Am I moronic? This game is so fricking hard
>200 hours in
>can mostly beat Monarch (normal)
>in Emperor, someone eventually demands money, I say no, everyone gangpiles me
>die before reaching medieval
>meanwhile do fine at Immortal on Civ V so I can't be that bad
get deathstacked, kid
Even though I know to settle as much as possible ASAP I still can't match the AI
civ 2 was good. civ 4 was great. civ 3 was SHIIIIIIIIT.
Why?
What I like about Civ III is
>challenging
>cultural victory is much simpler (accrue a certain amount and you win)
>diplomatic victory isn't just a gold victory
>no city-states
Civ 3 is the best balance. Which is to say it's actually moderately hard because the ai is mean as hell
civ 5 babby homosexual here with around 500 hours sunk, what civ is worth going back to play? are they more expansive and in depth or less so? I enjoy micromanaging and autism in civ5 especially early and mid game and mostly dread the late game
Civ 4 for the gorillion versions of Fall From Heaven 2.
Civ IV is a great game. Vanilla is great although a bit jankier than Civ V. You need to know/abuse weird mechanics like slavery but it's a lot of fun once you understand it. Games can end a lot faster than Civ 5 because if you get a superior death stack you can annihilate opponents in short order. In Civ 5 you have to grind through a carpet of bullshit. There are also some absolutely great mods for Civ 4. I have only played Fall From Heaven 2 and Realism Invictus but they are fantastic.
I've never really did much research but my go to has ALWAYS been to research literature and build the Great Library. It makes all enemy (other nations) research yours if two or more countries have the same discoveries. You better believe that overnight progress in technology pisses everyone off, so I build my armies non-stop in neighboring towns. Even dozens of barbarians will send the message that other countries should back off. It's when they call your bluff that you get ran over.
>Give me horse riding or I will declare war
>France, Germany, Aztecs, and England have signed a pact against you
>in Emperor, someone eventually demands money, I say no, everyone gangpiles me
Yeah. Gotta trade those techs early on and prepare to go to war after 10 turns.
I do trade techs, I usually rush Philosophy and get a lot of good trades from that.
How do I figure out the balance of building up my military early-game but also expanding? It feels like given how fast the AI spreads I can't even afford to build spearmen before settlers
>How do I figure out the balance of building up my military early-game but also expanding?
I usually have 1 city dedicated to archers as soon as I have 3 cities. The other two produce settlers/workers and spearmen. I rarely try to exterminate rivals until I get Knights; I just stick to stealing border cities. That's usually a good balance to get me through the early game on Demigod with smaller maps. I don't really frick around with Deity or Sid difficulty.
Combat still feels so stacked against me; I feel like I have to stack a minimum 10 archers to ensure being able to take a single-spearman city
You can't turtle very much in this one. The AI sense weakness and with gangbang you the moment you make a misstep.
>in Emperor, someone eventually demands money, I say no, everyone gangpiles me
Just give them the money if you're not ready for war. It counts as a gift and will make it less likely for the AI to agree to attack you later on.
>meanwhile do fine at Immortal on Civ V so I can't be that bad
Pfffffft
You probably aren’t expanding fast enough because you’re used to a game where you can sit in place with a tiny army and win. If you’re weak and small everyone will bully you. Get big fast.
>meanwhile do fine at Immortal on Civ V so I can't be that bad
Kek
If you're only used to Civ V and VI then you should assume your ideal difficulty in older games is at least 6 levels lower than the newer ones.
>6 levels
Holy shit
I am expanding, I know "tall" is not a concept in the old games. But it's hard to balance bulding military with settlers early game
They removed The Cure for Cancer as a wonder after this game