Hello all! This is a thread for the compilation of all past and present noble's club games. It will also serve as the sounding board for suggestions for future games in the series. Since I'm probably going to be around for a while at least, I figured I'd just take over maintenance here:

First of all, here are the games in the series...with a big thanks to Anomander Rake for compiling them!


Original Idea Thread (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=266439) which has some discussions. A good read for those intersted in this format. This is where it all began.


Nobles Club I, Elizabeth. (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=266562) FIN and PHI are traits that are fairly easy to play.

Nobles Club II, Ramesses II. (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=267622) SPI/IND, another set of great traits, on a Continents map.

Nobles Club III, Kublai Khan. (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=269067) CRE/AGG, Pangaea Map, great UU for a Conquest/Domination situation.

Nobles Club IV, Frederick. (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=270175) Map unknown. but an attempt to try and learn to play an SE with a strong leader for that style.

Nobles Club V, Hannibal. (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=271651) A water based map with a very strong leader on that type of map. Trade Route Economy learner.

Nobles Club VI, Brennus. (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=273913) Another "war oriented" type of game, with Aggressive AI setting turned on, and a Civ with solid warmongering traits and UU/UB.

Nobles Club VII, Sitting Bull. (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=275928) Who is the AI that makes you groan the most when he pops up? For me, its no contest, SB takes it by a mile!

Nobles Club VIII, De Gaulle. (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=278463) A flexible leader suited for war or building, on a Pangaea map!

Nobles Club IX - Joao II! (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=280595) OK guys, here it is, another water leader with a solid UU. I requested some special features this map, but I dont want to give away too much. I will tell you that rolo used the new Tectonics format, but he assures me we will be able to have both some Barb lands and AIs that arent reachable pre-Optics.

Nobles Club X - Zara Yaqob! (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=283230) Our leader = Zara has an excellent combo of traits, both of which aid in one of this games primary goal, grabbing land. His starting techs arent bad either, although unless you start with deer, you need food to get some food techs going:

Nobles Club XI - Catherine! (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=286929) A known backstabber, Catherine has traits that truly excel when REXing. CRE means fast border pops and IMP means fast settlers. But beware, overexpansion is a very real possibility in the hands of the human player.

Noble's Club XII-Elizabeth Revisited! (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=291206) Alright so a bunch of us (me (Krick19) included) thought Elizabeth would be a great leader to take us to the next level. So she's back and badder than ever! Her traits are great, FIN and PHI, two of my faves. This calls for a great hybrid economy. Her UU, the Redcoat gets a 25% bonus against Gunpowder Units, which is really helpful when you're attacking muskets or rifles. Lastly the UB is a Bank with 65% more income instead of 50%. This combines for a nasty combo.

Noble's Club XIII - Alexander of Greece (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=293876) Hello everybody, TMIT takes a break from messing with AI XMLs to present the 13th installment of the Noble's Club series! Our leader is Aggressive and Philosophical. This match of traits allows for some economy (especially early) and some warmongering!

NC XIV - Saladin of Arabia (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=296084) Sal is considered by many to be a weak leader, lending mostly to his protective trait. Nevertheless, he boasts a solid, early UB that allows for some culture control and religious manipulation via great prophets...only Egypt can get them this easily other than Arabia! The UU is a knight that does not require Iron, and with a hefty bonus to its withdrawal chance, making medieval combat a little more intriguing.

Noble's Club XV: Roosevelt of America (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=297708) America...America. We bestow questionable UUs and UBs on thee. Nonetheless, the collection of leaders for this civ have strong traits, and the starting techs are nice and allow for versatility also. Our leader today is known for wonderspam and for the fact that he is probably the fastest person to get the Great Lighthouse in the game.

Noble's Club XVI - Shaka (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=300120) We all know him. Some probably hate him. Tied with 3 other AIs for the most probability to train units, Shaka is a devastating warmonger that declares at pleased. The Impi is a utility troop and is a little difficult to use against targets with metal, but if an opponent lacks it has all the devastating power of traditional mounted troop charges. The UB is among the top in the game, early maintenance reduction in a barracks that coupled with the courthouse is nearly as strong a total effect as Holy Rome's.

Noble's Club XVII - Tokugawa (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=302293) One of the game's biggest one-trick ponies, Toku is all military and no economy. Unless, of course, you count having more cities as economy. The UU is fairly strong if you get there in time, the UB is not that strong in my opinion but hey, at least you're guaranteed to have full advantage if you get infantry. Not that you'll need the help with the game's best gunpowder troops.

NC XVIII: Willem (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=303918) This time we are using: THE NETHERLANDS! Many will argue he's a top leader on a water map due to the UB. I personally think the UB is good but far from great, because it comes later. However, it has the potential to shine on a map like this. Combine it with Moai for some true abuse. The UU is a bit cooler, since it's more cost-effective to invade. Good hunting!

NC XIX: Napoleon (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=306015) This time we are using: France. With the little general. UB isn't the worst thing ever, just close. The UU IMO is underrated, as are units with >1 move in general. Musket smackdown! How fast can YOU get to gunpowder?!

NC XX: Montezuma (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=307817) Whip till you bleed! It's everyone's favorite zealous backstabbing #2 tier (as an AI) warmonger, Montezuma! The UU is a niche unit but quite useful potentially. The UB? One of the best in the game. It's borderline unlimited whips.

NC XXI: Ragnar (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=309160) Rangar, everyones favorite wannabe Horn Get ready for some intercontinental delivery of pain. UU is a Maceman with added city attack and free amphibious, perfect for building an medival coastal empire, UB is a Lighthouse which makes your ships faster.

NX XXII: Suleiman: (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=312036) Silly Man! It's been gone over in recent times, but the Ottomans are among the most well-rounded civs in the game. Silly Man gets less of the spotlight than the dreaded Mehmed, but is actually a top flight leader with powerful expansion and power tech traits!

NC XXIII: Hatsheput (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=315037): Hatsheput. When there are discussions for "best leader in the game", Hatty rarely sees #1. Ask people for their top 5? Suddenly, it's different. The better warmonger of Egypt's starting two, Hatty can set the tone with war chariots, fast expansion and great people, and flexibility. Others rate her looks, but this isn't the place for that .

NC XXIV Wang Kon (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=316754): Wang Kon of Korea is the leader of the day. Usually when played by the AI he's a weakling which nevertheless manages to have a lot of friends, due to his Religion, and able to keep up in tech even when pitifully small.

NC XXV Cyrus (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=317834): okay ... next NC, this time with Cyrus, Usually seen as the more warmongering of the persian leaders, whereas Darius is more of a economic jugganaut ... Cyrus is able to both get many big cities early on due to his faster settlers and +1 happiness, or if the map lets you, get a big, fast promoted, army and clean out any enemies close by.

NC XXVI Pacal (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=322308): Your UU is a resource-less spear, the UB is the quite-good ball court. Try to use the UU for anti-barbs (and fogbust enough to avoid seeing axes), and the UB can allow for an early elephant/cat war to be more appealing if you want to go that route.

NC XXVII Charlemagne (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=322581)

NC XXVIII Gandhi (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=323315):Gandhi is considered by many the weaker of the two Indian leaders. His traits: PHI allows for early great people, while SPI is asking for civic abuse. All in all his traits lend to a specialist heavy warring game, while bulbing key techs. Our starting techs are Mysticism and Mining.

NC XXIX Stalin (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?p=8167332#post8167332): "If the opposition disarms, well and good. If it refuses to disarm, we shall disarm it ourselves." Joseph Stalin.
Stalin is both aggressive and industrious. He is also the only aggressive leader to start with mining, giving possible early access to BW. The other Russian starting tech is Hunting.

NC XXX Boudica (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=326581): The Celtic UU, Gallic Warrior, is a swordsman who starts with Guerrilla I; you need Iron Working, but only copper (or iron) to build them. The UB, the Dun, is a wall that grants Guerrilla I to units built in the city -- but only Archery, Recon, and Gunpowder units qualify. It seemed to me her civilization's UU and UB would both work better on a Highlands map, which tends to have more hills. Standard size, Temperate. Mountains form ridgelines with normal peaks (both default), and lakes are large. Because there is less water than on some other map types, there are 7 opponents instead of 6.

NC XXXI: Charlemagne (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=331904): The burger king is all over your face.

NC XXXII: Louis XIV (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=332760): Guy? Girl? Bad hair? Sniveling backstabber/culture whore? You decide.

NC XXXIII: Washington (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=333527): He doesn't tell lies and doesn't take prisoners. He charismatically grows his healthy cities and liberates them from the incompetents who don't follow his model.

NC XXXIV: Pericles (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=334869): Eek, more GREEK...CULTURE! A lot of facial hair and even more helmet makes for a balanced leader. Put on your armor and join the fray.

NC XXXV with Julius Caesar (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=338756): THE leader of the Romans is the better warmonger of the two, and very dynamic. He can pound out 2-3 opponents on any level below deity with prats alone (and can probably take down 1-2 on deity if they're softer targets). If he doesn't have neighbors, he can set his cities up cheaply and quickly and has the means to pay for them. You don't get a top UB, but you can't have everything, unless you take it with prats ;).

NC XXXVII: Victoria (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=342030): Combining expansion speed with long term commerce potential just got easier. Milk the overrated UU best you can, but use the traits to carry.

NC XXXVIII (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=343737): The Keshik tornado returns after a long time off in the Noble's Club.

Nobles club XXXIX - Asoka (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=346382): Asoka greets the NC, with balance traits and a UU that never gets old. The UB is less known but can be nice if going for a mid-game espionage push or planning a big war.

NC XL Mehmed II (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=348388): One of the game's most balanced leaders takes on a fantastic start on the big and small map script, which I personally dislike about as much as archipelago. Mehmed's traits and uniques leave most strategies open...so "play the map" :p.

NC XLI Lincoln (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=350079): America is back! Use your fishing tech to your advantage as this time you are swimming early.

NC XLII with Qin (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=351955)

NCXLIII: Bismarck (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=353361)

NC XLIV Darius I (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=355040)

NC XLV Zara Yaqob (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?p=8984933)

[NC XLVI Isabella (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=358990)

NC XLVII Mansa (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=360791)

NC 48, Suryavarman (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=362267)



May the NC continue on, to victory!

You forgot Silly-Man :)

Thanks...fixed.

Thank you TMIT and Bleys and all other hosts.

Although I'm lagging behind in the game playing. These games made me going up from Noble to Prince solidly. I have finished the first 3 games with on Noble and officially moved to Prince on NC IV, and heavily experimenting SE there. I'm also cruising through NC V enjoying the TGL enable TRE and a little REX, pretty cool stuff. Now, I feel like I can beat Prince fairly sound. Maybe it's time to start experimenting Monarch?

