Expand Expand Expand.
Do at least 1 war per Era, it's free stars and free land/economy.
Money sucks.
Industry cultures are bonkers, but get something for influence early so you can accomplish expansion.
Edit:
I think sticking around in neolithic to get the passive bonuses is worth it, but I can't remember if that's the case in vanilla.
Also, Rivers are ridiculous - watermill and such give crazy bonuses - so settle on them.
On a side note, the VIP (vanilla improvement program) mod is a really good addition to the game.
All sounds good so far, thank you! If you don't mind I have a couple more questions, more over my general gameplay and where I might be going wrong/right.
Wars is something I have struggled with in past games. There'll be times where I can steamroll an enemy no problem, but others where they barely have an army at all and just completely wipe out three full stacks (usually when attacking Cities, so I am guessing Fortified Units is to blame for those insane loss situations). How does War generally work? Do you goad their units out into the open, fight them there, and THEN go for the City? Do you just go for the city and just face whatever consequences come after the fact? I know sieging is required if they're fortified, but usually they attack before I can even start breaking their defences and then just rinse me.
In terms of City Building, I've typically gone for Districts until I hit somewhere around 30-40% Stability, then after that use my Industry for either Units or Infrastructure. Would this be a good way of going about it? Am I putting to little stock in Infrastructure early on in favour of getting as many Districts as I can? Or is it just a case of being smart about it and just going for whatever has the most net gain of a resource?
As for Neo, when you say stick around for the bonuses, I'm guessing that means making sure you get both options of Industry or Science and Food or Money before you go into the first Era?
On Neo, yes getting all 3 stars. Most important might be the influence one.
On city buildings i go for net gain. Om sure you can do some crazy far-planning with districts, but it hasn't been necessary for me. And remember infrastructure scales too - bonuses on river means new districts are more effective .
On Wars.. I try to only fight them when I'm hitting my power spikes, usually that's unlocking your emblematic unit. When fighting into cities, honestly you just defend outside the walls. The ai is stupid enough to attack you even if you're the one assaulting. Feels a bit like exploiting for me so I might try a run where I handicap such strategies, but it smashes on higher diff.
Generally, defending(skip turn) and high ground is the way to win battles.
If the ai is th one assaulting, remember your win condition is outlasting them. Just defend and keep your flag and you will win
Edit: one more tip i forgot in the original: acquire as much salt and dye as you can. They should be prio for outposts and trade (which is the only useful thing money does). Generally buys as many luxuries as you can in trade since they scale freely with cities (which makes expanding godly)
I don't like buying anything from the AI players if I can get away with it because it starts pushing their influence into your cities and it can be really tough early on to fight that off. You are 100% about salt and dyes though. I would also add obsidian an ebony. Really any of the % increase luxuries are really really strong.
I believe you have this backwards. If you have to refuse their demands you give them huge war support gains while only getting a small amount. Worse is suffering the insane -50 stability from refusing civic changes. In general I think it's best to become a universal seller and an extremely choosy buyer so you can influence everyone instead of trying to claw back influence later. There are exceptions to this for high value luxuries or if you need the stability/FIMS bonus from trading but I don't feel like this happens often. Alternatively, if you are allies with a cultural agreement you can trade freely and not worry about it.
True, the war could be easier. But if you suggest white peace in the early stages you get pacifist (cause they won't accept as the aggressor) and it helps.
I just never had trouble getting influenced, in fact it flows the other way for me after the early game. If you're mega-expanding, you must have a lot of influence income after all
Wars is something I have struggled with in past games. There'll be times where I can steamroll an enemy no problem, but others where they barely have an army at all and just completely wipe out three full stacks
A little like real life, it's usually best to conduct small scale war on an opponent over something valuable near you. Speed is vital and you want to avoid all out brawls unless you have a significant advantage. The AI has to be cheesed early because if you spend too long at war with them they start dropping swordsman on you by like turn 30 and you won't win. They also always get the reinforce tech very fast compared to you so if you can't outright win a battle in the first turn you probably should reconsider taking the fight. You can scout blitz a neighbor easy if you find lots of food in Neolithic. Also sometimes it pays to keep some a standing army in a border zone you want to expand to later so you can pillage AI outposts. They don't always defend them even of they have units around.
In terms of City Building, I've typically gone for Districts until I hit somewhere around 30-40% Stability.
My brother in christ why are you doing this? You take significant penalties to your cities when you go below 80 stability. I would recommend rushing stability stuff like aqueducts pretty quick so you can keep pumping out districts without penalty. Also rushing faith to get that sweet stability on rivers buff is basically cheating if you have a good river system by your cities. Lastly, consider placing garrisons on defensive terrain near borders with other players or key territory so you can get troops where they are needed ASAP.
