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Ch 5) Middle and Endgame Tips
a) Diplomacy; M.P.E, maps, tech and tribute
[This section has been tested on Civ2 MGE, which has a more hostile AI than version 2.42. ].
MPE is huge for gaining tech, maps and tribute. So, get it early. Then, take notes about your enemies' techs (the white ones and map-making) and cities, etc. If they are at war/peace with other civs, that can tell you a bit about their location (in case you can't get their map).
Then give away tech to raise a civ's attitude. If you are a
beginner, you may be reluctant to give away tech. But read about tech-gifting in the GL. I am still reluctant to give away feudalism (pikemen) and may have second thoughts about monarchy and poly. But the AI is rarely able to take advantage of your gifts.
If the civ has tech you need, you can trade tech instead, They must be at least neutral towards you for this. When they are AT LEAST cordial, and you both have map-making, ask to trade maps. If they say no, you can probably give some more and try again. `Worshipful' should always be enough. I prefer to give tech, but you can give gold (or units) instead, and can sometimes get it right back by demanding tribute.
After you start giving, try not to let them go until you have their map. With MGE, they will not remember your kindness. If they get away, you will have to start over. Try to avoid war until you have their map. If you cannot, make peace at any reasonable cost, which usually brings them up to neutral. Then go for gifts and the map.
Later on, MPE may show that a civ has built more cities, so make peace and get their map again. Otherwise, finding those cities with your units can be a headache [but there are tricks explained in the forums to help with this - eg, black-clicking, the nearest city trick].
Sometimes they accept a gift and rudely say good-bye. Maybe that is just bad luck, but they do tend to repeat this behavior for a while.
You can try doing all of the above as soon as you make contact with another civ, but without MPE it is harder (you don't know if they have mapmaking, or tech that you need, etc). Apparently this option works better with 2.42 because you get a second chance.
In general, do not make alliances. They can be costly to break when it is time to attack, and your allies will not usually help you anyway.
After getting the map, you can start demanding tribute. There is a chance they will declare war, but that's usually good (unless you are busy building an outpost on their island, for example). To get tribute you must intimidate them a bit, by having enough units on their continent. According to zenon, the total of your attack factors must exceed the number of their units.
Getting tribute on an island map takes some planning and patience. On a large land mass map, you just need MPE and about 20 warriors.
If the 2/3's tech rule forces you to research something you don't need, choose an advance that another civ has, and trade/extort for it. Then you can switch to a tech you actually want, without loss of beakers.
As a simple rule of thumb, quit science after monotheism + feudalism and then raise taxes. I have made exceptions (for navigation, etc.). Maybe quit even earlier on a `fast' map (eg a small one).
If you move troops into view of a city with which you are at peace, that civ may ask you to withdraw (you may get a warning first). This can be really annoying if you have spent 20 turns getting them into position. If you refuse to withdraw, you will lose reputation AND the enemy gets to attack first. The best solutions are to avoid peace, to delay your advance, and/or to build a colony nearby (to accept the withdrawn troops).
Do not trust the AI even when you are at peace. They will sneak attack (which gives them attack bonuses). This is especially likely on a crowded/small map or when you build a colony too close to their cities.
Notes on your colony: Place it about 5 squares away from an AI city - far enough for safety, but on the same continent and close enough to attack quickly later on. Place it pretty far from your homeland, but not past the civ(s) it's intended for. Don't worry much about specials, corruption, etc. It is mainly for rush-building, healing, and withdrawal of troops. [Warning - if restarts are ON, it can affect re-spawn location].
Notes from solo about MPE (with 2.42): ``... it may be a good idea to skip this wonder, too. Instead of making 4 caravans to build MPE, build triremes earlier and start exploring instead. The boats are essential later for transporting troops and are needed now to get the first two colonies established early enough to produce two more. MPE is more important in EL games, where the AI become very useful as research assistants; but in EC games, once Monotheism is discovered, research is over. A few useful tech trades are likely via the first few AI contacts made by exploration, which is probably enough help to get to Monotheism quickly.''
b) Production, Growth, Happiness
Aim for about 70 units and production of 100-120 s/t by 1AD. You might use 30 anemic cities or 15 super cities. Remember - you probably won't finish with less than 110 units on a normal map, so don't neglect production.
