Archived from groups: alt.games.civ3 (
More info?)
On Tue, 3 Aug 2004 01:40:38 +0000 (UTC) Ambarish Sridharanarayanan
<srdhrnry@uiuc.invalid.edu> wrote in message
<cemqem$c7n$1@news.ks.uiuc.edu>...
> In article <rI-dndPGY8c0FJPcRVn-tA@comcast.com>, Hank Stalica wrote:
>> I'm trying to make the leap from Monarch to Emporer. I understand this
>> is one of the toughest moves in difficulty level to make.
>
> I've found Emperor -> Deity tougher, but yes, this is tough too.
I'm currently playing C3C at Demigod level, which I find comparable to
Vanilla Civ3 deity. I'll finish this game, then try to move up.
>> I've lost about 5 games so far, and I've noticed a few things.
>>
>> One, the computer always has SWARMS of units. Two, I'm always way, way
>> behind in tech - usually an age. Three, I do ok on the expansion phase.
>>
>> As a result, I have a couple of questions.
>>
>> 1) Should I bother having any percentage in research at all, or should I
>> just buy/trade for all my techs?
>
> I hardly ever bother. I occasionally research Pottery when I find no one
> near, but that's it.
I think it's worth going to 10% just to pick up a tech after 40 turns (50 in
C3C) Choose the most expensive tech available to obtain this way.
Buy all the others. Remember that researching for a tech means paying for
it before you get it. Buying it for cash means paying for it when you get
it. Paying by the turn means paying for it after you get it. If the latter
case means you have a pot of unspent money, you can use it the rushbuild the
newly available improvements so that you enhance your productivity so much
that the tech acquisition pays for itself.
>> 2) Is it typical to always have to play such an extreme game of catchup?
>
> Yes. Deity's even worse. People have won from being one-and-a-half ages
> behind, so don't ever lose heart...
I'm winning my current game, from being one age behind. Admittedly I gained
the entire age by capturing the Great Library, but had that not been
available, I wouldn't have stopped acquiring tech at Chivalry.
Could I have won the game without it? Hard to say. It definitely would
have taken much longer.
[...]
>> 3) Is war a requirement now? No more peaceful building?
>
> Actually, war's pretty dangerous in itself, so the safest course is to
> wait for an opportune moment to declare war - when you sense a dogpile on
> a neighbouring AI, or when you have something to offer other AIs to get
> them to ally with you.
An early rush - especially with the Aztecs - is definitely a viable strategy
(although C3C has drawn their teeth somewhat by making JWs 50% more
expensive). However, my preferred strategy is peaceful building punctuated
with short, decisive wars. The point is that both activities should be
focussed. Peaceful building should be anything but leisurely. Rather the
goal must be to build up your civ's productivity over the long-term by
treating it like a corporation: reinvest profits to make more profits.
Buy tech when you need it, and not before. You 'need' tech when you can
afford to rushbuild the new improvements it enables, (after taking account
of the cost of acquiring the tech), than building currently available
improvements.
Warfare should goal oriented, whether it be to acquire land and cities,
secure a resource, or extort tribute. Don't start a war unless you are
strong enough to finish it. Quickly. One variation to this pattern is
where you have to hunker down to withstand his initial assault, before
counterattacking once the assault is exhausted. However you must avoid at
all costs the situation where you are fighting for extended periods without
making progress. All this is doing is costing both sides valuable
production, while uninvolved civs are just getting stronger.
A good time for a war is when there is nothing currently available left to
build, and warfare looks more attractive than buying new tech. A
particularly good time is after you've built your banks - you've not yet
switched to Democracy, and there are no more important improvements until
the industrial era.
--
Daran
"I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but my chief duty is to
accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble. The world is
moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes, but also by the
aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker." -- Helen Keller
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