Good to see that the NC series is STILL going to continue. It's funny though with guys post monarch/emperor games in the Nobles area:lol:
But it helps noble players to see how the same game is played at higher levels.

Thanks TMIT:thumbsup:

A lot of the monarch+ players in the NC series started off as noble/prince players when NC founded. I am one of those people ;).

i just finished the NX XXII: Suleiman game again a domination vicotory i made some epic mistakes during the end game. Will start with egypt soon.

@TMIT: Could you update for Wong Kon's game? Thanks.

I strongly recommend NC III for people that has issues with warmongering with mounted units ;)

:agree:

The KK NC was a great learning game, fun Map for sure. One of my all-time favs from this series.

Since I am now officially stuck at Prince I'll give these a go.:)
Hopefully I can learn and win a game again. It has been too long...

Any thoughts for the leader and map type for NC XXV?

I would like a Philosophical Leader as I would like to try my first specialist based game. Any map type but Pangea. I like the wind in my sails and the salt on the air.

:agree: I like having the Civs separated as it makes the game more interesting in my opinion. Even though warring is easier on Pangaea.

I vote for Pacal II for NC XXV. Continents or Fractal for the Map type.

allready made the next map ... going to be Cyrus :p ... posting the game when i've gotten some SS and got some breakfast :p

but i'm open for suggestions

I've never played as Cyrus, always played as the other guy (Darius?) when I'm Persia. Either way, still more leaders to go through! I'm stuck on Prince so maybe this next NC game will get me my first prince win.

Razzlesnaff ... i've compliled a list of which leader thats allready been though NC, and i intend to keep running nonplayed leaders till i run dry :p

Haven't played as Cyrus either, but he sounds interesting. Those traits and immortals ask for early war if there are horses. I'm going to try prince on this next nc and hopefully have my first prince victory too.

Cyrus was fun even though I lost. I'm wondering who the next leader will be. Hmmm.

@TMIT You have a numbering error starting from Hatsheput

Looks that way, but the threads are title that way too. Maybe I'll just leave it for a while ;).

uploading next NC tomorrow ... have had it ready for almost a week but tiredness due to RL held me from getting around writing an intro post :p

Cant wait. Even though I moved on to Prince/Monarch, at least I can try some more unorthodox strategies on Noble.

@TMIT You have a numbering error starting from HatsheputLooks that way, but the threads are title that way too. Maybe I'll just leave it for a while ;).You could label them both ways in the initial post: "xx (actually yy)" or "xx (mistitled as yy)".

Yet another great series on the forums... I've been playing Prince/Monarch, but got BTS a week or so ago, and went back to Noble level to learn the new civs UU's and UB's, and especially, to get a handle on espionage. This is a great series to learn on, too. Great job for getting this thread up!

Add one more...Pacal is up!

TMIT, I gather you would like someone to take over hosting duties for the NC. Since I have time on my hands at the moment, and am a lower level player still not quite comfy on monarch, I wouldn't mind posting up a few WB saves after Charley runs its course. Does leader run on popular vote, or choose one that hasn't been played?

TMIT, I gather you would like someone to take over hosting duties for the NC. Since I have time on my hands at the moment, and am a lower level player still not quite comfy on monarch, I wouldn't mind posting up a few WB saves after Charley runs its course. Does leader run on popular vote, or choose one that hasn't been played?

Historically it's been a combination of popular vote and ones not played. Feel free to take over! I have some other civ things I want to do...;).

Grand. Regards map, keep it simple, ie not isolated or too boxed in, standard script such as fractal:)

You have some liberty. Also, isolation is part of the game so I don't see any issue with it. I recommend against making it really difficult, but other than that anything should work :p.

Oh yeah, people don't like tectonics, but that's usually because of the plains. If you use that map script (and it can give some interesting maps), make sure to set the climate to "wet". Yes, there's extra jungle as a result, but the land quality is so much better overall, so it plays more like a standard map...good for the AI and beginners.

I posted up the next instalment, Gandhi here (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=323315), enjoy.

I have posted up the next NC game, NCXXIX Stalin (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?p=8167332#post8167332)

I'll update these in a bit.

Apologies to Single Malt, but I really wanted to play NC XXX - Boudica of the Celts (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=326581) next.

I made a list of the leaders we don't seem to have played yet, in case someone wants to think about which to try after this. Edited as we play them:

Asoka NC XXXIX (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=346382)
Augustus NC L (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=365255)
Bismark NC XLIII (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=353361)
Boudica NC XXX (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=326581)
Charlemagne NC XXXI (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=331904) (plus XXVII (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=322581) :blush:)
Churchill NC XLIX (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=363774)
Darius NC XLIV (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=355040)
Ghengis Khan NC XXXVIII (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=343737)
Gilgamesh NC XXXVI (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=340421)
Hammurabi (NC LII (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=368822))
Huayna Capac
Isabella XLVI (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=358990)
Julius Caesar NC XXXV (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=338756)
Justinian
Lincoln NC XLI (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=350079)
Louis XIV NC XXXII (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=332760)
Mansa Musa NC XLVII (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=360791)
Mao Zedong (NC LI (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=367169))
Mehmed II NC XL (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=348388)
Pericles NC XXXIV (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=334869)
Peter
Qin Shi Huang NC XLII (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=351955)
Suryavarman II NC XLVIII (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=362267)
Victoria NC XXXVII (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=342030)
Washington NC XXXIII (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=333527)

It's about time I edit OP, so I'll do so.

- TMIT's note: Boudica was an excellent choice for # XXX.That's what I thought, and why I leaped in immediately after I realized what the next Roman numeral after Stalin's XXIX would be (and I feel dumb it took me 2 weeks to think of it!)

I've just finished two warmongering games in a row -- LHC 51 (Victoria) and a replay of an old GOTM. Not quite up to the Boudica game yet, nor the Morgan Kane RPC. Can anyone recommend one of the old NC games that would be good for a nice peaceful space ship victory? Or does someone want to create one with one of the unplayed leaders and some suitably unwarlike opponents?

Arabia could be played pretty peacefully if you are really itching for one.

You could always host XXXI, too ;).

But that would be embarassing if I didn't actually play my own Boudica game first!

Nah, Bleys used to do that too.

I wouldn't mind hosting a couple of these...no NC games in the last several weeks. I think there are quite a few lurkers at noble level but no one willing to host. Dalamb, are you posting XXXI soon ?

NC is a fun diversion for me with 1-2 cities as a break from the grind that is emp/imm.

cas

I have been thinking about posting another now that I think I understand better how to create a scenario file correctly. Want to suggest a leader and/or theme? map type?

As the host, those things are up to your judgment ;). Standard maps tend to draw the most people though.

Ha TMiT, I notice you think Burger King deserves no description.

Dalamb,
Just choose a leader that hasn't been done on NC yet and whatever map type suits your fancy (on the size parameter, standard is best).

You can host XXXI and I'll start thinking of what I want for XXXII.

cas

May I host XXXIII? Might be fun, though that is far future I suppose.

Pick somebody industrious. I need some work on that trait.

NC XXXI Charlemagne (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=331904) is up. Maybe I'll actually get around to playing this one, unlike Boudica.

Edit: lots of unplayed INDs -- Augustus, Bismark, Huayna, Louis XIV, Qin.

May I go next, as Louis XIV is up?

@CHEESE!: I think nobody would mind your going next after cas, but I'd personally prefer you wait a couple of weeks for a few people to finish XXXII first. Not that you should wait for me to finish, given how slow I am, but maybe until a few of the more regular players get to it.

@cas: I think would have been nice to post a link to Louis XIV (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=332760) in this thread; I don't necessarily look at the Strategy and Tips forum every day, whereas I'm subscribed to this bullpen thread and would see a notice right away.

Yes, I will wait a week-10 days.

Have you decided what leader, or at least, what kind of leader (traits) you want?

NC XXXII Louis XIV (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=332760) is up and running. Rocky start with the wb, but should be fixed now except the warrior starting in diff locations. :lol:

@ CHEESE, I'm fine with you hosting the next.

I was not sure how long to wait...think I waited 6-7 days. I had time last night to post and stick around for the wb errors which I figured were a possibility.

cas

I've decided on the leader. I will host it in 3 days? Or is that too soon?

Edit: I'm mapping it now, can I use any map?

@cas: Copy the URL into the clipboard, select the text you want to have underlined via the link, then click the blue-globe-with-link icon just below the smiley face at the top of the Reply box.

@CHEESE!: I personally find one of these per week to be too soon, but most people play faster than me. You might want to check the start and end dates of the Boudica game to see over what time period people posted.

I think once every week-10 days is about right. I do play smaller empire size than most, but I also play slow. Funny thing there were no NC games for 6 weeks and now we are worried about hosting them too fast. :lol:

As long as we don't have another 6 week drought like we did between XXX and XXXI I'll be happy.

cas

ps...thanks for the tip on the text/url thing. I was using that button but didn't put the text in the proper spot. I played around with it a few times and was able to figure it out.

I just stumbled upon this Noble's Club as I was perusing through strategies on this forum. I'm interested in trying these out as I'm around the Noble level myself. What version of BTS are you playing on currently. I think yall were playing on 3.13 originally, but I'm hoping you are on 3.19 now. Couple of other questions:

1) what mod do most of you use - I'm using BUFFY the most for standard gameplay since I'm getting into the GOTM
2) I'd like to go back and play some of the older files. How far back can I go considering I have 3.19 installed?

thanks

note: they should stick these threads or create a sub-forum under Strategies

@lymond

I think since the Nobles Club saves are posted as worldbuilder files, it doesn't matter if you are running 3.19 and play games created on previous versions. You can test this by trying to go back all the way to the beginning few games.

As for MODs, I use BUFFY. Most people used BUG before BUFFY came out, and I'm sure there are a few others.

But again, it doesn't matter what MOD you use because these are worldbuilder files, so put them in your saves/worldbuilder folder and 'play custom scenario' after you've loaded the MOD you want.

If you are asking about the MOD thing because you want to post your game and ask for advice, then I'd say no mod or BUFFY. But a good group of pictures will usually suffice for people trying to give you advice.

cas

I use BUFFY as well. I don't understand why no-one else seems to.

In my case I'm waiting to update everything when BULL gets an installer.

Guys, I might actually need to post the game today as I will be alone and civless for another 10 days. Is that OK, or should someone take over from me?

