Need Help: No Luck at all on Noble Difficulty Level...........

[MrPhil]

I have had lots of success on the level just below Noble (I think it is Warlord) but, for some reason I can only seem to "tread water" at the Noble difficulty level.

I have started about 5 games on Noble and only finished one - when I got totally whiped out by the combined forces of Julius Ceasar, Bismarck and Haspetut (sp?) in about 1870.

It seems as though I am always slightly behind the AI Civs in the Tech race. With the proper resources, I can usually stay even in the military development but, the war AI seems slanted in favor of the AI at this level.

Let me explain. In my latest game, which I cut off without saving I was so frustrated, I shared a southern border with Monty. I knew this would lead to trouble so I made sure that I had loads of units in my nearest city and along the border. I had about 7-8 Horse Archers, 6-7 Swordsmen, 5-6 Axemen and 2-3 Longbowman. When I tried to attack his unwalled city that had 3 or 4 defenders (Swordsman, Spearman and Archer) with 6 units including the Horse Archers and Swordsman (whose specialty is CITY ATTACK) they all got whiped out without barely scrathing Monty's defenders.

On the other side of the coin when he is attacking my WALLED city with Axemen against Axemen or Crossbowman against Longbowman, it seems like he wins most of those even though I supposedly get a defensive bonus. I usually have enough units to keep the city but, not to tak the fight to him.

How does the AI keep throwing military units at you AND stay ahead in the Tech race!?

There, I feel better now. Thanks for reading. I will happily take any advice to get me over the Noble hump.

[Adagio]

Try to post the save, then you'll get more specific responses
I'm at work though, so I can't give it a try

[MrPhil]

Originally posted by Adagio
Try to post the save, then you'll get more specific responses
I'm at work though, so I can't give it a try

Thanks, will try to do so after I go home for lunch. Will have to use a Auto save file because I cut the game off after about an hour of non-saved "progress"........progress, yeah, right........

Is there a special procedure for attaching files?

[Adagio]

On the 'Post Reply' page there's an 'attach file' (just above the submit reply button). It should work fine (never tried it though)

[Nikolai]

It works fine as long as you attach a file that is supported. Incidentally, that's exactly what rar, zip and civ4savegame files are.

[Solver]

Some general thoughts:

If you can hold your ground on Noble (and you can or else you'd be wiped by 1 AD), that means you got the basics right. I would guess that the problem lies in terrain improvements. Do you build your terrain improvement fast enough?

You don't need to try and have as many units as the AI civs do. A wild guess would be that you're not building enough cottages. They can be underestimated, but they'll easily give you a research time improvement if you use them. That said, AIs are often totally nuts about using cottages, so even on Noble, it's normal if the AIs are leading the tech race a bit. Like one tech ahead. And make some friends to trade with, you'll get much more bargain for your buck that way.

[LordShiva]

Siege is always helpful.

[Nikolai]

Yeah, you'll need some pretty advanced units compared to your opponent before trying to occupy an enemy's cities. Beleive me, I have tried.

[Symbiance]

As far as losing the battles, you also have to take into consideration the cultural bonuses to defense. The computer seems to be pretty good (at least, better than me) at taking advantage of culture. I once tried to do an early rush against Catherine and her two defending archers completely wiped out the 6 or 7 guys I attacked with.

anymore, I rarely try to take a city unless I have an obvious advantage in units, or if I have 2 or 3 siege units with me to bombard/attack for collateral damage, then send my other units in.

[Willem]

Re: Need Help: No Luck at all on Noble Difficulty Level...........

Originally posted by MrPhil
I had about 7-8 Horse Archers, 6-7 Swordsmen, 5-6 Axemen and 2-3 Longbowman. When I tried to attack his unwalled city that had 3 or 4 defenders (Swordsman, Spearman and Archer) with 6 units including the Horse Archers and Swordsman (whose specialty is CITY ATTACK) they all got whiped out without barely scrathing Monty's defenders.

So does this mean you attacked him without using any Catapults? I don't see them listed there. That's a big mistake if you didn't.

[Nikolai]

Indeed. And in case you are doing what I did wrong initally: Don't attack with the catapults, bombard.

[MrPhil]

Originally posted by Solver
Some general thoughts:

If you can hold your ground on Noble (and you can or else you'd be wiped by 1 AD), that means you got the basics right. I would guess that the problem lies in terrain improvements. Do you build your terrain improvement fast enough?

You don't need to try and have as many units as the AI civs do. A wild guess would be that you're not building enough cottages. They can be underestimated, but they'll easily give you a research time improvement if you use them. That said, AIs are often totally nuts about using cottages, so even on Noble, it's normal if the AIs are leading the tech race a bit. Like one tech ahead. And make some friends to trade with, you'll get much more bargain for your buck that way.

Thanks Solver.

After thinking a little more on it and looking at the map, I realized that I think I just had a pretty bad location with weak city culture (I was not getting many wonders or GPs).

My capital only had about 3 cottages around it and didn't have much room for more until the borders expanded. I had 3 other cities, 2 of which were pretty small with only 1-2 cottages around each. There wasn't much room for anything else.

The continent I was on was in the shape of a "U" sort off. I had one side of the U that was only about 9-10 sqaures wide at the widest point and maybe 15-20 long with lots of jungles and hills.

Anywho, I am chalking it up to bad location and starting over. Also, thanks for the encouragement. Good to know I am at least doing something right.

[Crossfire]

Well, first bombard his defenses to zero, then attack with the cats to cause collateral damage to all his other units. Once you have spent enough cats to damage his units to a level that your units will win, then attack with your other units. The way your main military gets stronger and it only costs you catapults.

[MrPhil]

Re: Re: Need Help: No Luck at all on Noble Difficulty Level...........

Originally posted by Willem


So does this mean you attacked him without using any Catapults? I don't see them listed there. That's a big mistake if you didn't.

**hanging head in shame** No, I didn't have any catapults or other seige weapons.........honestly didn't know they were that much of a necessity.

[MrPhil]

Originally posted by Symbiance
As far as losing the battles, you also have to take into consideration the cultural bonuses to defense. The computer seems to be pretty good (at least, better than me) at taking advantage of culture. I once tried to do an early rush against Catherine and her two defending archers completely wiped out the 6 or 7 guys I attacked with.

anymore, I rarely try to take a city unless I have an obvious advantage in units, or if I have 2 or 3 siege units with me to bombard/attack for collateral damage, then send my other units in.

Symbiance, could you explain what you mean by cultural bonuses to defense? Thanks....