Hi again.



So I've been playing random factions and I noticed a pattern I have. I almost always play Tall. This is doubly true since I started playing with the Guardians Expansion. So when I started my Random and got Roving Clans I decided to try and go as wide as I could as fast as I could.



It didn't work out so well. The Hard AI basically out expanded me and locked me into a corner of the continent. Seems the other Roving Clan had the same idea I had.



So I figured, I'm likely doing it wrong and I'm likely not alone in that. So I figure I'd ask here.



How do you expand quickly to build a wide empire?

Like all things it depends heavily on the map and circumstances. Access to +approval anomalies in surrounding regions, good capital and secondary city for pumping settlers that kind of thing. You will be spending a lot of time trying to balance approval and dust. It will really start to pay for itself once you get roads up though, when the trade routes start to help cover costs. Personally, I prefer starting tall and if I want to expand I do it at the expense of the AI - I rarely ever build more than a settler or two.



Common tricks to help though would be;

Activate luxury boosters before settling extra cities

Activate empire plan before settling extra cities

Specialize cities (ie don't try to build every improvement in every city)

No (or very few) boroughs until you have settled everywhere that you want/can and have approval in check - the only time you really want them is if the tile yield will include +approval from an anomaly

rush for Imperial Highways and get it built asap everywhere

^ good stuff



It´s hard to play peaceful wide against the AI because it has no idea what it´s doing. It will settle regions just for the kicks without the least bit of concern to actual defenses, so if you can wage war, wide=war.



As Roving Clans, pushing my luck because of said AI weakness (it wouldn´t work on MP), I get Monument, Library, Mill then 2 settlers for around turn 10. Then I´ll rarely ever build settlers in my capital again, and start to focus on dust, with sewers, mint and extractors following those settlers. From then on, in each city I follow: Sewer, Mill, Yield-the-city-lacks, x Settlers depending on how many villages it has and how much I can expand. For large pangeas with 70% landmass, that´s usually another 4 settlers, 2 of them for turn 20, 2 of them for turn 30. (these are considering fast speed)



Expanding like this takes a toll on your approval no matter how fast you get those sewers. If you can put your hands on wine, win the luxury deed or get real lucky on ruins, you might still manage to keep your empire happy, but you shouldn´t worry too much if you don´t. The moment you get Central Markets up, you´ll rarely ever have actual approval issues.

Ok, I think I'm seeing where I go wrong thanks to both of your comments. I'm clearly not being aggressive enough. (Seems to be a pattern I have with 4x games).

Next time I'll push harder, see if I can get the timing down.

Much obliged!