I think you should be around when you post so you can respond to messages about problems of the sort cas and I ran into. So wait 10 days and, if someone wants to post something before then, you can use 34 instead of 33.

That's fine, I will be back tomorrow. So I will post it day afterwards.

I'd like to claim Qin (Ind/Pro) for some reasonably near future game. I'm happy to wait for a while if other people want to host games after whatever CHEESE! posts.

Should I say the leader I am doing now, or only when I post?

Yeah but I've been kinda avoiding these threads since I basically never played Noble ... I could have helped the noble players, but still, it put me off even opening the threads. :pNothing can help if you don't even open the thread, but maybe we can work out some standard wording for the very beginning of each new leader thread that tells people what's going on. Our main boilerplate belongs at the end as now, but maybe the beginning should say:The Nobles' Club series is for advanced players to help people who play at Noble difficulty and below learn how to play better. You can play your own game at any level and with any mod, but it would be nice to comment on the games of other players and give them advice.

Should I say the leader I am doing now, or only when I post?Your call, but since bullpen threads sometimes discuss what leader to pick next and come up with a specific choice, there's no harm in telling us.

Okey Dokey. The next leader will be Washington (Exp/Cha) of America.

Since we're claiming leaders, I'll probably go with Giggles for my next one. I want to try a EE and he is somewhat suited for it with the early Courthouse.

cas

NC XXXIII with Washington (http://http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=333527) is up. I thought, yeah, I'm awake, I'll do it.

I'm reposting this question. I'm curious if yall have considered having CFC create a sub-forum for Nobles Club or maybe a combined forum with the other clubs like Immortal, etc.? The intro threads and faqs could be stickied. I think these group games are great but this forum seems unwieldy now. I think it still still be a sub-forum of S&T since it's still about learning the game and improving skill level.

edit: another thought is to simply sticky this thread

I don't have any idea what the criteria might be for creating a sub-forum, but don't have any objection to putting NC, LHC, and PYL there. They all have "history" behind them. What happens when someone tries to create a new series, though? When does something qualify for the new subforum? What about the various RPC series like Sisutil's, madscientist's, etc -- some people shadow those, kind of like the ones I already mentioned, but they seem somehow different to me.

If we're going to have a "sticky" NC bullpen thread, OTOH, we might want to ask TMIT to edit the first post a little to say what the series has become.

NC XXXIII with Washington (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=333527) is up. I thought, yeah, I'm awake, I'll do it.I fixed your link inside the quote; it had a double HTTP:.

Does someone else want to plan the next game? I still want to do Qin sometime, but have been ill for a while and have some general catch-up to do before I try hosting something new.

I'm a noble level player really. I've won a few lucky monarch games IIRC, and Ive been trying prince level also (thats between noble and monarch right?)
I used to love rushing the A.Is on noble with almost any civ, but on monarch they all start with archery which is just SO not fun.

Well, I could always play Rome and prat-rush right? (or get lucky and warrior rush some close-by A.I's empty capital) :lol:

but yeah, it seems im kinda out of tactics to tackle the monarch level at the moment. On noble I liked pangea the most with lots of warmongering but on monarch it seems its again a bit harder to combine expansion, wars, not lagging behind too much, and trying to avoid getting backstabbed by lots of A.Is at the same time. Fav leaders probably would be Roosevelt, Stalin and Lizzy probably (she's surely better than Victoria right?)
Oh yeah and Tokugawa is also fun as hell, though a bit hard since his traits arent that good economically. But Toku's samurais and rifles (and even late game hammer crazy UB) :crazyeye:

Hmm I might try my luck with the Incans though, they'll probably do a decent job rushing the A.Is warriors/archers even on monarch right? Plus a strong trait combo and a good UB.

I could host another one over the weekend sometime. Not going to have time tomorrow or Friday.

cas

Had some extra time tonight. NC XXXIV Pericles (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?p=8447248#post8447248) is up. Hopefully I've learned from all my previous wb mistakes and this one is clean from the start.

Will tackle Giggles as my next leader when it's my rotation again.

cas

The OP should probably be updated...

The OP should probably be updated...

I've been meaning to do it with the slew of games. I wish the keys could be passed between but that doesn't work so I'll do it.

Give me a bit.

Hi, I've been absent from the forums for a while, but it's great to see that Nobles Club is still running.

:)

I can't believe I missed something like 22 games! :eek:

anybody is going to host another nc game? :confused:

I'm slowly editing a map for Qin, to gerrymander it to my tastes, but someone else is welcome to host some other leader soon if I'm being too slow.

I'm still waffling over what exactly I want from the Qin map, but decided that with 2 essays to finish this week I'll be wanting to kill something instead. :ar15: We haven't done JC yet (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=8231112&postcount=33), and I think a Praetorian romp would suit my mood; I'd edit the map to make sure iron was within range for a decent 2nd city if it weren't already available near the start.

But I don't want a standard kill-everything-on-Pangaea. I'd want at least 2 continents so the game would have to get at least as far as Astronomy, which means Praetorians would be obsolete. Maybe Rome would have to build a few Forums. So I'd appreciate some advice on how to make the map interesting. Some half-baked ideas I was considering:

Standard 2 continents; both would be about equal by default. Seems a bit boring but easy to set up. Maybe add some territory to one of them and one more civilization, so there's a bit more to conquer early on?
Generate 3 continents but connect 2 so there was a bigger romp in the "old world" but still one separate continent to invade later? I imagine I'd have to carefully ensure the old world wasn't trivial to take via domination -- or is that not an issue for other people? If domination on the original continent were possible but difficult, that might meet my criteria for fun.
What about big-and-small or hemispheres? I think one of them puts everybody on the "old world" with barbs on the new; are both like that? Sirian's guide (http://www.civfanatics.com/civ4/reference/map_scripts_guide.php) doesn't mention them and Mortac's (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=246788) doesn't mention the old world/new world thing (so maybe neither has this property?)
I'm not so sure I'd want everyone in the old world; it would be kind of like a smaller pangaea, easier to conquer. Start with one of them but WB to teleport one civ there?
Is there some other map type I should consider?
I'm hoping to build this map during a break from brainwork tonight or tomorrow; second essay is due around 3pm EST Wednesday the 14th, so I'd love to start bashing things not too long after that.

a large or huge map pretty much will do the work. i remember in the GOTM 1, most early dominations wins were using fast astro beelines and took the other continent or 2 with cats and praets. so, 2 or 3 continents doesn't stop noble praets from conquering the world, only ironless will do. :)

I think 2 continents would suffice. You can still load a lot of preats/trebs on galleons to do the job.

I think 2 continents would suffice.

I agree.

Any large or Huge maps would probably frazzle my laptop so sticking to standard gets my vote.

I've never actually played JC, guess I've just avoided praets as I'm a better builder than a war mongerer, but it should be fun.

guess I've just avoided praets as I'm a better builder than a war mongerer, but it should be fun.Some experienced players consider Praetorians overpowered*, which may be why nobody put together an NC yet. But I'm still not good at war, so I can probably actually learn something useful by playing them.

*But then there was the always-war, raging-barbs GOTM a while back.:eek: Even Rome had some trouble!

I agree.

Any large or Huge maps would probably frazzle my laptop so sticking to standard gets my vote.

I've never actually played JC, guess I've just avoided praets as I'm a better builder than a war mongerer, but it should be fun.

I've actually never won a large/huge map yet!

I've only won 1 "huge" map, and it was a European start on Earth 18, which likely shouldn't count.

NC XXXV with Julius Caesar (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=338756) is up. I'll likely post the Qin map after I finish playing this one out -- which, given how slow I am, may give somebody else the opportunity to post NC 36.

Oooh! You gave me the link and everything! I'm happy. The OP is updated. I like this...it makes it easy on me :p.

NC XXXV with Julius Caesar (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=338756) is up. I'll likely post the Qin map after I finish playing this one out -- which, given how slow I am, may give somebody else the opportunity to post NC 36.

Oooh! You gave me the link and everything! I'm happy. The OP is updated. I like this...it makes it easy on me :p.

Thanks, guys. :goodjob: I like NC series.

Someone though I had (or ought to?) pick opponents in the NC 35 (Julius) game. Do y'all find that sort of thing attractive? Should it be a factor in my long-delayed Qin game?

Qin is supposed to allow two specific things:

Hunkering down to wonderspam towards a space victory (my preference). Maybe edit in a choke point or two if necessary.
Combat fun with Cho-Ko-Nus (mostly for other people, but maybe a bit for me too).
Some early trading possible, but some ocean travel also possibly useful.
I had meant to leave opponents random, but could, for example, pick a nearby warmonger so you have to leverage PRO to turtle up like I wanted.

It never works out the way you want, players often find ways to deal with the warmongers or just rush them out.

But there's nothing wrong with hand-picking opposition per se. You may recall I even added minor civs and other surprises in games past :).

I guess this is the right place to ask. What do you think the new noble players should have in mind when starting to play on Noble? Many people see this level as their limit, what could help them? What made you master Noble?

I guess this is the right place to ask. What do you think the new noble players should have in mind when starting to play on Noble? Many people see this level as their limit, what could help them? What made you master Noble?

Game spam :lol:.

No, not really. Although I stared out on settler due to limited civ experience, I blew right through noble easily once I got there similar to other posters now at immortal+. I didn't even remotely struggle until monarch (which I won early after trying), and for me the real push didn't start until emperor. But the question seems to be...why do some people get stuck?

My closest guess is that they actually see the level as their limit! There's no reason for that ---> many players have managed to win on deity. The important thing is to analyze in each game what is causing you to struggle.

Most players who do poorly on noble are terrible with some basics: tech choice, building (against unit) choice, which tiles to improve first, and improving tiles rapidly enough. Anybody who gets those things down won't be stuck at noble for long. Why then, so many failures?

A lot of players don't make a concerted effort to improve or change on a game to game basis. One of my favorite examples is when I was tutoring not one but SEVERAL players who made and to my knowledge still often make the same mistake: delaying the granary in new cities they intend to grow!

It's amazing. I must have told these players several times, and had other even better players vouch for my advice: for cities that are going to grow even somewhat, the granary is the #1 economic building in the game (only a border pop takes precedence, if you need one). 3 games later, these players are still building the likes of a library or courthouse ahead of the granary in green riverside cities. Or maybe they'll not build a monument even though the best tiles need a pop...etc. Whatever, the granary example is glaring enough.

I suspect that players who fail noble more than a few times are failing for just the reason the "delay granary against all advice" players fail at their respective levels. They're not able (or more likely simply not willing) to adapt to advice that is merited by proven results and coming from players at a level they aspire to defeat. Instead, they repeat their same weak actions and replicate the results.

