Emperor Games: how to improve your skills

[vmxa1]

Re: A follow-up on Master Zen's comments

Originally posted by ToeTruck


Everyone should try taking a starting position and re-loading until they get it right. That takes a long time, but the things you learn along the way are very valuable. Also keep a log. Write down what you are doing, when you did it, and why.

- TT

I agree and this is what I did for Master Of Orion II. Check a log and reload to see what the best way todo this was and what the impact was of a given improvement.
It is a lot more work in Civ, but still useful. Otherwise how do you know if it is better mine first or road first and which is best in what cases?

[ToeTruck]

Dead on vmxa1.

- TT

[ToeTruck]

Got Republic?

Have researched The Republic and suffered my way through six turns of Anarchy. Ouch.

That's the price you pay though. Once you have a Republic government, disband all your units (even the Elite) and build away.

Here's the picture taken before disbandment:


And here's the picture taken just after disbandment:


My point here is that disbanding units is a great way to pump up high-corruption cities whilte also allowing for a higher research rate.

In this case, my time to Theology dropped from 11 turns to 5 turns. Yea!

- TT

[vmxa1]

Ok it is late so I am too tired to think. I see it is two turns late, but some of the builds are improved by far mo..... never mind. The fog clear, shields from the disbands, Duh.

[Mountain Sage]

As usual, I am just a step behind TT in posting, which is fine (no spoilers from me!).

My situation in 130 BC:

13 cities, Bejing to fall next turn.
15 warriors, 12 archers, 15 swordmen, 4 chariots. I realize now this was a bit of an overkill.
My city building: Roxane (capitol), then Erin, Thermopylae, Delphi, Corinth. Argos was added since I had a 'free space' in my T-C-C-T grid.
Pharsalos was build only after I saw some Chinese (and Arab!) settlers heading south.
For the future, I kept my capitol in Roxane and put my FP in Peking. If I had to do it again, I would have chosen Delphi (capitol) and Shanghai (FP).
Gold is not a problem. As TT, I will disband all my units once I get Republic and the continenet is mine.

As to the razing, I usually never raze, except if I want to pack cities tightly. But the costs then will be high (2 pops points per city).

My situation:

[Gufnork]

MS, how did you build your Palace and FP? That's a very interesting issue as I see it. ToeTruck got a leader to rush his FP, then built his palace manually in a base that was close enough to have very little waste. I rarely play commercial civs, so does Beijing have little enough waste for it to be a good choice?

TT, you knew that you wanted Mecca for your SSC. Wouldn't bringing a settler along and rushing the FP in what now is Troy in order to reduce corruption in Mecca (not to mention historically pleasing in a way)? Or do you value a slightly better placement overall over that?

[ToeTruck]

Gufnork, you're quite correct that I could have placed the FP closer to Mecca. I actually considered rushing it in Mecca itself. That would have made a lot of sense, but I decided that placing it in Ephesus was a better overall choice.

The shields I gain from a more central placement should give me Universities and the like more quickly in other cities. Over the duration of the game, that benefit will make up for any corruption Mecca experiences.

- TT

[ToeTruck]

Contact...finally!

It's 660AD and I've finally made contact.

Without the Great Library, it wasn't essential for me to make immediate contact. And, because of my war with the Chinese and Arabs, my city development is way behind normal builder schedule...so a late contact is not such a bad thing.

Here is my minimap before contact:


Couple of things to notice:

1) Even with the Great Lighthouse, I was a total wimp. Instead of flitting around the periphery with a single Galley, I could have put my on my "explorer hat" and built several Galleys. The best way to make contact (if you can afford it and desire it) is to have several Galleys strike out in parallel. As it turns out in this game, I don't think I lost much.

2) That's it; there is no thing #2.

And, here is my minimap after making contact:


Couple of things to note here:

1) Somebody is missing. I've made contact with four civs and I've killed two. That leaves one more. Whoever they are, though, they are mighty small.

2) Because I control my continent and I started on the largest continent to begin with, I *own* this game. There is no reason to conquer anyone else and there is no reason at all to build another military unit until I run out of things to build. None. Period.

I'll post again soon with the results of my early contact trade.

- TT

[ToeTruck]

Are you a builder?

