Ai forward settling me ?

[Crixus]

Every damn game I play the ai always gets cities next to me in the best places and leaves me with no room and then I have to either restart or spend so many turns trying to cap the city that I'm too far behined to do anything.

Even going liberty and rushing the settler most of the time they still beat me too it. And if I try to build armies to defend the areas at the start it slows my city production and if I try to kill the unit protecting the settler they just plant a city down...

What can I do ?

[Mike]

bigger maps with less civs and city states? war war war from the beginning and murder anybody who tries it? learn to love your neighbours and all live in peace and harmony?

yeah nuts to that last one.

[Fay]

Which difficulty is this on?

[Crixus]

Originally posted by Dragon Priest:

Which difficulty is this on?

I'm still learning so prince and king.

[Fay]

Hmm, okay. Not sure exactly what advice to give, though perhaps some screenshots from various stages of a game you lost due to this could help?

[cerberusiv]

Get a couple of warriors out and when you see an unescorted settler capture it.

Alternately, play tradition, get Mathematics and build either Temple of Artemis or Hanging Gardens. Next is Philosophy for National College then Construction for comp bows. At that point you should have a powerhouse capital well capable of churning out the half dozen units you need to take those nearby cities. Yes, you will get tagged as a warmonger but this early in the game it will wear off. (If you are having trouble capturing cities early then try the Assyrians)

[gimmethegepgun]

Originally posted by cerberusiv:

Yes, you will get tagged as a warmonger but this early in the game it will wear off.

Or, if you're playing continents, dead men tell no tales. Kill everyone on your continent before meeting the other continent and no one will ever know.
As long as you don't declare war after promising not to for a while. If you do that everyone in the world knows about it, and will NEVER forget.

[Greygamer]

Had a similar experience on Emperor difficulty recent America settled a city early 4 tiles from my capital! Then popped out another settler amd put one 5-6 tiles to the south.
I got archers and spearmen (3 of each) and took the city, the AI only defended with one archer

[Crixus]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

I chose attila for this current game and all the cities around me just got razed right away haha. I think I will stick to this civ from now on. I like their early production too, it really helps beating the ai to get a city spot.

[zxcvbob]

Try turning on "Raging Barbarians". That slows down the AI expansion.

With Liberty, you don't always want to wait for the free settler.

[AceRumble]

The thing that seems to work best for me is to scout the immediate area, peg the 2 or 3 sites that looks best for city expansion, and then build half a dozen or so military units. Hunt down opponent's settlers before they get near your most desired spots, if you can't defeat them should at least be able to force them to plant their city in a poor location. This alleviates the need to build expensive settlers right away when your early turns are more important for increasing the capitol's population and production. Build your own settlers after your capitol is in good shape along with a wonder/some social policies, and those good city sites should still be available.

[BeansAndRice]

Just kill them all.

[Damsteri]

You need to be fast. Some AI's will build their first settler immediately when their capital hits pop 2 and it will be ready in about turn 20-25 then. You can't get a free settler from liberty that fast, it takes about 30 to 40 turns. Fastest way to get a second city is to train a settler as your third thing you train/build (usually after a scout and another scout or monument).

[Slaughter3123]

Originally posted by Marauder:

Originally posted by Dragon Priest:

Which difficulty is this on?

I'm still learning so prince and king.

This might seem obvious, but play at a lower difficulty until you get your strategy down. If that isn't an option for you, note that I have won many times on Prince and higher with 1-4 cities depending on the civ. Maybe you don't need as many as you think you do? Good Luck though

[zxcvbob]

With Aztecs or India, 2 or 3 cities is plenty. (more is better, but not many more, and not much better)

I'm playing one now. Aztecs, Emperor level, large continents. I only settled 2 cities. Built Temple of Artemis and Hanging Gardens in my capital, and Petra in my expo. Then I killed both my neighbors before meeting anyone else. I burned down most of their cities to leave more room for barbarians to spawn, but my cities have expanded so much there aren't many shadows left. Then I researched Astronomy and sent out a bunch of caravels to greet the world. Whole continent to myself (and 3 city states to trade with)

[Matta Leão]

On deity, playing continents, it's still a solid strategy to try to get some good early production on the capitol (lock on some tiles) and build up your military fast while the opponent is stealing the good settling spots. Then throw a full force attack and capture their smaller cities. The enemy capitol is notably difficult to capture early on (before catapults), so I just plunder whatever I can and retreat.
Also, if it happens that you get a settler first, your expansion preference should be towards the direction of your closest neighbor. Defending near a city is much easier, and you can avoid their expansion into "your" lands.
It took me a while to notice, but during ancient and classical eras, conflict is a MUST in oder to strive in your territory. If you try to be peaceful to your neighbors, they are just going to settle all around you and then conspire to backstab you.
Even with our early "sabotage", on higher dificulties the AI gets so many bonuses that they effortlessly rise up again, spam world wonders, units and settlers. So any early advantage you get is crucial if you want to even survive.

And as already pointed out, dead men don't tell tales.