Winning by "Conquest" seems impossible to the inexperienced (me).

[Nevordan]

While trying to get the hang of warfare in the game, I have finally managed to win a few wars. And by wars, I mean total genocide of other civilizations. In one game, with Julias Caesar, I totally destroyed Japan. In my last game, with Genghis Khan, I totally destroyed Russia. But one civ is about the best I can manage. It takes entirely too long to build up a strong enough force and defend yourself while absorbing another civilization completely, not to mention the war weariness really pisses me off. Why can't I run a totalitarian government? Unhappy cictizens refuse to work? EXECUTE THEM IN THE STREETS! Unhappy about the war? Get in the firing line you pieces of ****!

Sorry, I'm unhappy with the game at the moment. It's a lot of work and aggravation, and I still usually fail. Maybe this game's not for me afterall. Maybe I'm too mentally inferior and should just be killed y'know? Any volunteers? My life's a piece of **** and I'll gladly submit to death now. Thank you.

[wertyu70]

First of all, which level are you playing at which speed?

I have just jumped from Nobel to Prince and I noticed
that waging a war is easier at Epic speed than Standard.

Some tips thast worked great for me:
+ Ever tried a Axeman rush to crash your nearest rival?
+ Don't forget to build plenty of Cottages (And work them!)
+ Slavery and pop rushing: don't be afraid of use the whip
+ Pop rush a temple of a theatre in new conquered cities


Post some savegame, maybe some people better than me can give some better suggestion.

[Nevordan]

Noble difficulty, normal speed.

I'll never "get" this game.

I'll post a saved game but I doubt it'll do any good.

[Swiss Pauli]

Re: Winning by "Conquest" seems impossible to the inexperienced (me).

Originally posted by Nevordan
Why can't I run a totalitarian government? Unhappy cictizens refuse to work? EXECUTE THEM IN THE STREETS! Unhappy about the war? Get in the firing line you pieces of ****!

Slavery covers this nicely and you can even whip your people happy (temples, forges, etc.), but post up a save, or maybe even a before and after save, and people will help you out.

WW and economic crashes help balance the game, otherwise it would become little more than a glorified version of paper, scissors, stone.

[Cort Haus]

Re: Winning by "Conquest" seems impossible to the inexperienced (me).

Originally posted by Nevordan
Why can't I run a totalitarian government? Unhappy cictizens refuse to work? EXECUTE THEM IN THE STREETS! Unhappy about the war? Get in the firing line you pieces of ****!

Police State reduces war-weariness by 50%.

[Cort Haus]

Edit: Please Ignore this.


there.Check out this thread on Civ 4 warfare. There's lots of good advice in

[SebP]

I kinda suspect he knows THAT thread already

[Cort Haus]

Originally posted by SebP
I kinda suspect he knows THAT thread already

Oops.



In which case I'll change my post the the following ....

What's wrong with carrying on posting on your original thread!

[Nevordan]

Which one? I do believe I was loopy on ambien when I posted this. Sorry... I'll go there.

[jbp26]

a few ways to win conquest-

pick your wars carefully. clashing with the strongest nation one-on-one will be a long, expensive war. pick on the weak guys first to expand your nation, then attack when you have a superior infrastructure.

if one of your neighbors goes to war, wait a few turns for him to expend his forces fighting the enemy- then cruise in the back way and conquer at will.

similarly, if someone is coming to invade you, pay a neighbor to fight them- preferably a neighbor thats in the path of the invasion force. often, you wont ever even see the enemy.

long wars of attrittion are the worst thing you can do. they are a tremendous waste of time and resources. you are much better off building a few large stacks and attacking a number of key cities- even just razing them if you have to. then just hold out and sue for peace. losing even just a few cities can put a civ so far behind on tech and production that they cant recover.

in the same vein- theres really no point in persuing one civ until its completely destroyed. while you're pummeling them, all of the other civs are growing unabated. you're better off pruning a few cities off of several civs, and staying in a state of constant, oscillating warfare.

