Rhye's and Fall of Civilization - American strategy
From Rhye's Mods Wiki
Return to Strategy Guides [1]
Contents |
Guide to America -- on Monarch
by Thadian
America has many priorities. The first thing to consider is your starting year. As of 1.184 (BTS) the 3000 BC start is actually better than the 600 AD start. first, lets look at the differences you face.
3000 BC
Civ's have a lower tech level. collapsed civ's less likely to reappear (except babylon). most civ's have their diplomacy decided. VERY slow loading times.
600 AD
Civ's actually have a higher tech level, causing you to start out WAY behind the other civ's. Collapsed civ's are more likely to appear such as Egypt and Carthage. Most civ's are still open to extra friends/enemies through diplomatic manipulation. Faster loading times. Normally the wonder's you want will be completed within 5-10 turns of your spawn meaning that you can usually fail your UHV.
Because of these differences, i prefer to make a few different 3000 BC starts and use them to prevent the hour wait. This normally puts me on par tech-wise and gives me a good chance to build my wonders. However there are a few more loose elements to cover. If you start at war with england/france/spain this is good. usually these civ's don't want to stay at war and you can get extra units. Aztec should be a french or spanish vassal but they have gone to the dutch before. you should have an easy time finding friends, and don't forget to change civic's on turn 1! Like babylon you have a short time to live - before the time expires.
Chapter 1: The Beginning
Turn 1: Washington. In the 3000 BC starts it should always be founded along with New York and a city in Louisiana. if not no sweat. If you start with washington, leave some tokens there to fight the brits, moving the rest to Kansas City and Detroit. this should flip most foreign cities. only a token rifleman or so should remain in washington and upgrade any inferior units that change sides. If you indeed are alone for some reason, found washington and new york. do NOT convert to a religion. this will make you automatic friends and enemies and you may wish to observe the diplomacy before this decision is made.
The best things to build first? You may realize your in a cluster situation with so much to do. Get those libraries and markets up ASAP. work an engineer in EVERY city to help rush the statue of liberty/pentagon wonders. this is a great civ to get the Three Gorges Dam. troops are important, but by upgrading the inferiors you can usually avoid the need to build them for a while.
Detroit is your prod city, KC is your GP farm. New York is also a GP farm/naval producer. Washington is a production/science city. Louisiana is imperative to take over as fast as you can. by force if it doesn't flip. However you might instead use Chicago as a prod city instead of detroit.
Now, city placement in the great plains is a very touchy situation. If you place Santa Fe, it is a good city to culture-pressure a french orleans. Santa Fe means no Kansas City. Lets look closer at each one. Santa Fe pressures Orleans, and gives you plenty of food for a GP/commerce city. the rivers also allow watermills for a production city. this is one of the most flexible cities in the game. however, Kansas City means GP farm with so many food resources. It also means you can settle texas and along the Rocky Mountains working most of those tiles without a city in there. If the french have a stronghold on Orleans - Santa Fe is your city. If not, then Kansas is your better option by far.
Chicago is a strong bid, but there is an iron tile that detroit can work that chi-town can't. If the british have canadian cities for you - chicago/york factory is good. factory has little to offer however, and you might just raze it and go with detroit. Halifax is also a decent city. Personally, I just raze the rest.
Make sure to fog-bust, you only need 2 rifleman in a stack to resist any number of barbs who come through. a calvary for its mobility is helpful. 2 calvary is better. with these 4 units, you can respond anywhere the natives come. the calvary belong in between detroit and lousiana - the rifleman on the edges of the great plains.
Chapter 2: The Monroe Doctrine
The quest to drive out euro's begins as soon as all your cities flip. Spain/England/France should all be at war with you. it is better to either befriend one of them or get them all angry with demands, its better for YOU if they declare right away opposed to waiting 12 turns. If spain declares the chance of naval blockade goes from nil to almost guarenteed. Izzy will make little else but boats with a goal of blockading you which is bad. 2 of the 3 you can handle, but all 3 is tough. If your forced into a 3-way war, make it happen immediately so you can try to flip some boats to take to their shore and blockade them. Orleans should fall to culture pressure or a conference. If not then war france. if you let them settle in the great plains, they can end your ambitions rather fast.
