Monarch to Emperor: the Great Leap

Ision · February 10, 2004, 05:03

Every CIV player has experienced the awkward adjustment period that occurs when they move up in difficulty level. It is often debated which ‘move up’ in level is the most difficult to adjust to. Certainly the move from Warlord to Regent comes to ones mind. The first few times a player faces the game on an equal footing with the AI can take some getting used to. There is however another ‘move up’ which many players that have reached Deity level point to as the moment when the game takes on an almost completely different feel – almost as if you were playing a different game with the same mechanics. The ‘move up’ I am referring to is the move from Monarch to Emperor. In many ways Monarch is a slightly beefed up Regent, the only significant difference being the faster AI build time. However, once a player masters Regent he rarely has much difficulty with Monarch. The small AI advantages are no match for the superior human playing skills of even an average Regent player. When you hit Emperor the AI advantages become far more pronounced – so much so, that a great number of the techniques that you mastered over the last 4 levels are no longer viable. For many players Monarch is the end point of their CIV experience – and understandably so. The reasons for this are numerous, and this article is an attempt to address what you can expect in a Mon to Emp transition while also giving a few tips that will hopefully help players overcome the ‘Great Leap’.

1 content citizen: At Monarch all your new cities begin with 2 content citizens – on Emperor you start with only 1. The impact of this is far reaching and can confuse a Monarch player. Prior to this you could pretty much maintain a fairly ‘happy’ empire with minimal effort. Now you will be forced to master the luxury slider. The first thing you need to get over is the natural unwillingness to use the slider. It is a habit acquired in much ‘happier’ difficulty levels. Secondly, prior to Emperor the primary reason you stationed troops in your cities was for defense – at Emperor you need to start paying attention to the Military Police value of city garrisons. Lastly, never before has the importance of securing and connecting luxury resources become so huge – yes you focused on them before, but now they need to become almost an obsession. You heard that rioting and war weariness were part of the game but have never really experienced it to any significant degree – a frequent and close watch of your cities happiness levels are now in order.

AI build bonus: At Emperor the AI will build in 8 turns what takes you 10. This 20% bonus will cause you to change many of your most cherished ‘build orders’, Wonder objectives, and military plans. No longer will you be able to build 4 Ancient Age wonders, and then every single wonder for the rest of the game. Get over it! Be far more focused and learn to prioritize your wonder chasing to coincide with your primary game objectives. If you have relied on the ‘Pyramids or GL’ for every game start you need to learn new strats – at Emp or above your ability to secure these prize wonders is greatly diminished. Secondly, no longer will you be able to simply out research the AI from late Ancient in the tech race. Get over it! Learn to play from behind – focus on tech branches that are less popular with the AI – and most of all check in with your neighbors EVERY turn. Trade, trade and trade some more. Your days of tech hording are over. Prior to Emperor many players have never bought a tech for gold from an AI – you will need to learn the nuances of proper tech purchasing. Amazingly new players often use the 0 research gambit in their games – amazing because at the lower levels you will almost always out research the AI from beginning to end if you choose to – so there really was no need. This strat was originally designed for upper level players finding methods to keep up with the AI. So what you toyed with before without need, is now a crucial strat to master.

AI troop bonus: At Monarch the AI gets a small increase in starting units and free unit support. At Emperor or above this increase becomes very significant. So much so – that that ultra early archer rush that you have always taken for granted will now run into an AI with 2 or 3 times of a numerical advantage over you. Initially you will have to revert to your Chieftain days when you focused on learning to secure your empire and build defensive units. The luxury of being able to build a temple or library before military in every new city will often lead to your being overrun by a neighbor. In time you will learn to attack again. But even here, it will no longer be the same. Truth be told – prior to Emperor the only reason you built different types of units was out of personal taste. At Monarch you can literally build 1 or 2 types of offensive unit(s), follow the upgrade path, and build nothing else the entire game. Just stack up and go. At Emp – those days are over – you will now have to learn the power of ‘combined arms’ and artillery. The counter-attack will also make an appearance - out of necessity. Expect to be picked on early and often. Most importantly – your wars will have to be planned in much greater depth, and your unit management will have to be far more precise. The concept of maintaining a ‘strategic reserve’ will become a necessity. Lastly, up to now you have managed to fight almost endless wars in representative Governments (Republic/Democracy) – and you never could understand why warmongers would switch to Communism or Fascism – besides, pop rushing never seemed to pay off. Those days are also over. A hard core Emperor or above player that intends to warmonger endlessly will have to learn the proper management of a totalitarian Government – the AI troop bonus leaves you no choice. Furthermore, you simply will not dominate like you once did in the Industrial Age – proper pop rushing will often be the difference in whether you survive or not!

