Anyone else getting this game? I played the demo, and now I am looking forward to purchasing it like a crackhead looks forward to thier next hit.

I'm twisted.

I LOVED the demo - which is pretty rare since normally I'm not into turn-based games like that....BUT - I just can't see myself spending $60 on what is basically a dumbed down console version of Civilization when I can buy the real PC Civ games for much less than that...and especially now that SPORE is on the horizon...I always try to buy at least one non-shooter/'intellectual game' every year and I just don't know what to get - We got LittleBigPlanet on the way too - and that game looks awesome.

LIkei said before, the demo got me hooked. I used to be really into games like this, Especially the one for computer that was out in the late 90s where it was all in space, cant remember the name. I dled the demo of this one and figured I would give it a try, now I am hooked on it.

Quoted: I'm twisted. I LOVED the demo - which is pretty rare since normally I'm not into turn-based games like that....BUT - I just can't see myself spending $60 on what is basically a dumbed down console version of Civilization when I can buy the real PC Civ games for much less than that...and especially now that SPORE is on the horizon...I always try to buy at least one non-shooter/'intellectual game' every year and I just don't know what to get - We got LittleBigPlanet on the way too - and that game looks awesome.

Spore?

ETA: Nevermind, looked it up on Wiki.

To bad it looks like it's going to be PC only.  I gave up on PC gaming, to much "keeping up with the jonses" has to go on.

My copy should be shipping today, liked the demo had a $25 GC for gamestop so I ordered it last month.

I'll definitely be playing it on my DS, may get it for the 360.  I'm actually looking forward to a 'simpler' Civ game, so I'm pretty excited about it.  I am not very good at RTS and TBS type games, but Civ is fun enough that I struggle through them.  Well, basically I just rush my civ to the Nukes, and then proceed to destroy my neighbors with them.  

Another poster asked about the 'space one':  Alpha Centurai.  It was bad ass, I loved that game....

i just got civ, i'll try it out tonight.  hopefully it's not a real dumbed-down version.

since you're interested in rts, we have a tribe in server 22 of tribal wars (www.tribalwars.net) set up.  it's a browser-based medieval mmo rts game.  anyone interested, shoot me a message.

I have it on my DS now.  It's fun.  There is a demo on Live for the 360, I still might pick it up for that if I get hooked on it.

For me, it has a real good The First Civ feel to it.  A friend of mine is a Civ Master, and he played the demo on Live, and thought it was great.  He'll be getting it on his DS at the very least as well.

Crap.  Civ was addicting enough.

I'll probably pick it up. I don't think I can justify $60, but I can probably find it for $45 or less on eBay before long. I've always been a Civ fan, and the different pacing and style in the Civ: Rev demo was fun and interesting, so I think I'll get it.

I beat it on the demo by conquering the other day, Almost decided not to get it, But I figured there was much more to the whole game, Not I am in 1720 and nobody left but me, the chinese and the egyptians. I have this domination victory down pretty good, Not to find a different way to beat em!

ETA: If this came out on PSP, I would never put it down. I wonder why they didnt release it?

Will pick it up for DS.  I didn't like the new feel of it on the ps3.

I thougbht about getting it on the DS, but I am nor really impressed by the system. I bought my wife a PSP when they first came out, and I bought the DS, we ended up trading, because I wanted more games on the PSP and she wanted more on the DS. I still play brain age and sudoku, but thats about it. I didnt even finish Zelda, I think its the controls mostly that I disagree with.

Quoted: I thougbht about getting it on the DS, but I am nor really impressed by the system. I bought my wife a PSP when they first came out, and I bought the DS, we ended up trading, because I wanted more games on the PSP and she wanted more on the DS. I still play brain age and sudoku, but thats about it. I didnt even finish Zelda, I think its the controls mostly that I disagree with.

Yeah, the DS seems to be one of those systems were some games are just perfect on it, and others are cumbersome.  I primarily use it for puzzle games (Puzzle Quest, ftw!) and stuff like Civ.  The instant-pause when you close the lid is perfect for those types of games, so my DS gets a lot of use at places where you have 5 minutes to mess around, like waiting at the bank, restaurant, work between walk-ups and outages, etc.  Snap it open, play a couple turns of whatever, close it, drop it back in the cargo pants pocket, and heck, most people just think you were checking your texts on your phone, or hitting your calendar on your PDA.    The new Mario Bros game is very fun as well, another one of those games that really captures the feel of the original NES game.

