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Report from the Monarch trenches.
In order to get even for something, my kids gave me civ III for Xmas. I had never played a computer game before, but got hooked. This note is a progress report that might help other newbies.
In the last few weeks as a test I've played monarch games on a standard map with everything random. This produced lots of wild starting positions and a great dose of variety. The goal was a winning streak -- no cheating, no restarts, a real test. It was fun.
Conclusion: Strongly worded: MONARCH CAN'T BEAT A PLAYER WHO HAS READ AND ABSORBED THE WISDOM OF THIS FORUM. I've played bridge and chess for years and I can tell you I'm no gaming whiz. But the following principles will beat Monarch nearly every time and this is far from the only way:
1. Build early cities close together. Two spaces between to achieve a city spacing that is one roaded move for a unit between cities. The reason is that ancient era cities don't need much space to crank out units, and that is all that counts. If the AI is very close on first contact, or you are lacking in usable turf (green or irrigated plains), build with only one space between. YOU ARE NOT BUILDING CITIES TO LAST FOREVER. Would it have made since for the US pilgrims to have built cities in Boston, NY, Washington, LA, and Dallas? Nope. Cull the herd and build modern cites later, if the game's not over by then.
2. Workers are the strongest units in your army. When in doubt, have too many workers and stay ahead of your expansion.
3. Build barracks. Don't build other buildings until your neighbors have been introduced to the concept that your are in charge. This is not a civ-specific idea. Even religious civs should wait for temples until the early wars are concluded.
4. The early rush always works. I don't do warrior rushes, but admire those that do. If iron or horses show up in my area, that's neat, not necessary. Archers are cheap and powerful in large stacks. You can produce a huge early stack of archers with a couple of spears on top. That concentrated force will take out anyone. The point is not that archers are the best way but EVEN ARCHERS WILL DOMINATE THE EARLY GAME. Swords and horses are luxuries providing fun and games.
5. AI settlers can't hurt you. Let them build settlers. Build military. It's who can hold ground that counts. The AI doesn't know when to stop expanding and build its military.
6. Don't do early research. Buy tech to stay one step behind your neighbors. Beat tech out of your neighbors. This process is the equivalent of the GL for the ancient era. Use your first leader for the GL and you may not have to research anything before chemistry. The gold will flow.
7. Writing is more important that iron working. If you are going to lose, it's going to be due to bad diplomacy. Pay demands so you can control the timing of wars. Bribe for alliances. You should hardly ever be so cocky that you risk getting double teamed in early wars. Since you don't need gold for research, what else is it for other than bribery??
8. Your target is to have your continent all to yourself before monotheism. If you have succeeded, build your cities infrastructure. If you have not succeeded, don't sweat it. In that event, it's time for the chivalry detour. Build knights and finish the job.
9. The human player has a huge advantage going through the turn to the industrial era. The AI does not understand the value of ToE. Depending on how close the tech race is, you should beeline for ToE and skip all optional techs to get there. You may have plenty of gold. If so, you can buy optional techs to try for wonders.
10. In the industrial era, the human player builds a much better economy than the Monarch, unmodded AI and takes the research lead unless circumstances have kept the human player very small. In those few cases where you have not been able to get enough land, perhaps due to an isolated island start, you should make sure you get sanitation early and build pop in your cities. This is because, when all else fails, the human player can research computers early, build research labs, and outpace the AI to the SS techs even with a very small civ.
11. As an alternative, if you have the size for it, the AI doesn't get MA either. While they beeline for nukes, you beeline for SS or for super tanks, depending on the type of win you want.
So, the series of Monarch games I've just played convinced me that the human player has layers and layers and layers of safety valves. Once you have developed the skills the guys on these threads describe, many games will find you dominating from the start and sailing smoothly. Some games you will start on the desert and have to walk 8 space through the mountains to find the first patch of buildable land. Even then, you can find a way to win nearly every time.
Many experienced players respond to the lack of downside risk by trying for artistic merit in their games. That is good if it works for you. Try for the wonders. Take some risks to achieve domination earlier. Don't do the early rush and see if you can win peacefully. They are all fun.
It's back to Emperor for me. The AI has more early size advantages, along with production and research cost advantages, to make losing a realistic worry.
