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For builders seeking a good REX to bag land and resources, consider the possibility of forgoing all ancient wonders in favour of more cities.
If space permits, the extra land can serve you as well as a wonder. Imagine a wonder that gave you an extra luxury for the whole game - a few more cities might give you that(1).
Build a road and quickly research Pottery if you're not expansionist, then try to get a granary in ideally before the city grows to size three. Wheat and cows are great bonuses for settler pumps, but they still work without. If the second city has OK production and growth, and there seems to be plenty of land to expand into, further granary(s) can work out, but definitely not if space is tight.
On Monarch level, you'll be slower to the first four cities, and may need to fork out a little tribute, but should be even by about the sixth and getting ahead after that
Once the AI starts building wonders, its expansion will slow down, and there's the chance to grab the land. The other side is that the large, roaded wonder cities will be generating more tech that your small, rexing cities, so be prepared to slipstream tech research rather than pioneering tech early on, especially if two expansionists and a bully are out there.
A decent military is essential, and militaristic civs can easily raise a barracks or two to pump units to highten security. Settlers, units, workers, with an occasional temple / granary / barracks depending an circumstance and civ traits. Cheap temples really help grabbing the land.
The great thing about Despotism is the unit support. Each city allows 4 more units to defend the empire - units which can also block AI settlers from where you're also heading.
At the end of the day, the Pyramids is the only Ancient Wonder that lasts, and although wonder-specific approaches like the Lighthouse and Great Library strats are strong in the right circumstances, a bigger REX can yield longer term benefit than an ancient wonder.
A save and map of the game where I inadvertantly played this strat is posted on Theseus's Modern Armour thread. It's from the end of the game, with UP just an MA roll away.
(1) : A remote luxury is vunerable - nearby cities can help defend and buffer the lux/resource, connect it to the main body and/or the coast, hence more that one city may be desirable to defend a luxury.
If space permits, the extra land can serve you as well as a wonder. Imagine a wonder that gave you an extra luxury for the whole game - a few more cities might give you that(1).
Build a road and quickly research Pottery if you're not expansionist, then try to get a granary in ideally before the city grows to size three. Wheat and cows are great bonuses for settler pumps, but they still work without. If the second city has OK production and growth, and there seems to be plenty of land to expand into, further granary(s) can work out, but definitely not if space is tight.
On Monarch level, you'll be slower to the first four cities, and may need to fork out a little tribute, but should be even by about the sixth and getting ahead after that
Once the AI starts building wonders, its expansion will slow down, and there's the chance to grab the land. The other side is that the large, roaded wonder cities will be generating more tech that your small, rexing cities, so be prepared to slipstream tech research rather than pioneering tech early on, especially if two expansionists and a bully are out there.
A decent military is essential, and militaristic civs can easily raise a barracks or two to pump units to highten security. Settlers, units, workers, with an occasional temple / granary / barracks depending an circumstance and civ traits. Cheap temples really help grabbing the land.
The great thing about Despotism is the unit support. Each city allows 4 more units to defend the empire - units which can also block AI settlers from where you're also heading.
At the end of the day, the Pyramids is the only Ancient Wonder that lasts, and although wonder-specific approaches like the Lighthouse and Great Library strats are strong in the right circumstances, a bigger REX can yield longer term benefit than an ancient wonder.
A save and map of the game where I inadvertantly played this strat is posted on Theseus's Modern Armour thread. It's from the end of the game, with UP just an MA roll away.
(1) : A remote luxury is vunerable - nearby cities can help defend and buffer the lux/resource, connect it to the main body and/or the coast, hence more that one city may be desirable to defend a luxury.
). My old strategy was to prebuild a wonder for the pyramids (which I rarely got on either monarch or emperor) or the great library, but I've found that building more cities, more units, and a better economy will win out over any of the ancient age wonders. Because of that I was also able to wean myself away from "needing" the great library.
) or find a settler, I usually build a granary right away. Otherwise I build a settler first and then a granary. The second city I build in a high production area. It builds warriors until ~ size 4, then a settler or worker, then again warriors. I want to have 2 warriors in every core city in order to let them grow bigger. The third city I try to make my second granary city, the fourth produces units again. I usually don't build any ancient wonders. I strive to keep pace with tile improvements. I build at least one worker per city early on, slightly less if industrious. Workers are built by granary cities, if I have more than 2, and/or by peripheral 1-shield 2-food cities. Countrary to popular belief, I don't seek early wars as long as there's land to expand (i.e. I'm not boxed in). With this approach, one can outrex the AIs up to emperor.
Rex then Conquest as soon as there's a neighbor. It's the only way I know to win at Diety, and of course I'm overjoyed if I can capture a wonder with 4 horsemen.
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