Culture based victory - Monarch level

[Nicollo Rising]

OK my brain hurts.

Playing on a huge map with 8 Civs.

Went for the Great Library as quickly as possible. Took me several attempts (yes I restarted) to get this before anyone else.

Once focus moved away from this, I looked up and everyone else had done a land grab. I guess I should have established a fast breeder city and done the same?

At this level AI civs are getting tech advances at the same speed as the player, and yet I seem to be miles behind everyone else. I am exploiting as much trade as possible, and have science rates at the highest level possible while keeping people happy but after the GL runs out due to the education advance I seem to slip woefully again.

I would like to know if anyone else has successfully tried a culture based victory and what paths they took at the start of the game.

BTW anyone that moans that this game is too hard because of the culture stuff is mad. At last we have an AI and a game system that is challenging. Civ3 and Europa-Universalis II have been developed to fry tiny minds (like mine).

Ol' Nic

[heidlejohn]

Culture wins are relatively easy after you get used to the game. I have turned them off when I play because I was winning too easily / quickly with culture.

You seem to understand the main concepts so I think that practice will make you a better player. Above all you always need lots of cities. You also need a strong military to prevent others from declaring war on you.

After the Great Library expires, you need to develop your cities. You should be in republic to get more trade hence research and you might be able to keep up with the AIs.

What level were you playing? How many wars were you in? (few due to the huge map?) How much trading with other civs do you do? These are other important factors in how well a game goes.

[SpencerH]

I've only won one game by culture and I believe that it was at regent rather than monarch or emperor (where I normally play). It seems to me that in order to win by culture you have to either build many early wonders or have a huge empire (usually by conquest). Since I'm a builder and I play at higher levels where the AI has a build and tech rate advantage I dont fulfill either of those requirements (so I win by space race ).

[Nicollo Rising]

I have a small number of cities due to lack of focus I think. After 80 turns I get to start Great Library (40 x 2 research).

Up to this time I am using workers to upgrade shield ability around the city I am going to build wonder in.

As these are my two research abilities I have not got horses and/or boats and thus have explored comparitively little of the map and thus only come against (probably) two civs.

When I have met civs I have no/little tech to trade as I have only researched two advances.

I think from the information here I must build more more cities quickly and try to explore more. Not as easy as it sounds though

I mean - those Iroquios. All those cities. What on earth are they on?

[Nym]

I never won by culture, but usually by space race (sometimes by diplomacy). Nevertheless I am always one of the highest culture rated civ.

[Pillager]

I have never successfully played past Regent, so feel free to take my advice with a certain amount of reservation, but the one thing I keep in mind in the early game is expansion. Expand, expand, and then expand some more. Search out other civs, so you can trade with them, and block them off. In my current game, I'm actually bigger than every other civ, despite having had a war with only one other. Although the war meant I could grab some of his cities, which definitely helped, I just expanded as much as I could, and had a little luck, of course! I know regent is not monarch, and I'm not playing for a cultural victory, but I should imagine that expansion and contact is the key.