How many sample games are on this forum? Are we up to thousands now? I don't know. I suspect we are. In the NC alone though, if we average 5 summaries/map you have over 150 writeups to look at how a player made his empire, what techs he chose generally, how he played diplo, how he played war, etc. Anybody with a sense of pattern recognition should be able to find actions that tend to win in FAR FEWER games than 150! Even if it isn't explicitly stated, tech path can often be inferred via screenshots and what's given in the summaries. Things that are not clear can be specifically asked ---> and specific questions lend themselves to answers more readily than broad "why am I not doing well" crap.

So what do you have in mind? That depends on what you're trying to improve in your gameplay. But for most noble players ----> don't under or (more likely) over-invest in infrastructure, choose the proper tech path to develop your empire quickly, try not to get killed militarily (it's still possible to keep up with the AI in absolute terms here, and easily) and maybe start paying attention to how the diplo mechanics work a little bit. Anybody who can generally do those things will blow noble out.

I guess this is the right place to ask. What do you think the new noble players should have in mind when starting to play on Noble? Many people see this level as their limit, what could help them? What made you master Noble?

When you are at noble the idea of playing against an AI that is being given handicaps does not seem appealing, i remember thinking why would i want to play on any level higher than noble, but then i just improved enough to find that i did not really enjoy playing at noble anymore so i moved up to Prince and now Monarch and i actually find it much more interesting and aspects like city maintenance costs etc. really begin to surface.
I just recently moved on from Noble, i think the single most important factor in allowing me to move on was understanding and being able to decide which tech i needed to research next and having a stratergy with regard to my tech path. Making sure each tech i researched was for a purpose etc.
There were other things like chopping / whipping / rushing etc. that helped but what finally allowed me to become a better player was making smarter tech choices.

My inner nerd felt compelled to make a spreadsheet computing the long-term average time between NC threads, which turns out to be 17 days (median 16.5). So I'm hoping to put together another one by the end of next week -- maybe sooner.

It won't be too hard for me to create a Monarch+ save by adding Archery to the Noble WB save now that I seem to know what to do to get the basic scenario file built; I'll likely try that at least once to see if I get it right. How much demand is there for a 3rd for even higher level players? I'd have to go hunting for the description of what to do; I've seen it before, but don't have a link handy.

What else would make the maps fun to play? What kind of edits seem appropriate? Do you prefer to stick with the map as generated? Or have a fiendish mapmaker edit in potential city sites with a 1-ocean separation from an otherwise isolated continent (I'm looking at you, r_rolo1 :D). I notice some xOTMs have "interesting" situations, but perhaps those aren't so appropriate for something that's still supposed to be educational for lower-difficulty players?

It won't be too hard for me to create a Monarch+ save by adding Archery to the Noble WB save now that I seem to know what to do to get the basic scenario file built; I'll likely try that at least once to see if I get it right. How much demand is there for a 3rd for even higher level players? I'd have to go hunting for the description of what to do; I've seen it before, but don't have a link handy.

A monarch save would certainly be nice :D


What else would make the maps fun to play? What kind of edits seem appropriate? Do you prefer to stick with the map as generated?

I'm fairly easy going as far as map types and little edited suprises are concerned. Keeping with the spirit of the club I guess any minor changes you make should be added for some educational purpose I guess and still keep a good balance between being a decent challenge but not frustrating and demoralising for lower level players.

Possibly the re-introduction of a map tips spoiler maybe a nice idea

I'm not too creative with maps myself so can't offer you mauch advice there. I tend to pick really run of the mill map scripts in my ofline games (Pangea, fractal and continents) and always use standard settings... I tend to rely on clubs like these running interesting maps.

Looking forward to the next game :)

My inner nerd felt compelled to make a spreadsheet computing the long-term average time between NC threads, which turns out to be 17 days (median 16.5). So I'm hoping to put together another one by the end of next week -- maybe sooner.

It won't be too hard for me to create a Monarch+ save by adding Archery to the Noble WB save now that I seem to know what to do to get the basic scenario file built; I'll likely try that at least once to see if I get it right. How much demand is there for a 3rd for even higher level players? I'd have to go hunting for the description of what to do; I've seen it before, but don't have a link handy.

What else would make the maps fun to play? What kind of edits seem appropriate? Do you prefer to stick with the map as generated? Or have a fiendish mapmaker edit in potential city sites with a 1-ocean separation from an otherwise isolated continent (I'm looking at you, r_rolo1 :D). I notice some xOTMs have "interesting" situations, but perhaps those aren't so appropriate for something that's still supposed to be educational for lower-difficulty players?

I'd like NC series to keep on the newbie friendly side. There are still players thinking noble is hard to beat.

Hmm. One way to interpret your comment is that "interesting" shouldn't mean "tricksy" but might mean "a fun surprise".

Hmm. One way to interpret your comment is that "interesting" shouldn't mean "tricksy" but might mean "a fun surprise".

such as a hut that pops a great engineer? :lol:

Game spam :lol:.

But the question seems to be...why do some people get stuck?

My closest guess is that they actually see the level as their limit! There's no reason for that ---> many players have managed to win on deity. The important thing is to analyze in each game what is causing you to struggle.

Most players who do poorly on noble are terrible with some basics: tech choice, building (against unit) choice, which tiles to improve first, and improving tiles rapidly enough. Anybody who gets those things down won't be stuck at noble for long. Why then, so many failures?

A lot of players don't make a concerted effort to improve or change on a game to game basis. One of my favorite examples is when I was tutoring not one but SEVERAL players who made and to my knowledge still often make the same mistake: delaying the granary in new cities they intend to grow!

It's amazing. I must have told these players several times, and had other even better players vouch for my advice: for cities that are going to grow even somewhat, the granary is the #1 economic building in the game (only a border pop takes precedence, if you need one). 3 games later, these players are still building the likes of a library or courthouse ahead of the granary in green riverside cities. Or maybe they'll not build a monument even though the best tiles need a pop...etc. Whatever, the granary example is glaring enough.

I suspect that players who fail noble more than a few times are failing for just the reason the "delay granary against all advice" players fail at their respective levels. They're not able (or more likely simply not willing) to adapt to advice that is merited by proven results and coming from players at a level they aspire to defeat. Instead, they repeat their same weak actions and replicate the results.



I can recognize some of the things you mention in me, we learned but not all stays in.
Some of the stuff is lack of basic maths understanding (there's sooo many people who don't understand percentage), some is sloppy playing (nod me) like keeping track of everything and their mother (bug mod helps a ton here) and a lot is probably "oh well this worked good enough last time".

My greatest challenge is probably turning off the notechbrokering, I suppose it'll be an entirely new game, but on the other hand it's probably a must if I'm to get anywhere from the prince/monarch area where I've been for ages.

Let me put it this way - WHen i was playing on noble - i tried a few NC games and gave up in frustratioon after that i really did not try any of the NC games until you posted one of JC ... How could i resist my favourite past time Preat rush ... :D, Even then i was half expecting there to be no iron ...

So yeah, maybe dont complicate things too much for the people actually trying to come to grips with Noble ...

Let me put it this way - WHen i was playing on noble - i tried a few NC games and gave up in frustratioon after that i really did not try any of the NC games until you posted one of JC ... How could i resist my favourite past time Preat rush ... :D, Even then i was half expecting there to be no iron ...

So yeah, maybe dont complicate things too much for the people actually trying to come to grips with Noble ...

Well, yes and no, while I had REAL trouble with some of the earlier (I especially recall the Kublai map) maps that felt pretty biased compared to a normal random map it also made me do things more efficient.
I'd say take one thing at a time, for example the JC map could have been no iron in BFC but sort of close. Even for example horses nearby and iron in nearest opponent BFC.
But not like the "no iron, no luxury, low food, AI's get it all, I play on IMM and consider Noble to easy maps".

Agree - as far as the JC game was concerned iron should not have been in the capital maybe for a 2nd city to grab i guess ....

But what i'm saying is maybe for a Nobles Club we should let the maps and the opponents be random and let people who are learning the game just play the map rather than cook up scenarios by selecting the opponents and then tweaking the maps as well ...

Just my opinion, i think it's a bit too much to do all that for NC game.

BTW - Dalamb did say that the JC game was meant to be fun and easy more than anything else so i guess the iron being there was ok, since everybody just got to have some good ol fashioned AI thumping fun :D

I didn't actually think about moving the settler, so in my mind the JC iron really did require a 2nd city.

A quick poll on which leader to pick next. I've been playing around with ideas for the following 4; please let me know which you prefer:

Ghengis Khan on some map with lots of opponents on his original continent (plus nearby horses, though perhaps a bit further away than JC's iron ;)). The point for us Nobles would be to try out TMIT's all-Keshiks conquest strategy (which I'd copy-and-paste into a strategy spoiler).
Gilgamesh with a decent techer like Mansa. The Vulture is a stronger axeman (6 base instead of 5 and vs melee both of them are 7.5), and early Ziggurat/Courthouses (available with Priesthood) helps recover the economy from REXing earlier that waiting for CoL. I've also seen suggestions that Giggles is a good leader for trying out an espionage economy (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=316324), which is why I'd want a tech leader as an opponent. One EE alternative would be Isabella, with the +25%:espionage: from citadels.
Qin. Likely later rather than sooner; with a PRO/IND leader I personally wanted to hunker down and wonderspam, but in a more directed way than I used to at Warlord. I'm collecting advice (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=339731) on how to tailor choice of wonders based on what strategy one wants to follow.
Victoria on an archipelago map: a water map with a FIN leader, strongly suggesting a Trade Route Economy, with the possibility of Redcoats-based conquest later in the game. We've done Elizabeth twice, so the English/FIN combination might not be so attractive, but IMP for mid-game warfare might be fun.
Opinions? Other suggestions?

My vote is for Vicky.

Genghis would be fun but it's too soon, we just got done with the Preat rush :D.

BTW - I dont know if the whole espionage economy would really work on Noble / Prince cos the AI does not tech that fast, it's probably more Practical Emperor +

Genghis would be fun but it's too soon, we just got done with the Oreat rush :D.

Agreed, I think I've got my war fix for this month :)

Immortal University is currently playing Qin so maybe save him for a later game.

I quite fancy playing a mostly peaceful game next round so either Gilgamesh or Victoria swould suit, although I suck on watery maps, so...

My vote goes for Gilgamesh.

although I suck on watery maps, so...



I used to hate water based maps too, it all changed after i had a couple of games with Willem - he is just so powerful on water maps just unbelievable, now every now and then i dont mind playing a watery map.