The AI is stupid: yes the AI is stupid and remains so at Emp and above. BUT, the quantative advantage of the AI is so pronounced that it goes a very long way towards making up for the stupidity. Do NOT take for granted what you took for granted before (the AI will have a small lousy navy, the AI will launch a piecemeal half-hearted counter attack against you, the AI rarely attacks in early Ancient Age, ect…).

Micro - Management: So you read Crackers article on proper worker management eh? Well, tell you what – you better find it again and read it 2 more times. The single greatest advantage you had over the AI at Monarch and below was better worker management. Most Monarch and below players settle on a ‘mine green – water brown and white’ approach to workers – this will no longer hold up at the higher levels. At Emp and above the extensive AI bonuses vastly mitigate against this. In turn, your worker management becomes far more crucial – so much so that a series of early missteps in working tiles and roading that formerly lead to temporary setbacks, may now actually lead to your being totally destroyed in the early game. In fact the true key to successful playing at Emp or above is proper micro-management. This applies to every aspect of the game now; economic, diplomatic and military. Slow down - be patient – and plan ahead. Planning ahead now takes on a whole new meaning. At the lower levels the game could literally be played ‘one turn’ at a time, in other words winging it as you go. At the upper levels you must have a clear and purposeful long-range goal. All of your planning and decisions should all lead towards the achievement of that goal.

The Expansion phase: Lastly, and most importantly is the expansion phase. Before Emperor this phase of the game was still important to you – but not so important that you could not take a couple of liberties (the early Wonder city, having only 1 settler pump, building culture before workers or troops, ect…). The single most frustrating aspect about making the leap from Monarch to Emperor is learning to part with these ‘liberties’. They become an integral part of your whole approach to the game – they are the reason you establish such an overwhelming early dominance in the game. I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to focus almost solely on troops/settlers/and workers in the early game. You WILL NOT keep up or even come close to the AI expansion if you indulge in these liberties. The goal is still ‘overwhelming dominance’ – you just have to get used to the fact that it is not a ‘start to finish’ given any more. At Emperor you can still afford perhaps a single deviation – but no more than that. At Demi or Deity you’ll be toast if you indulge in building at the expense of expansion.

There’s much, much more – but that sums up my contribution for now. Hope this article helps.

Ision

lethe · February 10, 2004, 08:00

I'd like to exemplify the Expansion phase, as I was quite overwhelmed by this when I stepped up from Monarch.

In a recent deity game I played Inca. I started on a river, with two cows in the city radius. The second hut held an extra settler, which settled a few squares upriver, getting his own two cows. This is something of a 'too good to be true' start. A few turns later I get a SGL, and can rush in Pyramids.

This allowed me to keep _even_ with the AI in expansion until the pangaea was filled.

Even.

ZargonX · February 10, 2004, 11:23

Good summary, Ision

I've actually just made the jump to Emperor in the last few days, and it is a big change in strategy. The extra-agressive expansion in the beginning has been one of the first things I've learned. We'll see how things go...

vmxa1 · February 10, 2004, 14:21

Nice job, I would only quibble with the form of government. I see no need to use totalitarin forms. at Emperor.

ZargonX you will crush the AI, I know you have the skills. I read your DAR's.

ZargonX · February 10, 2004, 15:56

Quote:

ZargonX you will crush the AI, I know you have the skills. I read your DAR's.

I appreciate your optimism, vmxa! I hope I can live up to your expectations

Rhothaerill · February 10, 2004, 16:37

Great analysis Ision. I made the jump to emperor months ago and it knocked me for a loop for a while. But eventually I learned to handle the various aspects similar to what you've described to the point that I now beat emperor more often than not. So now I'm trying demigod.

