Just to Inneficient They Eat me Alive

[checkMate]

I seem to get stomped quickly ageast medium when playing conquest mode. I just seem to be way behind. What is the most efficient developement order from gunpowder to Modern?

I seem to loose it around there. All of my resources are going good, but I just can't get enough to keep up with the AI attacks?

[Nacht]

Development order from gunpowder to modern? I think the development up to gunpowder is the most important. For me gunpowder is the age that I have my production on rail and start thinking about using those resources ie: attacking.

A few questions:

Do you build granaries/lumber mills/smelters?

Do you research tech in those buildings?

Do yo build your woodcutters and mines in the economic radius of cities?

Do you fill your universities with scholars?

If you don't do any of these things that could be the answer to your getting behind during gunpowder/modern ages.

[checkMate]

Yes I do all of those things. And generally I can max or almost max all of the resource gathering rates. But i still can't seem to build enough military to stay alive. And then I may get distracted, but in any case they just seem to take off at that point and there is no going back.

They can sustain attach after attack. But if I go for them it's wipe out.

[Nacht]

Build your army up before sending it to the enemy. Sending loose units won't cut it. I don't know if you do that.

Send a recorded game if you want a real answer.

Not much help, I know,

Nacht

[solo]

Key in on getting Literacy, Printing Press, etc. as soon as possible, which means prioritizing their prerequisites and having enough wood ready when they become available. During this part of the game it's more cost effective to leverage the learning power of each scholar than to add additional universities and scholars. This will free up more wealth for building more military units and also keep you ahead in the tech race.

Build the Colossus early, too. It allows more wood and wealth earlier, which helps build an army faster.

[checkMate]

Thanks.

I guess I have not been going after wonders enough.
Also I think I need to go after them more, because it seems they are always hitting me which is distracting.

[UndyingFlame]

I used to not be able to beat moderates as well. Here are some of my tips. Some of these might seem very basic, please exuse them.

1) Attrition! I dunno how many times I can emphasize this, but an army is a whoel lot easier to beat after you take out the supply wagon. A nice tactic to use is to hit the supply wagons with cheap cruise missiles, and then watch the army dwindle down to 1/2 health before they even reach you. If you're in an earlier age, cavalry raids are the way to go. One of my fav tactics is to run around the side with my light cav and hit the artillery and supply wagons asap. The middle of their army is caught off guard because they have two ways to fight, they have to either deal with my light cav in the back, or my infantry in the front. Essentially, i get the rear attack bonus (50% i believe) and i get two attacks for everyone of his. Works charms against the computer.

2) Wonders. Even if you turn off wonder victory - make sure you use wonders. I recently realized how cheap these things are, and they are a wonderful asset to your nation. (side note: don't fall into the trap of thinking the Terra Cotta Army is the best wonder - its really easy to counter, and annoying at the pop cap). If you find yourself falling victim to attrition, build the statue of liberty. If you like to have long drawn out assaults, then build the versailles wonder. They are wonderful and can really turn the tide of a game.

3) Merchants. These guys are underestimated in most games I play. They can give you amazing bonuses. Citrus has your ships heal automatically (I fail to see the connection between citrus and ships - but oh well), Ruins has your research costs and times go down a whole lot, and its very useful. Merchants are cheap so there really isn't a need to worry too much about them. Just build a few and send 'em out every so often. Works wonders.

4) Don't fall on the defensive. Repeated attacks and raids must be conducted from the begining, at least in my experience. I usually have an army out and attacking by Medieval age, and i try and keep a constant string of attacks up. Not only does this force the opponent to think more about protecting himself than attacking you, it generally puts a huge dent in his economy. I recently started doing this - and it helped a whole lot.

5) Micro your battles. Even if it is just a little bit. double click on your archers every so often and have them attack infantry. Keep your light cav away from those pikemen. Attack those artillery with fast units. Guard your supply wagons. Entrentch, flank. Its hard to get in the habit of it, but eventually, you'll have to get used to it. Its the only way to go.

6) Make sure your attacks have enough support to be worthwhile. Remember - every unit you make costs you money - so don't send them off to die unless they're going to accomplish something. Ideally, the cost of your army should be less than the cost of what your enemy paid to build the things you destroyed. It doesn't make sense to take a huge army and march it 1/2 across the map with no supplies so that it only kills a few civillians before dying out. Make sure you are thinking ahead, and make sure you aren't wasting your military.

7) Don't get so concentrated on your military that you forget about the homefront. I make this mistake all the time. I get so caught up in microing my battles and leading huge assaults that i forget about my idle civilians and i forget to build up another military, or supporting units or something. The computer is able to do a million things at once - whereas you can only do one. Make sure you cover all sides of the map. Don't forget military when concentrating on economy, don't forget economy when concentrating on military.

8) Last, but not least, remember your library. Keep your technology going, and every so often, just hit "L" and research a few more things. Nothing hurts more than a nuke when you're still in enlightenment age. Try and keep ahead of your opponent technology-wise. And use those end-of-game supertechs. Against a computer - they make a world of difference.

If all else fails, turn it down a notch. Make resources lower, make the game speed slow. Use the pause key (don't fall into the habit of relying on this - because it won't work in multi). Turn research to "Expensive and slow." Do everything you can with the options to take away that "million-things-at-once" advantage your computer has over you. And then, slowly, increase the difficulty by turning up the tech - and turning up the game speed.

Hope this helped.
~UndyingFlame

[AlanKemp]

> I fail to see the connection between citrus and ships - but oh well

Scurvy used to be a huge problem on ships, bringing along limes provided the crews with their requirments of vitimin D, preventing scurvy.

Alan

[UndyingFlame]

Awesome, now I know. Thanks

~UndyingFlame

[Out4Blood]

I was about to reply to the citrus comment ... but I think you meant vitamin C. Vitamin D comes from the sun and you get enough of it from 15 min exposure.

[Red Scorpion]

Originally posted by AlanKemp
> I fail to see the connection between citrus and ships - but oh well

Scurvy used to be a huge problem on ships, bringing along limes provided the crews with their requirments of vitimin D, preventing scurvy.

Alan

Limes were used a lot, hence the American term 'Limeys' for us Brits.

[KenR7A]

wow, you learn something new everyday!

[iamlod]

Originally posted by Red Scorpion
Limes were used a lot, hence the American term 'Limeys' for us Brits.

I didn't know 'limey' was an American term. I always just wrote it off as more crazy British slang.

No offense to brits, of course

-Lod