axes and chariots in the field before Construction. If you've got h&c and you have the Wheel and Bronze Working, you might consider neglecting IW and still turning to A.
When constructing buildings and tile improvements also watch what you do need and what can wait, avoid the "because you'll be needing it anyways" error. You need to expand in order to secure resources and increase your production capabilities but you'll have to do it in a way that doesn't stifle your economy.
The exception is the Supercapital strategy, where it is imperative to have stone and multiple high food crop tiles, and build Pyramids early. Also founding a religon isn't optional. Then you should limit yourself to 2, 3 in special case, cities. If you can grab also marble, then you're in paradise. The second city is to secure important resources, the first one will grow in a extremly large metropolis and will be grabbing a big majority of worlds wonders.
Finally, if you get Stonehenge, it can easily produce a great prophet for your religon. That is also a situation, where those stinky Jaguar Warriors might be useful, since ou don't need iron and in a relatively small territory it is highly probable not to find any.
PS:I don't like the +25% jungle defence bonus. Jungles are only near equator, jungles+forests are almost everywhere. I think it would be better if they would cost the normal swordsman price(40 not 35) and get a +25% jungle&forest defence bonus. By limiting the bonus to the jungle the effectivness of jaguar is highly variable of the starting location you get, which causes game unbalance. Just compare those Jags to Pretorians. Ps are way better even in a jungle. Maybe even the +25% forest defense bonus should be given to them for free, without changing the price?
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PPS: Is this the first sentence you've read from my post?
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"A wise game designer is not one that has hundreds of ideas of what should be added, removed or modified in a game, but one that is always aware of what shouldn't be added, removed or modified in the first place" - mik1984
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Impeached by a patch
Last Seen:
3/11/2010 6:05 AM
Posts: 2,208
Visits: 4,029
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When it comes to technology on Monarch or higher, an imo very important thing to remember is, well, the AI gets significant research bonuses. Obviously. Which means what? Well, you won't (barring exceptional circumstances) be able to be the overall leader in tech on your own. Overpowering the AI in raw beaker production just isn't realistic. You might have a lead in certain branch of the tech tree, but on average you will lag behind.
The solution is, don't get overly squeamish about holding on to tech simply because nobody else has it and you like to have it for yourself only for a while. Trade, trade, trade! Pick up a tech which no other AI has bothered to pick up but which still is worth as least as much as other same-era techs the AI has but you don't (Medicine is a good example). Trade it around for as much as you can get for it from as many AIs as possible. Don't be squeamish here about doing trades that are nominally slightly disfavouring you. Giving an 8000 beaker tech for a 5000 one might feel unfair, BUT if you pimp it around for one 5000 beaker tech from three different AIs, your overall tech level has risen by 15000 beakers while that of the three AIs will have risen by 8000 only.
You need friends! Relations do matter greatly when it comes to getting to trade. Having a few good pals is better than having average relations with everyone. Listen to their requests about stopping trading with their enemies, unless that enemy is another one of your good pals. Which means you have a sub-optimal choice of pals, it's preferable that your buddies can get along with each other rather than force you to choose a side between them. Pay attention to the relations between the AIs in the diplomatic advisor. No, really! You might think that there's no reason not to annex that feeble little AI, but your pals might not like their pal getting declared war on.
Good choices for pals are medium-sized nations. Small ones seldom have anything really interesting to trade you, while big 'uns are bound to be your rivals, and better be left without any tech you'll be able to avoid slipping them.
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Veteran Sceptic
Last Seen:
3/3/2008 5:09 PM
Posts: 367
Visits: 579
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Finding pals in the early state of the game usually goes around your religion. Sometimes you are able to get some outside it. You should look at your sticky factors. Maybe someone likes you because of your civic? There's no way to have multiple friends and make everybody of them like each other. If you get sicky bonuses because of religion or civic that you want to expoit for a longer time, you'll usually be able to make a friend. When you add to that bonus the bonus for trade relations, supplying them with resources, open borders, he'll be your pal, even if you trade with somebody he doesn't like. For trading with enemies you get max -4, and in the endgame that's a factor which I have with every faction and I still get around with having Friendly ones.
It is obvious that trading a tech even for a cheaper one is usually useful. It is useful sometimes to trade a tech for gold, but although you don't loose anything for selling a tech, don't sell them for beggers money: let's say a 4000b tech for 300 gold, but for at least 700(perferably around at least 1200, but know you would be able to squeeze even around 3000 if they only had that much and are not researching it!). If it's a not significant faction, you'll make many other factions angry, if it's a significant, you provide them with a tech for less that 10% cost.
On emperor the AI get I guess +30% to everything. It's not that much. After your empire will be at least twice as large as the biggest of your opponents, tree holy cities with Wall Street in biggest of them, many of your cities will be large and mature, you'll be producing more beakers than them and the bonus is the thing that saves them from staying behind.
Your brake even budget should place between 40% and 60%. Above 60% means time to kick @$$, below 40% means you've done something stupid. The expansion might seem debilitating, because you'll have to lower you science rate from 70% to 50%, but with getting grip o the new cities you'll find yourself producing at least more or less the same amount of beakers per turn, and once you develop them you'll get your science rate back to 70% very soon.
PS You shouldn't be afraid however of drastic manouvering with your budget. Sometimes it's good to put your science rate to 0% for a few turns and watch your treasury grow. It can be useful once you have UniSuf and a number of underdeveloped cities, by braking them out quickly from a vicious circle where they can't develop, because they lack some buildings and they can't build them quickly, because they are not developed. Remember that hurrying production costs less money or slaves if a city has buildings like forge, factory and power plant, so those are buildings which you would like to have in almost every except those purely strategic ones. I mean a city in the middle of glacier desert, which doesn't contribute to your treasury, production or population, it serves only to prevent a large area of your lands from being outside of your control. Completely useless areas happen however rarely. It's enough that a city has access to sea, it can build a lighthouse and it will work on sea tiles providing you with money. A one tile island in the middle of an ocean is far from being useless. It's relatively easy to defend and provides an unsinkable carrier.
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"A wise game designer is not one that has hundreds of ideas of what should be added, removed or modified in a game, but one that is always aware of what shouldn't be added, removed or modified in the first place" - mik1984
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Conscript
Last Seen:
3/9/2007 2:24 PM
Posts: 28
Visits: 168
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sweetP
Last Seen:
5/10/2009 7:42 PM
Posts: 4,829
Visits: 8,484
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