Hi everyone. First post on these forums. I'm pretty new to the game (been playing for about 2-3 weeks total and gradually moving up in difficulty). I can reliably win games up to monarch on varying maps.
But now I've hit a brick wall in emperor difficulty. Compared to monarch it feels like the AI techs so much faster and its harder to play the diplomacy game.
I usually play
- Either fractal or pangea maps
- Standard size with an additional opponent
- No vassals, events or espionage (don't know if its generally frowned upon...)
I play random civs to get a better understanding of the game but I tend to favour creative, expansive or spiritual leaders. I reroll if i get a civ that I played recently or one with protective traits (uugh...).
If the opportunity arises I like to rush my closest neighbour with horse archers or good unique units for an additional capital site and then expand a couple more times, eventually aiming for 8-10 cities by 1AD, at which point I like to tech catapults/elephants/macemen et.c. and possibly wipe out another civilization.
Previously, I would be able to manage a positive economy and maintain a tech lead over my opponents but lately I've been struggling to do so.
After my expansion phase it feels like my economy just collapses and I'm relying on looting cities to get any kind of money for research. I'm stuck on medieval units while my opponents are teching gunpowder/rifling units et.c.
I try to bee-line alphabet->currency->code of laws for the additional trade routes and court houses to alleviate maintainence but it keeps bogging me down. Am I supposed to build wealth from my production cities in some kind of transition phase?
Some help would be much needed :)
But now I've hit a brick wall in emperor difficulty. Compared to monarch it feels like the AI techs so much faster and its harder to play the diplomacy game.
I usually play
- Either fractal or pangea maps
- Standard size with an additional opponent
- No vassals, events or espionage (don't know if its generally frowned upon...)
I play random civs to get a better understanding of the game but I tend to favour creative, expansive or spiritual leaders. I reroll if i get a civ that I played recently or one with protective traits (uugh...).
If the opportunity arises I like to rush my closest neighbour with horse archers or good unique units for an additional capital site and then expand a couple more times, eventually aiming for 8-10 cities by 1AD, at which point I like to tech catapults/elephants/macemen et.c. and possibly wipe out another civilization.
Previously, I would be able to manage a positive economy and maintain a tech lead over my opponents but lately I've been struggling to do so.
After my expansion phase it feels like my economy just collapses and I'm relying on looting cities to get any kind of money for research. I'm stuck on medieval units while my opponents are teching gunpowder/rifling units et.c.
I try to bee-line alphabet->currency->code of laws for the additional trade routes and court houses to alleviate maintainence but it keeps bogging me down. Am I supposed to build wealth from my production cities in some kind of transition phase?
Some help would be much needed :)