However i must say - there should be at least decent amounts of land, probably long snaky continents would be ok, if not it's a bit of a put off for me ...

I vote for Gilgamesh. I've never played him before - although I've had the extreme pleasure getting completely crush by his Stack O Doom.

I used to hate water based maps too, it all changed after i had a couple of games with Willem - he is just so powerful on water maps just unbelievable, now every now and then i dont mind playing a watery map.

Perhaps it's time I got over my watery map phobia!

However i must say - there should be at least decent amounts of land, probably long snaky continents would be ok, if not it's a bit of a put off for me ...

If we do go for the Vic game I second this.

For the Victoria game, I took a look at the Map Creation guide (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=246788#archipelago) and was thinking of "archipelago, snaky continents" and possibly "low sea level" so there'd be a reasonable amount of land, also. You won't be able to see the images in the guide until early next month; that account gets a lot of traffic so photobucket only delivers the real images for a couple of weeks before telling the owner to upgrade to Pro.

For Gilgamesh I haven't decided on a map type yet, but would pick a couple of the opponents. Are there other fast-techers besides Mansa?

NC 36: Gilgamesh (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=340421) is up. For my first time this has Monarch (adds Archery to all AIs) and Immortal (adds Archery and Hunting), both of which affect what kind of starting unit the AI gets. Anyone want Deity (adds the Wheel)? In any case let me know if there are problems with the saves; I checked starting units on an Immortal save, and there were both archers and scouts for the AIs, so I think I did it right.

Regarding editing maps (slight spoiler for NC 36):One of our opponents started with a really lousy position IMHO. In future, should I edit to improve such things? or just let the AI migrate out and hassle other civs sooner because of lack of his/her own land?I'm finding mapmaking to be fun and frustrating both. None of the map scripts seem to do quite what I want; in particular, lately I've found that Custom Continents and Pangaea have lots of desert. Anybody know a good script that reduces desert? It's not that hard to turn desert into plains (although I do keep desert for flood plains and incense, both of which are supposed to be on desert tiles).

It has been a full week since the last post in the Gilgamesh game. Are people ready for the next leader, or should I wait a bit longer? Are people too busy with other games or RL at the moment, or are y'all starving for another "group" game?

In my case I'm struggling to find time to finish my essays in RL and the BOTM game that finishes in a few days, and after that kind of want to finish with Giggles, so could happily wait. OTOH it won't be hard to put the Victoria map together since I know what I want to do with it.

Please, please, please, no more low sea level games. :p I guess it's already time for the next one.

Yup, time for the next game.

Mea culpa; I had a personal bias in favour of low-sea-level, lots-of-land games until I was told how much harder it makes the higher difficulty levels when the AI has lots of room to expand.

I plan on "middle" sea level for Vicky's archipelago. Does anybody care about how the "islands" turn out or should I leave it to the RNG?

Ah, I'm a fan of low sea level too, but having gone no higher than Noble the negative side affects weren't known to me.

In regards to your questions:

1. Go for it, she's a long weekend here so I plan on doing lots of Civ'ing, need to get to Prince.
2. I've always been partial to snaky islands, is that one of the archipelago options?

What holiday is it in New Zealand?

Yes, snaky continents is what I had in mind.

@ dalamb - Canterbury regional holiday (http://www.ccc.govt.nz/cityleisure/eventsfestivals/iconicevents/nzcupandshowweek.aspx).

Long snaky continents you mean? Ok let's get started already!

Ready for the next game. I might actually be able to join in this time, as usually I miss the starts.

I just joined this site yesterday and I'm currently working on solidifying my game at Noble so I can move up to Prince, so this look like exactly what I need. :) Is there anything in particular I need to do to participate in this? (Mods I need to/should have, screenshots/saves I need to hold on to as I'm playing, posts I need to make as I play, and so on?) Thanks in advance.

Yeah, I'm ready for the next game too! Seems like Noble club games are the only ones I seem to end up finishing these days!

I just joined this site yesterday and I'm currently working on solidifying my game at Noble so I can move up to Prince, so this look like exactly what I need. :) Is there anything in particular I need to do to participate in this? (Mods I need to/should have, screenshots/saves I need to hold on to as I'm playing, posts I need to make as I play, and so on?) Thanks in advance.

Welcome to Civ Fanatics JP1. :)

No mods needed to play nobles club, but you can use a mod if you have a prefered choice.

As for screenshots/saves just post what you feel you need, particularly if your looking for feedback/advice on going forward in your game. There are some set checkpoints where you can report on your game (although you don't have to stick to these) and don't forget to put your report in spoilers!

Looking forward to the game!

Well, work being what it is, there's no guarantee that I'll be able to play in this, but I'm really hoping to. I'm sure I've built up tons of terrible habits playing in a bubble, and I know I probably could use a lot of help, so I'll likely be posting lots of screenshots and saves and asking a lot of questions in mile-long spoiler boxes.

Are there any mods you would recommend I use? I've seen all sorts of mods around with all sorts of acronyms I don't understand, and I wouldn't know which ones are compatible with each other.

Thanks for the welcome. :)

I know what you mean about playing in a bubble! I managed to get to warlord level on my own, but playing Nobles Club really helped me improve my game up to Monarch.

I havn't played with too many of the mods available but I use Bug Mod, which basically doesn't alter gameplay but just improves on the user interface, gives you additional info, and adds little things like a natty little dotmapping tool :) But it does seem to slow down my laptop a little. You can download it Here (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=274636) if that takes your fancy.

Don't worry about posting long reports and asking lots of questions, thats the whole point of the club.

Vicky on a snaky archipelago map sounds like fun. I only have 4 games in progress now, so what's one more? :)

NC XXXVII: Victoria (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=342030) is up. Enjoy! I hope to join in early next week, but we'll see; I seem to be playing out about as few of my own games as Bleys did.

Great! Looking forward to it! It's fun to play this way.

I'm going to give this one a shot. I played a little last night on Noble, hemispheres as Pericles. I was doing pretty good, MM my cities and making sure they were working the right tiles, getting a sizable phalanx army up, only to realize my nearest neighbor was Monty. :( Yeah, he DoW'd me before I was really ready, and just plowed through me. I fully expect to lose this game, as I've won once on chieftain, but I'll play it and post to see if there is anything I can do better. Kinda excited as I've never played a map where you HAVE to have a strong navy to advance.

Yeah, I 'have won' games on Noble before, but that's a long way from 'usually win', and I'm halfway expecting I'll lose. I'm also not very good at the heavy water maps, so we'll see if I can pick up some experience there.

Hey, i just noticed the last game (Gilly) and current one are not updated in the opening post.

Only TMIT can update that, and he does so every so often but not necessarily after every game. FWIW there's also my summary of unplayed and recently-played leaders (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=8231112&postcount=33).

Only TMIT can update that, and he does so every so often but not necessarily after every game. FWIW there's also my summary of unplayed and recently-played leaders (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=8231112&postcount=33).

Oooooo, Darius on Pangaea for extreme rush and/or REX ability :D

Oooooo, Darius on Pangaea for extreme rush and/or REX ability :D

Sounds tasty :goodjob: or we play genghis and do a TMIT style game :D.

Oooooo, Darius on Pangaea for extreme rush and/or REX ability :D

Sounds tasty :goodjob: or we play genghis and do a TMIT style game :D.

Either of those sounds great to me.

Any leader with an early military advantage would be nice as I'm thinking of trying a move up to emporer for the first time next game and I'm gonna need all the help I can get.

My next choice is Ghengis, indeed planning on learning/following TMIT's strategy. I was thinking of Arboria after watching madscientist's all-Montezuma game -- lots of trees should mean lots of happy chopping, and Kheshiks should have a nice advantage with ignoring terrain costs.

Of course someone else could intervene and claim some other leader for #38, but I'd really like to wait about another week (median long-term time between games is a little over 2 weeks).

I'm thinking of trying a move up to emporer for the first time next game and I'm gonna need all the help I can get.

Me too :). So i guess that'll be too of us. I have been playing a few emperor starts offline and finally seem to be getting to a strong position in one. So may have my first emperor win soon.
BTW - Big difference from Monarch for me is how the AI seem to unit spam by the mid game.

My next choice is Ghengis, indeed planning on learning/following TMIT's strategy. I was thinking of Arboria after watching madscientist's all-Montezuma game -- lots of trees should mean lots of happy chopping, and Kheshiks should have a nice advantage with ignoring terrain costs.

Of course someone else could intervene and claim some other leader for #38, but I'd really like to wait about another week (median long-term time between games is a little over 2 weeks).

Cool, maybe we can start by this weekend??? Nobody will mind :mischief:

What is TMIt's strategy that you mention?

I was going to dig up a description around the time I posted the game (since I'm usually to lazy to go use the Search function), but the basics are:

Beeline Horseback Riding
Build barracks and stables gers. You get 7XP out of the gate, even without a GG or theocracy or vassalage, enough for 2 promotions.
Build lots of Kheshiks. Lots and lots. I think in some games he never built any other attackers.
Remember that "rush" means "rush" -- attack soon and keep attacking. "Warfare is self-sustaining" -- you'll get lots of cash to keep your economy going if you keep conquering cities.
Promote your "first attackers" to Flanking II, which gives Kheshiks a 50% withdrawal chance. Attack cities with these when they still have 2 moves (1 move left after they attack); more than half the time they'll either win outright or retreat.
Promote others up the Combat line. Use these (in the same stack, of course) to clean up.
Since I didn't search for his original message before writing this, and my memory is often poor, I am certainly leaving out important details he actually covered, so its probably best not to question or criticize this strategy until I have an opportunity to post it "for real".

I've posted a poll (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=342670) about how often to make new maps.

Me too :). So i guess that'll be too of us. I have been playing a few emperor starts offline and finally seem to be getting to a strong position in one. So may have my first emperor win soon.
BTW - Big difference from Monarch for me is how the AI seem to unit spam by the mid game.

Atleast I'll have someone to compare how badly I'm doing! I've done a couple of 150 turn tryouts at emporer, just to test the water so to speak, I'm finding the increased costs a bit tough. Seems like a totally different league to Monarch.

From the Caesar thread:.... I also found it only stocked with warriors. Did I neglect to do something to the save to make sure the AIs started with archers?@Kingjester1: Unfortunately this game was before I learned how to edit the default Noble save to make Monarch, Immortal, and Deity saves, so the AI had its extra starting units and tech rate but not its extra techs. So, no archers. Starting with Gilgamesh there are multiple WB files.At some point I could go back and create higher-difficulty WB saves for my various pre-Giggles games; is that of any value to anyone? The time-consuming part is creating a proper Noble WB save, which is already done; it takes maybe 5 minutes to add the techs for the other saves and run a sanity check (such as loading the Immortal save and checking that the AI units look right).

