Make me a better player, please.

[SebP]

Padillah: Looks ok, but I think you are neglecting cottages. The road you built doesn't net you much. Especially since your 2 citeis are connected via river trade

2600BC:
Settled St. Petersburgh near the copper. First thing I'm shooting for is a barracks. I figure it'll be the first city to have axemen so it'd better be ready. Nice littloincidence of city placement is the river will carry the copper to my capitol and possibly my third city avoiding the embarrasing road plunder shutting things down.

Looks ok. I founded St Peters northeast of the dye and got copper with the first border expansion. The way you founded, you can settle a nice enough fishing/cottages village east of moscow. Just one point: the area that now lies between moscow and st peters would have been a chief place for a hammer-specialized city (which is what i'm planning to do in my game)

2400BC:
Got Pottery. This is turning out to be a lot more land than I thought. Looks like I was wrong about the choke up north. I may be able to hem Izzy in but that will just make her mad so I better be ready.

Well, now what do I research next? I'm looking at Archery, Horseback Riding, Fishing, Writing, Mysticism, Iron Working, and Masonry. Now what?

I'm picking Horseback Riding as a placekeeper but I kinda think that's where I'll head in defference to the Cossaks. But I can come back and get this 'cause I have many other techs before Cossaks and HR doesn't do anything but Cossaks. I don't have any specials in view of my one costal city so I don't need Fishing, but it'll only take 3 turns so I could do it just to get it out of the way.

Tom P.

Right. I'd probably go for fishing in that situation and plan to build that city east of moscow and 2 west of the clam. However that plan may change with future discoveries of your scout.

Don't be focused on military buildup too early too much on Noble! If you do your diplomacy right, the AI won't attack you too soon, and if you do your econmic buildup right, your situation will fast improve over that of the AI

[SebP]

I'll attach my savefile (see writeup, but a few turns later, already got metal casting now) especially for comparison with rancidlunchmeat, but padillah shouldn't open it because obviously, considering the year it shows terrain that he doesn't know yet

Btw, RLM, i have the same problem. I also tend to lose interest after i have basically won, and especially whenever i try a domination victory i get more inefficient through the centuries. I usually play for the space race, on monarch, where it's still fun for me

How do you attach files to a post that was made before? I can't seem to find it. I'm really not just trying to increase my post count!

[padillah]

To attach files to a previous post I just "edit" my post and add the links by hand.

I noticed that the road is not doing anything when I got a pop-up telling me my I've connected St. Petersburgh to my capitol. I understood enough to place the city where it wouldn't need roads and then built one anyway. What the heck am I thinking.

@RLM: I built St. Petersburgh right below the copper, right where the land makes a corner. I was wondering about the value of a coastal city vs. Getting the copper and placement for gems and other stuff.

I think I messed up on placing that there, it would have been much better a few tiles over and up (or down) and still on the river.

Tom P.

Tom P.

[Quillan]

Personally, I would still build the road connecting Moscow to St. Pete, even though it isn't needed to connect them to trade. However, it would be purely for military reasons, allowing troops to travel from one to the other quickly. If you had other jobs for the worker to do which were higher priority, take care of those first.

[dregor]

re: the setting governors to max food/prod/comm. I've had some bad results from this, so I'm going to make sure I did it correctly.

1. Click the automate citizens button
2. Click max food, prod, comm buttons
3. Assign specialists as seen fit

My problem is that the governor will screw with my specialists. I'll set up a city with 2 scientists say, leave it a few turns and come back to find that 1 or both scientists have been redistributed. Is this normal? Does setting it to max those 3 only work when you don't want specialists in the city?

I've seen Blake praise this a lot and tried it, seeing as how he won me over with the joys of whipping, but it just seems to piss me off more often than not.

[padillah]

Originally posted by Quillan
Personally, I would still build the road connecting Moscow to St. Pete, even though it isn't needed to connect them to trade. However, it would be purely for military reasons, allowing troops to travel from one to the other quickly. If you had other jobs for the worker to do which were higher priority, take care of those first.

Yeah, I've got copper right outside one of my cities. I gotta get a mine on that before too long and the road is going to take several turns longer than the mine.

I should have made the city closer with the understanding that I'd get the copper in one border pop (5 turns) which is as long as a road and mine would take anyway.

I think coordination of events like this is a big problem for me. I always wonder how people get the oracle to finish at the same time as CoL so CS comes up right when they need it. Something for me to watch for.

