How to manage the Age Of Plague (when Neighboring Countries trigger it)

[jcp011c2]

Having massive problems with this age. This is the third out of fourth game that it's come up. The first time was on me. I wasn't savvy enough about sanitation, so I learned that one the hard way. The other two times it's been another country triggering it.

How do you prevent it from happening when another country triggers it? Can you even prevent it, or even manage it? the first game where an opponent triggered it (which I'd lost), I'd already gone the route of the National Spirit with Burial Mounds. Put those down, have put down middens Sent my plague doctor to cleanse areas, and also used my production points to cleanse improvements. I got pop ups about being a "dirty and living like animals" country, to paraphrase. Eventually my regions rebelled, even with city guards, and my capital region kept bleeding population.

This game, I thought I was doing better, until it slipped into the same problems (thanks neighbor o-O). Actually this Lots of middens in this one, though admittedly only after the plague trigger counter rose above 10 out of 20. Once again, also was building aqueducts. I was fending it off for a little bit my but third region rebelled due to poor living conditions. Been cleaning up improvements and having my plague doctor work overtime, but I see this game going down the same route as above.

What's anyone's advice on how to counter this? I don't mind a challenge, and "learning through losing" but I'm at a loss and feel stuck with this age.

[The Konrad]

I have some very very naughty options for you that work 100% of the time:

Kill all your neighbours quickly. (You need to kill 6 units that are not barbarian types - potential militia of independets count and they need to die, not rout)

You can conquer the AI before he does anything stupid OR you could simply trigger the Age of Blood that way, which automatically has to lead into the Age of Kings , even if any of you fail your sanitation requirements.

[Exemplar]

I had my first plague age last night (just didn't happen my first 3 plays), and I didn't find it too bad. I had 2 regions and expanded 2 more during the plague age. I found it taxing on empire but not terribly. This is still adept difficulty.

I'd already killed my nearest neighbor. Neighbor AI went raiders but I'd gone spartans and with 2 armies of leader, spartans, archers and a 3rd army of spears/archers it wasn't tough even with his wooden wall. So my experience may be atypical. I have no clue if having a "close neighbor" would have made it worse.

I had 1 plague doctor but only 2 exploration pts per turn so i saved his uses for times i could catch 2 plague tiles at a time, and i would let single ones go awhile til they spawned another adjacent or graduated from initial. when they graduated from initial i used improvement pts, and i had a decent pool already for 2 cranes and a couple clay pits/kilns.

so it was arduous, and it was long (i didn't have great knowledge yet, but did get a couple libraries built), each tech took over 12 turns and the advance out of the age was over 20. i would call it a slog but not terribly unpleasant and i was able to gain some traction toward the end incorporating the former opponent capital and another region.

i wouldn't cause it on purpose unless i was wayyy behind so early, maybe when i try harder difficulties, because the initial hit to population would hurt size 12+ cities worse, where i had only a 10 and 8 to start, so i didn't lose "that much". and i can see why people don't like it, especially if they don't have yet a pool of exploration/improvement pts yet, but i didn't find it as awful as people described.

[Not Brian]

I had 4 integrated regions to manage when France decided to enact the Age of Plague.
Not that bad juggling plagued improvements honestly, just get claypits and brickworks and cleanse the areas with improvement points, I had 20 to eventually 32 points generated each turn.
Upgrading the techs that reduce the rate of plague spawning is very helpful.
I never needed the plague doctor. Just rush out of the age and you're all set.

[jcp011c2]

Thanks all! I finally had a game where I progressed past the AoP!! I mean, granted a few of the games I haven't "lost" yet, just abandoned for now. Definitely a hurdle of an age to get through.

[Isidorn]

For some reason the AI seems to love the age of plague and jump at it as fast as they can. You would think that if they lock themselves into it, they would find it advantageous to let someone else make the next era first.
Granted, I don't have a very big sample size, but unless I'm the one advancing the age, the AI has so far always gone Age of plague in my games.
While it's annoying, it is luckily not that bad to handle. Just make sure you have the resources needed to cleanse the outbreaks.

[parent child bowl]

You just have to push through. The Age of Plague isn't as big of a deal as people make it sound like. It's just the first crisis age that feels like one.

While you're in it just take the achievement with you if you already have the two prior achievements.

[The Former]

Originally posted by The Konrad:

I have some very very naughty :whip: options for you that work 100% of the time:

:CrossedBlades: Kill all your neighbours quickly. (You need to kill 6 units that are not barbarian types - potential militia of independets count and they need to die, not rout)

You can conquer the AI before he does anything stupid OR you could simply trigger the Age of Blood :lindisfarne: that way, which automatically has to lead into the Age of Kings :globus:, even if any of you fail your sanitation requirements.

This man's post style makes this whole forum worthwhile.

[archonsod]

Originally posted by jcp011c2:

How do you prevent it from happening when another country triggers it?

You can't. Once a player is locked in to a crisis age then it will occur if they're the first into the next age. So you can guarantee avoiding it if you can a) avoid locking yourself into it and b) beat everyone else to the next age. Otherwise you just need to hope whichever player is first into Age 4 isn't locked to Age of Plague.

What's anyone's advice on how to counter this? I don't mind a challenge, and "learning through losing" but I'm at a loss and feel stuck with this age.

Stop wasting time trying to fight it. Plague outbreaks are triggered according to the population of the region, not the sanitation. Once you've entered Age 4 sanitation is treated no differently to food or housing - you want to keep it 100% satisfied to ensure the city keeps growing and minimise unrest, but beyond that you won't get any benefit from building extra middens.
Instead focus on cleaning plague outbreaks where they occur. Note that improvements which are hit by a plague outbreak get a penalty to their production depending on the severity of the outbreak - this might be why you're falling into rebellion as if you're not paying attention the reduced production will result in city needs not being satisfied, and unrest and chaos growing as a result. Keep an eye on the satisfaction levels of your regions, prioritise cleaning plague on improvements where it's necessary to prevent a need going unsatisfied, and where necessary juggle your workers to ensure your meeting the needs of the population. Keep an eye on your chaos accumulation too; gaining some is pretty much unavoidable at this point but you can still use the propaganda culture power to reduce it (and even send it negative).
Generally if you want to get through it as quickly and with as little damage as possible the best thing to do is prioritise grabbing the cheapest techs and hitting the next age as soon as possible. You can always come back to research the techs you've missed, at which point they'll be cheaper and you won't need to contend with constant plague outbreaks. The techs themselves aren't bad either - better towers, better city guards (both stat wise and unrest reduction. They're ranged to boot so will generally attack first in combat) plus a slightly better farm.

[Sound Zero]

Originally posted by Isidorn:

For some reason the AI seems to love the age of plague and jump at it as fast as they can. You would think that if they lock themselves into it, they would find it advantageous to let someone else make the next era first.
Granted, I don't have a very big sample size, but unless I'm the one advancing the age, the AI has so far always gone Age of plague in my games.
While it's annoying, it is luckily not that bad to handle. Just make sure you have the resources needed to cleanse the outbreaks.

You know the AI isn't human and doesn't actually think or plan, right?