Creating those saves for other peoples' games would also be possible but I wouldn't be able to update the first post in those threads. About 1/3 of the old games have been picked up again some months later.

The weekends coming and i can hear Genghis calling out to me .... :mischief:

Any chance we could have the next map up for this weekend dalamb? :)

I'm planning on it as soon as I finish this week's essay (probably early Friday morning, maybe Thursday night if things go well).

This weekend's game will be Ghengis Khan. I plan on using an Arboria map for the first time, inspired by madscientist's recent all-Montezuma RPC (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=339888); the Kheshik ability to ignore terrain costs would really shine (though that's true of Highlands too, but I imagine people had enough of Highlands with too few opponents in the Boudica game (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=326581)). A quick look at an example suggests that these maps have a single continent (no islands), a lot of food, most of it deer but also other types (I saw seafood, corn, sheep, horses, ...) plus a lot of trees (the main point, of course). There is no way to change sea level, so I can't (intentionally or not) fiddle to make too much land for Immortal TMIT.

There will be horses within range of a first or second city -- first if the script starts that way, 2nd if I have to edit it in (or, I suppose, if the script does that itself). Some questions: Does anybody care about world wrap? Cylindrical is default as on normal maps, but I was thinking of making it Flat (no wrap).
Any opponents you want to request or discourage? I'm thinking of Monty because of his woods-savvy Jaguars, but I think I'd want to edit him to be reasonably far away from us.
Are there any other suggestions for things people would like?I will copy TMIT's brief guide on Kheshik strategy into a spoiler in the original post.

Does anybody care about world wrap? Cylindrical is default as on normal maps, but I was thinking of making it Flat (no wrap).


I'm not a big fan of flat maps myself. I suppose it might be OK if we're surrounded by ocean anyway.

Yes, Arboria is a single continent surrounded by ocean -- kind of like a specialized Pangaea. I haven't seen enough maps to know whether you ever get a few offshore islands, like Pangaea sometimes does.

Nooo....

I care about world wrap. :(
I also like more islands.

But of course, these are all subjective reasons, and not even based on anything other than personal bias. I guess one huge land mass is easier to play than other map types, but... blah, I for one would find it boring. :(

Flat map = fewer vectors of threat, so I prefer cylindrical.

If you do go Arboria, Monty is a definite to include. Also one of the Indian leaders would be good: the fast worker should really shine on such a map type.

Some questions: Does anybody care about world wrap? Cylindrical is default as on normal maps, but I was thinking of making it Flat (no wrap).
Any opponents you want to request or discourage? I'm thinking of Monty because of his woods-savvy Jaguars, but I think I'd want to edit him to be reasonably far away from us.
Are there any other suggestions for things people would like?I will copy TMIT's brief guide on Kheshik strategy into a spoiler in the original post.

1) I'm ok with flat or wrap, but i guess wrap = better
2) Dont change any of the leader, if we have to contend with Monty or even Shaka :eek: (who would be a lot worse) so be it.
3) Since it's low sea level maybe we should increase the number of AI

I wasn't aware Arboria was inherently "low sea level"; there wasn't a choice for me to select. I can easily add an AI.

I was assuming it would be lots of land like the highlands map. i dont know for sure, suggest you check with those who would know better ;)

Actually after a few quick tests, settling a capital and checking the domination limit, it seems aboria maps tend to have less land than a standard medium sea level pangea map.

Average land tiles count for pangea was 901 and aboria weighed in at just 775 tiles.

So maybe we should keep it at 7 unless your aiming for a crowded map.

As for the other questions I'm actually not too fussed on which leaders, wrap type or flat or not. Whatever you feel like Dalamb.

well in that case definitely keep the usual number of suspects.

@ Groogaroo - you ready to give this a whirl on Emperor??? I have been practicing :p

well in that case definitely keep the usual number of suspects.

@ Groogaroo - you ready to give this a whirl on Emperor??? I have been practicing :p

Yeah I'm up for Emporer this game... Hmmmm... practice? maybe I should get me some of that!

I didn't realize you could check the domination tile count. :blush: Does that just involve land tiles or does it count coast, too? Edit: OK, how do you find the # land tiles? I know about getting percentage from the victory screen and "land area" from the demographics, but how do you translate that "square kilometres" number to actual tiles?

If Arboria is 100+ tiles short of Pangaea, then clearly leaving it at 6 AI is the right thing to do. Given the land tile shortfall and given that CivilizedTiger likes islands, maybe I should create an one somewhere?

I didn't realize you could check the domination tile count. :blush: Does that just involve land tiles or does it count coast, too? Edit: OK, how do you find the # land tiles? I know about getting percentage from the victory screen and "land area" from the demographics, but how do you translate that "square kilometres" number to actual tiles?

If Arboria is 100+ tiles short of Pangaea, then clearly leaving it at 6 AI is the right thing to do. Given the land tile shortfall and given that CivilizedTiger likes islands, maybe I should create an one somewhere?

Settle the capital (9 squares) check the land domination % on the victory screen

9 squares devided by the land domination % multiplied by 100 should give you a rough idea of the number of land tiles. Atleast thats what I think :crazyeye: I have been known to be wrong before though!

Up to you about the island thingy, given that most will probably be going Domination or Conquest on this game AI's settling on islands are a pain in the butt on a map where your not going to be prioritizing naval warfare. But I guess it's just personal taste.

My text editor can count occurrences of patterns like TERRAIN_OCEAN in the WB save, so I checked: In the NC 37 map, a standard 84x52 = 4368 size, there appear to be 2709 ocean tiles and 768 coast tiles, thus 891 land tiles. I can do the same count with a couple of Arboria and Pangaea maps later on and double-check your 9 tiles heuristic.

NC XXXVIII (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=343737), Ghengis Khan, is up.

This place looks interesting. It looks like I just download maps and see what results I come out with? I'm struggling on Noble right now, and you people look helpful. Could someone explain to me what it is? Or am I posting in the wrong place? :crazyeye::sad:

Could someone explain to me what it is? Or am I posting in the wrong place?

Basically Nobles Club is a place for people to play a game using the same save to compare games, offer each other advice and have fun.

The saves are Worldbuilder saves, to be put in your worldbuilder saves folder and opened as a scenario, this way you can choose your preferred difficulty & speed. Post a report as you play along or when your finished to get advice and feedback. But remember to keep it spoilers.

New games come out roughly every 2 weeks, the current one is Genghis Khan http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=343737

and while all the previous games are still considered open to play, you might find you get more feedback from the more recent games.

It was originally designed to be a club for helping lower level players progress and while this still holds true there are a range of different level players playing now. The most important thing though is to have fun. :)

I see... I'll give it a shot. Not with Genghis though, I find him horrifically dull to play. Thanks for being helpful!

I see... I'll give it a shot. Not with Genghis though, I find him horrifically dull to play. Thanks for being helpful!

What ... Genghis ... DULL? YOu and i have a bone to pick sir :D

With a born war monger like him, all you are going to be doing is :spank: the hapless AI all day long :mischief:.

BTW - Welcome to the CFC forums :) --- EDIT - I see you have been a member for ages, just not come across the NC so far ... SO welcome to the Nobles Club ;)

What ... Genghis ... DULL? YOu and i have a bone to pick sir :D

With a born war monger like him, all you are going to be doing is :spank: the hapless AI all day long :mischief:.

BTW - Welcome to the CFC forums :) --- EDIT - I see you have been a member for ages, just not come across the NC so far ... SO welcome to the Nobles Club ;)

I guess not so much dull as narrow. You can't do anything but fight. I tried it anyways though, and liked it, though I think I made the mistake of attacking too late (should have tried to kill a rival early) and now I can't really touch anyone. I'm having some trouble with saving the game... my saves don't seem to appear on the menu. Do I have to play it all in one continuous session :eek: or is there something wrong?

I'm a little bit confused as to the hosting now. Is it settled on Dalamb, or can anyone host?

I'm a little bit confused as to the hosting now. Is it settled on Dalamb, or can anyone host?

I'm pretty sure Dalamb has taken on the role of permanent host at the moment and he's doing a pretty amazing job, even providing edited saves for the higher level players. Also I think weve got into a schedule at the moment as a result of a poll... is it every two weeks?

But really you need to hear that from Dalamb I guess.

I'm pretty sure Dalamb has taken on the role of permanent host at the moment and he's doing a pretty amazing job, even providing edited saves for the higher level players. Also I think weve got into a schedule at the moment as a result of a poll... is it every two weeks?

But really you need to hear that from Dalamb I guess.

So that means another is coming up this Friday! :crazyeye: I wonder who it will be....:eek:

EDIT: Nevermind, found how to save.... so, any details on the next map? After that great Genghis Khan map I am itching for more.

Unfortunately an old back problem has flared up and I'm not supposed to sit for more than about 15 minutes at a time. Makes anything that takes more time than that kind of hard to do, what with re-establishing context and all. Plus my priorities are all screwed up, so I use my limited sitting time to do term papers and other stuff instead of Civ. ;)

No idea how long it will take to recover -- likely "days" rather than "weeks" but I'm not sure; fortunately it has been a long time since the last episode, so I don't remember. Somebody else should feel free to create the next map. I still have a "reserve" on Qin but there are others available (see page 2 which has the list of unplayed leaders).

May I suggest a couple of unplayed Dudes:

1) Asoka - I've never played him. Spiritual/Organized is an interesting combo to work with. Plus, the fast worker is always nice

2) Qin Shi Huang - The Protective trait tends to be generally unpopular. However, if there is any synergy between that trait and anything it is the Chinese unique unit. A 2 first strike Crossbowman that starts with Drill 1 from Protective will get to Drill 3 with barracks and GG settled. On top of that this UU causes up to 60% collateral damage on top of the normal 50% against melee. Bee-line Machinery for some Cho-Ku-No medieval ass-whuppin'. One of my favorite UUs. Just imagine a stack of Drill IV Crossbowman (with an additional 2 first strikes on top of that) reeking havoc on backwards AI. Oh the joy!

Unfortunately an old back problem has flared up and I'm not supposed to sit for more than about 15 minutes at a time. Makes anything that takes more time than that kind of hard to do, what with re-establishing context and all. Plus my priorities are all screwed up, so I use my limited sitting time to do term papers and other stuff instead of Civ. ;)

Sorry to hear that mate... Hope your back gets better, and I hope it wasn't playing too much civ that flared it up to begin with. ;)

May I suggest a couple of unplayed Dudes:

2) Qin Shi Huang

Hmmm....

