From: jstevens@aaron.carleton.ca (Jonathan Stevenson)
Subject: Civ:  Frustration at King/Emperor Levels!!!!
Summary: Problems with Conquering the World (Combat)
Keywords: Civilization
Organization: Carleton University
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1992 13:30:13 GMT


I`ve been playing civilization for several months now, and I have the
latest version/update (V4) installed on my system.  I only started to
play at the higher levels (King and Emperor Levels) the last few
weeks, and I seem to be having severe problems during attacks.

Basically, I am following a modified version of the "Mongol Hoard"
strategy wherein I simply build lotsa cities during the first 2000
years, then build graneries/battacks only, set taxes to 100% treasury
(upon achieving mathematics/navigation) and flood the world with
units.  Usually by about 500 AD I have managed to take over most of
the World, apart from maybe 1 or 2 civilizations located on some
distant sub-continents or islands.  I usually manage to "keep up" or
even surpass all the other civilizations in terms of technology by
conquering other civ's cities and acquiring the Great Library and Cop.
Observatory from such conquests.

This is when the problem starts.  Quite simply, I can't seem to get
rid of the last 5-10 cities belonging to the other civilization(s).  I
make attack upon attack on their cities and it seems impossible!  I
mean, I usually manage to land an amphibious assault team comprised of
about 4-6 knights and maybe 8 catapults (ferried across the oceans
with much expense, mind you !) only to have some idiotic cavalry unit
come along and attack say a stack of 4+ units and wipe them out?  What
the f--- is going on?  If the computer is using a logical combat
system, I have calculated that the odds in such a battle is something
like 1 to 8 (ignoring any terrain bonuses, which would make it worse).
Is there some kind of cheat that the computer applies to its attacks
at King Level and higher?  Anyways, my own attacks are just as bad; I
end up assaulting some city that MAY be defended by say 2 Phalanx
behind city walls, with catapult upon catapult (all veterans BTW 8-0!)
only to have practically every attack fail.  By the time 1500 AD has
rolled around (when I'm just about hitting the ceiling from
frustration) I have lost something like 75-100 knights and about the
same number of catapults.  The other civilizations don't have any real
technological advantage since I`m applying so much pressure on every
city I can find.  The frustrating part is that I cannot resolve the
situation, and the computer seems to be able to make cute little 1 to
8 attacks that wipes out each of my invasion forces over and over
again.

I welcome any suggests from you Civilization GURUs out there.  I have
read articles from several persons claiming world conquests by 1 AD at
Emperor level.  My simple question is: HOW?
-- 
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    JJ DDDD   SSSS     Jonathan D Stevenson                     
    JJ D  DD SS  SS    Dept. of Aero & Mech. Engineering     
    JJ D  DD  SS       Carleton University (Ottawa, Canada) 
    JJ D  DD    SS 
JJ  JJ D  DD SS  SS    E-Mail: jstevens@ccs.carleton.ca        
 JJJJ  DDDD   SSSS          

"My hovercraft is full of eels"

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