A Bit of Help Needed

[Steve7811]

Hi there again.

After fiddling around with a couple of noble difficulty games and winning them quite comfortably, I decided to see how emperor level is like.

Boy, was I in for a big surprise. I chose the Romans in a standard continents setting, the default. And I was absolutely humilated and defeated. By the time I got to archery and started cranking out archers, the Aztecs already had their army of jaguars and vanished me from the land. It was quite an experience.

And what was so weird was that I did not choose pangaea, yet I made contact with all 6 AIs by 1000 BC or so. I don't know how this could be, but it seems like everyone is cramped in one small continent.

I really tried to find bronze early since the first tech I researched was bronze working, but they were well out of reach for me. By the time, I had iron working, the Aztecs already had pretty wiped me out.

I think I made mistakes from all different ends, so I don't know where to even begin, but could anyone possibly take a look at this map and see what you think about it? I will post the very beginning save game file here if you want to check it out.

[Dominae]

Hi there Steve. I fired up your game and played it to about 400BC. It's odd that a Continents map put everyone on the same land mass, but other than that this game looks typical (that is, no harder or easier than the Emperor games I'm used to).

I founded Rome on the starting spot because it looked okay (my Warrior moved first and discovered the Cow) and I'm big on going nomad with the first Settler.

Worker-first is my default opening and this was no exception. I decided against researching Bronze Working first for a chop and pop strategy, opting instead for the "food" techs, Agriculture and Animal Husbandry, to grow my capital as quickly as possible and then start producing a Settler once I reached my Happiness cap (just 4, alas). In the meantime I built Warriors - only two by the time Rome reached size 4.

My scouting Warrior met most of the other civs relatively quickly. More importantly, he found the Gold deposit SW of Rome. That's where I set my first Settler. I chose a location 3 tiles SW of Rome, chiefly because of the Gold but also because this would allow the city to share the Cow tile with Rome. In the early-game it's important to maximize the use of your high-output tiles, especially the high-Food ones.

By that time I had researched Bronze Working, so my next few builds chop-rushed Workers out of both cities and another Settler out of Rome. I also interspersed some Warriors in there to be on the safe side; one per city as garrisons, plus a couple of patrols. I actually built quite a few Workers in this game compared to my city count (6 Workers, 3 cities) because as it turns out there was a lot of Forest to chop and I was gearing up for a rush of some sort (ideally, Praetorian).

My third city I placed almost due East of Rome, on that Forest Hills tile adjacent to the Horse and Cow (and access to Marble). That's a wider city spacing that I usually like to use so early in the game, but immediate access to those two resources was critical. Once Horses were hooked up and I could build Chariots, I was safe from Barb attack.

To give you an idea of my strategy, here are my tech choices:

Agriculture
Animal Husbandry
The Wheel
Bronze Working
Pottery
Writing
Iron Working
Alphabet

I decided to stop expanding at three cities in order to speed up my offensive. Nonethless, I did not blindly beeline to Praetorians. I build Granaries in my two expansions in order for them to grow faster. Then, Libraries, so that I could stay in the tech race while I was being a warmonger (and to expand my borders). Finally, I built Barracks in all my cities once I discovered that I had access to Iron.

I researched Iron Working before Alphabet to ensure I had the essential resource. If not, I would have researched Horseback Riding instead for a Horse Archer offensive. The Iron turned out to be within the radius of my first expansion (Antium, SW of Rome), but dangerously close to the Creative Louis XIV's borders. He was thus my first target. There was also a free Iron source up North, a bit too far away for my liking though.

All my Workers converged on my capital after clearing most of the Forest in order to build some Cottages. My plan was to turn my capital into a Commerce city in order to pay for expected Maintenance costs and keep my tech rate high. Such provisions are necessary on Emperor, where being too focused on military will lead to short-term gains but long-term headaches. My decision to beeline to Alphabet (as opposed to, say, Horseback Riding) follows this line of reasoning, too.

With Alphabet I traded for most of the tier 1 and tier 2 techs (I signed Open Borders with everyone upon discovering Writing so that they would be nice to me). With my Cottage-heavy capital I was only 18 turns from Metal Casting, so I started researching that.

By that time I had about 8 Praetorians so I sent them into France. They took two cities quite easily, so I decided to quit and report.

With respect to your game, it's a tough break that the Aztecs rushed you so quickly. How many cities did you have when he attacked? What was your army like? With Rome you really want to be on the offensive instead of the defensive, so Archery and Archers are not the best option. Chariots are much better defenders early on (assuming you have the Horses) because they move fast and are proactive. Montezuma did not come knocking on my door, but if he had I probably could have weathered it.

This game is a good example of the early-game frenzy that sometimes occurs on Emperor and above. The AI expands very fast and its score increases very quickly. It's also much more able to defend its assets, and can even sometimes mount a decent early suprise attack (as you experienced). It's important to remember that the AI is only scary like this at the very beginning, and if you're patient your time will come. Fear is the mind-killer!

I hope this helps. Emperor is fun once you get used to being a weakling in the early-game.