Now you must engage the Manifest Destiny! You must rule the whole continent. If you pay attention to the coast along the rockie's you can border cities along the northern mountain edges, california, and texas. with 2 cities in the west coast, one in texas and one at the NE mountains, i can get all those resources worked with minimal 4 cities. building a city in the rockies is a bad bet, because they will never grow past 2-3 city size. If france is still on your coast or Aztec is a vassal of a powerful civ - you might have to use the Oregon Trail to approach the west coast from the north. Otherwise, you can go through the south permitted a lack of france and aztec.
Chapter 3: Endgame
Once you settle the west coast the game really wins itself. Japan might invade you as your hardest test. There are only a few things that can really go wrong. If japan looks to be in good tech-shape you need panama to connect your navies. you can collapse them with blockades. you can even put them outside their border to do so without war. this doesnt always collapse them but it usually stops "oda's ambition". England can be killed in the same way. this leaves only Germany - if they conquer enough of europe (and they usually do unless they collapse). Germany and russia can usually be directed into war and turkey is usually willing to help with germany. Arabia might need checked as well. Any of these moves can be done with moving in your navy, sacking/razing border cities in their homeland area's and they should collapse. your units will probably be killed but any battles they win is less stability for the AI.
you will want a city in Arabia, alaska and possibly south america for your oil resources. Keeping them may be hard to do. If you can get a Great Artist, a culture-bomb in the mid-east sounds appealing.
So, what can go wrong as america? Mostly losing your wonders to Germany, Japan or France. this shouldnt happen in the 3000 BC start. you can even play a euro-civ and "feed" yourself a few cities ahead of time and maybe perpetuate europe/turkey into wars that collapse powers. Germany usually collapses if they conquer greece/rome/netherlands. Turkey collapses if they take India. Arabia collapses if they take too much persia/turkey.
Because of america's unique position, we can fight almost the whole world without really leaving home. if we want a domination/conquest we will need a committed naval invasion.
Conquest / Domination
If you can get any euro-civ (france, spain are the best canidates or Rome if they are still alive for some reason) or China/Khmer/India as a vassal, you can airlift units into their cities for 3-4 turns while your navy creeps over there. do not underestimate air support. with some good pre-drops before the war, you can dominate the whole world by making units at home and flying them wherever they are needed.
By playing correctly you should almost never lose as america unless one of these catastrophes hits you. even if it happens you can usually pull out from it.
Thoughts on America (Viceroy mode for UHV)
by Pacifist
Beginning moves
Every game is going to be different for the Americans when the start, depending on which cities have been build by the English, Spanish, French and sometimes Dutch. Of course you can cheat by playing another civ first and giving all your NAm cities to the American when they spawn, but I chose to use the 600AD unlocked map. Check the 5 largest city screen when you start: if the Statue of Liberty is built, you might as well start all over again. Most likely you'll have just enough space to build Washington. The whole eastern seaboard (the original 13 colonies' territory) will flip to you by the 3rd turn, so switch your ALL your civics from the beginning. England usually builds 2 cities (New York, Boston), and Spain Saint Augustine in the Floridas. France usually has Quebec and New Orleans. The key is to have England declare war on you (if they don't reload) as you get about 10 troops when they do. Capture everything in sight (including the Caribbean city that Spain or England might have built. Do not let your galleons go out unprotected by your frigate as England will most definite try to sink them. Send your 4 settlers westward (and maybe to Canada too if the French didn't build too many cities up there) and found Chicago, Denver, San Francisco and Vancouver.
