Playing a war game

[Solomwi]

Theben:

Hover over the enemy leader's name in the score table above the minimap. Underneath the diplomacy modifiers it gives you your WW points with that leader (which may be what you're calling the enemy's weariness). I just opened up a game and deliberately lost a unit on enemy ground to make sure the number went up (and was therefore my number, not the enemy's). It did.

[The Priest]

A few thoughts/tips from me.

1. The main reason why late game domination works far better than early is not the troops (infanty only travel the same speed as archers) but the war wariness reducing items - jail (25%), rushmore (25%) and police state (50%). These all come along at nearly the same time (unless you have pyramids) and are the key. With them all you can reduce war wariness to 0. So prioritise getting the necessary techs early and get these items built/civics adopted.

2. State property is well worth contemplating. Otherwise as you expand the maintainance costs get you. You are likely to find trade not as productive anyway (too many wars) and the extra production as well as the bonuses for improvements help too.

3. Produce artists. A strategically deployed great artist can hugely speed up the conquest of a civ, by stabalising the cities you have captured, and by rolling back the ownership of the land which means your troops move far more quickly. Took me a while to realise that culture was a key weapon of war.

4. Exploit open borders. The normal problem is that even if you have defeated a civ's field army and you know you could one by one elimitate the cities, it takes so long because you only move on space a turn in his terrain, and hence war wariness gets you. So use open borders to invade your enemy from more than one side at once (perhaps delaying the second attack, so you know the frist has drawn off his field army). This can hugely speed up the conquest.

5. Similarly think if you can invade ambigiously up the coast rather than just slogging through the one line of attack. If all you do it take one city, it will still save many years. Again, only once his field army is gone.

6. Spies causing city revolts increase speed a great deal too since you are not waiting for artillery to bring down the defenses. But particarly good it teaming them up with fast movers (horses and tanks). They can gobble cities alarmingly.

7. You need great general medics - they have an amazing effect on keeping an advance going.

8. Be careful that your wars dont' have the effect of weakening your real enemies enemy. Five equal civs give you lots less opposition in the long term than 2 big ones and 3 weak ones. Don't just knock off the easy enemies. You need to kill or at least trim teh big ones. Sometimes even prop up the minor ones next to your big enemies (giving rifling to a nation without it, can stop their elimiation at a stroke).

[Nikomakkos]

Oh, jeez, whenever I read stuff like this I get such a huge itch to play, it's not funny.

[Unimatrix11]

But is #3 really that important. I mean in late-game it´s not, right ? Cause the culture bomb is not much against the enemy-culture accumulated in the tiles for millenia, or so i read ?

[Theben]

Originally posted by The Priest

5. Similarly think if you can invade ambigiously...

I'd like to do that. "No, it's not really an invasion, we're just, uh, sightseeing."

[The Priest]

"No, it's not really an invasion, we're just, uh, sightseeing."

Oh dear ... the typist has been sacked.

But is #3 really that important.

I'm still confused by this. You are right that late game it works less, but it still seems to have an important effect - at least in solidifying your new territory.

[wodan11]

Originally posted by The Priest
I'm still confused by this. You are right that late game it works less, but it still seems to have an important effect - at least in solidifying your new territory.

There's two situations for newly conquered cities:
1) They're only on the border for as much time as it takes your troops to heal and move on to conquer the next city
2) They're on the new border, and then you declare peace, or the enemy is able to rally and stop your advance.

For (1) the only value of a Great Artist is in speeding the advance slightly. I'd say that's not worth the use of a great person.

For (2), a GA might be required to be able to expand to the fat cross. On the other hand, that's just in the midgame. In the early game, it should be sufficient to simply whip a theatre, library, and perhaps run a normal artist. And in the late game, even a Great Artist will not be sufficient to push back the borders... literally nothing you do will change the existing civ's culture because so much has accumulated.

[Unimatrix11]

So for a domination game, would you go for GAs or rather for other Great Persons ? Cause i think, i´d still prefer almost any other GP in almost any situation.