Inspired by Jarvisc's recent thread, I thought I'd give you a little waffle about my current game, for anyone who likes reading such stuff. When I play Civ, I play in a style that is most fun to me - there are certainly ways to play "better" but I like the way I play - just a little disclaimer!
I'm playing as the Americans on King. It's currently 1210AD and I'm doing pretty well. I'm on a long thin island and within my first few turns, I bumped into a Roman unit coming from the north, who soon fortified outside one of my cities (I soon built a Diplomat and bribed him - I wasn't ready for war, not yet).[screenshot 1] Well, I always love the early land grab so my plan was to push out from Washington and gain some ground with cities to the north, before the Romans took that area. Then I would simultaenously settle south of Washington while picking off Roman cities. It turned out that the Romans were squeezed into the north part of the island and only had one city, Rome, so I pushed the tax rate up to maximum and started up my military machine. I figured that sacrificing few turns of science production would be worthwhile to claim this whole island for myself and longer term security. I moved some Militia and Phalanx units up around Rome and lay siege, blocking off their access to vital shields while I started producing Catapults and buying them near the end of their production, to save a few turns - I also built a road network all the way to Rome, in case the war took longer than expected. It didn't - as I was getting ready to attack, I moved a Diplomat into Rome and found they only had one Phalanx defending it. I sent my Catapults in and it was only a few turns before Rome fell [screenshot 2].
The island was mine and I turned my focus to science and lovely gold. I built a few Settlers and set about transforming my island to ensure every square that was being worked had a road on it. I also built a Trireme to explore the local waters and starting construction of a few caravans, just in case. The only thing my boat found was an island to the south-east of America [screenshot 3]. It was a small little island but as America was well settled with cities, I was yearning for some more land to build on so eventually moved a couple of military units onto the island - plus it was a little too close to America for comfort, I didn't want it used as a military base by a competitor. It turns out, I wasn't the only people interested in this tiny patch of land - the Mongols and the Greeks had some units there already, but no cities. For the next few hundred years, I pestered the island to prevent cities being built, while I got ready to settle it - which I've now done with two cities but I will be soon adding a third.
While I was pondering this little island, I was sending Sails with my Caravans out to the west. I discovered Egypt and, close by, Germany [screenshot 4]. I moved my Caravans into some of these large Egyptian cities and a large income was my reward. It looks like the Egyptians are far more powerful than the Germans. I expect a large war between Egypt and America in the future - so far, they have just landed a few units near my cities, which were blown away by my cannons. I haven't sent any military units to Egypt but when I do, I won't stop until I take it! But that's for the future.
I've also explored to the east a little and discovered Greece. I know very little about them and I will be sending many more units out there very soon. It looks like a very large land and I see little evidence of strong Greek cities!
So the Republic of America is going to become a naval nation. We have a couple of Ironclads to rule the seas and we are beginning production of Battleships. Most of the American cities are prone to attack from landing units - none are very far inland, so having naval units on guard, circling our island is a good way to ruin any surprise attacks. And Greece is in my sights - Egypt looks a little too strong and far away so I will use her for income with my Caravans - but Greece looks large and weak and I'm on my way…
I'm playing as the Americans on King. It's currently 1210AD and I'm doing pretty well. I'm on a long thin island and within my first few turns, I bumped into a Roman unit coming from the north, who soon fortified outside one of my cities (I soon built a Diplomat and bribed him - I wasn't ready for war, not yet).[screenshot 1] Well, I always love the early land grab so my plan was to push out from Washington and gain some ground with cities to the north, before the Romans took that area. Then I would simultaenously settle south of Washington while picking off Roman cities. It turned out that the Romans were squeezed into the north part of the island and only had one city, Rome, so I pushed the tax rate up to maximum and started up my military machine. I figured that sacrificing few turns of science production would be worthwhile to claim this whole island for myself and longer term security. I moved some Militia and Phalanx units up around Rome and lay siege, blocking off their access to vital shields while I started producing Catapults and buying them near the end of their production, to save a few turns - I also built a road network all the way to Rome, in case the war took longer than expected. It didn't - as I was getting ready to attack, I moved a Diplomat into Rome and found they only had one Phalanx defending it. I sent my Catapults in and it was only a few turns before Rome fell [screenshot 2].
The island was mine and I turned my focus to science and lovely gold. I built a few Settlers and set about transforming my island to ensure every square that was being worked had a road on it. I also built a Trireme to explore the local waters and starting construction of a few caravans, just in case. The only thing my boat found was an island to the south-east of America [screenshot 3]. It was a small little island but as America was well settled with cities, I was yearning for some more land to build on so eventually moved a couple of military units onto the island - plus it was a little too close to America for comfort, I didn't want it used as a military base by a competitor. It turns out, I wasn't the only people interested in this tiny patch of land - the Mongols and the Greeks had some units there already, but no cities. For the next few hundred years, I pestered the island to prevent cities being built, while I got ready to settle it - which I've now done with two cities but I will be soon adding a third.
While I was pondering this little island, I was sending Sails with my Caravans out to the west. I discovered Egypt and, close by, Germany [screenshot 4]. I moved my Caravans into some of these large Egyptian cities and a large income was my reward. It looks like the Egyptians are far more powerful than the Germans. I expect a large war between Egypt and America in the future - so far, they have just landed a few units near my cities, which were blown away by my cannons. I haven't sent any military units to Egypt but when I do, I won't stop until I take it! But that's for the future.
I've also explored to the east a little and discovered Greece. I know very little about them and I will be sending many more units out there very soon. It looks like a very large land and I see little evidence of strong Greek cities!
So the Republic of America is going to become a naval nation. We have a couple of Ironclads to rule the seas and we are beginning production of Battleships. Most of the American cities are prone to attack from landing units - none are very far inland, so having naval units on guard, circling our island is a good way to ruin any surprise attacks. And Greece is in my sights - Egypt looks a little too strong and far away so I will use her for income with my Caravans - but Greece looks large and weak and I'm on my way…