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Hi all,
A nice aspect of the Strat forum here on 'Poly is the willingness of "veterans" to help out the "beginners". This usually involves constructive comments on a posted screenshot or savegame. However, I've noticed (being here in force since last September) that the veterans eventually tire of giving out advice, since the same things get said from newbie to newbie (sorry for the condescending terminology...I mean nothing by it). So, newcomers sometimes get the short end of the "advice stick", simply because the experts are not interested in repeating themselves all the time.
I myself make no claims to being an "expert", but I do give out my fair share of advice, and so feel this thread is justified.
SO, here is my "top ten" list of tips that newer players need to learn about. Put another way, if you're still confused about how to beat Emperor or Deity, here are the tricks that will put you beyond Regent/Monarch.
1. Micro-manage your Workers
By this, I do not mean "do not leave them on auto-improve", I mean make sure you know exactly what every Worker is doing before 10AD, and how each city is directly benefitting from this. Try not to improve tiles that you will not be using in the near-future. Look into the city view to see in how many turns that city will grow, and compare that to know the time-to-completion of Worker actions. Mentally plan ahead the next ten or so turns to see where your Workers would be most useful. Seems like a lot of work, but it is worth it.
2. Place your cities closer together
Cold truth: if you're placing your cities so that there's is no workable-tile overlap, you're less effective than a player who packs them in tighter. There is still an ongoing debate as to what is the best way to place cities, but the moral here is: do not be squeamish about placing cities 3 tiles apart (city-tile-tile-city) or closer. I'll avoid the details of this here ("but my cities never grow beyond size 12!"), but just do it and you'll find yourself a lot more competitive.
3. Build Granaries
Many players disregard Granaries entirely, probably because their benefits require some attention to notice. The efficient use of Granaries is one of the most powerful early-game strategies, usually involving one or more Settler/Worker "pumps". Yes, you feel like you're not expanding fast enough, but this is misleading. It is fully possible to out-expand the AI on Emperor using Granaries (and sometimes even Diety, if the stars align...).
4. Know the effects of Corruption
Another "nitty-gritty" detail, but one that is well worth knowing. There are a lot of issues here, which just goes to show how pervasive (and therefore important) Corruption is in the game. Fortunately, there are some good threads here on 'Poly that discuss Corruption, in varying levels of detail. Sorry if I cannot offer more advice here, but I'm still working on this aspect of my own game!
5. Contact the other civs every round
Another behaviour that seems excessive: what possible good can come from seeing Hammurabi's face round after round? Plenty. There are "windows" of trading opportunity that are sometimes only open for one round at a time. For example, a civ may have discovered a tech and not traded it around to all other civs yet, allowing you to profit from it as well. Or, a civ may have a few Workers available for trade (probably due to war). Or, a civ may have just ended a large gpt deal with another civ, leaving it momentarily rich, and thus a great source for trading. Etc., etc. There is a lot of new information in the diplomacy screen from round to round, you just need to be willing to put in the time to get it.
6. Use the upgrade ability extensively
Knights->Cavalry for 20 gold is a no-brainer. But did you ever consider building Chariots to upgrade to Horsemen? Gold is easier to come by than Shields, meaning that the more units you can produce at a lower Shield cost, the better a standing army you'll have when you get the cash to upgrade everything. Sometimes, it is even a wise idea not to connect a resource (Iron, Horses, mostly) just so that you can keep building the "weaker" unit. The Persian/Roman tactic of building Veteran Warriors, then upgrading them to powerful UUs, applies to all other civs.
7. Place your Palace and Forbidden Palace wisely
The location of your Palace is not static: you can move it around using a "Palace jump", or rush it with a Leader in another city. The Forbidden Palace is static, however. Effective placement of these two improvements (especially the FP) can make the difference between a average empire and an excellent one. This obviously is related to the Corruption tip mentioned above.
8. Sell techs
This is counter-intuitive, but experience shows that it is a very powerful tool. By getting gpt for your techs (ideally from numerous civs), you keep the AI poor and therefore unable to conduct rapid research. It is not always necessary to get a "good deal". Once you become a tech broker, the deals will get better and better.
9. Master the Light and Dark Sides
By this I mean, play at least one game as a bloodthirsty warmonger, and one as a peaceful builder. Know how to play the extremes. The 'No Improvement Challenge' is great for the former, while the 'One City Challenge' is good for the latter. Only once you've tasted the extremes will you be efficient at warmongering/building in a "normal" game. Too many players build Universities during war. Similarly, too many players have huge standing armies when they need almost none.
10. Persist!
Yes, the AI gets advantages of the human player, and will often out-expand you, and jump way ahead in the tech tree. But there is plenty of time and opportunity to catch up. If you expect to always be "the best", or close to it, in any single game, you'll find yourself quitting more often than not at Emperor/Deity. But if you stick with it and play your best, you'll end up on top, and will have overcome a challenge. To me, at least, those are the best victories.
Edit: A lot of people might want to throw in their own tips, which is just fine. But I just have to include this eleventh one for the sake of completeness (I'm not quite sure how I forgot this one!):
11. Use the Luxury slider
Really critical. Many beginner-to-average players do not know what this little thing can do for you. Let's just say if the AI used this tool effectively, we'd all have to jump down a difficulty level.
Hope this helps some of you, and sorry to all the veterans who know all this already!