I still have a "reserve" on Qin but there are others available (see page 2 which has the list of unplayed leaders).

I guess that's a no to qin. But Asoka is fine...

Here is the list of the players Dalamb mentioned...

Asoka --> Suggested by Lymond
Augustus
Bismark
Churchill
Darius
Hammurabi
Huayna Capac
Isabella
Justinian
Lincoln
Mansa Musa
Mao Zedong
Mehmed II
Peter
Qin Shi Huang --> Reserved by Dalamb
Suryavarman II

Oh man - I had just read that Dalamb was doing a Qin. No coffee=No Brain!

Well, Dalamb, I'm certainly looking forward to a little Qin action soon. Sorry to hear about your back and hope it gets better soon.

You know, it always seems that we talk about playing against (or with) Mansa, but I've never played him either.

No coffee=No Brain!

I know how that feels :lol:

You know, it always seems that we talk about playing against (or with) Mansa, but I've never played him either.

You know what, I don't think I've ever played a game as mansa! :crazyeye:

But I guess first we need to find someone to host in Dalambs absence, I know CHEESE! has already expressed an interest so I guess we wait to hear from him or anyone else.

If nobody steps up to host I don't mind putting the game up, the worldbuilder files are fairly straight forward to set up but I would prefer an experienced player to roll the start and check for balance as I personally like to play the game blind so to speak.

If everyone is happy to wait for Dalamb thats fine too, although I'd rather not see players lose interest in the series and I don't want Dalamb to feel pressured into returning before a full recovery.

Augustus? (for the traits)
Or Mehmed? I like how he looks like he's cooking up an evil plot in one of the animations :D

@ dalamb

Sounds like Ibuprofen-time. Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

So lymond suggested Asoka or Mansa, however mansa is currently playing over on Immortal university so we should probably avoid him for now.

CivilizedTiger suggested Augustus or Mehmed II but I think seeing as we played the other ceaser only a few games back Augustus should probably keep for a while.

With that in mind there are currently 2 leaders in the mix...


- Asoka

- Mehmed II


I'm fairly impartial... Mehmed is a personal favourite of mine, love the list of cheap buildings his traits allow and he's very versatile but I have played him a few times.

Asoka, you know I think this is another leader I've never played? Can't remember... but I havn't played a spiritual leader for a while and they can be quite fun.

So anyone prefer either in particular, or want to throw another leader into the mix?

I have a request though... :D

Can we please play a New World map? :D
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=252280

That's certainly an interesting mapscript however I think for my first attempt at posting a game for everyone I think something a little less adventurous might be in order. I'm not trying to break the mould here ;) just put up a game for everyone while we wait for dalambs return.

I'd prefer to stick to the standard game maps maybe a big and small, islands mixed in, something like that... but I am open to ideas.

I have a day off on thursday and will probably post a game then so there is still some time to discuss the details. Let me know your thoughts on Map's and which one of the two leaders you want.

One one hand, it looks like most of the past leaders have been on the warlike side, but on the other, Gandhi was played in 30. I'd go with Mehmed in a normal game, but the purpose here seems to be to explore more interesting leaders, so Asoka would make for a more interesting game. I'd go with him.

Honestly, I think that a continents would be fine, but maybe more interesting continents than the typical "two long tall continents directly X squares across the sea from each other". Perhaps a well balanced Fractal would work? I don't care for map choice too much though.

Honestly, I think that a continents would be fine, but maybe more interesting continents than the typical "two long tall continents directly X squares across the sea from each other". Perhaps a well balanced Fractal would work? I don't care for map choice too much though.

Taken onboard :)

So that's...

Asoka -> 2
Mehmed II -> 1

Well... I very rarely have a reason which I can objectively support for my preference in playing certain leaders. I don't even have a clue what traits Mehmed has, I just like that he looks sneaky in one of the animations. :D

If you want to go with teaching values, then my vote isn't to be considered, since I haven't considered any game-learning aspect in suggesting Mehmed.

Mehmed's still a solid leader choice (no matter the reason for suggesting him) so I'll leave him in the running.

I'm actually hoping he might pick up a couple of votes :mischief:

I'd love Mehmed.

Hm... and I've mixed the two leaders up. :(

Suleiman is the one who looks sneaky in the animations. :)

Went with Asoka in the end on a fractal map.

Everything is set up, link is below...

Nobles club 39 - Asoka (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=346382)

Hopefully Dalamb will be better in time for the next game, I think he's better at organising these things than me... plus I'm curious to see what he has planned for his Qin game.

Asoka should be interesting, but can't wait for the Qin crossbow rush

Well, given a typical 2-week interval, I sure hope I'll be able post a game by the end of December! Recovering slowly but surely.

Well, given a typical 2-week interval, I sure hope I'll be able post a game by the end of December! Recovering slowly but surely.

Good to hear :D

Organising these is game is more hard work than it appears, I even made a hash of the save on first attempt :) Plus hosting the game seems to have taken my appetite off actually playing it. :crazyeye:

I've noticed that some of the games are missing from the list. Were they played and just not linked to?

The Prince's Clique just picked Qin... :p Sorry dalamb.

By the way, nice map Groogaroo. What setting did you pick exactly.. was it snaky continent archipelago?

I've noticed that some of the games are missing from the list. Were they played and just not linked to?

I think it's because TMIT was hosting NoblesClub for a while and set up this bullpen, only he can edit the opening post.

The Prince's Clique just picked Qin... :p Sorry dalamb.

By the way, nice map Groogaroo. What setting did you pick exactly.. was it snaky continent archipelago?

Glad you enjoyed it :) Map type was just a fractal map with standard settings, I had to reroll a few times until I got something a bit interesting.

That was a fun Asoka game, thanks for hosting Groogaroo!

Since CivIVMonger used Qin for his recently-posted Princes' Club VIII (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=346448) :cry: I'll have to pick somebody else for my end-of-year map. Mehmed was the most recent suggestion. The Hammam (aqueduct with +2:)) synergizes with exp/org to allow for bigger cities earlier, and more of them. Janissaries are Mustketmen with +25% versus older units, so a gunpowder beeline might make sense.

Any suggestions as to map type? Some water to take advantage of cheaper lighthouses and harbors, I think, but maybe not too much of it.

Yeah....Monger kinda threw this one off and such a terrible name for a series. Still playing it though. "Clique" just makes me thing of a bunch of teeny schoolgirls.

How 'bout a bells-out Terra map.

"bells-out" ???

Shame about the Qin game :( luckily I love Mehmed :D

Any suggestions as to map type? Some water to take advantage of cheaper lighthouses and harbors, I think, but maybe not too much of it.

I agree, the cheap Lighthouses/harbours make Mehmed a good choice for a GreatLightHouse strat.

Cheap courthouses are always great and I love the Janissary, if you get to gunpowder early enough it's basically a str 11 musket. Ofcourse against another musket... it's just a musket :blush:

How 'bout a bells-out Terra map.

Not sure what that meant to mean either :confused:

OK, so I plan on the next leader being Mehmed. If we keep to a 2 week schedule that would be a new game January 1 -- but given the holidays, is that too soon? Obviously too late for TMIT! ;)

I figure 2 weeks after that should be some other leader, followed by Qin -- about 6 weeks after the PC Qin game. Seem reasonable?

@dalamb, can we have a new game on X'mas? ;)

If we keep to a 2 week schedule that would be a new game January 1 -- but given the holidays, is that too soon? Obviously too late for TMIT! ;)

Jan 1st isn't too soon for me, sounds ideal.

I figure 2 weeks after that should be some other leader, followed by Qin -- about 6 weeks after the PC Qin game. Seem reasonable?

This also sounds great. I'm still looking forward to that Qin game.

Jan 1 is coming...

Happy new year, noble men and women!

Ugh. I don't like terra much, it just feels weird. I'd be alright with it if the second continent(s?) were a bit different from the usual, but Mehmed isn't much of a water leader (no Financial, no water UU, no water UB) to me. I don't really care though.

What in the world does bells out mean?

Happy new year! Mehmed is a bit late because I've been recovering from my first-ever (and, I hope, last-ever) bout of pneumonia. If all goes well it'll be up tomorrow.

Happy new year! Mehmed is a bit late because I've been recovering from my first-ever (and, I hope, last-ever) bout of pneumonia. If all goes well it'll be up tomorrow.

Holly... My best wishes. Recover first.

I'm at the stage where idiots feel good enough that they stop taking their antibiotics, thus contributing to the evolution of drug-resistant strains. Instead I shall hack around with WB save files for a little while...

TRE with a landlubber like Mehmed might still be fun.

Mehmed isn't much of a water leader (no Financial, no water UU, no water UB) to me.

But, Expansive/Organised does give you cheap Lighthouse & Harbour which ties in nicely with the Great Light House.

Dalamb, no rush on the game, take it easy and get well soon!

A little bit of map-making is fun. Wish I could actually finish playing a few games but I always seem to bog down into something that ceases to be fun for me.

Was thinking of doing a nobles club game with Lincoln in the next few weeks, but my map idea is not standard, so I thought I would post here for opinions.

OCC
Lincoln
continents but Lincoln starts on a 1-3 tile island in the middle of the ocean between the continents with no way to contact the mainlands before optics. Obviously will have some seafood around the capital.
6 rivals (3 per continent)
High oceans to help limit the AI land, haven't decided on the other minor choices yet.

Too outside the box for a NC game ?

cas

Isolated starts like that are pretty tough. There was a "Jewel of the Atlantic (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=338493)" RPC a while back that started you on a mid-Atlantic island on Earth18 with very little room but lots of strategic resources; I think lots of the experienced players expressed some distress. Edit: r_rolo1 runs a "Lonely Hearts Club" series for isolated starts. He might be open to this sort of suggestion.

But some game in about 2 weeks would be very nice, cas. I hadn't started thinking about the next one yet, and am planning Qin in about 4 weeks.

Edit: NC 40 Mehmed II (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=348388) is up.

