On a losing streak...

[Catt]

Boy! You play quickly! A few losses and now a good game all in the space of a few days!

Originally posted by PrinceBimz
I am doing good but I am not winning, russia is on top and I am in third. Its alot better then before. This game has a long way to go though, I think the year is only 1000 right now and I have only 3 more techs to research to get to industrial age.

The longer the game goes on, the better position you're in. You need time to overcome the AI's early advantages, and assuming you get that time, human micromangement (particularly science and trading) gives you the advantage. By the Industrial Age, the AI's warfare is woefully inadequate compared to human capabilities, and if you can make it there, it is probably smooth sailing from then one (absent a calamity).

Catt

[Mountain Sage]

Originally posted by PrinceBimz
I had 5 civs all declare war on me.

Sorry, I'm a bit late to this thread and Catt stated it much better than me, but USE THE DIPLOMACY SCREEN EVERY TURN.

Build embassies, make contacts, make friends, trade/swap/bribe every turn. It is the Zulu which should have been at war with 5 civs, not you.
I know it's time-consuming, and not the funniest part of the game, but IM(H)O, diplomacy is at least as important as the military.

[badman]

You're right MS, but I think it's just to boring so I never do that.
For the same reason I usually quite at the end of the industrial times, moving hundreds of tanks around just isn't fun.

[AJ Corp. The FAIR]

Playing emperor and winning it most of the time, these are a couple of my experiences.

In contrast to what others say, I don't really care about diplomacy, especially not during ancient age. Civs that get annuyed with me? Pffff, let them ...
'Being feared is better than being loved' , right?

So this most of the times does the trick:
1) REX
2) only research in 40 turns (later on during ancient perhaps no research at all) --> prepare for getting the techs through conquest
3) build warriors for scouting, bab fighting and city happiness
4) build temples
5) build preferrably veterans (a couple of barracks will do, although I usually build barracks in all my core cities)

After having a decent force of warriors available (on standard say 20), start building

6) at least 1 spearman each city (for defense whan warriors attack), preferrably 2
7) prepare for getting iron working and perhaps build your last warriors (you can also let one/two cities unconnected for fast warrior builds to upgrade later on)
8) go to war with weak neighbour, aim for luxuries and/or crippling the enemy
9) when they're hopeless, make peace get all techs
10) build phase, preparing for 2nd war to get other techs

Diplomacy? Later on, or when I'm in real trouble.

AJ

[PrinceBimz]

Originally posted by AJ Corp. The FAIR
Playing emperor and winning it most of the time, these are a couple of my experiences.

In contrast to what others say, I don't really care about diplomacy, especially not during ancient age. Civs that get annuyed with me? Pffff, let them ...
'Being feared is better than being loved' , right?

So this most of the times does the trick:
1) REX
2) only research in 40 turns (later on during ancient perhaps no research at all) --> prepare for getting the techs through conquest
3) build warriors for scouting, bab fighting and city happiness
4) build temples
5) build preferrably veterans (a couple of barracks will do, although I usually build barracks in all my core cities)

After having a decent force of warriors available (on standard say 20), start building

6) at least 1 spearman each city (for defense whan warriors attack), preferrably 2
7) prepare for getting iron working and perhaps build your last warriors (you can also let one/two cities unconnected for fast warrior builds to upgrade later on)
8) go to war with weak neighbour, aim for luxuries and/or crippling the enemy
9) when they're hopeless, make peace get all techs
10) build phase, preparing for 2nd war to get other techs

Diplomacy? Later on, or when I'm in real trouble.

AJ

Good ideas here, but the problem I have is that I just can't beat them. When I start a war they beat the heck out of me. They always manage to get an edge on me and seem to eventually overpower my forces. I very rarely have a weak neighbor. I often make a mistake and think they are weak and find out otherwise. To top it off sometimes I don't even have an iron resource near me and within my area. So far diplomacy has been working for me in my current game. I think alot of that has to do with my position at start which was really good. I had alot of important bonuses and things near me so I did not have to fight for much at all.

Catt- Yes I played quickly alright... That was because I was losing so bad I really had to resign. In fact some of them I kept playing and actually lost everything even my last city.

Mountain Sage- Thats a good idea. Sometimes I get caught up in my game and don't use it often as I need to. To use it every turn is a good habit to get into.

