What level are people are playing at?

[CEO IV]

Need a little help ... I have won a the Deity level, but with a very close Human ally. I need some education and hope someone could point a direction. Does the guide by Humungus help?

[Dis]

actually I'm pretty consistantly winning my level now. But I'm playing with tech trading off. That may be the reason.

I suck at the tech trading game.

[baboon]

Originally posted by Sarek
I feel that I am most consistent at Prince, but "play" at the Monarch level to get better.
And, FWIW Warlords does drop me one level down.

Hmm just bought Warlords and started playing again after a year (played the unpatched vanilla ), and I really wondered if it became harder. Played a lot to master Prince. Iirc I played Monarch at Vanilla, so it's nice to hear other people it became a little harder

I promised myself only to go to Monarch if I can win at any start position, I'm a notorious restarter. And for what I heard of Monarch, that might be smart to do.

[Guynemer]

Noble, with Blake's AI.

[dojoboy]

Voted Prince, as I've won there a few times - not quite ready for the jump to Monarch.

[One_more_turn]

Warlord is easier if you are warmongering and vice versa.

[Guynemer]

Just got my first Augustus Caesar ranking, spaceship victory as Alexander in 1731 AD on a large, marathon world, Noble with Blake's AI.

[Dis]

cool.

I'm not sure if I ever got Augustus Ceasar with a spaceship victory. I get them all the time with conquest or domination victories.

[DrSpike]

Spaceship is actually pretty easy once you have the technique down pat. I can't remember the last game I didn't get Augustus Caesar.

[Guynemer]

I don't have THAT much time to play, cut me some slack.

[DrSpike]

I wasn't trying to detract from your victory btw - the first one is always the sweetes.

[rjmatsleepers]

Originally posted by DrSpike
Spaceship is actually pretty easy once you have the technique down pat. I can't remember the last game I didn't get Augustus Caesar.

What are the key elements of "the technique" for launching the spaceship?

RJM

[DrSpike]

That's probably a thread in itself but the guts are:

1) expand fast early on, with the level determining how many cities you should aim for (and neighbours in extreme cases)

2) You'll usually need more cities than you get in the land grab to get top ranking, unless it's a really low level. So you need to pick an attack window based on your Civ. The default is always cats (need construction), but the axe window works if you can strike early enough. Caps can be tough though.

3) Early leaders should usually be a scientist for an academy in the capital (start on the library as soon as the early expansion is complete) and a prophet for shrine if desired.

4) Cottage the capital asap. Concentrate on expansion and armies elsewhere mostly.

5) Key civics early on are slavery for whipping and bureaucracy. HR and OR as needed.

6) Take the land you want by around 1000AD using your army (default is cat/axe/spear). Aim for around 15 cities, though it depends on level. Start cottaging all but your production cities (need at least one really big hitter, and 1 support, but I prefer 2) and GP farm. Don't worry about maintenance - as long as you have CoL and Currency you are more than fine. Get that land asap!

7) Tech beeline is usually something like education (6 universities for Oxfords) - liberalism (for free religion, though you can delay to get a nicer free tech if poss) - emancipation (speed up those cottages). You may be leaving the AI in your wake by now so you need to do all the heavy lifting.

8) Build SoL and Taj. Adopt Rep/FM asap. You shouldn't have happiness problems now.

9) Cruise to victory Caesar! Only a few small things to get right

i) adopt free speech as soon as your wider cottage economy offsets the capital bonus from bureaucracy.

ii) lategame techs - I usually just make sure I get the free GP from physics, then divert to steel for Ironworks in the production city before beelining for Computers (labs) to speed research. This is partly judgment though (as is whether you take railroad and biology yourself or wait for the AI. It really depends on level) - the point is your lategame research should be kicking ass and you want to have your production city up and running (with factories and power) before you get Rocketry. Especially true if you can also build the elevator there, and Robotics for that is the next key tech.

iii) Your GP farm (or freebies) should have given you enough GPs for 2+ golden ages to end with - shaves a few more turns off, as do remaining forests in your production cities.

That's obviously a total skeleton answer: it's easier said than done and you have to adapt to your Civ/the difficulty level/how much land you have to start and who your neighbours are. But it's a good start point for any spaceship game.

[Dis]

funny, after I said that I got a Augustus Ceasar spaceship victory last night.

I'm not sure if it was my first, I may have had one other. But usually I only get them on domination.

I'm not sure what went right. I got the victory in 1778. (on noble). My earliest year yet. I have never gotten it below 1900. So that's why I got the higest ranking.

So how did I do so well? I'm not sure. I was Victoria. Can't recall playing her. I may have to take her over Elizabeth from now on (even if she isn't as attractive ). I did very well with her. I didn't get bogged down into too much warfare. I was on a fractal map, but only one other civ shared it. The peaceful Indians (ghandi). Around 100 BC I took 3 of his cities including his capitol. He had hinduism in his capitol (I had buhhism). Later on after getting military technology, I took the remianing 3 cities on the continent leaving the entire continent to myself.

No real gameplay changes for me. I tried to optimize my workers better (not the city workers- I still don't micromanage those). I popped 2 techs from a hut. What a difference this makes. I got agriculture and animal husbandry. Pretty good with just a warrior.

[DrSpike]

Originally posted by Dis
funny, after I said that I got a Augustus Ceasar spaceship victory last night.

Must have been my post.