Argh! What do I do?!?

[Nugog]

Originally posted by allybhoy
Parents away for a week! Turn the PC off and have a party man, big fun world out there

I'd build the shrine, then spread the religion like mad to get the cash rolling in.

[padillah]

Thanks everybody.

I went for the shrine and my gold jumpped quite a bit. I ditched the Parthenon and kept going with the Pyramids. Little did I realise, after finishing the Pyr. I got a Great Engeneer and rushed the Parth. anyway!

I started concentrating on settlers and buildings but forgot a few units so I was a little chaotic for a while but I feel better about this game now. I had 5 cities and Alex declared war. Then I looked and saw my army was last in size. Fortunately I had the pyramids opening up Police State and pumped out a few pikeman. Man, they stand up to anything! Had some War Elephants at my door and they were no problem.

This war gave me the execuse I needed to capture the city that was in my way anyway. (Alex got crafty with the boats and landed south of me two squares away from my desired location) So I took that city, pumped out some pikeman and swords and stood my ground. I think I eventually gave him Theology for peace (it was an old tech anyway, I'd had it for years).

Now I'm trying to build up my military (I'm still only about 4th of 8) and settle two more cities (I think I'll get even one more from culture flip).

I'm blooming late in the game but I really think the advice you guys gave me helpped a lot. I've got tons of tech left to discover and three of four civs yet to find, but I feel much better about this than some of my other games.

I've got to curb my wonder-chasing and pay much more attention to my military. Also, this I got from the Devel's Workshop, I need to make a list of goals and work towards those instead of wandering around hoping to bump into a good strategy.

Tom P.

[Yosho]

Yeah...making a shrine is always good at that point of the game. First of all, the shrine itself will give you more great prophet points; secondly over the course of the game it will give you more gold then anything else. Also, it'll help your religion spread faster. I would try and build both shrines as quickly as possible; a early shrine is really the best investment of a great person there is over the course of the game. The only thing that ever comes close is a great acadamy from a scientist, but shrine is usually still better.

[Urban Ranger]

One more thing about a holy shrine. If you build it, you can look at cities that practice that religion. That's a nice added benefit.

So, once you build that shrine, spread the word far and wide. Not only you get the gold but the info as well.

[SebP]

i think intelligence info is not based on having the shrine. you need tohave the holy city and have it as state religion, but you don't need the shrine. but off course, if you spread it for the info, you'd also want the shrine so you get the gold

[padillah]

Originally posted by SebP
i think intelligence info is not based on having the shrine. you need tohave the holy city and have it as state religion, but you don't need the shrine. but off course, if you spread it for the info, you'd also want the shrine so you get the gold

Nope, shrine and state religion. I've been flipping back and forth to appease Alex (He's running Judeaism but only has two cities with that religion). I'm also gifting him with 3 gpt but since I'm making 15gpt I don't really care. Just so long as he waits to declare war for a few more turns.

I've now gotten into a war with Elizabeth. She had no army (even worse than me) and had spread her cities through a chokepoint so I took two cities near the choke point and I'm going to work on the culture there.

I sent an explorer into the east and he came back with info letting me know that the land to the east in, indeed, a peninsula and this is cut off from the rest by a chokepoint which I now control. My current plan is to establish the two new cities and work my way back through the peninsula to choke Huayna Capac off and destroy him piece by piece.

I'm 6th in most everything, including solders. I'm making Camel Archers and catapults every other build but can't seem to keep up.

I know I'm going to have to fight Alex pretty soon. Do I attack first or wait for him? I think I'm going to switch to Police State, Bureaucracy, Theocracy so I can get a few good units out before he freaks. Of course the buildup may tip the balance and he won't attack but knowing him... he will. Wich is fine with me cause he has a city in the chockepoint that I want anyways.

Well, I'll let you know what happens.

I may start over on Noble knowing what I know now.

Thanks for all the help guys.

Tom P.

[couerdelion]

Originally posted by padillah


Nope, shrine and state religion. I've been flipping back and forth to appease Alex (He's running Judeaism but only has two cities with that religion).

How do you "flip" a shrine back and forth. Either you have it or you don't. You could always give it to a rival civs but Idoubt they'd be happy to give it back later

I've always had info without the shrine.

[Quillan]

He's flipping State Religions back and forth. You adopt Judaism to make Alex happy, then switch back. This will make Alex mad again, so the next time he demands you switch, you do so. Repeat. It's only really effective if you're running a Spiritual leader, otherwise the anarchy becomes crippling with you switching so much.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by padillah
Nope, shrine and state religion. I've been flipping back and forth to appease Alex (He's running Judeaism but only has two cities with that religion).

