I had heard the AI was overly aggressive, but this is ridiculous.

[imaloony]

First game, AI declares war on turn 40, and since your cities now have pathetic defenses he just tore down my only city with his Zerg rush and immediately soured my first impression of this game. Wonderful. Can't wait to grab a mod that fixes Firaxis' ♥♥♥♥ up.

[hopsblues]

What level were you playing? Try building slingers first.

[imaloony]

Originally posted by hopsblues:

What level were you playing? Try building slingers first.

I was playing on King initially. I'm usually not big on military, but especially this early I didn't expect the AI to rush me, and doubly especially I remember when in Civ V rushing a city this early was suicide for nearly any Civ. I didn't realize that they nerfed the city's early defenses so horribly.

[Geffalrus]

It's the lack of city shooting that makes the early game hard. Not just other civs......barbarians can show up with Archers and Horsemen and Horse-Archers while you still only have Slingers. Slingers have pathetic combat strength and get absolutely destroyed by any attack. Get Archers ASAP. Prior to that, fortify 2-3 Warriors in strategic spots around your city.

If you're really worried, and have a Quarry resource (Stone, Marble, some other Luxury, Gypsum maybe?), go for Masonry and get an early Wall. Walls make cities a lot tougher. The AI relies on Zerg attacks and I've rarely seen them competently use Siege Weaponry - one point where I fully agree with the people criticizing the AI. So walls do the trick.

In general, the higher the difficulty, the more free units the AI gets, along with +1 combat strength for each difficulty level. At Deity, a basic Warrior hits for 28 instead of 20 with +4 from Difficulty and +4 from Oligarchy they seem to get super early.

On any difficulty, the Kongo civilization is a GIGANTIC problem. If you find them anywhere near you, prepare for war. If you find them later in the game, prepare for war. Kongo spams cities like no other and then runs away with Science, Culture, everything. At every difficulty level, the player must go after Kongo with a bloodthirsty ferocity. Kill them or live to regret it.

[BladeSe7en [ICON_RESOURCE_FURS]]

Well you're major problem is only having one city on turn 40. By then you should have at least 7 or 8 cities

[NullTheory]

So... this happened to me yesterday. I killed an encampent not to notice it spawned again. Three Swordsmen A Catapult, A Horse Archer, A Warrior, Scout and an Archer attacked my capital.

[zxcvbob]

I usually don't build a scout until I can get the +5 strength against barbarians card. I scout with my warrior, not letting him get too far from home.

I usually build 2 slingers first (they can scout too a little bit) unless I'm playing as Sumeria or Aztecs; then I build a war cart or an eagle warrior. Not having an early scout or monument slows things down, but it's a lot safer.

[imaloony]

Originally posted by Geffalrus:

On any difficulty, the Kongo civilization is a GIGANTIC problem. If you find them anywhere near you, prepare for war. If you find them later in the game, prepare for war. Kongo spams cities like no other and then runs away with Science, Culture, everything. At every difficulty level, the player must go after Kongo with a bloodthirsty ferocity. Kill them or live to regret it.

Now that you mention it, it WAS Kongo who ripped me to shreds.

I guess I just have to adapt to the game a bit more, but it does seem like a bit much that the AI is targeting cities that early.

[MaGicBush]

Originally posted by BladeSe7en:

Well you're major problem is only having one city on turn 40. By then you should have at least 7 or 8 cities

Yea I am not understanding why he only has one city that far into the game lol. No wonder he got shredded, and that is even suprising to me as I have never lost to an AI before lol. They are horrible and dont even use siege stuff.

[zxcvbob]

If they attack you before you have ancient walls, they don't need siege units. And you can't build walls until you research masonry. I'm not sure, but if you bee-line masonry I don't think you'll have archers.

[BladeSe7en [ICON_RESOURCE_FURS]]

Originally posted by zxcvbob:

If they attack you before you have ancient walls, they don't need siege units. And you can't build walls until you research masonry. I'm not sure, but if you bee-line masonry I don't think you'll have archers.

When I play against the AI I build one wall for the boost but that's it. walls are not even needed for how dumb the ai is

[Geffalrus]

Originally posted by BladeSe7en:

Originally posted by zxcvbob:

If they attack you before you have ancient walls, they don't need siege units. And you can't build walls until you research masonry. I'm not sure, but if you bee-line masonry I don't think you'll have archers.

When I play against the AI I build one wall for the boost but that's it. walls are not even needed for how dumb the ai is

What settings do you play on? Honest question. On standard settings and difficulties between Prince and Deity it takes around 8-11 turns to build a settler. That's at most 4 cities by the time turn 40 rolls around. And that's only if you neglect building anything else, which is suicide on the higher difficulties. 7 or 8 cities by turn 40 is highly implausible unless your settings are very different than the default.

Not that there's anything wrong with using different settings. But if you deviate from the default, you should make that clear so that people don't get the wrong impression.

[w.f.schepel]

The early game is about conquest. Don't bother founding new cities, recruit units straight away and go on the offence. The AI will often try to settle early, so more often than not, you can kidnap a free settler or two. This early, you won't incur war mongering penalties, so this is a great time to take one or two civs out of the game for free - and get some cities in the bargain.

[Geffalrus]

Originally posted by zxcvbob:

If they attack you before you have ancient walls, they don't need siege units. And you can't build walls until you research masonry. I'm not sure, but if you bee-line masonry I don't think you'll have archers.

100% correct.

Your starting city has defense of 13, which will get shredded by a Warrior no problem. With a Warrior garrisoned inside, it goes up to 20, which can survive 1 Warrior attacking, but not 3 or more. Do note, the weak as heck Slinger only bumps the city defense up 2 points when garrisoned, leaving the city vulnerable to Warrior attacks.

Over time, the innate defense of cities will increase due to advances in technology. Until Civil Service Civic, however, there is no substitute for Walls. Walls give you offense and an extra hit point layer. The combination is invaluable. Districts also boost your defense rating, as does your palace.

[Carog the Fat]

scout, slinger, settler then 2 x slingers and 2 warriors upgrade to archers wih 3 warriors and 3 archers you can take outt an ealry civ even on diety.

[Sugam]

typicly, I build slinger first then worker. From there you should be able to clear out camps easy around you. Decided to go settler, sling or what ever from there depending on your position and play style.