Tom P.

[Swiss Pauli]

Originally posted by dregor
re: the setting governors to max food/prod/comm. I've had some bad results from this, so I'm going to make sure I did it correctly.

1. Click the automate citizens button
2. Click max food, prod, comm buttons
3. Assign specialists as seen fit

My problem is that the governor will screw with my specialists. I'll set up a city with 2 scientists say, leave it a few turns and come back to find that 1 or both scientists have been redistributed. Is this normal? Does setting it to max those 3 only work when you don't want specialists in the city?

I've seen Blake praise this a lot and tried it, seeing as how he won me over with the joys of whipping, but it just seems to piss me off more often than not.

If your specialists are forced (yellow boxed) then there shouldn't be any reassignment. In this game I didn't have a problem with my two scientists in Moscow who were set for 17 turns.

[dregor]

How do you get them forced? I tried clicking on them numerous times, but all that happened was the portrait of the specialist would lower a bit, no yellow box.

[Swiss Pauli]

Just click the 'plus' sign when Automate Citizens is on.

[Rancidlunchmeat]

Originally posted by SebP


900 the oracle is finished and i get myself civil service. AFTER founding 4 cities total (well on my way to the 5th) and getting alphabet and mathematics. THIS is how you do the slingshot on noble (it's a compromise, you don't get an academy early and CS quite a few years later). alphabet wasn't worth much btw, should have gotten mathematics and then metal casting right away i guess

Very nice. 2 more cities plus 100 turns earlier than me on the Slingshot! Good stuff, thanks Seb!

[Rancidlunchmeat]

Originally posted by padillah


I think coordination of events like this is a big problem for me. I always wonder how people get the oracle to finish at the same time as CoL so CS comes up right when they need it. Something for me to watch for.

Tom P.

For starters.. the river was huge! It was a great time saver to link Moscow to the Copper in St. Pete without having to build a road there. Also allowed the spread of confucionism to Moscow without a road. I didn't build a road connecting the two until rather late in the game because there was no need (other than for military purposes).

As far as 'timing' goes, in my case it always comes down to micromanagement. Most of the time, I'll either be completing the Oracle BEFORE I get CoL or I'll be completing the Oracle way AFTER CoL and I'm two more techs down the tree before the Oracle arrives.

Best case scenario, IMO, is to be about halfway through alphabet by the time the Oracle completes.

To the micromanagement part: If you're building the Oracle too early, switch off and build something else. Seems risky because you don't want to lose the Oracle, but it really isn't. If you're building the Oracle too slowly, chop/pop rush it.

I can't quite remember what all I pop rushed in this game, but it wasn't anything early (which is why Seb's strat with pop rushing blew mine away by a significant margin). Despite the chop nerf, I still used chopping extensively.. you've got lots of forests around Moscow (more than you'll ever need!) and a few near St Petersburg (or.. where I placed St. Pete anyway), so I chopped a warrior, a worker, a settler, a library, and the GL in Moscow and chopped the Oracle in St. Pete.

[Rancidlunchmeat]

Okay... A kinda brief update since I decided to play a bit more, although.. as I said before.. the game is over so that makes it kinda boring.

960 AD Meet Mansa Musa
1020 AD meet Tokugawa
1050 AD meet Alexander
1140 AD Circumnavigate the globe
1260 AD Captured Madrid (I told you I was gunna)

1260 AD - realized you have STUPID settings that require 'total kills' in order to win. So despite the fact I captured Madrid and the Spanish have no cities, they don't die because they still have a chariot and archer alive.

Well... I guess I didn't realize this at 1260 AD, because I went and got a PEACE TREATY with Isabella after capturing Madrid because if she had another crappy city some place, all the better. (If you don't have ALL MUST DIE set, once you take out their last city it tells you that you've destroyed their empire. It didn't give me that message, I was unaware of the setings, so I figured they must have another little city someplace.)

So I had to wait 10 turns untill the Peace Treaty was over before I could kill off her remaining Chariot and Archer.

Spanish Civ destroyed in 1410

My question now to the others that are playing this game, is what do you do with your attacking units once you've captured a city?

I've got a bunch of macemen with city raider III promotions providing garrisons in captured cities. Obviously, I want to get them out of there and into my attack armies that are going to destroy Mao.

