They'll be damaged enough that you can pick them off with your melee units at your leisure. Do nothing until their army marches out to your territory - and then bombard them with your catapults.
When you've amassed your army, place a catapult in each of your border cities, with melee units in the hexes that face your enemy. You'll also want at least 3 or 4 of the strongest melee units you have available, and hopefully the Great General from the Honor policy tree. You may need to shift your capital to military production, or perhaps found your 4th or 5th city in a production-heavy area.įocus your technology to research Catapults, and then build at least 2 or 3, but depending on how wide your shared borders are, you may require more. Your production city should have buildings that boost initial unit experience. If you've got close neighbors, try to land grab between you to secure contested resources, and begin preparations for war. WAR! uh! What is it good for? Expanding your borders! Mid-Game StrategyĪt this point, it's time to stop and consider what the state of the game is. You can continue growing by founding new cities, so long as you keep an eye on your treasury, military, and happiness. Ideally, by your third or fourth city, you've researched enough in order to be able to detect iron, and you should prioritize building a city near an iron deposit. Focus this city on economic and scientific output.īeyond this point, my general strategy tends to diverge depending on what the state of the game is. This time, look for plains, grassland, and special resources. Your second city should focus almost exclusively on production, so if your military strength is good for your technology level and known nearby enemies, you may want to consider building a wonder or two.Īfter you get to at least about 3-5 population in both cities, found a third city. When your military is weak, or new technology makes better units available, start cranking out units until you have around 2 per border city, and then build at least 2-4 ranged or artillery units per border with another civ. Focus on building mines and production/military enhancing buildings. Build it in a hilly or forested region, but try also to incorporate nearby tiles that contain special resources. Your second city should be built when your first city is at around population 3 - 5. If there's not a lot of land, and you've got no close neighbors, focus on Tradition. If you've got lots of land, focus on Liberty cultural policies. If you've got close neighbors, war is likely in your future, so you may need to adopt the Honor cultural policies. Scout with your initial unit, and try to find ruins, as well as determine how much land and what kinds of resources you have available. Generally I focus on trying to get the relevant technologies to determine where Iron is located, because it's an important early-to-mid game strategic resource. Then start to prioritize culture and science here.
Your starting location will probably have quite a bit of food, which will make it a good location to focus on population growth by building farms and other population increasing structures. That's why I am looking for a strategy that is clearly focused on a specific goal and shows which areas I should invest in to utilize this strategy. This leaves me much weaker than I could be with proper planing. I end up clicking the options that are the most shiny, although they have no synergies with my other actions so far.
The longer the game runs the more I realize that I have no idea how to focus on X and what areas I should ignore because they are not important. I choose a race in the beginning and say to myself - hey, I have a bonus in the area X, I should focus on X. If a certain setup (number of opponents, maps size, race, etc.) has proven to be especially beginners friendly, please mention that setup as well.Įdit: To clarify the question a little more I will describe my current play style. If it can win the game on "Prince" difficulty level I am already satisfied. The strategy must not be fine grained enough so that it could beat the game at highest difficulty. Even if it works, I guess it will not teach me anything really and misses the goal of this question. What is a solid strategy I can use against the AI that does not only help me to win the game but also teaches the mechanics a little? By that definition I want to avoid a strategy that says boost X to a ridiculous amount and you can overrun a single opponent before middle ages kick in. I am pretty new to Civilization 5, played no more than maybe 4 or 5 games.