Tech path priority after Monarchy

[Cyclotron]

I am an advocate of early republic... I find that on the harder difficulty levels it is almost required to keep up with AI tech. The loss in production can be made up for with a few mines, and the cash gained by republics makes wonder-building easy (rush build caravans for that extra kick). My strategy, however, is almost always economic; I find very little problems in Civ2 that money can't solve. After monarchy, I get trade, then go for republic, banking, and gunpowder. I usually don't worry about ships until the mid game (something I should probably try to improve on).

[East Street Trader]

Ships and trade go hand in hand, Cyclotron.

And an early trireme does wonders for exploration, exposing a juicy whale or two around your coastal cities and grabbing more than your fair share of huts -often makes tipping safer and/or more profitable too.

Stick an early dip into an early trireme and he may send you back a little stream of units from the fair land of "none".

Not to mention an advanced tribe or two ready to seed a second/third landmass before the A1 is in any shape to stunt your growth in the locality.

Pretty much my next priority after getting the first few cities down, attending my coronation and building a diplo is getting that trireme out there.

And then you've made a start towards a ship chain (if your mores allow you such things).

[Cyclotron]

I didn't say I never put ships out... I do try to reaveal all city sea radius squares I can. I prefer land combat, however... I find it is less costly and less time consuming to simply trade and explore by land. It's just a medium I am more comfortable in until the more substantial ships appear.

[Scouse Gits]

Try a few early boats! Trade bonuses are greater when you land caravans on other continents. Hut hunting is safer by sea. When the barbs appear just pop the explorer back on the ship.
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SG(2)

[Carolus Rex]

quote: Originally posted by Scouse Gits on 02-01-2001 07:26 AM Strange --- no advocates of early Republic?

Ok, I'll bite!

I like early republic a lot. It can be very powerful, but is IMHO especially effective under certain conditions (maybe even requirements for success in MP?):

- double production. One of the major drawbacks of republic, the support penalty, vanishes. Happiness is also easier to keep in check with Elvis as your cities still can produce decent amounts of resources (of all kinds) despite the King. Also makes celebrations easier to achieve (important, but often forgotten).

- dificulty level. At king you can pull it off without happy wonders.

- map size. The larger, the better. Early republic is a vulnerable strategy in the early game, even with double production. If an aggressive warmonger finds you fast it's probably going to be difficult to survive.

- world settings. Again, settings that make early contact more difficult are probably a good thing. Archipelago instead of large landmasses, many small continents instead of one large etc.

- the opposition. Some people I play all go for early rep. All players in the game know this, we leave each other alone and are not so worried about being attacked early. These are growing games with warfare later in the game. Other players are warmongers and will start looking for me right away. They want short, intense games featuring early warfare. Then monarchy first may be a better choice.

- variety is more fun. Always playing the same way gets pretty boring, it's nice with a change every now and then.

Carolus

[Carolus Rex]

About the tech path...

For the moment, after I have rep or monarchy I usually go for BW, Currency and Trade to get caravans. After that it's pretty open, I'm not as focused on the tech path as I should be.

Either pottery for HG or, if I suspect I'm coming in second on that one, straight for mono. Sometimes I go for masonry, construction etc to get LW. I like LH a lot, but map making seems to be found more often in the huts than any other tech (except warrior code!) and I often pick it up from one (unless I know the world has lots of water).

What the opponent does matters too...

Carolus

[Carolus Rex]

Oh, one more thing!

- barb level: the lower the better for early republic.

So to summarise the extremes:

- If it's 1x1x, deity level, small map, raging hordes against DaveV I go for monarchy first, then trade and pottery or the masonry route.

- If it's 1x2x, king level, normal map, restless tribes against Carnide it's early republic, mono and philo. No defending units in the cities (at all!) and no GW.

Anything in between depends (plus the fun of change)...

Carolus

[East Street Trader]

quote: Originally posted by Carolus Rex on 02-02-2001 08:26 AM (at all!)

Now that is taking a strat to the max!