Anyway...back to Civ.  I stayed up till 5am playing it on my DS.  WOuld have stayed up even later, but my battery died.    I loves it!  I still may get it on the 360.  I most assuredly will rent it, and at least rack up a few gamerpoints with it.

Quoted: I Well, basically I just rush my civ to the Nukes, and then proceed to destroy my neighbors with them.

Unfortunately, as far as I can tell in Revolution you only get one...if you build the Manhattan Project first, that is.

Rented it yesterday for PS3, got to bed about 03:00 this morning.  As soon as the wife leaves for work I'm back at it.

Quoted: Quoted: I Well, basically I just rush my civ to the Nukes, and then proceed to destroy my neighbors with them.   Unfortunately, as far as I can tell in Revolution you only get one...if you build the Manhattan Project first, that is.

Yep I haven't figured out how to make more either, just make sure you drop the one you do get somewhere that it counts, I like Paris myself.

I am looking forward to Civilization IV...

Quoted: Yep I haven't figured out how to make more either, just make sure you drop the one you do get somewhere that it counts, I like Paris myself.

It got to the point that I actually looked for an answer in the "Civilipedia"...where they are clear that you only get one ICBM. I miss the good old days of nuking enemy cities then dropping in the paratroopers to take it.

Quoted: I am looking forward to Civilization IV...

Uh Civ 4 and a couple expansions have been out for like...almost a year now....

Quoted: Quoted: I am looking forward to Civilization IV... Uh Civ 4 and a couple expansions have been out for like...almost a year now....

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilization_IV:_Colonization

I think technically Colonization is a separate game using the same engine
at least the original was a separate game

I liked the music in Civ4, and the Leonard Nimoy narration. But the game would become a huge memory hog and then crash about the time I got tanks and gunships
I've been tempted to give it another try now that I have 2gigs of ram instead of 1

Quoted: I think technically Colonization is a separate game using the same engine at least the original was a separate game I liked the music in Civ4, and the Leonard Nimoy narration. But the game would become a huge memory hog and then crash about the time I got tanks and gunships I've been tempted to give it another try now that I have 2gigs of ram instead of 1

Thats the reason why I gave up on that game.

Once I hit tanks, it was sluggish as hell.

Especially when I liked to play on 'Real World' maps.

I went back to civ3, there are some good mods for it, especially Rise and Rule
tons more units and civs to pick from

I think civ 4 had less available units than stock civ3

Quoted: I went back to civ3, there are some good mods for it, especially Rise and Rule tons more units and civs to pick from I think civ 4 had less available units than stock civ3

I've seen a lot of stuff like that now days.

Game devs have figured out they can release a "half baked" game and then release expansions/updates for it.  All the while charging full price for the "expansions"

A friend and I played multiplayer Rev on the DS last night....7 hours!    It's pretty fun.  We did have a few issues come up.  He kept showing up as 'Unknown' in all the scores and such.  Also, our two civs would send messengers to each other, but we couldn't ever really negotiate with each other as far as peace treaties and such.  

We also noticed problems with units just disappearing, presumably from loosing a battle, but we never saw the battle.  Kind of sucks when you loose a cruiser filled with a couple armies worth of tanks....The Ghost Ship of Osaka!  Oh Noes!!!  We also had a couple issues of Cities swapping sides every other round, we couldn't get temples or walls built, cause it wouldn't give a warning, just bam, they're suddenly on the enemies side.  Granted, I had this bug happen to my benefit: two enemy cities were suddenly on my side, in the same round!  LoL.

So, yeah, a few bugs, but it's pretty fun.  Just block out a whole friggin day to do it!

I'm trying to Civ 4 and all the expansions working under Linux, but no joy yet.  My friend has them running on his linux box, however, so it is possible...

I seen it at wally world tonight for the Xbox, thought about picking it up but decided not to...since I've been pretty busy lately and haven't had a lot of time to play.  I'm sure I'll get it soon though.

Played the demo, picked the game up.

Wish I were playing right now, but the room mate is using the TV that is hooked to the Xbox

Quoted: LIkei said before, the demo got me hooked. I used to be really into games like this, Especially the one for computer that was out in the late 90s where it was all in space, cant remember the name. I dled the demo of this one and figured I would give it a try, now I am hooked on it.

The 'in space' one was either:

1) Master of Orion (and Master of Orion 2)

-or-

2) Alpha Centauri

Quoted: I am looking forward to Civilization IV...

