can't research my own techs

[alva]

ok: VERY first imprssion:

You need to do more micromanagement (yep, 'fraid so)
* optimise your science slider bar (was able to cut 20-30% with still doing the research in the amount of the time)
* group your workers (forgotten how quick they are using industrious ) , you need to use them more efficiently. Also cut down on irrigating, cities are growing to fast, If you ever go to war (like I did, WW is gonna be a big problem)(good thing you have an religious civ)
* There is no need to defend your (unreachable) inner cities with so many units(there no martial law in democracy)
Other then that, you were doing very well , since you have a difficult to defend border with the zulu's. and so playing so many civ's. It's a pretty weird map too, Have their been many wars between AI civ's?

My game so far:
(btw: I decided not to trade anything anymore, no tech, no luxury, no resources (buying or selling)
ok: my first few turns: picked a fight with the zulu's, let a few other remote civ's join in the fun.
1 Zulu city allready flipped to our side, and I'm on the verge of taking some more.
His military is reducing very fast . first objective: getting oil, then closing the borders so other civ's are incapable of taking cities. I WANT THEM ALLLLL!!!

More to come

[LionQ]

Originally posted by alva848
My game so far:
(btw: I decided not to trade anything anymore, no tech, no luxury, no resources (buying or selling)
ok: my first few turns: picked a fight with the zulu's, let a few other remote civ's join in the fun.
1 Zulu city allready flipped to our side, and I'm on the verge of taking some more.
His military is reducing very fast . first objective: getting oil, then closing the borders so other civ's are incapable of taking cities. I WANT THEM ALLLLL!!!

More to come

[Bella Hella]

thanks, alva848!!! i actually finished up with that game over the weekend, winning by a lame diplomatic victory. but first, i brutally slaughtered the zulu with all those infantry i was building. i never even needed to do a tank rush. i was pretty far ahead at the time i got the diplomatic victory, but probably could have won with a spaceship victory (or even by taking everybody over).

before attacking the zulu, i took some of those inner infantry and fortified them ALL along the border. i mean, there were NO holes for anyone to get into, including way down south where that english city was. no way was i going to let shaka destroy my land improvements!!! then i just rolled over them and mercilessly took every city.

i know what you mean about not needing that many defenders in my "inner cities" (sounds like a ghetto). i guess i just don't feel like messing around with them when i'm not at war, so i just end up building and fortifying. after railroads, it doesn't seem to matter much where you put your troops, since they can get to the front line in one turn.

yeah, weird map, isn't it? i would have taken over the zulu earlier, but i concentrate on science and money so much that i never seem to have a good military until industrial, when i usually start cranking out defenders that i'll later upgrade. but yeah, the zulu totally had to die. they had oil, AND were in the perfect spot for me to build an FP and have all those cities big producers.

i started a new game as the babs on monarch, standard map, and played it much the same way as i did with this one, except i concentrated more on my military. i made sure i had good defenders starting early so my army wouldn't be weak and i could at least defend if i had to. then said what the hell, i'll make some horsemen too. i was a lot more aggressive this time, both militarily and with expansion. i REXed insanely until i could REX no more, and ended up with a large empire. it was a lot easier considering i had 3 cows on grassland in my capitol. once again i spanked the zulu. anyway, this tech trading strategy is working even BETTER in this game, and i'm very far ahead (already in the modern era and i'm the only one with tanks!!!) after this game i'm going to increase the difficulty level again and see if i can still work my mad strat skillz. i'm scared, though.

oh yeah, i usually DO group my workers together; don't worry. and i know about making the slaves work with the slaves and stuff.

question: what do you mean by optimizing the science bar? i usually just try to keep it at 100%. or if it says "5 turns until x tech," i'll see if i can reduce it to 90% and still get the tech in 5 turns. another thing i do is, if i have one turn left until a tech, reduce it as low as i can while still getting the techi n 1 turn. can you explain more about optimizing the science slider?

p.s. if you want i can post my current game as the babs. i think you'll get a kick out of it.

[alva]

question: what do you mean by optimizing the science bar? i usually just try to keep it at 100%. or if it says "5 turns until x tech," i'll see if i can reduce it to 90% and still get the tech in 5 turns. another thing i do is, if i have one turn left until a tech, reduce it as low as i can while still getting the techi n 1 turn. can you explain more about optimizing the science slider?

That's what I meant, I opened your game, and could easely drop 20-30% in the sicience department, and still do the research in the same time

(havn't had time to continue over the weekend ( hangover ) gonna see what happens right now)

BTW: you are getting the hang of this game rather quickly arn't you

[Theseus]

Bella Hella,

I just took a look too, and have some comments:

(the first being that you are ready for Monarch )

* Tighten your city spacing... depending on terrain, try all city spaced from 3-5 tiles apart. I would have built a town on the gold hill southeast of Elephantine in a heartbeat.