[rah]

If you're going to do a war of extinction, it's best to do it early when it's just a land grab anyway. But make sure you have enough to finish the job so it doesn't drag out. Mid to late game, pruning is more recommended.

[Velociryx]

Glad to see the term in use for Civ 4! And I agree....an early rush = death to the target civ. Later on, a series of Oscillating Wars will likely serve you better and reap larger dividends than hammering someone until they're dead and buried (and for the reasons already named).

The one point I'd veer off the beaten path on is this: IMO, it is in your best interest to start at the top of the heap.

All other things being equal, a Civ's land has a good bit to do with how strong they are (that is to say, an AI Civ's "bag of tricks" is pretty limited, and common across all Civs in the game...their behaviors may differ, and these differences can and do have impacts, but their terraforming is largely the same--seen one AI Civ's terraforming, you've seen 'em all. That being the case, there are *reasons* that that civs at the bottom are at the bottom, and a lot of that (not all of it, to be sure, but a good chunk of it) has to do with their land.

If it was GOOD land, they would be able to use it to catapult ahead of neighboring civs with less-good land. That they haven't is an indication that maybe you don't want to make their turf, your turf...or at least not right at the start.

Based on that then, I would strongly agitate toward singling out the biggest, meanest, scariest rival share a border with and feel confident about spanking.

Trim him. Weaken him. Hell, if he's really strong, maybe even GUT him and take his lands, but don't kill him outright. Just as there's a reason that the little guys are little, there's a reason that the big guys are big, and again, it has a lot to do with land.

Now you've got the (former) big dog's good land....from there, it's a matter of working your way down the list....

-=Vel=-

EDIT: Ultimately, you want all their cities, sure (either in your hands or burned to the ground, but one way or another, you want 'em all)...the question is...how to get them all in the most efficient manner you can, with the least effort on your part.

Psychologically, the way I mention going about it is important too....if you start at the top...if you take down your biggest near rival first, you KNOW you can take the rest apart...they're smaller and weaker, and you just spanked the leader...that's key.

[padillah]

Also, to add to Vel's "take down the biggest" point, if you are #3 and you take down #7 what does that get you? Nothing, #1 and #2 are still right there and now you are a tad worse for having been through a war (small as it may be) and you may end the war at #4 or #5.

But, if you're #3 and you beat up #2 then you move up and he moves down! And if you do well enough he moves down a lot!

If you are near the top then you've already beaten the bottom without drawing a blade. Now if you can weaken the guys keeping you out of the top spot then you'll be up there in no time. It's not absolute strength, it's relative. You can do poorly, so long as everyone else does even worse.

Tom P.

[One_more_turn]

Also, rough up Financial civs first whenever possible.

[Styx]

Try this, you are planning to take on any AI close to you, if you are lucky he is the strongest AI and whipe him out around 1600 AD.
You need pyramids for sure, for representation, that is a good answer for war weariness.
But you start with a religion, any is good but polytheism is best on your route, don't try to get a second religion, it will disturb development.
Get monotheism.
Now you have a religion and are organized.
Meanwhile be sure to get mining, wheels, pottery, bronze working to develop. It depends on resources available for your bases.
If you can build the oracle, do it and get metalcasting.
Then writing, monarchy, feudalism, machinery. If you have great engineer or something to get Machinery, offer it.
Now research guilds, and next step is gunpowder.
That should be your route in basic.
Your neighbour will have the pesky longbows, so you need mathematics and construction for catapults and don't forget to get code of laws and and currency between for keeping your economy up.
Ironworking you need also.
Build a few good stacks, take the bases and whipe him out completly because then the bases will be 100% yours without resistance.
If it is around 1750 AD, you are ok, even some behind in tech.
It doesn't matter. Just develop the bases and plan to get militairy tradition or chemistry.
Find a lower developt AI to trade safe techs.
Try to get Liberalism as first for the free tech in a direction the AI is far from yet.
If you do it right you will outrun the AI in tech at some point, then when you get tanks and flight, demolish all.
Preferable, play archipelo map, so you don't have to worry too much about AI backstabbers, before they discover astronomy