The problem usually starts when I hear the sound that I'm Bronzed. Then I have this large amount of options all at once: constructing bronze buildings, second TC, vill booming, building military, researching tool tech, researching bronze tech, building walls, towers, more fish boats, exploring more of the map, searching the enemy, upgrading to iron, ... It always feels like I need 2000W, 3000F & 1000G at that moment. Please post your tips in this forum. I will be very grateful! Thanks, All that follows from here is a very good example of a "disaster" game I played yesterday and a conclusion at the end. You don't have to read the game description it if you don't want 'cause I think it will turn out to be a quite long story. Here's the story... Yesterday, I played a 2vs2 game on a huge coastal map in ROR. I picked Minoan civ for their comps in bronze and their heles in iron. My ally was Shang, but a bad one, because I tooled and bronzed before him. Both the enemies were Persian. Then there was a heavy fight between his (H)HA's & cats and my cats & some ballistics. He killed 2 of my siege shops and a little later totally wiped me off his island. I killed about 5 vills and 8 houses there. Now comes the troubling part. When I got back to my town, I saw I only had about 10 comps. I wanted to build more military but had little resources. Then I saw all my fishboats standing idle and about 3/4 of my vills too. (THIS HAPPENS IN EVERY GAME, I'M TOO OCCUPIED IN COMBAT AND WHEN I RETURN TO MY TC, HALF OF MY VILLS ARE STANDING IDLE. TIPS PLEASE!!!). I'd put them all on gold/wood because I wanted to build lots of ballistics and later heles. Then suddenly, I saw about 20-30 HHA & 5 cats (maybe heavy, i don't know) knocking on my comps' door. I had 2 ballistics extra, I usually play Roman, Minoan and Egyptian (in that order). Thanks for reading it all, please submit your thoughts here.
I consider myself to be an intermediate player until I'm freshly Bronze. In most games, I bronze between 15:00 and 17:00 with 22-24 vills (slow civ). From that moment on, it's all the way down to beginner, and quite fast,
I think in general you can say that I need a better balance between researching / military / gathering / exploring.
Breydel. (you can keep on reading below)
In early bronze, I remember I had 10 fishing boats and about 30 vills. I had 2 archery ranges nearby my TC and boomed comps as if they were for free. I quickly researched all the upgrades for them (armor + the wood upgrades at the market). So far, I was the best player with the highest score, leaving the others far behind.
Then suddenly my ally resigned without telling me or handing over his resources. I had writing and I saw about 12 enemy char' archers in his town. Then they came towards my TC.
So I was attacked by them. My comps outnumbered his char' archers in number and attack range and I easily survived the attack. OK, I lost about 8 comps too, but they were quickly replaced. Then horse archers came on. A little more casualties, but I survived. Then I also built a siege shop and que-ed (from queing,
I never saw the other enemy in the whole game. I think he was a real defender (or a resource-handover kind-of-guy). So actually, I think, it was a one on one game.
I controlled the sea @3 too with only 5 triremes (I was @6, my ally @9 and the quiet enemy @12). The attacking enemy his town was nearby the sea @3. I don't know why, but he never built a dock near the huge amounts of fish there. (There was another smaller sea @12, maybe that's why).
Just behind the shore was an elevation (about 5 steps up, then 5 flat, and then back down). It was also near the border of the map. (The best attacking spot you can imagine if you come in from the sea.) A little further were my enemy's houses & vills. I quickly built a transport and unloaded 5 vills on his shore. I built 3 siege shops on the +5-elevation and 2 others on flat land. Then I builded 5 stone throwers there, knowing they would auto-attack his town once they were built 'cause the houses would be in their range of sight.
At the same time some more horse archers attacked my comps before my town. I thought, OK, I don't care, I will get your economy down very soon, hehe.
OK, the next moment I had 5 stone throwers, then I built 4 more and researched the cat. He came to my cats with HA's or HHA's (I don't know which ones) first and later with cats too. Also, the attack at my town stopped. He withdrawed his units there, probably to help against my cats @3).
At that moment, I told him I liked the game and resigned because I knew it was over. I also had another undiscovered TC near my ally's town, but with only 1 vill gathering berries. I didn't feel like starting all over there.
Now I would like to say, when I was just bronzed I looked at the score. I had about 400 points (I was first). My attacking enemy had about 250 (he was second). At middle Iron, I looked again. I still had about 400, but my enemy had about 650. (THIS ALSO HAPPENS IN EVERY GAME. MORE TIPS PLEASE). Like I said, I'm a very good player until bronze, but then it's all the way down.
CONCLUSION :
1. While attacking enemies or defending from enemy attack, how do I keep my vills & boats working? They all end up standing idle when I return to check them.
2. In many games I play, I occupy a small part of the map where I started (High density). Additional, I usually have a second TC for more resources, far away from my starting place. When I get writing or look at the enemy's conquering after the game, the other players are often spread all over the map (lower density). How can they do this??? They sometimes have a TC with some vills without towers or military. Don't they fear an enemy attack on them?
3. About nr. 1 in this conclusion: Are there usefull shortcuts for helping this problem? I only use CTRL + 1-9 for attacking and HC for building vills. Where can I find more shortcuts then the ones that came on the folder with the game?
Breydel,
Unhappy ROR player at the moment.