Civics
There are valid arguments for several combinations. I chose bureaucracy, representation, organized religion and castes. The first two are clearly the best choices. Organized religion is probably most useful because Christianity usually has not been widespread in the Americas so before scientific method is researched, all the cities should try to get a missionary from Washington. Infrastructure also needs to be built, hence organized religion. Caste structure is nice to rev up the great engineer which will be essential to jump start the Statue of Liberty. As soon as I get free religion and libraries are built I switch as every little bit of science helps.
Science
Democracy is necessary at once (either as a trade or as your first research item)...otherwise the Statue will not be possible. The rest is really up to you (I emphasized military techs to catch up with the rest of the world). Scientific method should probably be delayed until more than half of your cities have been converted to Christianity (for the hammers with Christian buildings and happiness). Pentagon also needs to be built ASAP (the UN tends not to be built by the computer until late) both for the military advantage and your UHV. Flight is very useful (see below) for transporting troops to Arabia. Of course you need plastics for the oceanic oil rigs.
Politics
The Aztecs are usually either French or Spanish vassals. It's usually impossible to get them as your vassals unless they need protection in a long war and they've renounced their former masters. Declaring war on them is not so good as they are natives and you do not really want to expand your empire too much (otherwise the Arabian adventure later will pose problems for expansion-related instability). England should be your friend after you capture their cities. France may also be your friend depending on whether you have to declare war on them or not (in my game New Orleans was captured by dog soldiers so I did not have to declare war on France). Techwise, France is usually in the lead, which is one more reason to have you on their good side. Spain is a tough bitch. They will usually cede Saint Augustine to you peacefully, which means you have to declare war on them for the Caribbeans. Once you get free religion, the non-Christian countries should be pleased with you. Early trading techs with other countries is essential to catch up; find Mali with your frigate ASAP.
The problem of the oil
There's 3 oil in NAm, 1 in the Caribbean, 1 in Alaska (send a settler to found a city SE of the oil), 1 in Columbia, 1 in eastern Brazil, 1 in Borneo (the latter 2 you need to send a worker with you so that the jungle can be cleared). The Russian oil is impossible to capture but you may have to trade an arm and a leg for it. Therefore Arabia/Turkey needs to be invaded. Start building your military in earnest by 1875-1900 (especially after you get your unique land unit, Navy SEALs). Have at least 5 transports full of soldiers before even contemplating war. I find it useful to capture the native African cities of Mombasa and Zimbabwe so that I can fly in troops instead of ferrying them all the way across the Atlantic. Fighters on carriers and attack submarines when you get them in the 1940-50's help with bombardment. Usually the Arabians are about to collapse at this time, so attack Mekkah first. Al Dammam is usually built on an oil so that would be the second city to go for. Once they collapse, it's usually home free to get the oil in the Persian Gulf, just make sure your culture envelops them first (buying theaters).
Final comments
Viceroy is really easy (I could have won in 1900 but built more wonders and cities than necessary, and won in 1940). Monarch is really tough to get the oil in time...but it's probably doable eventually.
Thoughts on America (Monarch mode for UHV)
by Pacifist, Corm and Tweakee
You're going to need luck (and lots of it). Don't even bother playing the 600 AD start; the AI has too many advantages and you will not build either the Pentagon or the UN in time. Better start from the 3000 BC start (more plagues and more civs for the AI to worry about).
Starting position
Before anything else, when you start, buy a map from a friendly civ and see if your game is possible (if not might as well restart). The perfect storm would need the following elements: 1. France is dead and Netherlands has expanded all the way to Bordeaux. If France is still alive, they need to own New Orleans and if you bring your frigate over to French territory in Europe, they seem more apt to declare war on you (double the minutemen) 2. England builds only 3-4 cities of which 2 will flip to you, and is behind the continental powers in tech. It NEEDS to declare war on you. 3. Spain builds St. Augustine and maybe New Orleans but doesn't build anything else on the West Coast. If Isabella declares war on you so much the better. 4. Aztec or Maya survive the conquerors and aren't vassalized by a European civ. If they do collapse, they need to be reborn and vassalized under a non European civ (e.g. Turkey, Arabia) 5. Maya reborn is good too so that their cities can't be demanded. If you have lots of native cities in Mexico, better start conquering them. 6. Germany, Turkey and Russia at each other's throats and don't have time to build wonders.
