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Dominated the world as Caesar by 1622AD. On Pangea maps with easy access to Iron, Romans are unstoppable. By 1270BC, my Praetorian army is ready to roll:
The AI does not build big military very early. Instead, it builds 2 archers per city and focuses on grabbing territories. Because the AI has tons of bonus at Monarch+ levels, following the same strategy will lead to certain defeat. So the human player only needs to build one city or two, and then take the best cities AIs have built for you. Of course, no other Civ is better suited for this task as the Romans.
Where Axemen have trouble knocking down Archers in cities with 40% defense bonus, Praetorians cut them down easily. You can advance with amazing speed and efficiency. By 5AD, two AI civs are already defeated:
As you can notice in the screen shot, AIs have not researched Feudalism yet, so the Praetorians still have no effective counter units. Also, my Civ doesn't have a religion yet despite having founded the Confucianism and controlled the Buddhist holy city. The reason is that I'm still deciding with whom I should be allied with.
By 800AD the English, who were getting dangerously ahead in tech and having hordes of Longbowmen, still got mopped up by Praetorians:
At this point, my finance was in serious trouble. My decision was to consolidate, research toward Divine Rights, and build the Versaille. Pop-rush Courthouses in conquered cities and chop trees to build Markets seemed reasonable.
By 1256AD, I have decided to ally with Monty instead of Alex and converted to Judaism. Monty's army was really big so defeating him would be a major pain in the butt. At the same time, Monty was more friendly disposed toward me than Alex. And finally, religion is more effective with the spiritual Monty than with the philosphical Alex. In 1250AD, I bribed Monty into attacking Alex who in turn declared war on me immediately after:
Alex had Knights and Macemen, thus my Praetorians finally lost their superiorities in this war. But with the right promotions, they should still be able to chew through Longbowmen and Pikemen defended cities. Before launching my offensive, I needed to wait for more War Elephants, Crossbowmen, and Macemen to arrive.
The war with Alex was a long grind. It took longer and was more costly than any previous wars. By 1508AD, he was finally defeated and confined to a size 2 city in the arctic ice. Germany would be the last opponent. I could have marched in with the force I had, but decided to consolidate again. It turned out to be an unwise choice.
I waited until the Germans also had their Cavalries. The final war was ugly and the later finishing date severely lowered my scores. But what the heck, this was my first decisive win at the Emperor level, and I'd like to share a little bit:
The AI does not build big military very early. Instead, it builds 2 archers per city and focuses on grabbing territories. Because the AI has tons of bonus at Monarch+ levels, following the same strategy will lead to certain defeat. So the human player only needs to build one city or two, and then take the best cities AIs have built for you. Of course, no other Civ is better suited for this task as the Romans.
Where Axemen have trouble knocking down Archers in cities with 40% defense bonus, Praetorians cut them down easily. You can advance with amazing speed and efficiency. By 5AD, two AI civs are already defeated:
As you can notice in the screen shot, AIs have not researched Feudalism yet, so the Praetorians still have no effective counter units. Also, my Civ doesn't have a religion yet despite having founded the Confucianism and controlled the Buddhist holy city. The reason is that I'm still deciding with whom I should be allied with.
By 800AD the English, who were getting dangerously ahead in tech and having hordes of Longbowmen, still got mopped up by Praetorians:
At this point, my finance was in serious trouble. My decision was to consolidate, research toward Divine Rights, and build the Versaille. Pop-rush Courthouses in conquered cities and chop trees to build Markets seemed reasonable.
By 1256AD, I have decided to ally with Monty instead of Alex and converted to Judaism. Monty's army was really big so defeating him would be a major pain in the butt. At the same time, Monty was more friendly disposed toward me than Alex. And finally, religion is more effective with the spiritual Monty than with the philosphical Alex. In 1250AD, I bribed Monty into attacking Alex who in turn declared war on me immediately after:
Alex had Knights and Macemen, thus my Praetorians finally lost their superiorities in this war. But with the right promotions, they should still be able to chew through Longbowmen and Pikemen defended cities. Before launching my offensive, I needed to wait for more War Elephants, Crossbowmen, and Macemen to arrive.
The war with Alex was a long grind. It took longer and was more costly than any previous wars. By 1508AD, he was finally defeated and confined to a size 2 city in the arctic ice. Germany would be the last opponent. I could have marched in with the force I had, but decided to consolidate again. It turned out to be an unwise choice.
I waited until the Germans also had their Cavalries. The final war was ugly and the later finishing date severely lowered my scores. But what the heck, this was my first decisive win at the Emperor level, and I'd like to share a little bit:
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