Winning at Higher Levels

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.civ3 (More info?)

At a suggestion from someone in this group I am jumping from monarch
to demigod. I got a decent starting position and got myself 11
cities. Most of the game I was about 10th out of 11 civs in both tech
and military. I am moving to the end of medieval times and I am
slowly catching up. I am still way behind but my productivity and
economy are up around 4 or 5. My workers seem to run out of stuff
early so let some join back to cities.

So now what do I do from here. I just signed and MPP with the
Ottomans who attacked my neighbor Spain on the very same turn. I am
holding them off o.k. with my long bowmen. When I try to attack a
city they already have riflemen and railroads.

So should I just sit back and forget about Spain? Do people really go
for a domination victory at this level or should I sit back and wait
for a space race? It seems even the weaker civs have massive amounts
of units. How do I make the jump from holding my own to winning? Or
have I already lost because I didn't do my conquering early?

 

[daran]

Archived from groups: alt.games.civ3 (More info?)

P12 <nowhere@all.com> wrote:

> At a suggestion from someone in this group I am jumping from monarch to
> demigod. I got a decent starting position and got myself 11 cities.

Sounds like an excellent start.

> Most of the game I was about 10th out of 11 civs in both tech and
> military. I am moving to the end of medieval times and I am slowly
> catching up. I am still way behind but my productivity and economy are up
> around 4 or 5. My workers seem to run out of stuff early so let some join
> back to cities.

I wouldn't do that, especially with railroad just around the corner. Have
you no unroaded squares within your borders? It's worth roading squares you
can't work, for the tactical advantage it gives you in battle. Also, are
there no strategic points worth fortressing?

redundant workers can also be sent wondering through non-hostile civs
territory, getting in the way and generally causing mischief, so long as
they do no damage.

> So now what do I do from here. I just signed and MPP with the Ottomans
> who attacked my neighbor Spain on the very same turn...

I wouldn't have done that, not even if I was going to war the same turn. At
this level, you really need to be the master of your own fate. Alliances
may be more expensive, but they are less dangerous.

> ...I am holding them off o.k. with my long bowmen. When I try to attack a
> city they already have riflemen and railroads.

Use knights rather than longbowmen, they are nearly twice as expensive, but
they get there faster, don't need an escort, and usually retreat and survive
when they lose.

Knights can beat riflemen if you have enough of them. Cavalry are of
course, much better.

> So should I just sit back and forget about Spain? Do people really go for
> a domination victory at this level or should I sit back and wait for a
> space race?...

Sure, but it's a long haul.

> ...It seems even the weaker civs have massive amounts of units...

That only matters if you're at war with them.

> ...How do I make the jump from holding my own to winning? Or have I
> already lost because I didn't do my conquering early?

You may already have lost because of that MPP. What happens if Spain allies
with someone against you. Or against the Ottomans? You'll get dragged into
that too.

I don't know how other people win at this level, but I do it by building my
economy to the level of a superpower. To do this, I set my science to the
lowest possible 10% or one scientist to get a nearly free tech every 50
turns. I use the money generated to rushbuild improvements. I'll even take
out loans. 150 gold in exchange for 10/turn can be good value if you can
buy a market place with it. The cost of the loan is 50, but the marketplace
will pay that over the 20 turn term of the loan. Also I conjecture that
loans reduce world liquidity, which limits the ability of the other civs to
trade amongst themselves.

Only when a city has nothing else to build, do I set it building military
units. When you have a significant number of cities doing this, and no
worthwhile tech about to be discovered, then you have a choice. Either buy
techs to give you new improvements to build (paying by the turn, naturally),
or prepare for a war, (with the intention of extorting tech at the end of
it). Your target should ideally be too poor to buy mpps/alliances against
you, (and you should ally against him with the neighbours which most
threaten *you*, just in case). If you can survive his initial onslaught
without significant loss, then you should be able to make progress once his
forces are exhausted. If you are just barely hanging on, then you are
losing. The non-engaged civs will be racing away while you tread water.

The only time I will depart from the strategy of building military units
last, is if there is a ripe situation on my border - a weak and heavily
engaged civ unable to effectively defend a distant (from him) outpost, or
the victim of a feeding frenzy that you want a piece of.

--
Daran

The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that
English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow words;
on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them
unconscious and riffle their pockets for new vocabulary. -- James D. Nicoll