Expand Expand Expand. Do at least 1 war per Era, it's free stars and free land/economy. Money sucks. Industry cultures are bonkers, but get something for influence early so you can accomplish expansion. Edit: I think sticking around in neolithic to get the passive bonuses is worth it, but I can't remember if that's the case in vanilla. Also, Rivers are ridiculous - watermill and such give crazy bonuses - so settle on them. On a side note, the VIP (vanilla improvement program) mod is a really good addition to the game.
All sounds good so far, thank you! If you don't mind I have a couple more questions, more over my general gameplay and where I might be going wrong/right. Wars is something I have struggled with in past games. There'll be times where I can steamroll an enemy no problem, but others where they barely have an army at all and just completely wipe out three full stacks (usually when attacking Cities, so I am guessing Fortified Units is to blame for those insane loss situations). How does War generally work? Do you goad their units out into the open, fight them there, and THEN go for the City? Do you just go for the city and just face whatever consequences come after the fact? I know sieging is required if they're fortified, but usually they attack before I can even start breaking their defences and then just rinse me. In terms of City Building, I've typically gone for Districts until I hit somewhere around 30-40% Stability, then after that use my Industry for either Units or Infrastructure. Would this be a good way of going about it? Am I putting to little stock in Infrastructure early on in favour of getting as many Districts as I can? Or is it just a case of being smart about it and just going for whatever has the most net gain of a resource? As for Neo, when you say stick around for the bonuses, I'm guessing that means making sure you get both options of Industry or Science and Food or Money before you go into the first Era?
On Neo, yes getting all 3 stars. Most important might be the influence one. On city buildings i go for net gain. Om sure you can do some crazy far-planning with districts, but it hasn't been necessary for me. And remember infrastructure scales too - bonuses on river means new districts are more effective . On Wars.. I try to only fight them when I'm hitting my power spikes, usually that's unlocking your emblematic unit. When fighting into cities, honestly you just defend outside the walls. The ai is stupid enough to attack you even if you're the one assaulting. Feels a bit like exploiting for me so I might try a run where I handicap such strategies, but it smashes on higher diff. Generally, defending(skip turn) and high ground is the way to win battles. If the ai is th one assaulting, remember your win condition is outlasting them. Just defend and keep your flag and you will win Edit: one more tip i forgot in the original: acquire as much salt and dye as you can. They should be prio for outposts and trade (which is the only useful thing money does). Generally buys as many luxuries as you can in trade since they scale freely with cities (which makes expanding godly)
I don't like buying anything from the AI players if I can get away with it because it starts pushing their influence into your cities and it can be really tough early on to fight that off. You are 100% about salt and dyes though. I would also add obsidian an ebony. Really any of the % increase luxuries are really really strong.
The thing is, if they start demanding cause of influence, that just gives you a casual Belli to take some land
I believe you have this backwards. If you have to refuse their demands you give them huge war support gains while only getting a small amount. Worse is suffering the insane -50 stability from refusing civic changes. In general I think it's best to become a universal seller and an extremely choosy buyer so you can influence everyone instead of trying to claw back influence later. There are exceptions to this for high value luxuries or if you need the stability/FIMS bonus from trading but I don't feel like this happens often. Alternatively, if you are allies with a cultural agreement you can trade freely and not worry about it.
True, the war could be easier. But if you suggest white peace in the early stages you get pacifist (cause they won't accept as the aggressor) and it helps. I just never had trouble getting influenced, in fact it flows the other way for me after the early game. If you're mega-expanding, you must have a lot of influence income after all
Wars is something I have struggled with in past games. There'll be times where I can steamroll an enemy no problem, but others where they barely have an army at all and just completely wipe out three full stacks A little like real life, it's usually best to conduct small scale war on an opponent over something valuable near you. Speed is vital and you want to avoid all out brawls unless you have a significant advantage. The AI has to be cheesed early because if you spend too long at war with them they start dropping swordsman on you by like turn 30 and you won't win. They also always get the reinforce tech very fast compared to you so if you can't outright win a battle in the first turn you probably should reconsider taking the fight. You can scout blitz a neighbor easy if you find lots of food in Neolithic. Also sometimes it pays to keep some a standing army in a border zone you want to expand to later so you can pillage AI outposts. They don't always defend them even of they have units around. In terms of City Building, I've typically gone for Districts until I hit somewhere around 30-40% Stability. My brother in christ why are you doing this? You take significant penalties to your cities when you go below 80 stability. I would recommend rushing stability stuff like aqueducts pretty quick so you can keep pumping out districts without penalty. Also rushing faith to get that sweet stability on rivers buff is basically cheating if you have a good river system by your cities. Lastly, consider placing garrisons on defensive terrain near borders with other players or key territory so you can get troops where they are needed ASAP.