That's been out for some time...

Quoted: Quoted: I am looking forward to Civilization IV... That's been out for some time...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilization_IV:_Colonization

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: I am looking forward to Civilization IV... That's been out for some time... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilization_IV:_Colonization

You've posted that twice now.  Why?  The first line of that article says ...and the fourth game of the Civilization IV franchise.

You didn't say you were looking forward to Colonization, you said Civ IV...admit it, you didn't know civ 4 was out for like almost 3 years now....  

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: I am looking forward to Civilization IV... That's been out for some time... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilization_IV:_Colonization You've posted that twice now.  Why?  The first line of that article says ...and the fourth game of the Civilization IV franchise. You didn't say you were looking forward to Colonization, you said Civ IV...admit it, you didn't know civ 4 was out for like almost 3 years now....

I did.

I forgot to add in "Colonization" in the first post.

Don't get your panties in a wad.

Quoted: Quoted: LIkei said before, the demo got me hooked. I used to be really into games like this, Especially the one for computer that was out in the late 90s where it was all in space, cant remember the name. I dled the demo of this one and figured I would give it a try, now I am hooked on it. The 'in space' one was either: 1) Master of Orion (and Master of Orion 2) -or- 2) Alpha Centauri

No it wasnt one of those, I should have said on another planet. But it called your guys marines. I wanna say it was something with the word battle in it.

Quoted: Played the demo, picked the game up. Wish I were playing right now, but the room mate is using the TV that is hooked to the Xbox

If you wanna play some multiplayer Pita, send me a message on XBL or PM me.

Better yet, if anyone wants to play online my Gamertag is Favre44, fun game and Im itching to try it out online with some Arf members.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: LIkei said before, the demo got me hooked. I used to be really into games like this, Especially the one for computer that was out in the late 90s where it was all in space, cant remember the name. I dled the demo of this one and figured I would give it a try, now I am hooked on it. The 'in space' one was either: 1) Master of Orion (and Master of Orion 2) -or- 2) Alpha Centauri No it wasnt one of those, I should have said on another planet. But it called your guys marines. I wanna say it was something with the word battle in it.

Your talking about Starcraft, awesome game and still played online.

Just to confirm that its what your talking about: Starcraft has 3 factions - Terran (Humans), Zerg (Alienish dudes), and Protoss (Robotic Dudes).



Starcraft 2 comes out soon, loo it up online.

Well, I was at Wal Mart, saw the game yet again, and thought what the hell and got it.

What a FUN game! I've gotten 2-3 hours of sleep a night the last 3 nights because I've been staying up playing it.

Just beat it as the Americans on Emperor difficulty (Difficulty goes Chieftain, Warlord, King, Emperor, Deity), and JEEZ, that was crazy. Otto von Bismarck got a hair up his ass and I was fighting tooth and nail with him to hold onto my territory from like 2000 BC until I got my factories online in 1960 (all Civs get double production from factories except the Americans; they get triple). He had a tech advantage on me since I was having to go all out to fight off him, the Zulus, and Saladin all at once mid-game, but once those factories went online I outproduced the living shit out of him. It was funny watching a massive army of Continental Army guys with flintlocks and cannons tear the German modern infantry and MLRS units to shreds until I finally overran Berlin and he sued for peace (all he had left was Frankfurt).

My only complaint with it is the progression from 4000 BC to 1900 AD is ridiculously fast. You barely even get your civilization up and functional and ready for action and you're already well into the medieval era, and it seems like it takes no time at all to go from clubs and spears to bombers, tanks, and battleship, and then you spend a huge amount of time with the modern era stuff beating down the other civs. The passage of the years needs to be halved at least.

So far I think the three best civs are the Romans, Americans, and English.

– Romans are great if you want to spread out all over the place and be able to beat up the other civs at the earliest possible opportunity. The 1/2 price wonders and propensity for attracting Great People make them the kings of bonuses at later levels. Especially if you get David or Agamemnon settled in a centrally located military town, then combine that with the 1/2 price roads and ease of setting up new cities wherever you need to take the fight, and the Romans have already won, it just takes the other civs a while to realize it.

– Americans are less powerful to start, but if you play a defensive tech-up game and take and hold controllable territory, once you get into the industrial era all of a sudden you become a science, economic, and production GOD. If you get factories online in 6 cities it's child's play to win a simultaneous war against all four other civs.