* Like alva said, you don;t need those units in all of your rear cities... I know they can move fast with rails, but it's easier to think about their disposition and use if you can see them all together. If I'm not at war, I'll leave some good defenders in the front line cities, and stack units by type somewhere in the open where I can see them, or do what you did and create and insane Maginot Wall.

* Did you automate the workers early on? Don't... just mine everything except plains and floodplains. For instance, you could easily be producing 8-12 additional shields in Elephantine, instead of food that is just disappearing.

* Play with the luxury slider... adding 20% luxuries cost less than 200gpt, and made all pop happy.

* Be careful with your build choices when cities start to get above about 30 shields in production... you can waste an awful lot of shields. For instance, Pi-Ramesses is producing 42 usable shields, but you've got it set to Infantry, which cost 90 shields, thus wasting 36 shields per Infantry; Arty would be a better build there, at 80 shields.

* Is this some Mod? Why can't you establish and embassy with Liz?

* If I'm going to war, I like to protect any hills and mountains that are adjacent to front line cities... I'd put at least 1 Infantry on each, if not more. The tile that really jumps out at me is the mountain next to Isandlwana.

* You built the Pentagon in Alexandria... use it!! Double-click on the Pentagon symbol, and plant spies.

* Are you actually going to war with Infantry and Swords??!! At least throw some Arty in there! It feels like you're just burning up the Swords... better to disband them, as they'll be easy prey for the Zulu Cavs. Maybe you're planning on using them as MPs in captured cities? If anything, I would have left one Sword in each of the rear cities, and used the 30 garrisoned Infantry for the attack or a Maginot Wall..

Those tips said, two things:

1) You're obviously doing really well in the game, especially in terms of tech, GWs, money, and diplomacy.

2) Here's my biggest thought: In terms of big picture strategy, you are living in a BIG SCARY WORLD! Jesus, Persia and France give me the willies. As soon as I had a decent sense of the continent map, I would have totally focused my efforts on taking out the Zulus, and controlling the entire northern peninsula, down to an east-west line above Strasbourg, but including the spices. Early on, that would have provided horses and furs (I can't believe how well you've done with just one luxury), as well as a good expanse of desert, virtually guaranteeing saltpeter and then oil. Notice too that that would provide a geographic area approximately equal to Persia and France, which is probably somewhere close to the OCN limit for a huge map. Given some GLs, I probably would have tried to place my FP around Mpondo.

Good job... it makes sense that you got this one with a diplo victory.

[vmxa1]

Theseus, was that a Fruedian slip when you mention the Pentagon? Did you mean IA for making spies?

[Theseus]

Yeah, sorry... why did they make the symbol for the IA a pentagon??

[LionQ]

Yes, very stupid, ain't it?

[Bella Hella]

alva848 - haha, thanks! i used to play SMAX but this is my first civ game. i'm been playing for a while, and am not totally new, but i'm finally getting around to playing a more in-depth game and trying different strategies out instead of just playing at an easier difficulty and screwing around.

theseus - wow, thank you very much for all the pointers. they're ALL helpful. i wanted to start at regent for a huge map/16 civs so i din't get overwhelmed, but yeah, i'm movin' on up.

some responses:

i never automate my workers, but i'll start doing what you said and mine everything. BTW, why irrigate plains? isn't it better to use their inherent shield bonuses? i usually do the OPPOSITE and mine plains, farm grasslands.

your comment about the wasted shields was REALLY helpful. i never even thought of that; just set 'em all to mass producing the best units i have available. no more!

it's not a mod - i don't know why i can't get an embassy with liz. i thought i already had one?

yeah, i've been reading about the downfalls of the linear attack force, and am ready to implement a different attack strategy. i think i did melt down the swordsmen when i got enough infantry, so they never saw battle; just helped the war effort. anyway, i'm not all that experienced of a player, and i find it really hard to keep track of a lot of different kinds of units. but i know it's necessary and that i'll be ripped to pieces at higher difficulty levels if i don't do it. *sigh* in my new game as the babs, i'm doing a lot better with my military. i even have a small navy. oh yeah, and i pillage now, too! *pats self on back* in the words of ralph wiggum, "i'm learnding!"

i'm so helplessly addicted to this game.

thank you for the tips!!!! can't wait to get to emperor!!!

[Theseus]

I'll post a quick guide to irrigation versus mining.

[Theseus]

Done... you should also read Carver's thread on early land use over at CFC.

[alva]

hmm, Theseus, interested in a PTW game

IMO were pretty evenly matched
(don't give the lady to much info btw, shhhhh )

[Theseus]

How about you and I take on all comers??!!

(I know, Bella is progressing very quickly... dangerous)

[Bella Hella]

Originally posted by Theseus
(I know, Bella is progressing very quickly... dangerous)

i will ownz joo! (or whatever)!! :

haha, i can't wait for MP! hopefully now that i have a better computer i'll be able to get into online playing.

oh yeah, theseus, what's CFC? i'd like to check out that thead you mentioned. thanks for the thread about land use, that was cool!

[Theseus]

https://www.civfanatics.com