I've played a couple of turns since making contact and my builder strategy is really kicking in. Here are a couple of ways you know you are in the builder stage:

1) Your Military Advisor questions your conjones. Yes, this could happen if you are losing, but I'm not:


2) You don't bother with a military at all. You're not weak, just too busy building. Truth be told, I should have way more workers by now, but you get the picture:


3) Your rivals are Polite or Gracious. Keep them "Fat and Happy" is my motto:


For the rest of the game, I will play with a very aggressive trading strategy that holds nothing back (or at least very little).

This strategy is the backbone of my builder games and works well even with small civilizations. Here's the link:

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=90855

As a result of my zealous trading, I've almost caught up tech-wise. Without trading away my own map, I've swapped Theology (and anything needed before it) for full Contact, Monarchy, Feudalism, and Engineering. I've also give away all that I can to bring my rivals up to my level in technology. That means I will probably lose Cope's so my SSC is compromised, but I don't really care that much.

What I really want is Luxuries. I *need* everyone to have sea routes.

More later.

- TT

[Mountain Sage]

Gufnork:
My FP will be in Bejing (I left my capitol in Erin in the south). I speeded it up with my only Leader.
If I were to replay this game, I would have probably put my FP in Shanghai and relocated my capitol in Argos.

We are now in 450 AD. the war is over, the Arabs are history. I disbanded my military units (4 swords and 10 horses).
I am in Republic now and triggered my GA with my only Hoplite.
Theology in 5 turns. Gold enough.
let's wait for he others.

ToeTruck: I like your military might! It reminds me of my PP games.

[fanes7]

I previously want build my FP in Beijing or some place north , but after I found another land at 1000BC , I change my idea, It seems better that build my FP in a bigger land. Now I am thinking whether it is worth to do that.

I think you are almost win in the game , congratulations!

[Arrian]

Once you have a Republic government, disband all your units (even the Elite)

NOOOOOooooooooOO! Not the elites!!! Heretic! BURN HIM!



Great game, TT.

-Arrian

[ToeTruck]

Greece DAR - 1000AD

Here's my summary for 1000AD:
- 22 cities
- Three local Luxuries. Importing five foreign Luxuries.
- Excess Horses, Iron, Dye, Incense, and Ivory.
- Expect to find Coal and Rubber in Northern Jungles.
- Only now bothering to connect Saltpeter.
- 33 native Workers. A bunch of captured Workers.
- Researching Medicine in 5 turns. Have all Ancient and Middle Ages techs except Printing Press, Democracy, and Free Artistry.

The minimap is pretty much the same as in my last post except that I have contacted England. The English are now relatively prosperous and good for decent gold per turn deals.

Here's the Southern Map;


Things to notice:

1) There are very few irrigated grasslands. Having the Pyramids as made it unnecessary at least up to size six. Since I only recently have acquired the luxuries to support very large cities, I haven't bothered with irrigating grasslands up to this point.

2) The south is almost completely roaded and fairly well mined as well. I tend to direct my workers in waves starting around my low corruption cities and working my way out. Once all cities are connected, I road and mine everything except plains. I don't bother roading jungles or forests at this point; just clear them and move on with life.

3) To effectively manage lots of workers without driving myself crazy, I form a handful of teams (about six or eight is the most I can think about at one time) and assign the others in onesies or twosies to clear jungles.

4) There aren't a lot of big cities. I really should have a couple of killer cities around the capital, but without the Great Library I had been low on cash most of the game.

Here's the Northern Map:


Things to notice:

1) If you look closely, you can see the small teams of Workers clearing the jungles. That's long hard work; think of it as a background task.

2) Mecca is trying to build Newt's. If everything times out right, I might switch to Theory of Evolution.

3) I haven't done a real good job of developing the north. Oh well.

My goal now is to research the lower branch of the Industrial Ages, get Theory of Evolution in place, and move as quickly as I can through the tech tree.

- TT

[ToeTruck]

Originally posted by Arrian


NOOOOOooooooooOO! Not the elites!!! Heretic! BURN HIM!

Sometimes I think playing builder at all in Civ3 is heretical enough without all you warmongers around.

Originally posted by Arrian
Great game, TT.

Thanks Arrian.

- TT

[Arrian]

Well, to be fair, your buildling was set up by the early conquest of 2 other civilizations. Like you and many others, I destroy so that I may create.

-Arrian