[AJ Corp. The FAIR]

Originally posted by PrinceBimz


Good ideas here, but the problem I have is that I just can't beat them. When I start a war they beat the heck out of me. They always manage to get an edge on me and seem to eventually overpower my forces. I very rarely have a weak neighbor. I often make a mistake and think they are weak and find out otherwise. To top it off sometimes I don't even have an iron resource near me and within my area. So far diplomacy has been working for me in my current game. I think alot of that has to do with my position at start which was really good. I had alot of important bonuses and things near me so I did not have to fight for much at all.

Do you REX fast enough?
REX toward luxuries and toward the border of the AI civs, reducing their area to REX/expand. It's not so difficult to keep up with AI's. Eventually, you're military advisor will tell you you have 'average strenght'. Don't forget, once you upgrade your warriors, you'll be strong very often. Don't forget to have at least 500 gold in cash. At the early stages of the game almost every city will fall if you attack it with, let's say, 6 swordsmen.

If you have normal settings, there will almost always be iron in your neighbourhoud. Also REX toward mountains/hills, the only locations where iron might pop up once discovered.

You can avoid the 'mistake in judging weakness' by using the mil advisor (F3) or comparing civs overall strenghts (F8).

Get them, in their area, at a moment you choose! If you're not prepared yet to face them, whilst settling and building warriors and they enter your area to seek 'Lebensraum', let them, don't tell them to leave. Instead you can try blocking/surrounding them. Once war starts you'll have a couple of free workers extra

AJ

[Mountain Sage]

Originally posted by badman
You're right MS, but I think it's just to boring so I never do that.
For the same reason I usually quite at the end of the industrial times, moving hundreds of tanks around just isn't fun.

I understand that, but look it this way. The diplomatic screen gives you:

1. The number of luxuries available on the market, for you to sell and/or to by.
2. The number of resources, ditto.
3. The tech race (you can deduct who's going to research what).
4. The financial status of each civ.
5. The peaceful and military agreements.
6. The civs unknown to you (in the early game).
7. Other opportunities (workers to buy etc.).
8. Civs attitudes toward your.
9. The expansion of the different civs (maps).
10. Civs willingness, and capabilities, to buy, swap, threat etc. (their strenghts and weaknesses).

In other words, its like CNN. In 30 seconds you know where you stand and where the others stand. And you call this ?

If you never look at the diplomatic screen, it's like playing on archipelago, with maximum water, on a huge map, with only 2 civs (and miss the GLighthouse, of course). Would that be funny?

As for the hundreds of tanks, just let me ask you a question: why did you built them in the first place if you find it 'boring' to move them afterwards?

[tibbits]

3. The tech race (you can deduct who's going to research what).

How do you do that?
Thanks

[inca911]

Play a Zone Defence for AI Settler Incursions

If you don't want to let the AI settlers into your territory, use any 3 units and you can play a zone defense against them at your border or inside your civ to prevent them from moving forward. A Settler stack cannot end-run around 3 units occupying the 3 squares in front of it. I often use this tactic to hem in the AI, and since I never ask them to leave they don't get angry and attack me without warning. They do demand tribute still, but that's ok since all they typically want is 80% of my tiny pile of gold. I have no tech lead at this point and even if I have to give maps to them, they're so small that it doesn't matter.

In the early game, once I have rush-built my temples and made a few workers for terrain improvement and city connections, I typically build settlers to keep the cities in order and then move to a worker here and there without their getting angry at me. I can typically spare the 3 units without much difficulty since population is low and rush-built temples + one unit martial law is enough to keep everyone content. You don't need quality units for your Zone, even Workers suffice.

[tibbits]

3. The tech race (you can deduct who's going to research what).

How do you do that?
Thanks

[JPGray]

tibbits:

I think what Mountain Sage means is that a civ which is currently researching a tech will pay less and less for it as the research nears completion. So if Japan offers 140 gpt and India offers 12 gold, you know that India is close to finishing the research. Using this information, anticipating the tech trade can be very profitable. Since I don't like examining every tech trade with every civ, I'll usually only sell world maps every turn, and check tech every four-five turns.

Personally, I am surprised there isn't a feature in the intelligence agency or the embassy that allows information on what the enemy civ is researching. Does it show up on an investigated city screen?

[TheArsenal]

Re: Play a Zone Defence for AI Settler Incursions

Originally posted by inca911
"In the early game, once I have rush-built my temples and made a few workers for terrain improvement and city connections, ..."

This is one of the (many) aspects of my game I am trying to get a balance on. I have not determined what I consider the appropriate number of workers to be in the early game. Obviously it varies greatly by map situation, barbarian level, civ traits, etc. - but are you guys producing a lot of workers early, or just a few? I set up roadways fairly quickly, and have at least one or two workers exclusively working the land in each of the top two cities, but I still have the feeling I am under-utilizing workers.