Spain is usually behind in tech which helps, but theocracy makes their units doubly hard to kill. Netherlands usually goes for the cultural wonders (instead of the Statue and Pentagon). In the 600 AD start, whoever gets Rome (be it France or Germany) will most definitely get to Assembly Line in the 1750's and build the Pentagon soon thereafter, making it impossible for you to win.
Phase 1: conquer the eastern seaboard, Canada and Louisiana and build the Statue of Liberty
The following are all geared towards getting the Statue of Liberty in time. Other methods may work, but I found that any other choice makes it impossible.
- Found Washington, convert it to Christianity but don't make it state religion until the 3rd move (after you recover from anarchy).
- Switch to Representation, Pacifism, Mercantilism, Bureaucracy. (this combination will maximize your chances of getting a great engineer in time. Initially when you do not have a lot of cities, it's best to use mercantilism for the free engineer, and pacifism will double your rate of great engineer birth rate. Representation will give you more science. Bureaucracy is obvious because all 3 of your wonders will need to be built in Washington)
- If there's a civ willing to trade for democracy, buy it by whatever means. If not, democracy needs to be your first tech to research. Trade for Scientific Method from somebody (I got it from Turkey before my Christianity state religion)
- Washington builds library, observatory, university (to maximize science)
- When you get your workers, concentrate on improving around Washington (2 mines on the hills which will eventually have coal; lumbermills; stone quarry and iron mines). Because the Statue of Liberty requires a lot of hammers, your great Engineer will only provide a little more than half of what's required, and so Washington needs all the production it can get.
- Move all (I mean ALL) your units NW. Eventually you need to take Fort Albany (and maybe York Factory) ASAP and this is the quickest route. Your settlers need to fan out towards west and found Chicago, Denver, Grand Rapids; protect them with veterans of your war against England.
- For your ships, send your frigate towards Europe to make contact. If you see Germany, Portugal or Netherlands, you can experiment a little; I found that if I sign defensive pacts with them it lessens the chance of France, Spain or England declaring war on you, and you NEED them to declare to get the minutemen (for each civ you get 3 musketmen, 3 pikemen, 3 cannons)
- On the 3rd turn the cities will flip. When you get your minutemen, upgrade them all to riflemen and grenadiers. Most civs will not have military science and therefore your grenadiers have an advantage. Send them towards French Quebec and New Orleans and maybe Wonderstrand (a tiny Viking city way north in Canada).
- Make sure your New York or Boston has enough culture to envelop the copper. When you conquer Fort Albany, the 5-6 turns of resistance sometimes makes it impossible to get the copper mine and you need that to hasten the Statue.
With this method you should be able to build the Statue of Liberty around 1780's to 1800's. It took me 4 tries before I built it (the 3 other times the AI beat me by 1-2 turns).
Phase 2: Conquer the rest of North America and build the Pentagon and UN
With the exception of the "peaceful" civs like France, Netherlands and maybe England, the UN will usually be built later than the Pentagon, which is also crucial to improve your military to conquer NAm in time.
- Techs to be researched: steam power and physics (trade for these 2 if necessary), assembly line, electricity, mass media. You may want to include corporation (and switch to free market AND free religion) to stabilize your bleeding economy first. After mass media concentrate on the military techs (industrialism, steel, artillery and railroad)
- Once you get Assembly Line, you can build the Pentagon (1 great engineer will suffice; you should have saved up one from your mercantilistic days). Again 1 great engineer will build the UN but the trick is to get to mass media in time.
- If you find that somebody has mass media (like France), you need to declare war on their soil so that they won't build the UN (I found out 20 years too late after I built the Pentagon, and had to start back in 1830). Eventually this civ may collapse if you destabilize it enough.
