ICP & Bonus Squares

[gunkulator]

Another chime in for the Iroquois and the Dutch.

In all my difficulty level move-ups, I always start the next level with the Iroquois followed by the Dutch. I figure if I can't win with them, I don't belong on that level yet.

I find it amusing that so many civ'ers have made the same independent conclusion.

[Modo44]

I've been bad. My first Demigod win was with the Sumerians. Sorry.

[Arrian]

Sumer is a decent enough CIV, to be sure. I just worry about an ultra-early GA triggered by an AI hitting an Endiku (sp?). That, and the lack of the ability to do a warrior -> sword upgrade, but that's less important.

-Arrian

[Modo44]

Originally posted by Arrian
Sumer is a decent enough CIV, to be sure. I just worry about an ultra-early GA triggered by an AI hitting an Endiku (sp?). That, and the lack of the ability to do a warrior -> sword upgrade, but that's less important.

I don't worry about an early GA, because I'm not going to war early. Various civs will usually come and demand things, usually before I even have my first Barracks city. So they get it, no questions asked (but hitlist updated ). If I get attacked that early, the GA won't save me. OTOH, if they come knocking once I'm in Rapublic, with a couple productive cities... well, bring it on.

[aksully]

I somehow changed my plans from trying the Irqouis or Dutch and went with the Celts. Had a great starting point on a river, was at the end of a continent so no Cis behind me, adequate resources near and not to far, and lots of hills and mountains. Nice distance towards the nearest civ (americans). With all that, and up to 3 cities, the AI civs all had 3 times the techs and just as much cash. Went to war against America (twice) cause two warriors were ejected a non-american soil after peace but I couldn't get them to an open tile! To make a long story short...on the second peace discussions I got 3 techs including iron-working. Lo and behold, I have not one source of iron in my territory! And I got hills and mountains all over! On the visible map there is only one source of iron. On a single hill next to Washington!!!!! Now that folks....sucks! I've never played on a standard map where there was just one source of iron close by.
Then to make matters worse...I just got Polytheism and the darn Incas demand I give it to them! I said Hell No politely and they've declared war on me! No matter, I just killed their scout and I don't even see them on the map yet! But the worse thing is without a close by supply of Iron I can't get any strong units including my UU the Galic Swordsman!!! Well looks like I will have to stop my Wonder construction and make a ton of spearmen....I'm gonna need them!
What the inside scoop on AI tech building? Why is it that they accumulate techs so quickly compared to us mere humans?
Sully

[Solomwi]

I can do you one worse than that (almost). I was playing the Iroquois on a huge, 60% water continents map, and had the Zulu and Arabs as my southern neighbors. Already, I'm a bit chagrinned at seeing the Zulu (Impis mean my Mounted Warriors can't retreat). However, that doubles when I get IW and discover on my entire, massive continent one single, solitary, lonely little source of iron... in Zulu territory. Fortunately, it was in a very underdeveloped section of their empire and in a thick mountain range, meaning they weren't a threat to have it hooked up anytime soon, but for sheer resource generation oddities, that beats all I've ever seen.

Oh, when I finally uncovered the other continent, I found, on a three or four civ continent, seven iron sources.

[Dominae]

Originally posted by aksully
I somehow changed my plans from trying the Irqouis or Dutch and went with the Celts. Had a great starting point on a river, was at the end of a continent so no Cis behind me, adequate resources near and not to far, and lots of hills and mountains. Nice distance towards the nearest civ (americans). With all that, and up to 3 cities, the AI civs all had 3 times the techs and just as much cash. Went to war against America (twice) cause two warriors were ejected a non-american soil after peace but I couldn't get them to an open tile! To make a long story short...on the second peace discussions I got 3 techs including iron-working. Lo and behold, I have not one source of iron in my territory! And I got hills and mountains all over! On the visible map there is only one source of iron. On a single hill next to Washington!!!!!

Build a bunch of Archers (6+) plus a few Spearmen, and beeline for Washington. It sucks that you cannot build your UU right away, but there's definitely a solution to your problem. Hang in there!

You seem to be doing a lot of early warfare. This is good as long as you are getting something accomplished, like extorting techs or claiming resources/land. Otherwise try to stay peaceful for a while and trade techs with your friends (for the time being). I'm guessing the AI has more techs than you because it is tech trading and you are not.

Also, unless you are playing on a Tiny map, three cities is not nearly enough. Try getting at least 7-8 before thinking about a Wonder.

Last thing: have fun.

[Modo44]

Originally posted by aksully
But the worse thing is without a close by supply of Iron I can't get any strong units including my UU the Galic Swordsman!!! Well looks like I will have to stop my Wonder construction and make a ton of spearmen....I'm gonna need them!

You don't need wonders to win the game. In fact many of them, especially the early ones, will only hurt you by making your most productive cities do nothing but the wonder for a looong time.

You don't need many defensive units either. If there's nothing else, make Archers - they can not only kill attackers (as can Spearmen), but they can also be sent to do some damage to your enemy. Weak, yes, but cheap, so you can make scores of them. If you can, build Horsemen - they don't need Iron. Add some Spearmen as defense, and you should be ok.

Originally posted by aksully
What the inside scoop on AI tech building? Why is it that they accumulate techs so quickly compared to us mere humans?

They trade with each other much easier, than with the human. So, if one discovers a tech, most other AIs will have it soon.

[vmxa1]

In addition to tech trading at adiscount with other AI's, they get reduced cost above Regent, compared to you.

The more civs you know that know a given tech, the cheaper it is to reseatch, so if they have more contacts, it helps them, even if they do not trade it.

If in doubt, listen to Dom and you can't go wrong.

[aksully]

They trade with each other much easier, than with the human. So, if one discovers a tech, most other AIs will have it soon. [/QUOTE]

Got It!

Sully

[Theseus]

When playing the Celts without iron (yes, it's happened to me too!!), I'll invariably go for Horsemen over Archers... once you DO get iron, you'll have one heckuva fastmover force!! In fact, you'll probably want to either a) keep your GSs even once you have Knights, as most will prolly be elites, or b) not use the GSs until you are out of despotism.

Go get'em!!

[Arrian]

Yup, no iron = archer or horseman rush to go get some (not always, but usually that's a good idea).

Count your lucky stars its the Americans who have the iron, and not the Greeks (Hoplites!), Carthage (Numidians), Rome (Legions!) or Persians (Immortals!). THAT sucks.

Dom's suggestion (6+ archers and some spears and a beeline to Washington) sounds pretty good. If you have horses, you may wish to consider a horseman rush instead. That takes longer to set up, since horsies are 30 shields, and archers just 20. One way around that is to build chariots and delay getting horseback riding until you have a decent number of them, and then upgrade them to horsemen.

Either way, it's probably smart to hit the Americans. Hard.

-Arrian

[GePap]

If you have iron nearby the Persians are great for an aggresive civ- you get medieval inf. well in the ancient age and for cheaper too- making you the only kid on the block with 4 attack for a while- and honestly, an early GA at that point will help you pour out those Immortals, building a great army.

I agree the Iriquois are very powerful, ditto the Dutch, but I love the Maya and for the builder I think it is the best civ, if only because through peaceful expandiony ou can gain a huge empire fast, and if you are big enough and deft enough with diplomacy, no one will stand in your way.

[Dominae]

Originally posted by vmxa1
If in doubt, listen to Dom and you can't go wrong.

Sully, do not listen to vmxa1, listen to me: you can definitely go wrong by listening to Dom.

[Dis]

what the hell is ICP?

aside from the lamo band that is.