Replcing CS Gambit

[Will9]

I know many people are dissapionted that firaxis has changed the rules that make the CS Gambit impossible. Well, I came up with a strategy that, while is not as good as the CS Gambit, can give great benifets.

Basically you research Monarchy instead of Code of Law, then you use the Oracle to get Feudalism. Having Feudalism early on can give Longbows (which let you hold out to far larger forces), Vassalege (you never know when an extra promotion can help, and Serfdom (which gives you a superb economic advantage).

I am not very good at making civ4 strategy, so I will let more expirienced players take this stratagy further.

[SandMonkey]

I'm no expert by any means, but here are my thoughts anyways.

This strategy could work if you were in a situation where you could no longer use slavery, or if you're not big on whipping. Obviously I bring this up since Serfdom replaces slavery as a civic. Additionally, like you said, using vassalage+barracks+early longbowmen could give you a distinct military advantage over weak neighbors, if used properly.

How exactly have the rules been changed to make getting CS early impossible? I don't have Warlords, so if they added something to literally make the approach impossible, then I wouldn't know. My understanding was that the improved AI made it really tough to get the Oracle and to execute the slingshot, in which case this strategy wouldn't really work either for the same reason.

If i'm way off the mark, sorry for the errant post.

[absimiliard]

Not only is the AI better but they added Math in as a requirement for CS.

So your slingshot now requires you to research not just COL but also Math, pretty much guaranteeing the Oracle is already built by someone.

-abs

[SandMonkey]

Originally posted by absimiliard
Not only is the AI better but they added Math in as a requirement for CS.

Thanks, I figured it was something like that.

[Blake]

It's a fun slingshot. The main problem is that Longbows aren't really much better than Swordsmen.

To followup the Feudalism slingshot you need to beeline Construction and then chop out a lot of longbows and catapults, vassalage is the main selling point and with the combination of City Raider II catapults to take cities and City Defense II Longbows to hold them the enemy will be hardpressed to stop your advance.

You'll probably also end up with quite a few swords/axes/spears since they are better in specialized roles than longbows and much cheaper. They still benefit much from vassalage, normal leaders can get Shock Axemen, aggressive can get Formation spearmen.

[MasterDave]

This could be a really good sling for protective civs... Hrm.... Longbows with first strike, city defender and two other promotions by 1500 BC could really be fun in Multiplayer...

[DrSpike]

Agree it's vassalage which is the key, not longbows. Sure they are good on defense but it's bad to be sitting back anyway.

For SP that is - for the early MP meta longbows were actually great on attack with vassalage, because you could make them shock with barracks and strongly counter shock axes. Probably changed now with the advent of anti-axe bonuses to chariots.

[Swiss Pauli]

Originally posted by MasterDave
This could be a really good sling for protective civs... Hrm.... Longbows with first strike, city defender and two other promotions by 1500 BC could really be fun in Multiplayer...

I enjoy this a lot in SP, with Churchill and Wang being my favourites. Sally is pretty good too as you can grab a religion as well.
Date-wise 1500BC is pretty early, but given the need for barracks and then the time to build Longbows, it's around BC1000 that I can get a decent amount of L3 longbows out.