– English are similar to Americans in most respects, except they don't have those crazy production bonuses. On the other hand, if it's a map with a lot of ocean, anything along a coastline WILL belong to the British. They DESTROY everything at naval combat and amphibious invasions.

Double-edged sword, though... at the higher difficulty levels, the Romans, Americans, and to a much lesser extent the English, can be a royal BITCH to defeat.

Not too impressed with any of the other civs, except maybe the Greeks. They're not all THAT powerful, but if you can successfully cordon off and defend an area for yourself and have enough space for a handful of cities in that area, victory in a tech or economic race is all but guaranteed.

I agree about the game progressing to fast.  It also pisses me off that after you win you can't keep playing just to whip the shit out of everyone. In the older AOE games I would just turn on sandbox mode and just go all out against everyone.  Didn't need to worry about the game ending.

Anybody ever try the Fall from Heaven 2 mod for Civ 4?

kael.civfanatics.net/

It's a total conversion mod.  It changes the game into a fantasy game and every civilization is unique.  There's hero units, magic spells, and religions are actually useful.  There's new terrain, every unit is new, the tech tree is totally revamped, there's new resources, new actions, new promotions, etc.

Definitely worth a check if you like Civ.

Quoted: I agree about the game progressing to fast.  It also pisses me off that after you win you can't keep playing just to whip the shit out of everyone. In the older AOE games I would just turn on sandbox mode and just go all out against everyone.  Didn't need to worry about the game ending.

Well, TECHNICALLY you can engineer a situation like that. At least when I've played, it seems like civs overwhelmingly shoot for a tech victory, which of course, cannot be completed without a capital. Seize the capitals of all but the weakest civilization, and you can usually take your sweet time beating them down from there. They can't win a domination victory, they can't win tech victory, they'll be at war with you and spending their money, so they can't win an economic victory, and in the middle of a war they won't be building wonders and culture items or attracting great people, so they won't be able to win a cultural victory.

I picked it up for the 360 today.  So, now I have it on DS and 360...heh

Actually, Pita, looking at the scenarios, try "Barbarian Horde." Domination victory is the ONLY victory. Just make sure you leave one of the five enemy capitals for last, and run over the rest of the map at your heart's content. Only difference is there are a lot more barbarians, but that just means a lot more combat, and a lot more experienced troops with which to crush the enemy.

Quoted: I went back to civ3, there are some good mods for it, especially Rise and Rule tons more units and civs to pick from I think civ 4 had less available units than stock civ3

Me too.  But I had to because Civ IV keeps crashing on me - need better hardware I suppose.  Very frustrating to get a civilization started and have the game lock up, never to load correctly again.

Civ III is much like IV though, aside from the graphics, and like you said there's a ton of mods.  I like the R&R mod also.

ETA: The only thing I wish it had was more future tech, like Civ II had.  I hate hitting the end at Modern Armor, Stealth Fighters, etc.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: LIkei said before, the demo got me hooked. I used to be really into games like this, Especially the one for computer that was out in the late 90s where it was all in space, cant remember the name. I dled the demo of this one and figured I would give it a try, now I am hooked on it. The 'in space' one was either: 1) Master of Orion (and Master of Orion 2) -or- 2) Alpha Centauri No it wasnt one of those, I should have said on another planet. But it called your guys marines. I wanna say it was something with the word battle in it. Your talking about Starcraft, awesome game and still played online. Just to confirm that its what your talking about: Starcraft has 3 factions - Terran (Humans), Zerg (Alienish dudes), and Protoss (Robotic Dudes). Starcraft 2 comes out soon, loo it up online.

That was the one, I didnt know people still played it, great game. i am gonna look for 2!!!

Baaah, what the hell, I just discovered the game force ends itself at 2100 and whoever is in first place for domination wins. That blows.

I was playing an exceptionally horrible game as the Germans on Emperor difficulty and around 2090 I FINALLY manage to break the stalemate between myself and the Zulu/Spanish alliance I had been fighting tooth and nail since 1960 and started rolling up the Zulus cities and this message comes on that the game will end in 5 turns with a domination victory for whoever is in first place.

I fought off the Russians and Spanish for most of the game, staged a surprise amphibious invasion of the Zulus in 1960 to stop them from winning a tech victory, then ended up nuking London in 2020 as a last resort to prevent an English economic victory after three conventional invasion attempts failed, and then the game ends itself and gives me a hollow domination victory when I was maybe 15 turns from the tech victory I had been shooting for all along.

12 hours of playtime over the last few days and that's the ending I get. Blah.