One thing I'd like to add is to keep a handle on the tech trading that goes on between the AI. You can't keep them from trading to each other, but at the higher levels you can keep your eyes open for opportunities. For example in the demigod game I just started (standard map, 8 civs, random everything, received Japan as my civ) at one point I was 5 techs behind all the other AI civs. I waited for an opportunity to present itself and then it did. One of the civs finished a tech, but hadn't traded it around yet. I paid the farm to buy the tech, and then traded it around to all the other civs to pick up all but one of the techs I didn't have, but also picked up almost as much gold as I paid for the original tech.

axxessdenied · February 10, 2004, 18:28

I found the jump from Regent > Monarch > Emperor quite easy actually. I played on regent for the longest time. C3C came along and I thought, "What the hell?" and tried a few games on Monarch. It wasn't really that much of a jump from regent. After maybe three or four games (not full ones mind you), I jumped to Emperor. At first, it was a little bit overwhelming. It took a couple games to adjust my ancient era strategy for the emperor level. But, like every other difficulty, you just have to play a few games to figure out how the AI acts, and how to properly compete.

First post

SirOsis · February 10, 2004, 18:34

Maintaining the happiness of my citizens was the biggest adjustment to my playstyle. Monarch you don't need to pay a great deal of attention to your citizens. You aren't kidding when you say luxuries are needed.

I was playing Rise of Rome at emperor and the AI cut off some of my luxuries. Hit next turn and half my empire was rioting.

axxessdenied · February 10, 2004, 19:29

Yes, micro-management really becomes critical at the higher difficulty levels.

ErikM · February 10, 2004, 21:51

It is really Emperor->Deity that is a huge jump in difficulty. At Emperor, AI gets 20% growth/production bonus so other things being equal it will have 6 cities to your 5. Hardly overwhelming. Coupled with AI's poor city placement/tile improvement things are basically nearly even in the beginning. Micromanaging luxury slider is probably the biggest difference between Monarch and Emperor.

At Deity though AI gets 40% bonus AND an extra settler AND three workers, not to mention a gazillion miltary units. That essentially means that AI's early expansion rate is almost quadrupled. 4 cities to your one in 3200BC, 8 cities to your two in 2700 and so on. That's really an increase in difficulty on logarythmic scale!

I had high hopes for Demigod level in C3C as providing a middle ground, but since AI still gets a bonus settler it feels more like Deity than Emperor (especially since MGLs were nerfed). I think Deity production but a single settler would be better for Demigod.

Good article nevertheless

No reason to stay away from the Republic though. AI tends to mitigate war weariness by declaring wars much more often than at lower difficulties. For non-religious civs Democracy is useless anyways.

ZargonX · February 10, 2004, 23:30

Quote:

First post

Welcome to 'poly, axxesdenied

vmxa1 · February 11, 2004, 02:12

In C3C it is 1 settler at Demi and Deity and 2 at Sid,
Workers are 1 at Emp 2 a Demi and Deity and 4 at Sid.
Bonus is 20/30/40/60%. This makes research a realbugger at Sid.

bongo · February 11, 2004, 06:45

How big is the jump anyway? (good article btw)

I've only made one try at emperor(1 and a half actually, as I went back about 50 turns after getting entangled in some early wars and blowing my GA way too soon) but my biggest problem was the fact that it were also my first Pangea map(Random everything! Always!) and the strategy required for Pangea maps are much different from continents.

DrSpike · February 11, 2004, 10:08

Nice article, but much of the 'great leap' stuff is IMO exaggerated. It's a bit harder; it's not really that much different though..........the big leap was always emperor to deity, which were almost different games. Now we have demigod, which does a reasonable job of filling the gap.

ducki · February 11, 2004, 15:37

Wonderful article as usual Ision!

Quote:

a frequent and close watch of your cities happiness levels are now in order.

This was my biggest problem in the Emperor graduation aside from getting used to not being the tech leader by the second round of trading.

One thing that helped immensely was a graphical smiley face mod for the citizens.
That, and checking every city every turn to make sure the citizens were working the "best" tile available. That sounds like quite a burden, especially coming from Monarch, but it's "most" important in the early game, when you have fewer than a dozen towns - after that, you just get used to it and "knowing" when you need to check a town.

For the most part, it all boils down to MicroManagement. I just don't think it's possible to play Emperor successfully without it(I could be wrong) - which is the reason it feels like a whole different game. You are no longer some high-falutin' King, overseeing your empire with broad strokes of managerial direction - you are now every single government official from the Emperor all the way down to the local street-clown. Every citizen, every worker, every build, every military unit, every opponent civ must be managed manually by you - (nearly) every single turn.

It can be brutal, but oh what a feeling when it pays off.

Aqualung71 · February 12, 2004, 03:26

Nice to see all this stuff written down, thanks Ision.

