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On higher difficulties, for example Prince/Monarch and above, is it possible to be in a leading position in tech and military power?
I find my strategy in Civ 4, while necessary to stay in the tech race in the hopes of avoiding a Space Race loss, means that I don't have enough military power in the late game to win a Domination victory. (next game, I'll disable Space Race...if I have fully until 2050, I may find Domination possible). I've been in very good shape and expanding, but not yet able to achieve Domination in time to prevent one of the AIs from launching.
It seems to me the only way to win on the higher difficulties is to go for a Space Race or Cultural win (never tried diplomatic).
In my last game, on Monarch, my neighbours the Aztecs had a huge military, but poor tech. Cyrus, on the other hand, didn't have a big land mass, but was right there with me in tech and the game power graph had Cyrus as also having the #1 military. But given he was on the exact opposite end of the world, I never saw his army/units but given the small'ish size of his empire, let's just say I have my doubts.
To build a big army, that's a lot of production turns over the course of the game. I just don't see how one Civ could build the infrastructure to be a tech/production power in late game when they are building units over buildings throughout the game. I tried Persia and their Immortals for an early game land grab to build a bigger city base, but found that I lagged for so long due to city maintenance that I more or less doomed myself early to a space race loss as I couldn't regain tech parity. I could build a lot of units, but they were inferior thus negating the advantage making an offensive war an insanity.
So back to the question...can you be the dominant power in the late game in military and tech? Or is the AI balanced well enough in this game that you have to choose one path or the other and try to carve your path to victory, knowing that a true balance between the two will mean you won't be the best at either?
Assumptions - standard map size, normal game speed, Prince/Monarch or higher difficulty
I find my strategy in Civ 4, while necessary to stay in the tech race in the hopes of avoiding a Space Race loss, means that I don't have enough military power in the late game to win a Domination victory. (next game, I'll disable Space Race...if I have fully until 2050, I may find Domination possible). I've been in very good shape and expanding, but not yet able to achieve Domination in time to prevent one of the AIs from launching.
It seems to me the only way to win on the higher difficulties is to go for a Space Race or Cultural win (never tried diplomatic).
In my last game, on Monarch, my neighbours the Aztecs had a huge military, but poor tech. Cyrus, on the other hand, didn't have a big land mass, but was right there with me in tech and the game power graph had Cyrus as also having the #1 military. But given he was on the exact opposite end of the world, I never saw his army/units but given the small'ish size of his empire, let's just say I have my doubts.
To build a big army, that's a lot of production turns over the course of the game. I just don't see how one Civ could build the infrastructure to be a tech/production power in late game when they are building units over buildings throughout the game. I tried Persia and their Immortals for an early game land grab to build a bigger city base, but found that I lagged for so long due to city maintenance that I more or less doomed myself early to a space race loss as I couldn't regain tech parity. I could build a lot of units, but they were inferior thus negating the advantage making an offensive war an insanity.
So back to the question...can you be the dominant power in the late game in military and tech? Or is the AI balanced well enough in this game that you have to choose one path or the other and try to carve your path to victory, knowing that a true balance between the two will mean you won't be the best at either?
Assumptions - standard map size, normal game speed, Prince/Monarch or higher difficulty