Despotism forever?

[ChrisShaffer]

At this rate, I may never get out of despotism. Sigh. Technology is coming very very slowly.

Does anyone have suggestions for strategies to get out of despotism more quickly?

[Falconius]

I finally had my monarchy revolution around 1000 AD ! And at Regent level ! Trying to speed it up some myself. One thing I've started to do is use money to buy techs from the other civs. They usually initiate a deal by offering to trade maps or to sell their weakest tech. Just do a counter-proposal and offer just enough for a good tech that your advisor says they'll accept.

I got monarchy that way, and some of the more modern techs. The other civs at this point (1100 ad or so) are only staying slightly ahead of me this way (2 or three techs). It'll do for now until I can figure out how to speed things up.

[rah]

Besides golden ages and trading for them.

One answer, TRADE (or they call them currency) SPECIALS
Now that you don't get the extra arrow/coin from building on a river the trade specials are even more important. Especially when you finally get to three pop only to spit out a much needed settler.

Did anyone check your sliders and move them higher than the 50% science that the game default starts you at?

RAH
Yes it will still take longer than in CIV II, but the strategies are still very similar. Just because it looks different shouldn't make you forget all you already know.

[ChrisShaffer]

Originally posted by rah
One answer, TRADE (or they call them currency) SPECIALS
Now that you don't get the extra arrow/coin from building on a river the trade specials are even more important. Especially when you finally get to three pop only to spit out a much needed settler.

You do get bonus trade for rivers. Every square touching a river gets one bonus gold. In addition, any desert next to a river becomes the mother-lode: flood plain.

[homegrown]

I'm so glad to find out I'm not the only one getting to 1000AD and still not be at Monarchy.

Yes, I moved the slider to like 70% science, 10% luxuries which leaves 20% tax for maintenance and purchases. Still really really slow... i didn't find but 1 or 2 goodie huts and what do indians know about science hehehe.

The Warrior/Settler/Temple/Warrior build seems to work but it seems like it's taking forever to get 6-10 cities started and growing past 6.

Back to the game... oh and howdy.. my first post here. love the game.

[CygnusZ]

I got Monarchy by about 500 BC and was in the middle ages by about 400 AD.

A first, settle as much land as you can. Do it quick, just get as much physical property as possible. Make sure to make a quick peace with your neighbor's or this could be a short ride.

All those cities should give you a nice base of science. Not a lot, but make sure to trade with your neighbors. Head directly for Alphabet-->Writing-->Literacy. Build the libraries.

Now reaching Monarchy won't be so bad. It's also not a bad idea to trigger your golden age. Do it by building a wonder of the world that is compatiable with your nation's virtues or winning a battle with your UU. (So, having Impi or Jaguar Warriors would be probably the easiest way).

From what I can tell from Firaxis interviews, this was a problem for the beta testers too. It really is a good thing overall though, remember how all those old units were good for nothing in CivII?

[albiedamned]

I agree with everything you just wrote, Cygnus. Go for Literature and build libraries to greatly enhance your science, making Monarchy and Republic easier to get to. That's definitely been my experience in my game.

The quick (or as quick as possible) land grab is also important, as is making peace early on. Not that you can't fight at all in the ancient era - you definitely can. But you don't want to fight very early on when you're trying to expand. Once I had my first 6 or so cities, I wound up fighting a major ancient era war with the Egyptians using Swordsmen, Catapults, and Hoplites (I'm the Greeks).