Micro-management, the key to early game strategy. Happiness, tech trading, working the right tiles, irrigation vs mining.....mostly tedious stuff, but unfortunately vital.

Not sure of others, but I found with C3C that Emperor was a little easier than with PTW and the "great leap" may now be at Demi-God. Perhaps this was because I had a few games under my belt by that time.

Still, when I originally went from Monarch to Emperor in PTW it was a mighty big shock to the system!

Cheers!

Fatwreck · February 12, 2004, 05:05

I agree with DrSpike, I think you scare away players from taking on emperor when you talk about needing that much more micro for beeing able to play it. If I would have seen a thread like this I would have waited years before trying emperor.

nice tips though

DrSpike · February 12, 2004, 05:36

Yes, Fatwreck, I'd hate for a well-meaning thread to scare people away with tales of completely relearning gameplay elements, when in reality not much changes and you only need to modify a few existing elements.

SirOsis · February 12, 2004, 13:40

It definately is a progression. I'm comfortable playing Monarch but decided to try Emperor for a bigger challenge. There is a greater level of MM but as everyone has noted it isn't that bad once you get used to it.

Arrian · February 17, 2004, 18:10

My issues with the jump (made originally right before PTW came out, so CivIII 1.29, and now again recently with Conquests):

1) 1 citizen born content. I'm just used to Monarch happiness levels. It's no big deal, just something I need to adjust to. I've been reloading a lot of turns where I've had city growth and it just didn't occur to me to adjust the slider to prevent disorder.

2) The added importance of micromanagement and careful advance planning. I am still getting better at this stuff (I'm going a bit beyond just setting up settler/worker pumps now), in part due to my activity in the mp demogames.

3) The AI unit counts. This was especially evident in AU501, when I ran into a backward AI on a small island, as did several other players. The number of archers they had built up was staggering (even to my pikemen). But this holds true in my other Emp games too. I just need to remember to bring more units, or to have more limited objectives. I keep launching offensives and bog down due to attrittion. On Monarch, I would have flattened the opposition. It's like 1 extra unit per city, and that's a lot.

-Arrian

vmxa1 · February 17, 2004, 18:57

That is a huge key as you go up levels IMO. It is the free support and the bonus for each city.

Monarch get 4 extra free support and Emperor get 8.
Bonus for cities is 1 for Mon and 2 for Emp.

Additional Free Support (AI Unit Support Bonuses)
Determines how many extra units the AI can support, in addition to any existing governmental bonuses, on the selected difficulty level. Note that this number is cumulative with all other support bonuses.

Bonus for Each City (AI Unit Support Bonuses)
Determines how many extra units the AI can support per city, in addition to any existing governmental bonuses, on the selected difficulty level. Note that this number is cumulative with all other support bonuses

So when to you go after civs, especially if they have been isolated (read no wars) they will have a lot more units.
The cost factor makes it easier for them to replace lost units.

Agathon · February 17, 2004, 19:45

Why would anyone but a masochist want to play Deity. I can beat Monarch pretty easily and have managed to beat Emperor (not having played that much either) but Deity is satanic.

ErikM · February 17, 2004, 20:25

There are some pros to Deity.

For instance, you never have to declare war since AIs will kindly do it for you

And your citizens are permanently happy since you are always in a defensive war or three.

Nonstop warfare from ~2500bc onwards means you'll get leaders by dozens. Quite likely you will be able to construct Pentagon before researching Construction.

Diplomacy is exceptionally simple. Everyone hates you.

No need to check for available trades every turn since you are either at war or cannot afford the asking price anyways.

And so on

DrSpike · February 17, 2004, 20:31

Quote:

Originally posted by ErikM
There are some pros to Deity.

For instance, you never have to declare war since AIs will kindly do it for you

And your citizens are permanently happy since you are always in a defensive war or three.

Nonstop warfare from ~2500bc onwards means you'll get leaders by dozens. Quite likely you will be able to construct Pentagon before researching Construction.

Diplomacy is exceptionally simple. Everyone hates you.

No need to check for available trades every turn since you are either at war or cannot afford the asking price anyways.

And so on

And a sense of satisfaction when you win.

vmxa1 · February 17, 2004, 22:13

Quote:

Originally posted by Agathon
Why would anyone but a masochist want to play Deity. I can beat Monarch pretty easily and have managed to beat Emperor (not having played that much either) but Deity is satanic.

Yeah went it is so much more fun to take your licks at Sid.

*vmxa still licks his wounds*