Early strategy

[Oedipus Rex]

Being new to the game it has quite frustrating - no fun at all - I read about
early war's etc. but with 4 cities, with low shields I can hardly produce any more than spearmen while the opponent happily runs around with horsemen archers building cities one after the another etc.
Trade is a farce.
Most ancient wonders are build before 300BC by the AI and I have to wait 300 turns for 1. Total nonsense.
Maybe I'll hit the uninstall button.

[King of Rasslin]

Trade is important, newb. And you have to mine grassland to get a chance to get a chance at a wonder. Those comps go on a mad dash for wonders and you cannot stop them unless you out power them.

And don't focus on military until you get large cities. Spearmen are weak, so go with the greek hoptlite or the roman legion.

Its ok, many people just don't like games that require thought.

[ThaddeusAlexander]

Originally posted by King of Rasslin
Its ok, many people just don't like games that require thought.

I like your thoughts, but thats just cold

As for the original post, I would try one of a few things. Firstly, chop trees to get those wonders! it works, trust me ... Secondly, you can keep up in the army department - build mines everywhere - do not build irrigation until you have monarchy or republic under your belt (i suggest monarchy for military reasons which arise often early in the game) because it won't help!

Build lots of warriors and swarm your close enemies - take over thier 'setter+unit' expidition teams and use the workers to build more mines so you can build more units. Fight barbarians to gain experince and get your units to elite ... with luck you can win almost anything ... it once took 4 veteran warriors to do it, but i beat 2 fortified spearmen in a city and took it - a capitol city too.

Wage war early! Keep pressure on all of your close opponents ... once you have lots of strong armies in the field, keep building your empire and let your opponent worry about your forces in his territory. Once you have some military action around each AI city, you have them worried and the AI will actually build settlers just to keep in the cities for no reason ...

Also, attack the capitol of your enemies ... don't d*ck around ! Take what you have and take that city! Enemy capitol cities usually have a really small population because the AI builds so many settlers, so when you DO take over the capitol city, there won't be much resistance.

Once you do this, the AI will usually want peace, but at this point you can negotiate for almost anything ... every tech they have, 10gold/turn, all the gold and maps and contacts they have - take it all! use all that to launch a new war on an opponent.

On my current game, I've gone to war with all 5 civs on my continent and only conquered the capitol cities of each, then ended the wars. I can safely say that I own my continent

Good luck, and DON'T GIVE UP ON CIV 3 YET !!!

Cheers!
~Alex

[Light Lord]

Interesting thought on mining before irrigation. But dont you find yourself putting too many mines in and not leaving any room for irragation later...hence starving cities?

Or i guess you could just replace the mines...but that it tedious =)

LL

[ThaddeusAlexander]

Originally posted by Light Lord
Interesting thought on mining before irrigation. But dont you find yourself putting too many mines in and not leaving any room for irragation later...hence starving cities?

Or i guess you could just replace the mines...but that it tedious =)

LL

If you capture enough workers, you can easily afford the manpower to build mines (of play industrious civs as i tend to do - persians being my favorites). Also, if irrigation won't do anything for you because under despotism your grasslands can only produce 2 food anyway, whats the point? If you're going to build them later, then you're going to build on that tile if there is a mine there or not, so covering it up won't make a difference.

Also, i find that getting cities too large early in the game isn't the best idea because coping with unhappiness is something nobody wants to do, especially in times of war. Besides, if your cities aren't beside rivers then you need aqueducts before you can hit the magic #7 anyway, and the way i tackle advances (iron working first, then literature or monarchy) that usually takes a long while ... and i like having the hanging gardens under my belt before i let my cities grow above 6 anyway, just to keep happyness in order.

Also, the hanging gardens is a wonder that is often overlooked by the AI ... i have never seen the AI aim for monarch, and will often start researching middle ages advances if they can and forget that it even exists. IF you want a wonder, aim for the hanging gardens ...

But then again, try to build anything you can so long as you have a fallback point ... you don't want to loose a few hundred shields to some other civ's wonder creating speed if you don't have to, so never start a wonder unless you have a fallback that you are fairly sure you can get (and the gardens are amazing for this).

Cheers
~Alex

[Raleigh]

few thoughts:

1. Rex, No doubt, when you first get a game, read the manual, have exp with the genre and jump you, you feel frustrated by stuff that looks so simple but "doesn't work." Try not to get so discouraged so quickly. These games are very complex and these boards are filled with strategies, bug reports (so you know it is not just you) and helpful tips sometimes missing in the manual.

2. I don't think tree chopping affects wonders? Am I wrong, I thought it only works for city improvements.

3. Try a civ like the Aztecs that are militaristics and religious or one that is scientific. The Aztecs START with their special unit and allow you to quickly explore and attack. Religious govt allow fast constructions of temples which expand culture and city radii quickly. By same token, science lets you build libraries, etc. faster so that might help in your tech troubles.

4. Trade is the one thing in this game that works extremely well (except for 1 or 2 weird documented bugs). Expect relatively even trades in the beginning and to get screwed later. Culture affects this a bit.