[inca911]

Number of Workers

Certainly the optimal number of workers is dependent on multiple factors. I use workers in a several different ways:

1. Improvements: Of course you want your citizens to always be working land improved by your workers. But it is extremely important to ***use workers to improve land only in a manner that is appropriate for your government***. Remember that under Despotism there are limitations to what you are able to obtain from an improved square. Do not waste time improving terrain until you are planning for the non-Despotic government that benefits from the improvement. Consider it JIT (Just-In-Time) planning and use your workers to make sure that every citizen is gaining the maximum benefit at the present time. Invest time planning for the future only when you are able to.

2. Population Control: In a city with fast population growth, an occasional worker is sometimes necessary to keep the population manageable. One can also use Settlers for this population control and the game usually dictates which is best. This is typically only an issue early on when there isn’t anything to rush-build to knock down the population. I find that using workers/settlers for population control often gives me a decent number to do the other things I need from them.

3. Resource and City Linking: I break this out from improvements for a couple reasons. Sometimes workers must waste time building roads to link cities or to gain access to Luxuries. These roads often go on squares that aren’t worked by citizens and are therefore partially wasted but necessary. I also make sure I have enough workers on hand to exploit when a resource-revealing tech is coming. Usually, I plan in advance the most for Iron Working. If it is unlikely that my land will have Iron (few hills and mountains), I have one Settler ready JIT to head for the hills not currently occupied by anyone to stake a claim. I also have workers ready to either build roads to Iron inside my boundries or to link my Iron outpost back to my civ.

4. Defense: That’s right, workers are excellent defenders! A warrior and a couple workers can hold off a Settler incursion to land you are planning to develop and that the psychic AI knows is there. If you put roads on your boundry, you can even get away with using the one (or rarely both) worker to improve terrain while the warrior moves up and down the roads, blocking the AI settler stack as it moves up and down in response!

So I still haven’t given you a number of workers, but there isn’t a magic number. You need enough to first accomplish the 4 goals above, and to then proactiely make improvements in preparation for the switch to non-Despotic government or for future resource linking. Rarely, I have to add a worker to a small city to get the population up to where I can make a Settler. Or I have to make a quick Settler to drop next to an AI city that culture grew and stole a resource from me (or to proactively and legally steal a resource from them!). It just depends on the specific game.

[Arrian]

Better yet, regarding settler incursions, just learn to look at those as donations of 2 slaves per to your empire

Nailing the AI's settler teams is a great way to get free (half speed) workers, hurt the AI, and train up your units. If your goal is not conquest (but rather capturing workers & killing the units sent your way), you really don't need very many units to fight off the AI. A few archers & a spearman will do it*. You will probably get concessions out of them, too. Sure, they might hate you, but they will be weakened and you strengthened. Then build a real fighting force and go kill them.

Just the musings of a bloodthirsty warmonger.

-Arrian

* - Monarch level. On Emperor, the AI will have more units and it's a tad harder to fight them off with a handful of your own.

[PrinceBimz]

Originally posted by AJ Corp. The FAIR


Do you REX fast enough?
REX toward luxuries and toward the border of the AI civs, reducing their area to REX/expand. It's not so difficult to keep up with AI's. Eventually, you're military advisor will tell you you have 'average strenght'. Don't forget, once you upgrade your warriors, you'll be strong very often. Don't forget to have at least 500 gold in cash. At the early stages of the game almost every city will fall if you attack it with, let's say, 6 swordsmen.

If you have normal settings, there will almost always be iron in your neighbourhoud. Also REX toward mountains/hills, the only locations where iron might pop up once discovered.

You can avoid the 'mistake in judging weakness' by using the mil advisor (F3) or comparing civs overall strenghts (F8).

Get them, in their area, at a moment you choose! If you're not prepared yet to face them, whilst settling and building warriors and they enter your area to seek 'Lebensraum', let them, don't tell them to leave. Instead you can try blocking/surrounding them. Once war starts you'll have a couple of free workers extra

AJ

AJ- Not sure if I know what you mean about REX? If you are referring to expanding quickly, I can't hardly ever seem to get my settlers out faster then the AI does.

Inca911- yep I do that alot. Get military units and guard my borders and locations to keep the AI from moving through them. If there is an AI warrior and settler moving in my territory I can almost always guess where they are headed.