My primitive strategy

[Ri-jon Boom!]

I have just started a game for the first time in about a year.... and I am doing great on diety because of this strategy. It is basically the most primitive strategy possible, but here it is: I build only Settlers untill I have about 5 cities, then I build 1 phalanx in each city. After a city has made it's phalanx, it just makes more settlers untill I discover Iron working. Then I switch all resources to making Legions. I destroy anything I can get my hands on, laying waste to towns and pilliging countrysides. Then as soon as I develop Chivalry I switch all cities to Knights. The only wonders I build are the great wall and the war acadamy untill later in the game. The trick to this strategy is too keep you enemies on their toes, and to devote all of your resources at them. Also, space your cities out so that you controll more territory, thus your enemies will fear you.

[East Street Trader]

Hi, Ri-jon.

So what's the weather like in Ri-jonia, exactly? And what makes all the Booms?

By the by, if any of the A1 civs are out of easy reach your strat may be due to run into a difficulty or two later on. So get at the bastards tout bloody suite!

An early win is a good win, says East Street Trader.

[Hawkx9]

Ri-jon Boom!,
I too have been trying out a similar conquest strat. It works well but starts to run into problems once you've taken over one or two opposing civs... the unhappiness is horrid with so many cities. This happened to me last game but I was able to build Mike's Chapel, which solved all my problem needless to say.

My question for you is this...
For you, how much time does one game take, using this strat? What size map are you playing? Settings? (Making transports for all those Knights sure is a pain in the butt.)

My personality is that of a perfectionist. I prefer to have 8-12 cities and micromanage, at least until I can roll out some Cavalry or other advanced unit and go to town. Using the above strat, after a small while, my civ looks to be in total dissarray. I'm still in Monarchy, of course, and now that I have so many units and my empire is spread to hell and back, I won't be switching to a permanent representative gov't any time soon, if ever. Micromanagement now seems laughable considering the time it would take to supervise so many cities. What's your take on this? Do you mind just queing up Knights and leaving it for the rest of the game? Just curious.

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~work like you don't need the money~
~love like you've never been hurt~
~dance like nobody's watchin'~
~live like there's no tomorrow~
[This message has been edited by Hawkx9 (edited June 29, 2000).]

[cavebear]

Hawke - What kind of micromanaging is becoming a problem? Worker allocation to resource squares? City improvement decisions?

[Hawkx9]

cavebear,
Well, the micromanangement of a large amount of cities isn't exactly a problem per se. It's more the tedium that drags me down. If you've made a nice auto-build list it might prove easier, but if not, keeping track of what every city is producing, etc, is a pain. Don't you think so? I mean, how many cities do you usually have going at once? 10? 30? more? I find that once the number rises above 20ish that I lose focus. Especially if trying to setup trade routes.

I like to use an arbitrary number or date for city expansion. For instance, I usually stop founding new cities once 1AD rolls around, ending up with around 10-12. By then I should be getting close to a switch to Republic for a quick WLT*D to max out all my cities. If all aren't ready, or some haven't reached size 3, then the luxury burst isn't as efficient and some cities will be left paltry. The meager cities will need another burst later on, which again is less efficient.

My favorite (early) strat right now is to produce a SSC with Colossus and HG and celebrate WLT*D in Monarchy in that city to receive the addition arrows. This is easily done with the HG, only requiring 10-20% lux at most times. This way, each square within said city will produce 3+ arrows. (more than 3 in ocean squares and rivers after bridgebuilding.) With a library and trade routes, this city will rake in the beakers. All other cities will have no improvements and cater to the SSC's every whim, supplying it with troops or caravans for WOW's whenever needed. Then I'll ride my flourishing SSC all the way to SoL. After that, the game's mine. (I'm speaking of SP, of course.)

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~work like you don't need the money~
~love like you've never been hurt~
~dance like nobody's watchin'~
~live like there's no tomorrow~
[This message has been edited by Hawkx9 (edited June 29, 2000).]