I finally out-stacked Shaka!

[Willem]

Overkill. I might have started my attack earlier
Maybe with 30 units.

BTW, 30 units is not always enough when dealing with Shaka. I've had him hit me with stacks that large by the year 0 AD. And he hadn't been involved in any wars for quite sometime, so I was expecting a massive counterattack. For some reason he never got it together that way in the game though. The stack I did encounter was pretty pitiful really. Charlemagne put up more of a fight, he actually managed to take out a few of my Infantry after 2 seperate counterattacks. I still had plenty to spare though.

[brandonjm8]

when you go on your wars and build up an attack force, how many units do you leave to protect your cities? generally the way i play if im playing on marathon mode, every costal city gets walls n castles(i play using custom continents) the majority of my modern units goes to the coastal cities preferrebly by my closest rival, while ill leave just one or two in my inner cities provided they are not close to the coast. i build up defense first before i build up an attack force that im sending to war, i will build some attackers like cavalry then eventually a mix of tanks and gunships, i never goto war unless im properly defended first. im more of an expansionist than a war mongerer, id prefer if i can to build up my landmass first while building defensive units n between city improvments, once im properly solidified ill goto all out war production until at least 50 attack units or so cause i leave some to defend. i do this using none of the war civics like vassalage or theocracy, i like having high science so i keep rep. or univ suff and serfdom until steam power than emancipation(fuke the villiages i want towns hehehehe, lol) then who doesnt love free religion great science boost and can turn some of your rivals into trading partners and later allies. once on civ 2 for ps1 i had over 120+ cities, at least 100 of them were my own, before my spaceship reached alpha centauri i was destroying my rivals and taking over their land, they didnt have much cause i had 100 to begin with(i didnt lose a single unit nor did i use nukes, bombers battleships and tanks and howitzers(in the ps1 civ2 they were the only land unit to bypass city walls they were awesome), my navy alone had at least 20 battleships twice as many aegis cruisers and subs and carriers. whats the biggest you have ever gotten on any civ game?

[Willem]

when you go on your wars and build up an attack force, how many units do you leave to protect your cities?

In that particular game I had some pretty impressive city defences. The cities along the border with Sury in particular since he was the main enemy on my own continent. I had maybe a dozen units in each one, which is one reason why I ended up with so many units. When he became my vassal, I was able to pull them all out and send them off to the frontlines overseas.

im more of an expansionist than a war mongerer, id prefer if i can to build up my landmass first while building defensive units n between city improvments,

I usually play the same way. I generally don't go to war unless I'm running out of places to build new cities. I place a strong incentive on city defences in case someone decides to wage a sneak attack. Lately I've been adding units with almost every possible combination of promotions in my cities, so I'll end up with maybe 3 Macemen etc. with different promotions and 3 or 4 Archers/Longbowmen. I try to cover as many bases as possible, without using promotions that become useless later, like Shock or Cover. I only use promotions that will still have some value by the end of the game.

i do this using none of the war civics like vassalage or theocracy, i like having high science so i keep rep. or univ suff and serfdom until steam power than emancipation

I like Vassalage myself. I'll use it right up until I get Liberalism, at which time I'll switch to Free Speech. Theocracy I don't use much, I prefer the building bonus from Organized Religion until Liberalism. Then I'll switch to Free Religion. I don't have much use for Emancipation myself, I only switch to it when I start seeing that happiness penalty in my cities. Before that I'll use Caste System.

whats the biggest you have ever gotten on any civ game?

I can't remember my Civ 2 days, or even Civ 3 for that matter. But my record so far in Civ 4 is 70 cities. Most of those were ones I started myself.

[brandonjm8]

In that particular game I had some pretty impressive city defences. The cities along the border with Sury in particular since he was the main enemy on my own continent. I had maybe a dozen units in each one, which is one reason why I ended up with so many units. When he became my vassal, I was able to pull them all out and send them off to the frontlines overseas.

i like to make an ally before going to war for the long haul too, but it can be difficult sometimes choosing who you want to ally with, i play usually with no more than eight civs total usually i like having six civs including my own, i want to have a challenge so i let the ai's have just as much land as i do, ill even use the wb to turn all the desert and tundra into plains more land to build with, hopefully will = a challenge, i dont like playing higher than noble cause with noble nobody has advantages, but i may have to to get a challenge.

I usually play the same way. I generally don't go to war unless I'm running out of places to build new cities. I place a strong incentive on city defences in case someone decides to wage a sneak attack. Lately I've been adding units with almost every possible combination of promotions in my cities, so I'll end up with maybe 3 Macemen etc. with different promotions and 3 or 4 Archers/Longbowmen. I try to cover as many bases as possible, without using promotions that become useless later, like Shock or Cover. I only use promotions that will still have some value by the end of the game.

me too, maybe quite not as many units per cause i hate building soon obsolete units unless im on the brink of war, ill build mainly axemen and spearmen, then longbowmen then once i get gunpowder provided im not at war ill build a crap load of musketeers for the simple reason once u get rifleman it only costs 110gold for each musketeer to become rifleman, i can live with that, archers axemen spearmen all cost too much for me to want to build in numbers, just strains the budget u know, if i have a choice i choose this.

I like Vassalage myself. I'll use it right up until I get Liberalism, at which time I'll switch to Free Speech. Theocracy I don't use much, I prefer the building bonus from Organized Religion until Liberalism. Then I'll switch to Free Religion. I don't have much use for Emancipation myself, I only switch to it when I start seeing that happiness penalty in my cities. Before that I'll use Caste System.

vassalage gets really expensive once your empire gets to 15+ cities, i like keeping my science rate at 70 or higher the entire game if i can, so i like the low upkeep of serfdom until steam then swith to emancipation the cottage growth bonus as well slowing down my rivals with extra unhappiness because i have emanc and they dont growth is never a bad thing . i keep org religion too until my economy will allow for free religion and i like spreading my religion to get trading partners n allies but once i can afford to have free religion while having a high science rate.

I can't remember my Civ 2 days, or even Civ 3 for that matter. But my record so far in Civ 4 is 70 cities. Most of those were ones I started myself.

i usually averaged 80+ cities on civ2(i still have civ2 for ps1, was just playing it six months ago before i bought my computer! great game especially for the ps1) usually now on civ4 i have just the original civ4 no expansion packs yet if i play towards the end ill end up with around 50-60 too or so, sometimes more, my highest on civ4 is almost 80, more if u include my ally germany, they had at least 30, all good science producers, i was the military power which is why i allied with them then killed the romans hahahahaha, i killed the greeks early stupid weak pathetic fools muwahhhahahahahahahah, lol.

[wodan11]

I can't remember my Civ 2 days, or even Civ 3 for that matter.

I can't either.

All those beers in our misspent youth, no doubt.

[Willem]

All those beers in our misspent youth, no doubt.

I think in my case it's just old age.

[brandonjm8]

,
lol, me too i remember my big ones! but i wasnt drinking beer, cough cough lol.
one time on ps1 civ2 this was the best ai rival i ever had, the ai was the sioux and they built so many cities and units that the game's limits were reached half away through the game, i couldnt build any defense hahaha that sucked lol , but i was #2 with 20 cities and we were friends thank god but he got to space first quick too, if i had to guess id say the sioux had close to 100 cities all on their own, id never seen an ai get that big, either way even with the _CasH cheat you couldnt beat him, too fu$king big!