[Edward]

First a warning - I play single player, small map (it's all my poor playstation can handle), peaceful spaceship victory, deity.

My early priorities are:

1) Monarchy - I play as an expansionist, claiming land via settling cities. Republican settlers are way to hungry for food to have an early expanding Republic.

2) Trade - for quick wonder building via caravans

3) Colossus - for super science city

4) Hanging Gardens - to keep expanding until Michaelangelo's Chapel comes along.

5) Copernicus's Observatory - again SSC

*) Philosophy if the AI hasn't already gotten it. I've learned to swallow my pride and let the Golden Age of Enlightenment happen elsewhere.

6) Michaelangelo's Chapel - to keep my expanding tribe happy


My small maps mean boats are not too much of an issue and that trading maps with the AI is not quite as powerful. Marco Polo's Embassy is less important too.

Since I'm an expansionist with many cities, I have no improvements unless they're absolutely vital - too much upkeep! Building settlers in unhappy cities can delay my temple needs for a long time - so mysticism is only used as a step to Copernicus's Observatory.

Since I try and remain peaceful, I give almost no consideration to my military. All my units are green unless vetted by battle. Sun Tzu's War Academy would only eliminate my ability to make the phalanx step while rush buying caravans.

As Six Thousand Year Old Man said, any tech path is viable.

[DaveV]

quote: Originally posted by Edward on 02-02-2001 01:19 PM My small maps mean ... Marco Polo's Embassy is less important too.

A suggestion: try, just once, building MPE as your very first wonder. You'll have immediate contact with all the AIs, and will usually find them with substantial treasury balances. Odds are good on a small map that most or all of the AIs share your continent; if you've been expanding, I mean really expanding, you'll be supreme and the AIs will give you most of their cash. This has the twofold effect of curtailing the AIs' growth and probably giving you enough money to rushbuy HG and Colossus. As a bonus, you can frequently trade techs with the AIs just before demanding tribute.

Some consider this cheating, because it makes things just toooo easy...

[Edward]

Thanks, DaveV.

While I'm usually relatively powerful compared to the AI civs, I generally don't demand tribute. Only do so in rare occasions when I really need the cash to say rush a wonder or buy back a city. Guess it's just my peaceful nature.

Marco Polo's Embassy would give one the chance to demand tribute from AI civs that you haven't even seen yet - so no fear of retaliation. I'll have to try demanding tribute my next game.

[Ribannah]

quote: Originally posted by Theben on 01-31-2001 02:34 PM I admit I'm still hooked on getting Philosophy after Monarchy- I HATE it when an AI civ gets it 1st!

Staying away from Philosophy until you need it usually gives better results. If you're still the one to get it, you have a more expensive tech for free than if you had it earlier. If the AI gets the free tech, you can often trade for BOTH philosophy and that free tech, so you'll be even better off.

The same is true about Darwin's Voyage: having an AI tribe build it can occasionally be very profitable.



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If you have no feet, don't walk on fire

[Chainsaw]

quote: Originally posted by DaveV on 02-02-2001 03:27 PM A suggestion: try, just once, building MPE as your very first wonder.

MPE can be also very useful playing Bloodlust. The only thingf you still need is Map Making. Then you go to every AI, give them some early techs to make them think you`re a nice guy and then easily find out where your next prey is hiding. Eliminates the long & annoying search on medium or big maps.

[Chainsaw]

quote: Originally posted by DaveV on 02-02-2001 03:27 PM A suggestion: try, just once, building MPE as your very first wonder.

MPE can be also very useful playing Bloodlust. The only thing you additonally need is Map Making. Then you go to every AI, give them some early techs to make them think you`re a nice guy and then easily find out where your next prey is hiding. Eliminates the long & annoying search on medium or big maps.

[Chaos Warrior]

OK, I think everyone knows that there's no ultimate tech path... but I'm sure after discussing major cases and situations, there should be quite a few different "Top Tech Strategies" or so given by the thinkers among you... (with the most propable playing situations (map, AI, etc.))

Well, are those going to be included in the Great Library or somewhere else but on a thread that will disappear soon?