- Build lots and lots of infantry (and Navy SEALs when you get industrialism) and start conquering the Spanish island cities and any Mexican European colonies by 1900. Sometimes you'll get lucky and get an independent city via a conference, but don't count on them (since you're going to piss a lot of civs off)
- Hopefully the West Coast isn't colonized by anybody. Send 2 settlers and build Seattle and San Francisco.
Phase 3: Getting the oil
You should have an easy time after your Golden Age in 1902. As detailed in the Viceroy guide, there's 5 oil already in your territory. The Brazilian and Borneo oil is usually not occupied since there's jungle. So the trick is to get Biology and use a worker to cut the jungle and then settle. Arabia, if they've respawned, will be very weak and usually a vassal of Turkey. They will usually not have Assembly Line (although in my game they developed destroyers and infantry right near the end). You need to amass Navy SEALs, tanks, artillery and fighters/bombers in around 1930-40's; protect your transports with destroyers and battleships. Once the 3 oil in Al Dammam and the Persian Gulf are in your territory (you may need to destroy Persepolis and Baghdad's cultural influence first) you win.
Emperor UHV Strategy BTS, 1.181
by kbk
General Notes
Playing on Emperor is going to be a lot like monarch, except your margin for error is going to be a lot less. Generally speaking, you should follow the strategy for monarch. There is also a good chance that the Statue of liberty will be already built, or built very soon after your start. Keep an eye out for this, and just be patient with the auto-played turns.
Starting Situation
You will want to see a very competitive Europe. The best situation will involve all European powers being still alive, or France being dead. France loves to build the Statue of liberty. Getting a declaration of war is probably necessary from city flips, and if you can get 2 declarations of war, even better. Ideally Aztecs will be alive, in my Game Japan had occupied them, which is just as good. They don't count as Europeans.
Getting the Statue
Check to see if anyone already has Democracy. It is very likely that someone does, and you will be able to offer Nationalism plus gold for it. Make sure you trade before your cities flip, or you may make too many enemies and not get it. As soon as you get it, start building it in Washington, and make sure you set yourself up to get an Engineer very soon. You will need to rush the Statue with an Engineer and lumber chops.
Technology and Wonders
This is where you are behind the 8-ball. Adopt representation and free religion immediately. You can switch to Universal Suffrage later, but for now you will need the +10% research advantage. Prioritize libraries, universities, observatories and other science buildings ahead of everything else. You need to get the techs for the Pentagon and the UN ASAP. I also recommend keeping an engineer handy to rush build either wonder, and you may need one to light-bulb assembly line too. If you settle Denver on the oil, you should be able to produce 300+ hammers a turn to build the Pentagon and UN. You will likely want 2 golden ages from great people to get the techs you need in time. You should have lots of Engineers and Scientists, so make sure you produce a merchant or artist for a second golden age. I managed the Pentagon in 1876 and the UN in 1920.
Conquests and Settlers
Be patient. While in monarch it is advised to immediately take the Eastern Seaboard, in Emperor, its not necessarily possible. Just make sure you get the copper in Canada and take Louisiana to open up the road west. If you are low on troops, the rest of Canada can wait. This means you will need a second war to clean out N. America and the Caribbean starting around 1870. Make sure you know exactly what you have to take, and play your politics accordingly. The trick is to pace yourself. It is possible to overwhelm 3 or so Infantry by mass producing cavalry and cannons with your powerhouse American production. Make sure you settle the west coast, because Spain and England like to put cities there. Put a city in Alaska for the oil. A city in the Canadian tundra can mass produce great people with a national park. In 1902, liberate your Caribbean cities and any weak Canadian cities to keep your tech rate competitive.
Oil
The Oil is the easy part. Simply follow the monarch guide. By 1900 you will be competitive in technology, and you can probably get the internet built too. Just take your time, you have plenty. Also, watch your stability, don't forget to switch to occupation before you invade the middle east.
Return to Strategy Guides [2]
