Early war, redux

[rpodos]

Whoever out there is so amusingly addicted to the Romans, I am becoming a huge convert.

I don;t like the civ characteristics, and the GA comes to early, but what a straightforward approach to the early game.

Build warriors. And then some more warriors. And then a couple of more. Save your gold. Upgrade.

I guess I could do this too wiht the Persians, but for some reason it feels better with Rome.

My God, I POURED into Babylon... 25 Legions in 1200 BC or so... demolished them in 690 BC, with an FP where Uruk used to be.

Not as powerful as the Immortals, but such excellent defense though, especially after the "Big Push."

The Empire is overly large though... lacking industrious, it is taking forever to build out the road network.

SPQR.

R

[Inverse Icarus]

an empire is never too large.

[notyoueither]

You're welcome. Just remember that Mars enjoys M&Ms.

[notyoueither]

Yes roads. Are you building one Roman worker per city? I find when I do this I can keep up with the Empire's sometimes rapid growth. Especially when combined with slaves from the conquests.

Later I double the number of Roman workers (when cities hit a limit of 6 or 12 and are going to have to wait for an big, expensive improvement to grow further.

[Inverse Icarus]

i only BUILD like 5 workers in any given game (unless i conquer multiple islands). i ENSLAVE about 50.

and i dont care how much the AI hates me for it

[rpodos]

UK: Eminently correct.

nye: Yes, it was you. I have made my M&M sacrifice... I happened to have peanut M&Ms around, and laid them before Caesar.

I'm building many, many workers now... Legion, worker, Legion, worker, etc.

I play culturally linked, so now I face Greece, Rome, and Persia.

Yum yum, says the eagle.

R

[Giovanni August]

Yeah.
Legionaries are wonderfull
Their only problem is the absence of an upgrading path!
I would like to see them upgrading to musketman (since I often use legions for defence pourpose during the spearman and pikeman times), but I couldn't find an "historical excuse" yet

Saluti

[notyoueither]

I usually leave one (Legion) hanging around Rome and one around Byzantium (or the ForbiddenPalace) for the entire game.

Gotta have Praetorians.

[Kuciwalker]

Hint on how to get LOTS of free slaves: Raze all of the really big cities you conquer (ancient and middle it's size 12, afterwards 20+). For good measure, raze all of the small ones too.

[notyoueither]

I think max slaves from razing has been set to 2 per city. I razed my way through the Aztecs. Destroyed some fair sized cities (none bigger than 12). Never got more than 2 per from what I recall.

[Grey Knight]

I've been playing with warrior rushes, and I have found them quite fun. Combine this with setting research to 1 beaker, you'll have lots of warriors and lots of cash early on, so once you have some iron hooked up, you're ready to go under any civ.

Cheers,
Shawn

[rpodos]

OOOOh yeah.

For both Rome and Persia, the early warrior rush and following upgrade rush are beyond belief. I'm testing it on a large map, as the lack of a fast-mover might be a problem... balanced by the idea that you WANT your foes to build up a large number of troops, as long as you have relative strength.

I've ended up with Persia as a neighbor though, and I will say that the 4 attack has me worried.

Also, I am feeling the pain of Rome's weak characteristics.

Having fun though... Greece ended up as a lightweight, and Egypt has been no problem.

BTW, I've gotten at least 4 slaves from razing.

R

[Txurce]

I think 2 workers is the standard spoils you get for razing a city. But the actual number can be higher if the AI had some settlers bivouacked there as well (they convert to two workers each), or if they just hustled a random number of workers from the field and into the city for safety (!).

[Inverse Icarus]

dont RAZE, rush buy workers (communism / despotism) in about 4 or 5 turns you should have 4 or 5 workers, and a size 1 city eazily managed / disbanded.

[notyoueither]

UK. Doesn't the unhappiness either follow the disbanding Settler or jump to the nearest city of yours when the disbanding unit is a Worker? That's what I've heard.

I never pop rushed much at all, so I wouldn't know.

[Arrian]

For something akin to the warrior -> legionary or warrior -> immortal upgrade 'n kill, go with Japan and punch out a bunch of chariots. Upgrade to horsemen and watch civilizations disappear before your eyes.

My most recent game as Japan was a blast (Monarch, Normal, Continents, 8 civs). I built 5 cities, connected them up, built temples & barracks, and then started on chariots. I upgraded when I had 10-15 of them, and hit China. It didn't take long. Almost no casualties and a Great Leader, who became the Pyramids. Then I proceeded onward to India. I left them with two cities on a nearby island, gaining two more Great Leaders (Great Library/Forbidden Palace). Then I turned on France. I left them with 1 island city, while gaining my fourth ancient era Great Leader (Sistine Chapel). This game got silly. I ended up destroying Zululand (small island... but they had wines) and finishing off India and France. I made contact with Persia and Germany (who had destroyed England) to find that I was roughly a full age ahead (this may have had to do with the AI's bizarre decision to ignore Literature until after they had Education!). It is now the 18th century, I've had a brief war with Germany (which secured me 2 more luxuries and a Great Leader, who made an army) and have nealry destroyed Persia (which gained me the 8th luxury, spices). I'm now trying to avoid the Domination limit to see how high I can pump the score. I will most likely win via culture before I can build the SS.

It's funny. This game made Monarch as the Japanese look pretty easy. But I got lucky. First, I restarted until I had a decent starting spot (2 cows on river). Second, even for a militaristic civ, 4 leaders out of 3 early wars is pretty damn lucky. Third, Zululand and Persia were both stuck on small islands. Still, Japan makes a really effective early warmonger civ. Especially with cultural linking on.

-Arrian

[rpodos]

LOL
LOL
LOL

I agree... gotta have that wine.

R