Frustrated by Monarch

[gus_smedstad]

I recently fired up Civ 4 again after a long haitus, using Blake's improved AI. I can't seem to handle the Ancient age, let alone anything afterward, if I don't pull of a Civil Service Slingshot. I've run a couple of games now where I've gotten to about about 400 AD, decided I was doomed, and then tried multiple times to do better with different approaches from the 4000 BC autosave and failed each time.

It's not that the starts are bad. It's that if I don't pull off a CS slingshot, the AIs run away with tech early on and I never catch up. Even a successful FarSeer isn't good enough.

I suppose that I don't have enough cottages per city. What's the "right" number? And what about starts where the only reasonable cottage sites require chopping a forest first? Yeah, all those potential hammers from chopping are great, but it means my I'm far behind in cottage development when I finally get Bronze Working.

For example, I recently ran a game with the Japanese, and I had corn, cattle, wine, and deer, but every ordinary plains or grassland square was covered with forest. I could have planted cottages on the specials, but I'd just have to tear them down later.

I ended up with 4 cities, 30 population, and 10 cottage tiles by 320 AD, and the Inca were half a dozen techs ahead of me, even though I had snagged both the Oracle and the Great Library. My GNP was half his, and I was lagging him in production as well, so I gave up.

- Gus

[Dactyl]

I don't pretend to be any kind of expert on Civ 4 but I play on Monarch at Epic speed, and I've concluded with Blake's improved AI it's even more of a war game than before. You have to hit the other civs early and hard. You can't really play as a builder. Go out and take what you want. By temperament I'm a builder, and don't really like playing that way, but it seems to be the only way to have success though.

However, you can still kind of keep up on tech if you research techs that the AI don't tend to go after right away. You can then trade them and try to keep up.

[rjmatsleepers]

My recent experience has been with Prince rather than Monarch (thanks, Blake). However his is my two bits worth.

In my science city, which is usually my capital, I want most of my citizens working cottages. I build them on all open spaces - flood plains, grassland and plains. (Flood plains being first choice because of the extra food and trade.) I will eventually cut down forests for cottages as my population expands.

The exception to working the cottages is a good food special. Working this will allow me to have some specialist scientists. I'm usually up against the health or hapiness cap, so the specialists help absorb the food surplus.

I expect to have used my first great scientist for an academy well before AD1.

I will research to alphabet and trade selectively with the less advanced civs. (I try to avoid tech trades with the leader except where the tech offered is of great value to me.) I then research to Code of Laws and Civil Service (usually picking up Confucianism). At some point on route I side track to Bronze Working, Iron Working or Horse Riding + Archery to get some reasonable defensive units - trading if I can, researching if I have to.

By AD 1, I will be running Bureaucracy and Caste System (and sometimes Pacifism).

I concentrate on National Wonders - if I pick up a World Wonder, that's a bonus, although I will sacrifice research to build the Great Library in my science city. I like to have Oxford and Globe in my science city; Heroic Epic and (eventually) West Point in my unit production city; National Epic in my Great person farm and Ironworks in my production city.

I try to build the special building for every religion I found, and actively spread my state religion and any other religion for which I have a special building.

Between AD1 and AD 1000 I would expect to be one of the two most advanced civs; researching deep into the tree and trading for techs that I find less useful.

Well, it works for me

RJM

[Eggolas]

The new AI is much better at economic development, so the human player has to also be better (both strategic and tile micromanagement), or take on the AI where it is weakest -- warfare.

Game speed can help if you intend to focus on warfare. Play at Marathon speed.

Instead of trying for the new CS slingshot (with Mathematics required, it's very hard to achieve), it has been easier to use the Oracle hammers to produce military units to ward off barbarians and take over nearby cities. While you might fall behind in tech early, land is power when developed and you might be able to tech trade to get back into the game. Stay competitive and look carefully at the different victory conditions. Not every game is best won with domination or space race.