From: rsj0@ns1.cc.lehigh.edu (ROBERT STEPHEN JOHNSON)
Newsgroups: rec.games.misc
Subject: Re: Civilization strategies...
Date: 14 Dec 92 19:34:01 GMT
Organization: Lehigh University

In article <Bz3urn.E72@javelin.sim.es.com>, krogers@javelin.sim.es.com (K. Roger
s) writes:
>andrew@frip.WV.TEK.COM (Andrew Klossner) writes:
>
>>      "...having played Civilization, I've done fairly well so
>>      far...but I can't win at Emperor level, 7 civiliztions...can
>>      somebody offer me some strategies?.."
>>
>>I just got my best score ever by conquering the planet at 200 B.C. as
>>an emperor against seven civs.  I had nine leaders "on the wall."  Per
>>the strategy books, you get a big score bonus by completing early.
>>
>>I did it with a straightforward aggressive campaign, hundreds of
>>chariots, and a few sails.
>
>The "Mongol Horde" strategy is the only way I can win at emperor
>level.  I, too, have gotten my best score using this technique,
>defeating 11 civs by 20 BC; and even though I only had 3.5 million
>pop, not a single WoW, a way low tech level and was a despot the whole
>game I still got a raw score of some 2400 with civ rating of 169%.
>This is with version 1 of the game.
>
>>  But the biggest factor was my luck in the
>>random factors: all but one of the other civs started on the same
>>continent as me, so I could trash them handily before they got very far
>>and before I developed navigation.  Then I got lucky again by sailing
>>in the right direction to find the one other inhabited continent.
>
>You need several good breaks to get a really great game.
>
>>There was no subtlety in this campaign.  All I built were settlers,
>>phalanxes, diplomats (to topple city walls), barracks, and sails.  I
>>built roads to get soldiers to the front quickly, and I built mines to
>>keep the soldiers coming.  I didn't have to build many cities -- it was
>>easier to conquer them than to build them.
>
>Yup.  I also don't like this method of play much because it *does*
>lack subtlety - or creativity, just bludgeon you way to victory.
>Still, it's the only way I can win as emperor.  I'd like to know other
>ways.
>
>A more typical strategy for me as king on down is to race for The
>Repulic, go to that form of gov and optimize like crazy for tech
>development.  The goal is Industrialization so I can build Women's
>Sufferage.  Then I can go to war and still keep those tech devs
>comming in either demo or repub gov, though at a significantly reduced
>rate as war uses a lot of resources.  At that point I'm light years
>ahead in dev, with battleships and railroads, and can mount a really
>effective fighting force.  After moping up most of the civs I then go
>back to serious tech dev to build a spaceship.  I usually land at AC
>around 1900 at King level.  My rating is typically ~110%.  I've never
>been able to get the above to work at emperor level.  The other civs
>grow too fast and are too aggressive and develop at the same rate I
>do.
>
>Ok, so I'm not the greatest Civ player, it's still fun (more like
>addicting - I waste far more of my life at this game than I dare
>contemplate.)
>
>Here are some things I never do, and I'd like to know if others use
>them to good success:
>
>1) I never go to communism.  It seems I have far more important things
>to be doing with my resources early on than build the Pyramids, and
>since it cancels the effect of Bach's Cathedral, it's the second to
>the last advance I research before Future Techs.  Is this a mistake?
>I don't like communism at any rate as you don't get double trade as
>with Repub or Demo.  I usually go to Repub by 2500 BC or earlier to
>take advantage of the rapid discovery rate until 1 AD.  In my view,
>rapid dev is of supreme importance (unless using the Horde strategy)
>and you're wasting advances Big Time if you aren't hell-bent on dev
>until 1 AD when the rate goes way down.

communism is pretty nice, in that you are able to go to war, and still build
at a rapid rate...as your units leave the city's you don't get unhappy people
and are able to keep the people happy as if you were in a monarchy...i prefer
communism in war time stiuations, and the republic/democracy in peact time.

>
>2) Units I never build: nukes, carriers, bombers - just about any of
>the more advanced mil units excepting battleships, transports, and
>armor.  I find I can easily overrun other civs with my usual units and
>boatload after boatload of diplomats.  In fact, I do little actual
>fighting - usually just the civ's capitol city, then I buy, buy, buy
>the rest.

bombers and carriers are nice when you are facing opponents of equal levels of
strength i have found bombers particularly nice in mapping out large areas of
territory...ie. if the enemy has subs/crusiers/trans, and they are constantly
attacking your citys...also bombers are nice in that they can't be attack by
anything on the ground, so if the enemy is coming in on ground, and you have a
few bombers use them as a baracade until your ground troops are made.
>
>3) The luxury rate rarely goes above 10% (until two turns before
>landing on AC when you need to make your people as happy as possible
>as a few turns of We Love the Pres really boosts pop in a big hurry.
>The problem is that I never seem to have the keep-'em-happy things in
>place to handle this pop increase until very late in the game - you
>know, cathedrals, colosseums, Cure for Cancer, etc.  Any ideas on
>this?

the luxury rate is very important in the higher level games esp. emperor...
citys start to revolt sooner...ie when they reach a 3-4...adjust the luxury
rate accordingly, and as your lowering the luxury rate, you'll have to build
thing to keep the people happy ie. temples etc.  as you build these things
keep in mind that they cost $ and you must build marketplaces and banks to
afford these improvements.  if you have trouble saving money the best thing
i can recommend is to build things that are useless in certain areas, and sell
them...ie. a city w. 1-3 lightbulbs build a library and them sell it...this
way you are able to keep science as high as possible, while also making money
for when the enemy comes, and you have to buy them.
>
>4) I never play emperor unless using the Horde strategy.  I'd really
>like to work around my inability to do so.
>
>>  -=- Andrew Klossner  (andrew@frip.wv.tek.com)
>>                       (uunet!tektronix!frip.WV.TEK!andrew)
>--
>Keith Rogers
>krogers@javelin.sim.es.com
>

Sincerely,

Rob
-- 

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