5. Under despotism you can RUSH projects by spending a population. In a city that is well irrigated (i disagree a little with the mine strategy above somewhat) your population will replace itself quickly in the beginning. You can produce military units (or improvements) much more quickly using this method. Your troops can quell any resentment caused by it.

Hope this helps.

[Light Lord]

Alex, since you are not letting your cities grow to large numbers early on...do you have any thoughts on a civ cap for the number of cities you produce or have in your civ.?

LL

[ThaddeusAlexander]

Originally posted by Light Lord
Alex, since you are not letting your cities grow to large numbers early on...do you have any thoughts on a civ cap for the number of cities you produce or have in your civ.?

LL

I aim for about 15-25 depending on map size ... i like having a small empire that can be easily managed.

By the end of the ancient times, however, i usually have about 10 - 15.

Of course, it changes every game ... you don't always have room for that many cities. You just have to do the best with what the map gives you, thats all

Cheers
~Alex

[ThaddeusAlexander]

I should also note that i never play the same strategy twice ... I play for fun, pure and simple, and I like to mix it up.

I've played with almost every civ (currently using the Greeks) and I like them all for different reasons.

Play for fun, and don't worry too much about the mechanics and numbers involved.

Thats how you get your money's worth .. play it YOUR way

Cheers!
~Alex

[Light Lord]

Thats good advice for everyone Alex =)

I do play for fun but i also like taking a look at other peoples stratigies and seeing what i can do with em. Sometimes im able to switch it up or add some of my own stratigie into it to make it suit me more.

I guess that comes from my playing so many internet games so its only natural for this one too...even though it is regretfully not internet interactive =(

LL

[ThaddeusAlexander]

Originally posted by Light Lord
Thats good advice for everyone Alex =)

I do play for fun but i also like taking a look at other peoples stratigies and seeing what i can do with em. Sometimes im able to switch it up or add some of my own stratigie into it to make it suit me more.

I agree - reading about games and stratigies is fun, and you can learn from them, but I find that its really impossible to go in to a game with one set strategy and win ...

I have to say that I've found myself looking at a situation in a game and thinking "oh yeah, i remember what THATGUY said about this situation ... lets give it a go and see if it works for me".

Originally posted by Light Lord
I guess that comes from my playing so many internet games so its only natural for this one too...even though it is regretfully not internet interactive =(

LL

Too true

Oh well ... lets just hope they fix the AI a bit in the first patch

Cheers!
~Alex

[MarshalN]

I didn't read the whole thread, so I don't know if it's answered.... but since in despotism you only get two food even if you irrigate, building a mine on grassland is not a bad idea.

[Dyrlac]

It is critical to mine grasslands in the early stages of the game. Depending on the circumstances, automated workers will do it (that's how I initially learned the strategy), but they seem to abandon the effort far to soon and then irrigate everything, even if you're still in despotism. So shift-A them to preserve your precious mined grassland. (Wonder what that would look like in real life, a mined grassland)

[Sauron07]

I wanted to get my 2 cents in on this subject as I think it is really important if you hope to build any early wonders in the game(Im assuming you're playing regent or lower because above regent you might as well give up on early wonders due to the comp. production bonuses.

Mining grasslands is essential to boosting your production under despotism. I would point out though that mining the grasslands which already have a shield should be priority #1. First it provides you a 2 food 2 shield square, but i beleive someone posted elsewhere on this forum that down the line when you get railroads - only those mined grassland tiles with shields receive the production benefit(can't verify this currently as I dont have the manual at work).

In my games, I tend to mine even cow or wheat grassland squares and rush build a granary rather than irrigating 3 food squares. On a side note - grasslands or floodplains with a wheat or cow square WILL benefit from irrigation during despotism a key factor to making some cities viable(ie desert area with one floodplain wheat square that can produce 5 food if irrigated!).

[ThaddeusAlexander]

Originally posted by Sauron07
Mining grasslands is essential to boosting your production under despotism. I would point out though that mining the grasslands which already have a shield should be priority #1. First it provides you a 2 food 2 shield square, but i beleive someone posted elsewhere on this forum that down the line when you get railroads - only those mined grassland tiles with shields receive the production benefit(can't verify this currently as I dont have the manual at work).

Railroads: If built on an irrigated tile produce +1 Food ... If built on a mined tile, it produces +1 Production.
Essentially, railroads increase the rate at which irrigation brings food to your cities, or mines bring natural resources (and, of course, always produce the +1 Commerce as do roads).

Originally posted by Sauron07
In my games, I tend to mine even cow or wheat grassland squares and rush build a granary rather than irrigating 3 food squares. On a side note - grasslands or floodplains with a wheat or cow square WILL benefit from irrigation during despotism a key factor to making some cities viable(ie desert area with one floodplain wheat square that can produce 5 food if irrigated!).

Wow! I never knew that ... I noticed that wheat on floodplains produce more food if irrigated, but i never thought cows would

Thanks Brother!

Cheers!
~Alex

[arborman]

Historically speaking, there were a number of small mines in the grasslands of western north america until about 40 years ago. I suspect it was the same in central asia. So its not just a game quirk.
As for mining grasslands in the game, I've found that mining areas even in advance of your city expanding to that tile can make for an easier time of it down the road. Workers etc are more vulnerable later in the game, so the more work they can do early, the better.