Civ-Specific Strategy: Americans

[Dominae]

Originally posted by Theseus
America doesn;t really lend itself to exploring different facets of the game, for me at least. From a Seven Pillars perspective, it feels to me like a monotone approach... bang out a production / gold advantage in the early game (yeah, I know there's other stuff, especially with Ind, like military road networks, but you know what I mean). Probably the next thing I would do would become a unit powerhouse, which is sort of boring.

I thought the same thing after playing the Americans, but decided to sell this aspect as "flexibility" rather than "monotonicity", in interests of making a positive post. However, I very much agree with your point: playing as the Americans, you get raw power, but you may not have a lot of fun (other than scouting). For this very reason, the Americans are probably best used as an MP civ, where their competitiveness is more appreciated than in SP.


Dominae

[Konquest02]

Bump... This thread (and threadjack) deserve to be read by a majority of people. Heve fun!

[Mountain Sage]

I don't know why (or how), but Dominae convinced me, I'll give it a try in my next game...

[Mountain Sage]

My 'American experience' is on my PUP thread, with lots of screenshots. Enjoy it!

[Cort Haus]

Originally posted by Dominae
But I consider the mass-production of Temples and Cathedrals primarily a mid-game occurence, even for Religious civs. In addition, (correct me if I'm wrong), but the Culture effect of Temples is only apparent when conquering other civs, which is mainly a mid-game affair. Dominae

Temples - mid game? For Religious Civs? Culture effect only apparant when conquering other civs?

{edit : didn't notice this thread was old - so my redundant comments deleted }

[Dominae]

Originally posted by Cort Haus
Temples - mid game? For Religious Civs? Culture effect only apparant when conquering other civs?

{edit : didn't notice this thread was old - so my redundant comments deleted }

More or less, I still hold the same opinion. I'll grant that Temples are a great build early on when you're Religious, or when you're going for a more peaceful early-game (Deity, anyone?).

Other than that, I have better things to do with 60 Shields. Once warmongering is semi-over and I start building a bit, I'll queue up Temples only to switch over to the better improvements such as Aqueducts and Marketplaces when the techs become available.

If you can successfully REX/warmonger without ever thinking about Temples in the early-game, you'll be so powerful you will not need cultural dominance later on. I'll take a large empire, two cores, three dead neighbors and four+ Luxuries over cultural influence any day.

As someone pointed out a long long time ago, Temples and Culture are a question of playstyle ("a way of life"), not strategy. This is, of course, genearally speaking: sometimes it is very strategically important to rush a Temple to expand your borders in a critical area (to use Roads during war, for instance).


Dominae

[vmxa1]

Originally posted by Dominae
If you can successfully REX/warmonger without ever thinking about Temples in the early-game, you'll be so powerful you will not need cultural dominance later on. I'll take a large empire, two cores, three dead neighbors and four+ Luxuries over cultural influence any day.
Dominae

So true.