another help-me-whit-my-game thread

[a.kitman]

aug AD-0535.CivBeyondSwordSave

i have always been bad at playing aggresive, so lately i have forced my self into attacking more in my games. i start by rushing someone close to me and if this goes well, like in the included savegame, i find my self whit plenty of land to expand on. and my build hunger kicks in.

so how do i progress this game whitout getting cought in my old ways.
my plan atm is finish engineering for the trebs and then go to guild and knighs. while i do this i expand some citys down so i get the horse resource. any suggestions on that?

i dont think iam strong enuff to take any of the surrounding civs down just yet but is it a smart idea to send a hand full down just to mess whit there tile improvments and such?

[rah]

Choking a neighbor to keep him down while you gear up to take him out is never a bad idea. And pillage income can help offset high maint. due to army size.

[wodan11]

Choking a neighbor to keep him down while you gear up to take him out is never a bad idea.

Never, except when it's not.

If you DOW somebody, others are probably going to give you a "-1 you DOWed our friend!" modifier. While that might not seem like much, in the early game that can start you down the slippery slope of really bad relations with multiple AIs. Before you know it, you're dogpiled.

[rah]

Unless they're your religion or one of the real peaceniks they're not going to be pleased with you anyway, so that -1 is not that big a deal, but the faster you do it, the fewer other AI's they've met so you won't suffer the -1 against those.

And once you have something, those that don't like you will start demanding so you know your relation with them is headed downhill anyway.

The easiest way to avoid the dogpile is being strong.
For me, I rarely have to decide which civ I'm taking out next, since they make that decision for me. Yeah, every now and then they catch me not as prepared as I'd like, but that is very rare, and even then most of the time they're so incompetent that I can still survive long enough to turn it around. (but yes, I haven't mastered the levels above emp so I'm not that good.)

[wodan11]

The easiest way to avoid the dogpile is being strong.

What is that thing we keep telling newbies? "You need to move up a level."