Emporer Ancient Era - How do you balance needs?

[vmxa1]

Originally posted by UnOrthOdOx
Ah yes, "Zening".

I figured an MZO civver would appreaciate it.

[UnOrthOdOx]

Actually,

all those old Dtrategy (no that's not a typo) threads are worth a look when talking about camps: http://www.apolyton.net/forums/showt...threadid=90000

Especially the "RL" example one: http://apolyton.net/forums/showthrea...threadid=90611

[Krill]

.

Krill welcome aboard.

Thank you for the welcoming.

More like 30 workers. All are roaded, but only recently got iron + horses. I hate that UU, and the workers are no where good enough. That and i can't use most of the cities because of the crippling corruption. the palace will be moved a more central position, THEN i'll go to war and use the UU to kill off some half dead unit.

[UnOrthOdOx]

/me begins to panic at seeing the state of that military...


Just differing playstyles.

[Krill]

I know i'm cutting it fine , but Spain + Rome are at war, and both love me and are, basically, crap. Invasion by sea? Not with this AI. Swap govs when? in 8 turns, when Feudalism is reseached, to republic, and get that B*****y palace moved ASAP

[Krill]

Build a city RIGHT on the border before attacking if you can, it'll give you an extra turn closer to your target. Your goal should be either a Resource or Capitol for the first attack.

What about a wonder?

[realpolitic]

I had so much trouble balancing, I stopped doing it, then my game got better. Build culture only as needed, make sure to have it when you get close to a capitol, eitgher with a temple before you prepare for your first war, or poprushing in all your cities as the need comes, and if you have enough culture, let it slide for a while.

The secret to economising is knowing tech gets cheaper as time goes by, so libraries are only good for culture.

That leaves warmongering, once a civ is close, and Rexing when war is impractical. My first war starts when I have 2 cities, enough to defray some of the unit costs. NonMilitary civs should wait on the barracks, until at least the second war, 40 shields buys only a 33% increase in attack strength. Breakeven comes when a city produces 160 shields of units. Your first war need only yield a few cities, they'll be poprushing units, and their lower population will bite them in the a$$ when you attack again in 20 turns. Also, if you don't approach their capitol, culture won't be a problem, until your next war.

Nonscientic civs pay 80 for a library a 50% increase in science. If each of your cities produced 4 archers, you could probaly increase your empire by 50%. These cities will produce more shields too, so skip building until it makes Sense.

[vmxa1]

Don't foget the JT's are great to backup an attacker. The 0 bombardment helps. So they are useful and you can hit the barbs with them and get slaves.

[Krill]

you can hit the barbs with them and get slaves.

I'm using the Au mod, so i must abide by the house rules: NO BARB FARMING.

[vmxa1]

Well I don't know if that means you cannot kill barbs with your UU.
I would think that means no setting aside and area to let the barbs respawn and then kill them over and over.

I do not see a problem with just using your units naturally. Farming is an exploit, killing them as you find them is another thing altogether.

[Krill]

Ok, fair point, i'll do that next time' seeing as they are all gone now.
Just a thought, but if the jt was used to pop a goody hut, then (almost) any outcome is going to be beneficial, because barbs are spawned then there is the chance to gain a worker

[vmxa1]

True, but how many huts are you going to be in a position to pop with a Jav? By the time you have some, all the huts are going to be gone. Maybe at a real low level, you may be able to get a hut or two.

[Krill]

Ok, but it was just a thought. The jt is an ok UU, but at this level it seems that it would be better to build 3 warriors, or a legionary, than a javalin thrower.
I suppose that the traits help to balance the needs of expansion, exploration, workers, and defence by boosting needs 1 + 3, letting the player concentrate on needs 2+4 more.
Maya are probably the best civ to jump levels with, aren't they?

[vmxa1]

The Mayans have two great traits, but it is a bugger to avoid the real early GA. I used them for some Demi and Sid games. At Emp, you could get by with not using the UU for combat until you feel a GA is not a bad thing.
I am playing a game at Deity now using the Ottoman. I think you could definetly not worry about wonder building triggering a GA, but it would be hard to avoid using the ancient UU above Demi.

I wanted to try a religious civs, but it was hard to find one without a UU that was a sword or archer type. So I went with Science and Industry with middle age UU.

The funny thing was I was next to China and got 2 wars before I even knew the tech for archers. The dutch jumped me after the first war, but never got more than a few units to me as they had to go through china.

As to building the UU ir more units, it is all situational. Get in a spot with one or even no immediate neighbor, you have a different issue than say in my game. I am on the butt of what may be a large contient. I am cut off by China and I know the Dutch were next to them. China pushed the Dutch back where I can't see them. I just got my first galley out this turn. I never got any scouting past China, they would not stand for it. So I have very little knowledge of the map.

[vmxa1]

BTW I ran into a China sending a cat at one of my cities with a spear. I can't recall seeing any cats attacking me before. One city I captured had three cats in it and I have captured 2 others. Very unusal to see so early in the game.