EDIT: Also, is it just me, or does the AI ONLY fight the player? I swear to God, the only time I see a city change hands without me being involved in a fight there is when someone turns a city via culture.

Quoted: Baaah, what the hell, I just discovered the game force ends itself at 2100 and whoever is in first place for domination wins. That blows. I was playing an exceptionally horrible game as the Germans on Emperor difficulty and around 2090 I FINALLY manage to break the stalemate between myself and the Zulu/Spanish alliance I had been fighting tooth and nail since 1960 and started rolling up the Zulus cities and this message comes on that the game will end in 5 turns with a domination victory for whoever is in first place. I fought off the Russians and Spanish for most of the game, staged a surprise amphibious invasion of the Zulus in 1960 to stop them from winning a tech victory, then ended up nuking London in 2020 as a last resort to prevent an English economic victory after three conventional invasion attempts failed, and then the game ends itself and gives me a hollow domination victory when I was maybe 15 turns from the tech victory I had been shooting for all along. 12 hours of playtime over the last few days and that's the ending I get. Blah. EDIT: Also, is it just me, or does the AI ONLY fight the player? I swear to God, the only time I see a city change hands without me being involved in a fight there is when someone turns a city via culture.

I don't get the 2100 ending either, I wish it would just keep rolling on, both for the experience of truly dominating the world for a while, and yes, if you haven't 'won' by the 21st century, it's pretty dang hard to wrap it all up in 100 years.  Especially if you're going for a tech or economic victory.

I'm not sure about the AI only fighting the player, but it does seem like it.  It would be cool to be able to observe a couple AI civ's duking it out.  The game does seem to have a very 'Your Civ versus the Combined Civs of the CPU' feel, though.

I wish the diplomacy was a bit deeper like the PC versions.  It's just At War/At Peace.  I like trying to convince one Civ to attack another.  I really love setting up pre-WWI domino style alliances to get everyone fighting when someone screws up and sends a boat to the wrong port.  

Quoted: Quoted: Baaah, what the hell, I just discovered the game force ends itself at 2100 and whoever is in first place for domination wins. That blows. I was playing an exceptionally horrible game as the Germans on Emperor difficulty and around 2090 I FINALLY manage to break the stalemate between myself and the Zulu/Spanish alliance I had been fighting tooth and nail since 1960 and started rolling up the Zulus cities and this message comes on that the game will end in 5 turns with a domination victory for whoever is in first place. I fought off the Russians and Spanish for most of the game, staged a surprise amphibious invasion of the Zulus in 1960 to stop them from winning a tech victory, then ended up nuking London in 2020 as a last resort to prevent an English economic victory after three conventional invasion attempts failed, and then the game ends itself and gives me a hollow domination victory when I was maybe 15 turns from the tech victory I had been shooting for all along. 12 hours of playtime over the last few days and that's the ending I get. Blah. EDIT: Also, is it just me, or does the AI ONLY fight the player? I swear to God, the only time I see a city change hands without me being involved in a fight there is when someone turns a city via culture. I don't get the 2100 ending either, I wish it would just keep rolling on, both for the experience of truly dominating the world for a while, and yes, if you haven't 'won' by the 21st century, it's pretty dang hard to wrap it all up in 100 years.  Especially if you're going for a tech or economic victory. I'm not sure about the AI only fighting the player, but it does seem like it.  It would be cool to be able to observe a couple AI civ's duking it out.  The game does seem to have a very 'Your Civ versus the Combined Civs of the CPU' feel, though. I wish the diplomacy was a bit deeper like the PC versions.  It's just At War/At Peace.  I like trying to convince one Civ to attack another.  I really love setting up pre-WWI domino style alliances to get everyone fighting when someone screws up and sends a boat to the wrong port.

Yep, over the last few days I finally managed to win on the Second hardest difficulty, I think thats emporer....

Still, kind of sucks that once you sink so much time into it it auto-quits..

On an unrelated note - My last game that I won (Emporer Difficulty) I had been fightin Egypt for like 200 years trying to stall their tech, they got their space station up, so I nuked em, and blitzkrieged the shit out of them. They still managed to get 3/4 Modules on their space station up before I destroyed them. SO close to losing

What kinf od tactics are you guys using? I usually try to kill off everyone except like 1 or 2 people, I do this by building archers and catapults as soon as I can, then researching untill I can build libraries, then universities in every city,  then banks. Once you get universities in every city, your research goes by so fast nobody can keep up with you, once you get factories, nobody stands a chance!