After about the 10th city, I get tired of micro-managing the worker squares of the size 2 cities. I want shields, but the AI chooses food. So, every 2-3 turns, I look over the city screen for lazy ones producing under 4-5 s/t and just fix those. I don't try to predict riots, but just fix each one with an Elvis (or by leaving a size 2 city empty) until I can find a spare warrior, or reduce the city size. I start to ignore ICS principles after about 10-15 cities, allowing some to reach size 3, and reducing my production of settlers. Roughly, I stop making settlers about 30 turns before my target date for finishing.
Some people favor fewer/larger cities, up to size 6, backed by Mike's and/or Pyramids. They can get almost the same production levels with less rioting. This has not worked out very well in my play testing. I feel that Mike's is too expensive and comes too late. But I admit my testing is not conclusive, and that I probably don't play the Mike's plan perfectly.
c) Finishing the Game
Every few turns, re-evaluate which campaign is critical and focus on speeding that one up (eg, by rush-building). Take reasonable risks in that campaign, rather than waiting to build up over-whelming force.
Do not take risks in non-critical arenas - if you can wait for backup instead. Waiting within view of an enemy city may induce it to fortify more troops inside (but this claim has not been well tested) so I suggest waiting 3-4 squares away.
Bribing is faster than conquering.
Watch out for new cities popping up at the last moment. If you don't care about reputation, you can make peace briefly to get maps and tribute, and then attack again.
The homeland may become irrelevant towards the end. Use it to make gold, or last-minute wonders like Magellan's, or your late-swarm if you need one.
DaveV writes "In the late game on a large map, cash is more important than shields, so you can rushbuild units at the front line. Units that will never appear in
battle aren't worth building: maybe this is the time
for the old "build and sell barracks" trick."
d) Game-stoppers and Heart-breakers
These disasters have ended some promising games. Most are pretty unlikely, but they are a warning not to relax too much. You might want to avoid these:
- The most common game-stopper is to lose too many attack units in battle, or in transit, ones needed to make a distant campaign work. Of course, you keep playing, but you may have just lost 10-15 turns. This probably won't happen often if you build ST and attack with some patience. But as DaveV writes
"Early conquest is an aggressive, risk-taking game. My
ICS writeup concentrated on a safe, guaranteed win.
For a really early conquest, you have to take some
risks and have some good luck."
- You are playing in a tournament with some unusual rules, which you didn't read carefully, or forgot about.
- You have shipped your 4 elephants 100 squares to surround the most distant capitol. But you have made an alliance with them (doh). You cannot break it, except through diplomacy, and then your elephants will be sent home. BTW - nearby triremes are also sent home in this case.
- You are trashing the last civ when a settler escapes in the dark and makes a new city. On a small island - one square only.
- Your good friends, the Aztecs, sneak attack in 2000BC and take one of your 5 cities. This may set you back several hundred years. Use a cheap warrior as a buffer against this, and keep a horseman nearby. Don't ignore barbarians either. Once you have diplomats, you can use them to bribe back lost cities cheaply.
- La Fayette writes "I always remember my first big conquest game where I was fighting the mighty Mongols: I had just taken 2 rather small cities, each with heavy defences; I had about 20 strong units parked inside the cities in order to protect them after the fight; then came 2 of those smiling young diplomats who bought back the 2 cities for a few gold (half price for previous owner + city disorder ), with all my proud conquerors inside."
- The `stupid' AI does seem to notice when you stack units, and seems more likely to attack those. Which can really hurt a small invasion force.
- You may run into an AI super-city; a) built on a river or hills, b) walled, c) with more than 2 defenders and d) with pikes. Even two of these problems in one city is pretty bad luck. You can try bribery (if it is not the capitol), sabotaging the walls,
inducing the defenders to attack, or coming back later.
