An OCC Strategy Guide for Emperor and Deity

[vmxa1]

One of the most unpleasant games I ever had was with China on my land mass with two civs between us. Too far away to get early and when they got Riders it was a bugger to protect my empire with Knights.
Get to them early or late, not in the middle ages.

[rdomarat]

Could this strategy be used on a slightly lower difficulty level, or will it only work on Emperor and higher because of the accelerated production for the AIs.

I always get stomped on Emperor, so I'd like to try on Monarch first, but my instincts tell me it would be a waste of time.

Thanks for the detailed post ToeTruck!

[Panag]

Originally posted by rdomarat
Could this strategy be used on a slightly lower difficulty level, or will it only work on Emperor and higher because of the accelerated production for the AIs.

I always get stomped on Emperor, so I'd like to try on Monarch first, but my instincts tell me it would be a waste of time.

Thanks for the detailed post ToeTruck!

hi ,

yes , why not , .....

have a nice day

[ToeTruck]

rdomarat,

This type of OCC strategy works just as well at the lower levels, but the pace is *way* slower.

I've found that the time when you have the Great Library drags on and on. You should have no problem building most of the high culture wonders.

What that means, though, is that getting a Spaceship Victory is very hard. You end up getting a Cultural Victory before the Modern Techs have been researched.

Remember that you really need the AI to do its fair share of research to move through the tech tree quickly. With one city, its almost impossible to research all the SS Component techs yourself.

In a couple of the Monarch games I've played, I actually started researching when I still had the Great Library. I've experimented with a couple of different approaches, but can't come up with any hard and fast rules of what you should do.

One idea is that you should try to never build Wealth. That is, if you're going to run out of stuff to build, start researching. This is seldom necessary under Emperor and almost never true under Deity, but under Monarch I think its the only way to move the game along.

Talk to you later.

- TT

[ToeTruck]

Techs I Actually Research

Here's something I didn't cover in the initial article, but have been thinking about since.

Of all the techs required for a Spaceship Launch, I actually research surprisingly few of them. Here's a list from the first log I posted:

Ancient Times

Writing
Literature

Middle Ages

Physics
Theory of Gravity

Industrial Age

Medicine
Sanitation
Electricity
Scientific Method
Radio
Flight

Modern Times

Synthetic Fibers
Satellites
Superconductor

That's it! All other techs came from the Great Library, trades, Theory of Evolution, or just plain being Scientific. Sometimes I steal, but I didn't have to in that game.

I only needed to research 13 techs to get a Spaceship win.

Usually my research path in the Modern Times is different because I often get Rocketry as the freebie. But, even then, I try to get away with only researching:

Space Flight
Superconductor or Satellites
Synthetic Fibers
At most, two of Fission, Computers, Nuclear Power, and The Laser

Bottom line, you *need* the AI to do your research for you. In my experience, the higher the level, the more helpful the AI is in this regard.

The only thing that makes Deity so hard to beat is the huge advantage it gets in building Wonders. Those 400 shield Wonders only cost 240 to the AI under Deity.

- TT

[Killazer]

diety isnt hard if warmonger......

key to winning diety and other levels easily is to militarily wipe out 1 or 2 civs close to you early in the game (ancient-late medieval/early industrial). After that you can pretty much dominate the whole game. Trading and keeping in contact with other civs is a BIG part of the game, especially in high diff levels. When you war with others you have to make some military alliances against them or give other civs stuff to keep them neutral. Otherwise, they may join the fight against you and you can end up in an all AI civs Vs you situation- which isnt very good in diety.

[ToeTruck]

Killazer,

You mean when playing with just one city?

I've played a couple of OCC games under Monarch trying for a Conquest victory. And...it is wicked hard.

An Archer rush is conceivable, but very difficult.

- TT

[vmxa1]

Nay he did not notice you were talking about OCC games here. I can not image trying to attack another civ at deity in an OCC game. What good would it do you if you pulled it off? You can not make another city any tech they had you could have traded for. Anyway it is much harder to do in PTW than before.

[ToeTruck]

Yea, you're right vmxa1, an OCC Conquest Victory at Deity is nigh impossible. At least I can't conceive of it being done.

At Monarch, though, or Regent...it might be done. I'd have to think a bit before trying again.

Any ideas anyone?

How would you go about achieving a Conquest Victory at the lower levels while playing under the OCC rules?

(that's just one city folks)

I think it's doable, but I'm not sure how.

- TT

[vmxa1]

I guess you would need a tiny or small map. Would you be allowed to disband a city that flipped to you?
Mostly land and minimum water. No killer AI's could be allowed to develop.

[Killazer]

Why would you want to play with 1 city? lol. Anyway, ya I an imagine a conquest victory being fairly difficult then lol

[vmxa1]

It is just a way to give you another challenge.
Often a good strategy game requires player to set artifical restraints to make it fresh.
Moo2 is such a game where players make up all sorts of limits to get another reason to fire up another game.

[Panag]

Originally posted by vmxa1
Nay he did not notice you were talking about OCC games here. I can not image trying to attack another civ at deity in an OCC game. What good would it do you if you pulled it off? You can not make another city any tech they had you could have traded for. Anyway it is much harder to do in PTW than before.

hi ,

a guy did it at cfc , ..... a couple months ago , .....

on a 180 x 180 map , the rest of tyhe detail are gone from my memory , ......

have a nice day

[DaveMcW]

Originally posted by ToeTruck At Monarch, though, or Regent...it might be done. I'd have to think a bit before trying again.

Any ideas anyone?

How would you go about achieving a Conquest Victory at the lower levels while playing under the OCC rules?

(that's just one city folks)

I think it's doable, but I'm not sure how.

- TT

I could have had a Conquest Victory in AU 302 (Regent OCC) but I went for Histographic instead.

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?postid=1932140#post1932140

[ToeTruck]

DaveMcW,

I saw your post when playing AU302 and was mighty impressed then. I re-read that post again just now and remain impressed. Good job.

Do you think the strategy you used in AU302 could be expanded to apply to a standard game?

What would you look for in a starting position?

Would an Archer rush suffice if the starting position didn't have Iron?

I think I might replay AU302 as Persia to see if I can reproduce your victory. Thanks for the post.

Again, good job. That's the one an only Conquest/Histograph Victory in OCC I've ever seen...at any level.



-TT