Which means if you can spread your desired religion to more of his cities he is likely to convert.

Originally posted by padillah
I know I'm going to have to fight Alex pretty soon. Do I attack first or wait for him?

If you have some kind of tech that gives your attackers an upperhand (e.g. cavalry) attack to carve him into two, or at least seize some cities before suing for peace. Otherwise wait. Pikeman and Maceman are very good defenders, and you probably have gunpowder just around the corner.

[Nugog]

Originally posted by padillah


1) I know I'm going to have to fight Alex pretty soon. Do I attack first or wait for him?

2) Which is fine with me cause he has a city in the chockepoint that I want anyways.

Tom P.

Point 1: ATTACK

Point 2: Complicates the decision - ATTACK, then DEFEND!

If he has only one way to get to you by land, then you need to control it. Aquire the city and garrison the hell out of it. Build a couple of naval units to patrol his water approaches.

Just my opinion.

[Yosho]

If you can quickly and easily grab the checkpoint city, it might be a good idea.

If you have a key millitary tech advantage, start a war instantly, before he catches up.

If neither of the above, it might be better to let him declare war on you (so you don't get a diplo hit from his friends) and then wait for his units to come to you so you can kill them more easily. If you stop his initial attack and still have a lot of forces left, then you can counterattack.

[padillah]

Well, as it turns out I'm getting my head handed to me in this game.

I'll try and get a screen shot but we all know what a chokepoint is so I'll try and explain it anyway.

It turns out that I'm hemmed in by culture borders with Elisabeth and Alexander. I had open borders with Liz and my explorer found a ton of open land on the other side of the chokepoint. So I get a settler and some millitary ready and Liz closes the border on me!

Now what? Well I try and bribe her but after the first war she's not real happy with me (wars can do that). So it looks like I'm gonna have to build-up and take her city in the chokepoint and maybe one other.

Well, it takes me a couple of turns but I get a ton of Rifleman and head for Nottingham (the chokepoint city) as well as a second city that is just way too close to me and is getting in my way culturally. Request after request for Peace if she gives me Nottingham but she never wavers. (Has anyone ever gotten a city from a peace trade?)

So I take (and keep) the annoying city (Wellington I think) and start on my way to Nottingham. On my way I pair a settler with a couple other millitary units and wander to the other side of the border (which is now just as good as open). I workout where I want a city (based on where I can put one) and settle my ~9th city.

I keep the preasure on Nottingham only to learn they have those stupid Redcoats and this is going to take a little while. I get three stacks of 4 rifle and 3 catapults and head over there (after loosing a couple of skirmishesto the ridiculous 80% culture defense).
A few turns of pounding by the cats and the riflemen walk in with one loss. I keep that one but get rid of a second one that's one square from where I want it to be. Then drop the other settler and millitary and build again.

So I finally sue for peace with no strings attached and we have a couple turns of rest. Just as I'm getting back to straightening out where my millitary is and what the heck I'm doing, Alex is on the phone, "This world is not big enough for the both of us".

My score is about 1500 and his is about 2200 but his power graph is much higher than mine (I just got out of a war for crying out loud). However he does have a city in the chokepoint that I would love to have and I'm sure there are other cities of his worth taking.

How do I find the good cities? How do I findout what's in a city before I burn it?

I have a GE waiting around for something to build, do I rush west point? Do I wait for a little and rush the Statue of Liberty?

I'm pretty advanced but I don't have any of the second gen millitary (Marines, infantry, cavalry, etc.) Do you think England would cough up the tech to cavalry for some gold? I could always go trolling for techs, I've got about 1000 gold.

Tom P.

[Quillan]

There are two ways to find out what's in the city before you burn it, but you have to do it before the combat takes place. The easy way is to have a spy enter the city. Obviously this only works if you've researched the required techs, built Scotland Yard, and built a spy to do this. The other way is to zoom in as close as possible on the strategic map and see what the city shows. All the buildings are there, but you have to know what they are, and sometimes things get hidden by others. Wonders usually stand out, but I've seen airports get hidden behind bigger buildings and become unnoticable.

[Yosho]

(Has anyone ever gotten a city from a peace trade?)

Yeah, but generally that only happens after you've beaten up on him for a while.

[Quillan]

Not only that, but they rarely seem willing to part with any city of significance. I've been able to get them to give up one of their weakest cities, but almost never the major ones.