Opinions on my game

[Flip McWho]

Hey all.

I've finally decided to take the plunge up to regent level. So far I don't think I'm doing to badly but I'd like you strategy experts here to have a look and give your opinions on how to improve my game some more.

Thanks.

[vmxa1]

I am packing it for the night, but what is it a Civ/PTW or C3C?

[Flip McWho]

C3C with no patch. Dutch civ.

All other settings are on random. Everything from map size to civs to barbarians. I wanted a truly random experience

[Thrar]

First advice i want to give you is to post screenshots. You can zoom out by pressing 'z', so you get an overview, this already tells a lot about city placement and terrain improvements.

Now, more specific comments:

- more workers. You have 7 cities, but only 3 workers; your 15 citizens are working a total of 3 (!) improved tiles.
- more cities, and MUCH tighter spacing. Between Amsterdam, The Hague, Rotterdam and Groningen, you can fit at least 2, maybe 3 cities, which would have good grassland to work, and low corruption. Another 2 cities would fit between Rotterdam, Eindhoven and Utrecht.
- build at the close city sites first. No need to travel all the way to the Utrecht site, when there are nice places left near Amsterdam. Less time spent, and less corruption for those cities.
- you have 6 spearmen and 9 warriors all over the map. Yes, you do have a nice overview of the land, and a good defense, but spent a lot of shields on them. Better use those for settlers and workers, which in turn will allow you to generate more shields and commerce - for even more of them. Without experiencing too much corruption, i think you could triple your city count, and maybe use the FP to make the whole western peninsula productive.
- trade techs. At the moment, the Hittites are ahead of you just by iron working, while everyone else is behind. Sell part of your tech lead to the greeks to get IW, and try to keep a close look at who's having what.
- you don't need all those temples. Actually, i would switch all of them to settlers or workers, and the same with the spearmen you are building.
- I'm not sure if you have a shot at the pyramids, since i'm not familiar with the pace at Regent level, but if you do want to go for them, improve those tiles you work around Amsterdam! I'd rather use Amsterdam for expansion, maybe switch to granary at this point, but if you want to try for a wonder, do so. However, try not to get used to having the GLib, while it does make things much easier, it is also something you cannot count on getting in every game.

[sprudl]

First of all I'd like to point out it's a good thing you're exploring. It's important to meet civs for trading purposes and spotting resources. Knowing what the map looks like is a tactical advantage too. Especially now map and contact trading has been pushed way back in the tech tree.

As Thrar said you should squeeze in more cities and improve the tiles.

Change production in a couple of cities to workers and settlers. Be careful when sending them out to settle, barbarian activity may be high. Military escorts would be necessary. Temples are not that important at this point. If necessary use the lux slider to keep people happy.

Based on the current view of the map you should consider expanding north and east first and settle the western peninsula later.

Grab the desert north of The Hague (increases you chance for salpeter and oil) and secure the mountain range next to it (good shields and it might have Iron).

Expand eastwards to prevent the Hittites and that other civ from settling there. It's good land with horses and dyes.

The western peninsula is interesting too (incense!), but I don't see any other civs close by and land access is already blocked. So a lower priority for that one.

The jungle between you and the Byzantines can hinder them. The silk in there is very nice though. It could be the reason for some military action

[vmxa1]

Sounds like you got what you need. Post an update.

[Flip McWho]

Thanks for the help guys. I'm haven't had a chance to play much more for now, damn sleep and job, but I'm gonna play some this evening and post an update for ya's.

Better use those for settlers and workers,

Half the time I only produce those units because I'm waiting for the growth to catch up with my shied production. So instead of having sheilds sit around doing nothing I kick out a warrior while I wait for the Food level to catch up.

I'm not sure if you have a shot at the pyramids, since i'm not familiar with the pace at Regent level...

Uh yeah, I was producing the pyramids cause I wanted to pre-build for the Great Library. Changed my mind on that now.

[Snotty]

Not my map size, so my bearings are all off. Make sure you block up that land bridge to the east of the bananas. A couple of warriors should do it.

And give those byz a damn good kicking

[PrinceBimz]

Originally posted by Flip McWho Half the time I only produce those units because I'm waiting for the growth to catch up with my shied production. So instead of having sheilds sit around doing nothing I kick out a warrior while I wait for the Food level to catch up.

You could also set those cities to produce wealth, pick up a little extra gold while you wait. So doing this you won't actually waste shields.

[Flip McWho]

Ok here is an update. I took some advice and started pumping out settlers and more workers. Slowly filling the land in. I also have some inherent fear about placing cities to close together as then you have overlapping radii. I like my cities to be able to use all 20+ squares in its radius without having to share. Gonna have to unlearn this aren't I.

And give those byz a damn good kicking

I will at some point but I play more isolationist peace loving builder type. I only chat to the other nations when I want something, like techs or luxeries, otherwise I like to be left behind.

[Cerbykins]

Having just arrived for my daily browse, and viewed both, I can say I like the second one MUCH more

When unlearning your fear of overlap, simply remember that it's not if a city has all the possible tile that matters - it's that all the tiles are used
If you miss tiles out, that's FAR worse because you're penalising your civ rather than the cities.

Anyhow...

On the subject of killing - my games normally have 16 civs in them, so by this time I'd be contemplating war. You, on the other hand, shouldn't - fighting is normally only any use once the borders meet. Of course, this doesn't apply in the late game, but you're a long way off that so far. Right now, the best thing I PERSONALLY think you could do is get all those granaries out of the pyramids, and seize all the land you can. Which you are doing

Keep it up! But as the enemy get nearer your border, remember to have your military ready. The AI finally gets nasty on Regent - especially in C3C - and building units when war is on you is just too late...
Even for a builder - a military is necessary. If the bad guys have more guns than you, you'll have to pay to end every war...

[sprudl]

This is looking much better. I see you have a couple of iron resources in reach. Maybe there's a trading possiblity there.

Watch out in The Hague. You have a settler ready, but the city isn't big enough yet. You're wasting turns. The same might happen Eindhoven. If it's too soon for a settler, build a unit first (even a warrior). You'll need the military anyway. All peaceful isolationist builders need one

I wouldn't build temples yet in Middelburg and Delft but let them pop a worker first. I know it's hard for a builder to delay building construction but you need the workers. Been there, done that

You could use the new workers to hook up the dyes near Holwerd.

You can set the lux slider to 10%. You can then put the entertainer in Amsterdam back to work and finish the Pyramids 3 turns sooner (and maintain a slow growth rate for the city). The other cities are too small to be affected by 10% lux.

Just my ideas... Good luck!

[Flip McWho]

Thanks people.

I'll post another update in a few days time for y'all. Going away so won't be able to play for a few days. But I'll post and let you know how I'm coming along. Again cheers.