Dominae
A nice aspect of the Strat forum here on 'Poly is the willingness of "veterans" to help out the "beginners". This usually involves constructive comments on a posted screenshot or savegame. However, I've noticed (being here in force since last September) that the veterans eventually tire of giving out advice, since the same things get said from newbie to newbie (sorry for the condescending terminology...I mean nothing by it). So, newcomers sometimes get the short end of the "advice stick", simply because the experts are not interested in repeating themselves all the time.
I myself make no claims to being an "expert", but I do give out my fair share of advice, and so feel this thread is justified.
SO, here is my "top ten" list of tips that newer players need to learn about. Put another way, if you're still confused about how to beat Emperor or Deity, here are the tricks that will put you beyond Regent/Monarch.
1. Micro-manage your Workers
By this, I do not mean "do not leave them on auto-improve", I mean make sure you know exactly what every Worker is doing before 10AD, and how each city is directly benefitting from this. Try not to improve tiles that you will not be using in the near-future. Look into the city view to see in how many turns that city will grow, and compare that to know the time-to-completion of Worker actions. Mentally plan ahead the next ten or so turns to see where your Workers would be most useful. Seems like a lot of work, but it is worth it.
2. Place your cities closer together
Cold truth: if you're placing your cities so that there's is no workable-tile overlap, you're less effective than a player who packs them in tighter. There is still an ongoing debate as to what is the best way to place cities, but the moral here is: do not be squeamish about placing cities 3 tiles apart (city-tile-tile-city) or closer. I'll avoid the details of this here ("but my cities never grow beyond size 12!"), but just do it and you'll find yourself a lot more competitive.
3. Build Granaries
Many players disregard Granaries entirely, probably because their benefits require some attention to notice. The efficient use of Granaries is one of the most powerful early-game strategies, usually involving one or more Settler/Worker "pumps". Yes, you feel like you're not expanding fast enough, but this is misleading. It is fully possible to out-expand the AI on Emperor using Granaries (and sometimes even Diety, if the stars align...).
4. Know the effects of Corruption
Another "nitty-gritty" detail, but one that is well worth knowing. There are a lot of issues here, which just goes to show how pervasive (and therefore important) Corruption is in the game. Fortunately, there are some good threads here on 'Poly that discuss Corruption, in varying levels of detail. Sorry if I cannot offer more advice here, but I'm still working on this aspect of my own game!
5. Contact the other civs every round
Another behaviour that seems excessive: what possible good can come from seeing Hammurabi's face round after round? Plenty. There are "windows" of trading opportunity that are sometimes only open for one round at a time. For example, a civ may have discovered a tech and not traded it around to all other civs yet, allowing you to profit from it as well. Or, a civ may have a few Workers available for trade (probably due to war). Or, a civ may have just ended a large gpt deal with another civ, leaving it momentarily rich, and thus a great source for trading. Etc., etc. There is a lot of new information in the diplomacy screen from round to round, you just need to be willing to put in the time to get it.
6. Use the upgrade ability extensively
Knights->Cavalry for 20 gold is a no-brainer. But did you ever consider building Chariots to upgrade to Horsemen? Gold is easier to come by than Shields, meaning that the more units you can produce at a lower Shield cost, the better a standing army you'll have when you get the cash to upgrade everything. Sometimes, it is even a wise idea not to connect a resource (Iron, Horses, mostly) just so that you can keep building the "weaker" unit. The Persian/Roman tactic of building Veteran Warriors, then upgrading them to powerful UUs, applies to all other civs.
7. Place your Palace and Forbidden Palace wisely
The location of your Palace is not static: you can move it around using a "Palace jump", or rush it with a Leader in another city. The Forbidden Palace is static, however. Effective placement of these two improvements (especially the FP) can make the difference between a average empire and an excellent one. This obviously is related to the Corruption tip mentioned above.
8. Sell techs
This is counter-intuitive, but experience shows that it is a very powerful tool. By getting gpt for your techs (ideally from numerous civs), you keep the AI poor and therefore unable to conduct rapid research. It is not always necessary to get a "good deal". Once you become a tech broker, the deals will get better and better.
9. Master the Light and Dark Sides
By this I mean, play at least one game as a bloodthirsty warmonger, and one as a peaceful builder. Know how to play the extremes. The 'No Improvement Challenge' is great for the former, while the 'One City Challenge' is good for the latter. Only once you've tasted the extremes will you be efficient at warmongering/building in a "normal" game. Too many players build Universities during war. Similarly, too many players have huge standing armies when they need almost none.
10. Persist!
Yes, the AI gets advantages of the human player, and will often out-expand you, and jump way ahead in the tech tree. But there is plenty of time and opportunity to catch up. If you expect to always be "the best", or close to it, in any single game, you'll find yourself quitting more often than not at Emperor/Deity. But if you stick with it and play your best, you'll end up on top, and will have overcome a challenge. To me, at least, those are the best victories.
Edit: A lot of people might want to throw in their own tips, which is just fine. But I just have to include this eleventh one for the sake of completeness (I'm not quite sure how I forgot this one!):
11. Use the Luxury slider
Really critical. Many beginner-to-average players do not know what this little thing can do for you. Let's just say if the AI used this tool effectively, we'd all have to jump down a difficulty level.
Hope this helps some of you, and sorry to all the veterans who know all this already!
Dominae
) is ready.
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