In order to get even for something, my kids gave me civ III for Xmas. I had never played a computer game before, but got hooked. This note is a progress report that might help other newbies.
In the last few weeks as a test I've played monarch games on a standard map with everything random. This produced lots of wild starting positions and a great dose of variety. The goal was a winning streak -- no cheating, no restarts, a real test. It was fun.
Conclusion: Strongly worded: MONARCH CAN'T BEAT A PLAYER WHO HAS READ AND ABSORBED THE WISDOM OF THIS FORUM. I've played bridge and chess for years and I can tell you I'm no gaming whiz. But the following principles will beat Monarch nearly every time and this is far from the only way:
1. Build early cities close together. Two spaces between to achieve a city spacing that is one roaded move for a unit between cities. The reason is that ancient era cities don't need much space to crank out units, and that is all that counts. If the AI is very close on first contact, or you are lacking in usable turf (green or irrigated plains), build with only one space between. YOU ARE NOT BUILDING CITIES TO LAST FOREVER. Would it have made since for the US pilgrims to have built cities in Boston, NY, Washington, LA, and Dallas? Nope. Cull the herd and build modern cites later, if the game's not over by then.
2. Workers are the strongest units in your army. When in doubt, have too many workers and stay ahead of your expansion.
3. Build barracks. Don't build other buildings until your neighbors have been introduced to the concept that your are in charge. This is not a civ-specific idea. Even religious civs should wait for temples until the early wars are concluded.
4. The early rush always works. I don't do warrior rushes, but admire those that do. If iron or horses show up in my area, that's neat, not necessary. Archers are cheap and powerful in large stacks. You can produce a huge early stack of archers with a couple of spears on top. That concentrated force will take out anyone. The point is not that archers are the best way but EVEN ARCHERS WILL DOMINATE THE EARLY GAME. Swords and horses are luxuries providing fun and games.
5. AI settlers can't hurt you. Let them build settlers. Build military. It's who can hold ground that counts. The AI doesn't know when to stop expanding and build its military.
6. Don't do early research. Buy tech to stay one step behind your neighbors. Beat tech out of your neighbors. This process is the equivalent of the GL for the ancient era. Use your first leader for the GL and you may not have to research anything before chemistry. The gold will flow.
7. Writing is more important that iron working. If you are going to lose, it's going to be due to bad diplomacy. Pay demands so you can control the timing of wars. Bribe for alliances. You should hardly ever be so cocky that you risk getting double teamed in early wars. Since you don't need gold for research, what else is it for other than bribery??
8. Your target is to have your continent all to yourself before monotheism. If you have succeeded, build your cities infrastructure. If you have not succeeded, don't sweat it. In that event, it's time for the chivalry detour. Build knights and finish the job.
9. The human player has a huge advantage going through the turn to the industrial era. The AI does not understand the value of ToE. Depending on how close the tech race is, you should beeline for ToE and skip all optional techs to get there. You may have plenty of gold. If so, you can buy optional techs to try for wonders.
10. In the industrial era, the human player builds a much better economy than the Monarch, unmodded AI and takes the research lead unless circumstances have kept the human player very small. In those few cases where you have not been able to get enough land, perhaps due to an isolated island start, you should make sure you get sanitation early and build pop in your cities. This is because, when all else fails, the human player can research computers early, build research labs, and outpace the AI to the SS techs even with a very small civ.
11. As an alternative, if you have the size for it, the AI doesn't get MA either. While they beeline for nukes, you beeline for SS or for super tanks, depending on the type of win you want.
So, the series of Monarch games I've just played convinced me that the human player has layers and layers and layers of safety valves. Once you have developed the skills the guys on these threads describe, many games will find you dominating from the start and sailing smoothly. Some games you will start on the desert and have to walk 8 space through the mountains to find the first patch of buildable land. Even then, you can find a way to win nearly every time.
Many experienced players respond to the lack of downside risk by trying for artistic merit in their games. That is good if it works for you. Try for the wonders. Take some risks to achieve domination earlier. Don't do the early rush and see if you can win peacefully. They are all fun.
It's back to Emperor for me. The AI has more early size advantages, along with production and research cost advantages, to make losing a realistic worry.
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