Multiplayer Strategy Guide 2nd Version

[Gavrushka]

I was thinking about how my play style has developed, and how I seem to play better now a year away from playing at all.. I know I simplified my game, and maintained a strategy without over-reacting to situations from other nations.. But there is one thing I do seem to do that I cannot remember doing before...

I always check to see which cities are growing next turn, and what tile I will want to farm, mine or fish, and make sure I have always got enough PW to do everything I need to ... The other thing I do is check which cities are growing slowest and make a decision whether they need a boost in growth... If they have a single good to supply to a monopoly, and precious little else to offer the Nation, I leave them.. But if they are a city that CAN produce, I always make sure they do..

..Another point to re-mention is that maintenance costs can cripple your science when you build factories.. Try and put a Market in cities with a reasonable gold output (greater than 20?) on the build queue after Factory.. At this point in the game a market should build in 2 or 3 turns.

[quinns]

What's a Factory? Mills are usually about as far I go before I start producing military and then attack (or defend ). Sometimes, if the enemy is near, I don't even build mills before going military. I only build factories (and up) if I foresee a long game. I believe the key to this game (as some will attest to and other scoff at) is in the very early stages of the game with fast settler expansion. The big question is when to stop expanding and start producing military. The proper timing of this can dictate the outcome of many games.

[Gavrushka]

Originally posted by quinns
What's a Factory? Mills are usually about as far I go before I start producing military and then attack (or defend ). Sometimes, if the enemy is near, I don't even build mills before going military. I only build factories (and up) if I foresee a long game. I believe the key to this game (as some will attest to and other scoff at) is in the very early stages of the game with fast settler expansion. The big question is when to stop expanding and start producing military. The proper timing of this can dictate the outcome of many games.

Ah yes, I must explain I play Island Games, where war is delayed and exploration and dsicovery of other civs muted..

The first, and most important part of my strategy which was shown to me by Quinns is expansion. I always throw two settlers from my early cities, and one or two from the second generation.. I attempt to have 30 cities as soon as possible, and then stocking fill additional cities to complete trade monopolies..

..As regards turning military at Mills, that can be sound, although bare in mind you need a significant numeric advantage to take an enemy city or a fortified stack stopping your approaches. It is high risk to commit to military expansion when your opponent feels confident to defend the front whilst inner cities are producing Factories, but to do this you need to have a good battle view, as remember the combined production of an enemy civ can be brought together (through military units) on a single city.. So mobilised units that can move freely to problem areas are needed for this.. And if you are defending, defend.. Don't go on some heroic charge to try and defeat some weaker stack of units.. You will always be outflanked.. And make sure you have sufficient reinforcements to plug any gap!

[quinns]

Good points.

[Mathemagician]

re?-inforcements ?
sometimes a good 'enforcement' is all it needs.

[filix]

Originally posted by Gavrushka
..Another point to re-mention is that maintenance costs can cripple your science when you build factories.. Try and put a Market in cities with a reasonable gold output (greater than 20?) on the build queue after Factory.. At this point in the game a market should build in 2 or 3 turns.

I buld markets after factories in mountain citys if i have enough time (1v1 gig map big distance/ or "sols cant bomb citys rule" on island game,...). In trade citys earlier of course.

[Gavrushka]

Originally posted by filix

I buld markets after factories in mountain citys if i have enough time (1v1 gig map big distance/ or "sols cant bomb citys rule" on island game,...). In trade citys earlier of course.

Good point, and brings something else up.. Your strategy should take into account who you are playing against, as well as the kind of land you are working.

You would only build markets if you were continuing to develop civ instead of going to war.. You build Markets for the science advances it gives you.

I feel though that as Factory output is staggered across many many cities, the extra two turns to put a market up could well be worthwhile as long as plenty of other cities are already churning SOLs..

[Mathemagician]

which brings us again to...
diversification and adaptation.

[Gavrushka]

Originally posted by Mathemagician
which brings us again to...
diversification and adaptation.

Would you like to post your comments on that.. I take it you refer to the use of science, Gold, infra, and production cities?

[Mathemagician]

Originally posted by Gavrushka
Would you like to post your comments on that.. I take it you refer to the use of science, Gold, infra, and production cities?

right now i cant think of anything relevant that i havent already posted... what do you have in mind ?

[Mathemagician]

i meant adaptation in the sense of improvising to the game conditions, opponent, etc...
i meant diversification in the sense of having some cities specialize in gold, production, maybe even non-trade science or settler breeding pits.

[filix]

It would be good if someone post a picture of a ctp map with a lot of citys. The city placements can be dicussed.
How close do you built your citys? How much land title do you need per city (on a island game for example)?

[Mathemagician]

Originally posted by filix
It would be good if someone post a picture of a ctp map with a lot of citys. The city placements can be dicussed.
How close do you built your citys? How much land title do you need per city (on a island game for example)?

that depends largely on the good count, terrain types, how far away my opponents and the AIs are and how the goods are distributed.
but i build my first few cities closer together than my later cities. sometimes the first two cities have just one tile in between and later cities are 5 tiles away.

[Gavrushka]

i get cities as compacted as possible, so every second square on coast, as long as there are two mountains for each city to work. Next time I am online, I will take a shot of a current game and post it after game concluded..

On land I usually compact them for security

[filix]

Originally posted by Gavrushka
i get cities as compacted as possible, so every second square on coast, as long as there are two mountains for each city to work. Next time I am online, I will take a shot of a current game and post it after game concluded..

On land I usually compact them for security

I take always 3 mountains per city (if i find a big rock)