But what do I replace them with? Knowing that they are just going to be city defenders, should I replace them with Longbows or should I replace them with new Macemen with Combat I promotions?

[Swiss Pauli]

Originally posted by Swiss Pauli
175 AD: 1 down, one to go, then beeline to Liberalism to grab Astro and send some Cossacks to defeat whoever gets in their way.

Well, I declared war on Mao in 620AD and polished him off by about AD880. Beelined to Liberalism for Astro, then Gunpowder, Nationalism, Music (GA!?!), Military Tradition. During the research time, I trained a dozen WE.

On reaching MT, turned down research to afford upgrades to Cossacks. Targetted Toku as he had Pyramids. DoW in 1300 and wiped him out easily (Cossacks versus Archers is not really fair...). Damn complete kills! A lone Caravel survived until 1400: it wasn't Civ, more hide and seek.

Alex is next (for Great Lighthouse), then Mansa.

[padillah]

Sorry about the "Complete kills" thing. I was looking for all the "war" switches I could turn on I didn't realise how annoying that might be after a while.

I thought I'd get time to play this weekend but, since that's my time off, that's my time to work around the house. I'll probably be able to play tonight and I think I'll ditch the road and switch to some graneries.

Where am I gonna get more workers though? I've only got one and he's gonna wear himself out running around fixing everything. Maybe he'll chop-in another worker when he gets done with the mine (for copper).

See, this is the part that I have the most questions about. Because there's so many things to do I can never keep them straight in my head. One thing I'm planning on doing is replacing my warriors with axmen. For every axman I make I'll send the warrior our to dispell the fog. And, since I can see Mao only has two cities shouldn't I go after them? How much of a force do I need?

I think I'll research writting and then I'll start on the road to Priesthood (and the possible Oracle), Code of Law, and Mathematics.

After that I'm in a place that I find myself often: either nothing is worth researching or everything is. How do I decide between Compass, Construction, or Calendar?

Or, what's better? Alphabet, Currency, Machienery, Monarchy?

This is the part, I guess the whole tech tree is my bane. If I were to narrow it down I'd have to say the "Tech Tree" and what to research next. I never get it right.

My best guess is Alphabet (so I can trade), then Construction (for Catapults), then Machinery (for crossbows).

How's that sound?

Tom P.

[Swiss Pauli]

Originally posted by padillah
I'll probably be able to play tonight and I think I'll ditch the road and switch to some graneries.

You mean switch from Barracks...

Where am I gonna get more workers though? I've only got one and he's gonna wear himself out running around fixing everything. Maybe he'll chop-in another worker when he gets done with the mine (for copper).

Don't chop - whip workers. You need max 1 per city for the first 3 cities. Then let cities grow into unhappiness then whip away the unhappy faces to produce a worker. See Blake's threads on pop-rushing for further details.

See, this is the part that I have the most questions about. Because there's so many things to do I can never keep them straight in my head.

Ain't that the truth! All players will admit to oversights and mistakes. There's just too many possibilities for a 'perfect' game to be possible. It's more about getting as much right as you can and spotting and correcting errors ASAP. Write things down that you want to do and how you want to get them.

One thing I'm planning on doing is replacing my warriors with axmen. For every axman I make I'll send the warrior our to dispell the fog. And, since I can see Mao only has two cities shouldn't I go after them? How much of a force do I need?
I think I'll research writting and then I'll start on the road to Priesthood (and the possible Oracle), Code of Law, and Mathematics.

Here's a problem - an Oracle grab is not very compatible with a military build up. What do you need here? Given that you want to win by Conquest or Domination, then I'd build Axemen and research Mathematics. How many Axemen? Lots as you'll want them for the second war too.

After that I'm in a place that I find myself often: either nothing is worth researching or everything is. How do I decide between Compass, Construction, or Calendar?
Or, what's better? Alphabet, Currency, Machienery, Monarchy?... My best guess is Alphabet (so I can trade), then Construction (for Catapults), then Machinery (for crossbows).

Construction - you've got Elephants which are a great bonus along with the usual, indespensible Catapults. I went for Alphabet, which was wrong on Noble as there's only 2 AI to trade with, and you're not going to need (or get) that much from them. As you move up the levels, Alphabet gains importance as the AI will learn techs more rapidly.
Writing - Mathemetics - Construction would be my research recommendation. Don't forget that third city before going on the warpath. The sheep and horses site will be a good pump for early-game units.