OCC scenario

[Mihai]

I started OCC scenario (the one downloaded form Apolyton) and I want to hear some tips/opinions.

My strategy was to start with Religion (Ramayana is the first thing built), get Slave labor (Slaver, Mine) and Shipbuilding. Cover my island with mines and my city with slaves.

I managed to get a 25 pop city with 17 slaves (that hurt productivity a lot, but I thought that I cannot afford to wait for a normal grow). I am a monarchy. I can build knights and mounted archers. Some samurais to be used against those damn pikemen.

My strategy for the future is to avoid a long war in order to destroy civilization. While my - not so many - forces would be tied down on one corner of the world, the other civs will grow and eventually will expand in the land cleared by me.
I have to say that considered the difficulty level of this scenario I try more to see how long can I resist than I hope to win.
With that in mind, I though to keep my isolation as my main asset. Destroying all costal cities and letting them to fight each other for the land will buy me some time. If I cannot fight their armies, I will just raid and pillage.

What you think about my strategy?
Other suggestions?

[Immortal Wombat]

Thats how I always played it, and it's the best way to make the game last a long enough time. You get a nice bit old city and reasonably far up the tech tree... but I never won, and found myself getting overtaken technologically by about 1300AD. You will not have the resources to keep up, and sooner or later the AI will start sending 'planes over your island, and it all goes downhill from there.

Other people have said they found the best strategy was to start warring as soon as possible, and take out civilisations completely one- at a time, as fast as possible so they can't recover.

I designed the island so that your city should be very easy to get to a large size and high productivity, but once you hit the modern age, you simply won't have the resources to keep up with science. If you want to go for a win rather than a long and drawn out game until your eventual defeat under bombers and tanks, then aim to win with cannons and infantrymen, or maybe even before.

My advice would be to use stealth units, like your slavers and diplomats, spies etc. to do a lot of exploing pre-attacking. You need to get all their cities at once, more or less. Get a fleet of ships and when you move to attack, do so with the intention of winning each war as fast as possible. This is probably easier if you use stacks of mounted units, they have more chance of overtaking defenders and settlers that you do not want lying around.

Try to keep the civs as friendly with you as possible while you take them out one by one. I would recommend not using slavers, unless you are already at war with a civ: your city should cope without slaves. Try trading for advances, and later on, stealing ones you need. Once you drop behind, you're pretty much dead.

If you can mobilise forces early enough (Mounted Archers/Knights stage) then use two fronts to sweep both ways around the map, and therefore preventing further settlement in the cleared land. At very least keep a mounted unit behind to sweep for settlers. And be glad the scenario doesn't use the militia code

[Mihai]

Originally posted by Immortal Wombat
Other people have said they found the best strategy was to start warring as soon as possible, and take out civilisations completely one- at a time, as fast as possible so they can't recover.

That sound good, but if you start too early, you don't have the necessary force to defeate them. You will lose too many units in the attacks. I think that the combo knight/mounted archer with some catapult (to soften up the enemy) and samurai (against pikemen) is the earliest to start a total war with chances of success.

I thought to rely heavly on spies and for that reason not to destroy civs. They are fighting between themselves too. And by distroying their inner circle coastal cities, I delay any direct attack against my city till air planes come into picture.

Because the scenario said that "all civs hates you" I didn't expect to trade anything with them. Just to have peace with them untill I decide to attack.

[Immortal Wombat]

Ah yeah, I messed with the diplomacy as well. Don't worry about trading.

[EPW]

I just pumped out units nonstop...went straight for knights then cavelry and tanks. The problem is building the transports which slow everything down. I found playing the mod version to be easier in that respect.

[Mihai]

I plan to try 2 variants : with slaves and without slaves.
If you don't have an 'official' contact with a civ, enslaving its people doesn't affect future relations with that civ after you make contact with it, right? If so, I will stay in the dark untill I'll have diplomats.

[The Big Mc]

I play occ but have a little mod to increase production/gold

[Mihai]

I built some mines, but pollution is getting high. I have to let my workers on minimun hours of dayly work. OTOH that improve my happiness and allow me to increase greatly my production when needed. The question is "when", as it seems that polution is destroying my tiles very quick.