So do any of you guys play online?

Quoted: What kinf od tactics are you guys using? I usually try to kill off everyone except like 1 or 2 people, I do this by building archers and catapults as soon as I can, then researching untill I can build libraries, then universities in every city,  then banks. Once you get universities in every city, your research goes by so fast nobody can keep up with you, once you get factories, nobody stands a chance! So do any of you guys play online?

I played online with 2 little kids last night who literally took like a minute per turn at the very beginning of the game. Frustrating.

Getting an ARF group together and playing an MP match sounds fun though, and you can play like 2-3 real people, with 2 computers. Make the game go quicker and it would be fun.

Im down to try that if anyone wants to.

Gamertag: Favre44

Quoted: On an unrelated note - My last game that I won (Emporer Difficulty) I had been fightin Egypt for like 200 years trying to stall their tech, they got their space station up, so I nuked em, and blitzkrieged the shit out of them. They still managed to get 3/4 Modules on their space station up before I destroyed them. SO close to losing

Just FYI, they can assemble AND launch the colony ship and a win won't be inevitable. You just have to take and hold their capital before the ship reaches Alpha Centauri (you cannot achieve a tech victory without your capital). Just, once you take it, if they've already launched, DON'T LET THEM RETAKE IT. I've never had a capital get retaken under those circumstances, but I think if they retake it and the ship is at Alpha Centauri, they automatically win.

Quoted: What kinf od tactics are you guys using? I usually try to kill off everyone except like 1 or 2 people, I do this by building archers and catapults as soon as I can, then researching untill I can build libraries, then universities in every city,  then banks. Once you get universities in every city, your research goes by so fast nobody can keep up with you, once you get factories, nobody stands a chance!

Well, I developed my current playing style after I made the move from King to Emperor.

Emperor is actually quite easy once you realize you can't play defensively. My first Emperor game I played defensively and just nurtured my civ like I did on King. Which works great on King, the AI may get pissed and attack, but they always just attack the nearest city and get defeated by your defenders.

However, on Emperor I was the Americans, started right next to the Germans, and was in a constant state of tooth and nail warfare with them from beginning to end, with the other civs occasionally deciding to drop in and raid me for the hell of it. Every game after that has been a cake walk as I realized the fundamental truth of Emperor difficulty: No matter what else you do, you must first explore to find the 1-3 bottlenecks leading to your civ, and then build cities there, while also sending a galley to explore the coasts and find out where everyone is. First order of business is to get city defenses up, then pump out Legion armies so you've got 3+ at each bottleneck. This works especially well as the Romans since you can cheaply put down roads across vast swaths of territory and run armies across the world in a turn or two as necessary to shore up defenses or attack infiltrators, not to mention you've already get Republic so you can get those fortress cities down without severely hampering your growth. Alternately, if you can't find a good bottleneck, just build a city right on top of the neighboring civ's borders right after signing a peace treaty with them. You're guaranteed to hold their attention like that.

From there, if a civ makes ANY move whatsoever to move on your territory, proactively hit them with the legions, and fall back to the city to heal as needed, or to lure siege weaponry and armies that you can't take alone. If they're being pesky, get more legions on site and start contesting their territory. Don't attack their cities because their archers will shred you, but kill EVERYTHING that moves outside them until you get catapults. They'll be so occupied fighting to keep you at bay because they're scared of the result of letting massive armies roam their territory uncontested that they'll barely have time for research. Last game I played I managed to drag the Egyptians all the way out to 1900 AD and they still hadn't moved beyond legions even though they had 5 successful cities going, because they were pumping all their science/gold production into the gold side, and then spending that fighting the field armies I had roaming their territory continuously. The Mongols were destroyed within 12 turns of my getting catapults, and the Japanese were right behind them. The only civ that was ahead of me was the Aztecs, because they were hiding on an island with a democracy going and teching up while not interacting with anyone. (They interacted with me in 2000 when I simultaneously blockaded all 3 of their cities and landed armies, though...)

At no point during that entire game was I even remotely threatened. Just did it again as the English; created a bottleneck, and then sailed ships loaded with multiple armies to every port and used their naval support bonus to seize one coastal city after the next. Barely even needed to research tech; I was ahead of everyone on tech just from stealing theirs.

Nevermind. I figured out what I did wrong, and replayed that game. 5 hour loss the first time, 1.2 hour win the second time.