- People have reported computer crashes wiping out their games. Use the auto-save feature, and make saves yourself every 20 turns or so (which also helps you analyze your game later).
a) Diplomacy; M.P.E, maps, tech and tribute
[This section has been tested on Civ2 MGE, which has a more hostile AI than version 2.42. ].
MPE is huge for gaining tech, maps and tribute. So, get it early. Then, take notes about your enemies' techs (the white ones and map-making) and cities, etc. If they are at war/peace with other civs, that can tell you a bit about their location (in case you can't get their map).
Then give away tech to raise a civ's attitude. If you are a
beginner, you may be reluctant to give away tech. But read about tech-gifting in the GL. I am still reluctant to give away feudalism (pikemen) and may have second thoughts about monarchy and poly. But the AI is rarely able to take advantage of your gifts.
If the civ has tech you need, you can trade tech instead, They must be at least neutral towards you for this. When they are AT LEAST cordial, and you both have map-making, ask to trade maps. If they say no, you can probably give some more and try again. `Worshipful' should always be enough. I prefer to give tech, but you can give gold (or units) instead, and can sometimes get it right back by demanding tribute.
After you start giving, try not to let them go until you have their map. With MGE, they will not remember your kindness. If they get away, you will have to start over. Try to avoid war until you have their map. If you cannot, make peace at any reasonable cost, which usually brings them up to neutral. Then go for gifts and the map.
Later on, MPE may show that a civ has built more cities, so make peace and get their map again. Otherwise, finding those cities with your units can be a headache [but there are tricks explained in the forums to help with this - eg, black-clicking, the nearest city trick].
Sometimes they accept a gift and rudely say good-bye. Maybe that is just bad luck, but they do tend to repeat this behavior for a while.
You can try doing all of the above as soon as you make contact with another civ, but without MPE it is harder (you don't know if they have mapmaking, or tech that you need, etc). Apparently this option works better with 2.42 because you get a second chance.
In general, do not make alliances. They can be costly to break when it is time to attack, and your allies will not usually help you anyway.
After getting the map, you can start demanding tribute. There is a chance they will declare war, but that's usually good (unless you are busy building an outpost on their island, for example). To get tribute you must intimidate them a bit, by having enough units on their continent. According to zenon, the total of your attack factors must exceed the number of their units.
Getting tribute on an island map takes some planning and patience. On a large land mass map, you just need MPE and about 20 warriors.
If the 2/3's tech rule forces you to research something you don't need, choose an advance that another civ has, and trade/extort for it. Then you can switch to a tech you actually want, without loss of beakers.
As a simple rule of thumb, quit science after monotheism + feudalism and then raise taxes. I have made exceptions (for navigation, etc.). Maybe quit even earlier on a `fast' map (eg a small one).
If you move troops into view of a city with which you are at peace, that civ may ask you to withdraw (you may get a warning first). This can be really annoying if you have spent 20 turns getting them into position. If you refuse to withdraw, you will lose reputation AND the enemy gets to attack first. The best solutions are to avoid peace, to delay your advance, and/or to build a colony nearby (to accept the withdrawn troops).
Do not trust the AI even when you are at peace. They will sneak attack (which gives them attack bonuses). This is especially likely on a crowded/small map or when you build a colony too close to their cities.
Notes on your colony: Place it about 5 squares away from an AI city - far enough for safety, but on the same continent and close enough to attack quickly later on. Place it pretty far from your homeland, but not past the civ(s) it's intended for. Don't worry much about specials, corruption, etc. It is mainly for rush-building, healing, and withdrawal of troops. [Warning - if restarts are ON, it can affect re-spawn location].
Notes from solo about MPE (with 2.42): ``... it may be a good idea to skip this wonder, too. Instead of making 4 caravans to build MPE, build triremes earlier and start exploring instead. The boats are essential later for transporting troops and are needed now to get the first two colonies established early enough to produce two more. MPE is more important in EL games, where the AI become very useful as research assistants; but in EC games, once Monotheism is discovered, research is over. A few useful tech trades are likely via the first few AI contacts made by exploration, which is probably enough help to get to Monotheism quickly.''
b) Production, Growth, Happiness
Aim for about 70 units and production of 100-120 s/t by 1AD. You might use 30 anemic cities or 15 super cities. Remember - you probably won't finish with less than 110 units on a normal map, so don't neglect production.
