Ranking the PTW civs for MP

[Fried-Psitalon]

Brizey- MP is vastly different than single player. Games almost *never* see the Industrial online, nevermind any later- many games are mostly resolved (mop-up) by the end of the ancient, and few get past Chivalry's explosion of knights.

If you play a Civ that is meant to achieve greatness in an era past the Ancient, you're either betting on being isolated, or holding off rampaging ancient Civs in the meantime.... a gamble indeed.

[Swissy]

The timing of the Carthage UU can be problematic. I usually find most MP players will not even try to attack Carthage before they get a 4 attack factor. While the Persian Immortal fits the bill, they usually have easier prey. So I rarely get attacked before feudalism. Some games I am forced to build the Great Lighthouse and Hanging Gardens to trigger a GA.

The real weakness of both Carthage and France is their dependence on non-jungle rivers. My worse games with Carthage have been ones where I could not place atleast half of my first 8 cities on a non-jungle river. The big benefit of lower corruption is all the gold and the things you can do with it; rush builds, push science, support larger army.

[Fried-Psitalon]

Originally posted by Swissy
The timing of the Carthage UU can be problematic..... I usually find most MP players will not even try to attack Carthage before they get a 4 attack factor....... So I rarely get attacked before feudalism..... The big benefit of lower corruption is all the gold and the things you can do with it; rush builds, push science, support larger army.

(Edited by Friedrich for points I wanted to talk about.)

Swiss- you actually wait to be attacked? Maybe I have a different style. I usually go in and play "I wish I was a Zulu Impi" on my opponent's land pretty early. Sooner or later he desperately tosses a few warriors or archers at me, and voila, I have my golden age. If he doesn't, I'll clear everything out and call in a few more Num Mercs to raise real heck.

I totally agree with the lowered corruption, but I firmly believe the biggest benefit is the Industrial- it allows you to move your Num Mercs at high speeds, because building roads is a non-issue. 2 workers? One square a turn, wee! A common tactic I'll use is to build a road across unclaimed ground, gather my Num Mercs at the opponent's border en masse (just out of the national line of sight).... and then pay a visit. Elim games usually end about 8 turns later.

[Panag]

hi ,

the americans , they get the F - 15 , ...

have a nice day

[Swissy]

I prefer to have at least 4 cities before I get my GA. You just can't push the tech with fewer. I do not seek out early combat in elimination, I have my Mercs and the are near invincible in walled towns. This allows me to get to feudalism faster, with more cities, to support a larger army with both offensive and defensive capability. I have won many elims with my opponent marching his stacks of swords/Legions against my frontier cities, each with 8 mercs, while I sneak in a stack(6) of merc with catapults. I sit outside his city until the walls come down, then it is over as the bulk of his army is sittting outside my untakable cities, and my half dozen Mercs make short work of the two spearmen inside. They cannot support enough troops to both attack and defend, I can as I used the early game to build up.

You can have success with your strategy, I have used such on occassion (mainly against a nearby Persian), but if your opponents are able to hold out through your GA you will have budget problems when the GA ends. Allow an opponent to get to feudalism before you, you will be seeing the military advisor announcing your "humiliating defeat".