After about the 10th city, I get tired of micro-managing the worker squares of the size 2 cities. I want shields, but the AI chooses food. So, every 2-3 turns, I look over the city screen for lazy ones producing under 4-5 s/t and just fix those. I don't try to predict riots, but just fix each one with an Elvis (or by leaving a size 2 city empty) until I can find a spare warrior, or reduce the city size. I start to ignore ICS principles after about 10-15 cities, allowing some to reach size 3, and reducing my production of settlers. Roughly, I stop making settlers about 30 turns before my target date for finishing.
Some people favor fewer/larger cities, up to size 6, backed by Mike's and/or Pyramids. They can get almost the same production levels with less rioting. This has not worked out very well in my play testing. I feel that Mike's is too expensive and comes too late. But I admit my testing is not conclusive, and that I probably don't play the Mike's plan perfectly.
c) Finishing the Game
Every few turns, re-evaluate which campaign is critical and focus on speeding that one up (eg, by rush-building). Take reasonable risks in that campaign, rather than waiting to build up over-whelming force.
Do not take risks in non-critical arenas - if you can wait for backup instead. Waiting within view of an enemy city may induce it to fortify more troops inside (but this claim has not been well tested) so I suggest waiting 3-4 squares away.
Bribing is faster than conquering.
Watch out for new cities popping up at the last moment. If you don't care about reputation, you can make peace briefly to get maps and tribute, and then attack again.
The homeland may become irrelevant towards the end. Use it to make gold, or last-minute wonders like Magellan's, or your late-swarm if you need one.
DaveV writes "In the late game on a large map, cash is more important than shields, so you can rushbuild units at the front line. Units that will never appear in
battle aren't worth building: maybe this is the time
for the old "build and sell barracks" trick."
d) Game-stoppers and Heart-breakers
These disasters have ended some promising games. Most are pretty unlikely, but they are a warning not to relax too much. You might want to avoid these:
- The most common game-stopper is to lose too many attack units in battle, or in transit, ones needed to make a distant campaign work. Of course, you keep playing, but you may have just lost 10-15 turns. This probably won't happen often if you build ST and attack with some patience. But as DaveV writes
"Early conquest is an aggressive, risk-taking game. My
ICS writeup concentrated on a safe, guaranteed win.
For a really early conquest, you have to take some
risks and have some good luck."
- You are playing in a tournament with some unusual rules, which you didn't read carefully, or forgot about.
- You have shipped your 4 elephants 100 squares to surround the most distant capitol. But you have made an alliance with them (doh). You cannot break it, except through diplomacy, and then your elephants will be sent home. BTW - nearby triremes are also sent home in this case.
- You are trashing the last civ when a settler escapes in the dark and makes a new city. On a small island - one square only.
- Your good friends, the Aztecs, sneak attack in 2000BC and take one of your 5 cities. This may set you back several hundred years. Use a cheap warrior as a buffer against this, and keep a horseman nearby. Don't ignore barbarians either. Once you have diplomats, you can use them to bribe back lost cities cheaply.
- La Fayette writes "I always remember my first big conquest game where I was fighting the mighty Mongols: I had just taken 2 rather small cities, each with heavy defences; I had about 20 strong units parked inside the cities in order to protect them after the fight; then came 2 of those smiling young diplomats who bought back the 2 cities for a few gold (half price for previous owner + city disorder ), with all my proud conquerors inside."
- The `stupid' AI does seem to notice when you stack units, and seems more likely to attack those. Which can really hurt a small invasion force.
- You may run into an AI super-city; a) built on a river or hills, b) walled, c) with more than 2 defenders and d) with pikes. Even two of these problems in one city is pretty bad luck. You can try bribery (if it is not the capitol), sabotaging the walls,
inducing the defenders to attack, or coming back later.
- People have reported computer crashes wiping out their games. Use the auto-save feature, and make saves yourself every 20 turns or so (which also helps you analyze your game later).
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