Some comments on possible upcoming games:

I've updated the list of unplayed leaders (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=8231112&postcount=33).
We played Victoria and Julius Caesar fairly recently so need to put off Churchill and Augustus.
Qin is coming up soon (please, please, please) so Mao needs to wait a while.
Washington wasn't so terribly long ago; we might want to put off Lincoln for a bit, but using him soon would be reasonable.
The rest of the list in alpha order: Bismark, Darius, Hammurabi, Huayna Capac, Isabella, Justinian, Mansa Musa, Peter, Suryavarman.
My preferences don't matter a whole lot since I'm not playing out many games these days (not that I ever did), but here are my thoughts:
Germany and Russia have late-game UU and UB that might be suited to a space race victory. The German Assembly Plant builds 50% faster with coal, which seems to me could be a big deal. How useful are the extra 2 engineer specialist slots (4 instead of 2)?
I have fond memories of Isabella's Citadel-enhanced cannon (+5 XP), but might prefer to put her off a bit.
I'm curious about Surya. Ballista Elephants seem to overcome one of the problems with War Elephants in that they target mounted units first rather than those nasty spears and pikes. The Baray gives +1:food:, which is always useful.

In case I'm making the next game: these are the kinds of edits I tend to make -- not necessarily on every map:
Ensure the player civ has particular strategic resources nearby if needed by UUs, like iron for Rome or horses for Mongolia.
Edit: If there's not enough food in the starting location, sometimes (instead of regenerating) add something compatible with the starting techs, e.g. deer with Hunting, seafood with Fishing, plants with Agriculture.
Fewer deserts; I leave some in around flood plains and where there are desert resources like incence.
More rivers. Late game I really like having levees and hydro power available.
Make sure the AI have some strategic resources (after Vicky's enemies wound up with no metals!)
Sometimes pick opponents, like Aztecs and Indians on Arboria, but usually leave them to the RNG.
Sometimes swap starting locations so a nasty like Monty is farther away and a nice like Hatty is nearby.Let me know if anybody wants a few other kinds of edits or gasps in horror at some of the above.

Isolated starts like that are pretty tough. There was a "Jewel of the Atlantic (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=338493)" RPC a while back that started you on a mid-Atlantic island on Earth18 with very little room but lots of strategic resources; I think lots of the experienced players expressed some distress. Edit: r_rolo1 runs a "Lonely Hearts Club" series for isolated starts. He might be open to this sort of suggestion.

But some game in about 2 weeks would be very nice, cas. I hadn't started thinking about the next one yet, and am planning Qin in about 4 weeks.

Medium_Small will sometimes generate two continents with a string of islands in between. The islands are usually jungle devoid of many resources other than uranium...but editing tiles is easy. Editing start positions and replacing civs gets a little trickier.

The player will start on the island chain but not isolated before optics...so they can island hop to one or both continents with a workboat or galley. I will probably play it OCC but turn that option off in the initial wb file. I :love: OCC but not sure many people feel the same. Eliminates culture & dom(?) VC and makes diplo/conquest harder.

I looked over the remaining leaders and think most traits/UB/UU would be wasted on this type of scenario. Lincoln seems the best fit...early fishing...philo/cha...good late UU for amphi assaults.

cas

I thought "no way to contact the mainland" in your original message meant isolated start. An island chain with galley contact might be OK; all those islands might mean you get lots of intercontinental trade bonus from just your own cities.

Lincoln does make sense; last post in the Washington thread before CivilizedTiger was in early September.

I :love: OCC but not sure many people feel the same. Eliminates culture & dom(?) VC and makes diplo/conquest harder.I think OCC culture and domination are both possible if you're in a Permanent Alliance. Of course you can do what one xOTM did and turn on OCC after worldbuilding 3 cities, which means you have enough cities for 3 legendaries but can't make more.

I might try to gerrymander a decent OCC start if I ever do a Peter game (EXP/PHI, apparently a very good combination for an OCC/settled specialist game).

How this thing works?

How this thing works?

Hey Soundwave - Good to see you here. There's a new game posted below this - NC40 - Mehmed. Read the introduction by dalamb which will give you a good idea how this works.

Note that these are Worldbuilder saves, so you need to extract the files to your WB folder under saves and play as scenario.

This is BTS only though, so you will need the much recommended expansion.

Yes will need to but it, but what it brings beyond new nations and units? New techs or game strategy?

I thought "no way to contact the mainland" in your original message meant isolated start.

It did. I would prefer isolated, but the more I think about it...I agree it's too difficult for the Nobles Club. :p

I also realize that dom is possible in Perm Alliance, but I'm not familiar with the mechanics on that. And I doubt many noble level players are either.

cas

Yes will need to but it, but what it brings beyond new nations and units? New techs or game strategy?

Hey Soundwave - here's a direct link to what you can find in the CIV IV menu at the top of the page on BTS:

http://www.civfanatics.com/civ4/bts/

Also, as mentioned in your other posts, check out the articles in the War Academy.

BTS as a lot but also, importantly, it's simply what most people play on the board now.

Edit: NC 40 Mehmed II (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=348388) is up.

Some comments on possible upcoming games:
[list]
I've updated the list of unplayed leaders (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=8231112&postcount=33).
We played Victoria and Julius Caesar fairly recently so need to put off Churchill and Augustus.
Qin is coming up soon (please, please, please) so Mao needs to wait a while.
Washington wasn't so terribly long ago; we might want to put off Lincoln for a bit, but using him soon would be reasonable.
The rest of the list in alpha order: Bismark, Darius, Hammurabi, Huayna Capac, Isabella, Justinian, Mansa Musa, Peter, Suryavarman.

This all sounds good, out of the remaining players for upcoming games my favourites would be... Sury & Darius.

My view on the map edits.

I would suggest minor map edits only, such as adding Iron near by for rome or hand picking the odd rival now and again. But I'm not sure about removing desert and adding rivers. Don't get me wrong... I hate desert and love rivers but I'm not sure If it will help from a learning perspective. But thats just my opinion.

For those (like I used to be) who don't always check Strategy and Tips: I've started a thread on creating an OCC map (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=348487), which I'd create when we get around to Peter.

@cas: Will you be doing the next map for around Jan 15? I'm planning Qin for the 29th and Peter for sometime later, though wouldn't mind abandoning Peter if someone else wants him.

There isn't a big rush on deciding about the 15th, but I'd like to know by Monday since I'm starting an astrophysics class and might need much of the week to fit in time (and limited brainpower) to create a map for some other leader -- maybe Justinian, since Hippodrome looks interesting (I never tried J. before). Or Darius -- apothecary/grocer looks interesting with a FIN leader.

I want Peter! :lol:

The Mehmed game was fun though.

yes, I'll create a Lincoln map with medium_small around my original idea of starting in the island chain in the middle of two continents, but not a isolated OCC.

cas

Great! For Peter, sometime after Qin, I'm planning a map where an OCC is possible for us Nobles -- where the initial location and opponents are well suited -- but not necessary; the rest of "our" territory would be ordinary.

Since it seems in the past we have done leaders that focus on big empires (Genghis, Julius, Victoria, Mehmed, Asoka), I think we shout do a more quality over quantity type leader. Peter is a great choice but he has already been reserved.

I nominate Bismarck! He has very strong cities, the ability to mass produce units, and a late game unit that spells Game Over sucks. Plus, he has a pickelhaube, ja! If possible, I'd like to give a shot at hosting him (or someone else) some time. I may be a complete noob, but I've seen how to make a scenario and it seems quite easy. Though if anyone else would rather, that's fine as I am completely inexperienced.

Darius is great for maintaining a massive empire and having an overflowing economy- Fin/Org cancels just about every cost. Justinian seems decent.

and a late game unit that spells Game Over.

Game over? The Panzer is generally regarded as one of the worst UUs in the game. You tell me how +50 % vs. armoured units is game over. Just try.

Game over? The Panzer is generally regarded as one of the worst UUs in the game. You tell me how +50 % vs. armoured units is game over. Just try.
Really?

Oh. Ok then. I did put a noob disclaimer in that post. I'll just take your word for it. Though, it is good against other tanks! :lol:

The above post has been edited.

I still like Bismarck!

:deadhorse: Fail...

Well, it's still good against other tanks.... which won't really be defending cities :lol: I guess opposing tanks can't screw them over then...? I would love to see Darius, my fav. leader! Immortals IMO are in the top 3 UUs in the game and Darius has some powerhouse traits.

Well, it's still good against other tanks.... which won't really be defending cities :lol: I guess opposing tanks can't screw them over then...? I would love to see Darius, my fav. leader! Immortals IMO are in the top 3 UUs in the game and Darius has some powerhouse traits.

Still, if you meet any significant resistance, or if there is a counterattack, they help..

Darius is great, like I said Fin/Org makes him perhaps the best economic leader in the game, and great at holding large empires too. Since I'm a rush fan, I love the UU too. It's just the last few leaders have been somewhat focused on large empires and I'd love to try someone who is more about a few valuable cities, like Bismarck or Peter. Though I'd be totally fine with him.

Another one of those pesky series is doing Peter right now though. We'll have to either wait or eliminate them (and any witnesses) quietly..........:espionage::lol:

I guess Peter joins Qin in my long sad tale of having to wait for other series to finish. :cry: When I eventually get to him, I plan on setting up something that could be played as a one-city challenge, but doesn't have to be.

I'm not sure why you have to wait on Peter given the very unique nature of the OCC. I'm all for it - only having done an OCC in a xotm a while ago.

I'll be posting the Lincoln game later today/tonight. I have a couple of final small tweaks to make on the map and then edit the wb files.

cas

NC XLI Lincoln (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=350079) up and running. I hope the noble/prince players can adjust to the map.

cas

Thanks! Looks interesting. Currently cowering in trepidation at launching my 2nd attack in the Ghengis game, but I hope to start early next week.

I'd like to reserve Darius...will probably do a Great Plains map. I don't think there have been many of that map type in NC and I need to make a warmonger game. My first three have been more builder-friendly.

If someone else wants to host Darius in the near future, speak up.

cas

May I also reserve the hosting of a Noble Club game? :D

I have decided at one point to try randomness in order to get better, so I went for a shuffle map, random leader and civ. Took prince and marathon as diff and speed and what I got was Zara, terrible unique building considering what I think is the strength of his strengths, but good enough unique unit. He has traits which I think are great for expansion, and the map I rolled offered great expansion chances to the human player, but at obvious expense. (I did have 20% of the world land mass near the end of the BCEs, with second place having 10% :)) It might be very easy to have this, but for people trying to master noble, I don't think it's that much of an issue and also, I might have been lucky with strange exp choices made by the AIs.

Anyway, Zara has been in the club before, but I'd like to host a game with that map. :D
If any of the usual hosts of the NC games wishes, I could send them a WB save of the start and decide if it's too easy, or if it's good as it is. But they'd have to change the difficulty and speed if they wish, and I don't know how to do that.

@cas: Feel free to claim Darius. My one caveat about a Great Plains map is the same as my Boudica Highlands map: the AI might have so much space to expand into that at the higher difficulties one or more of them might be unstoppable. You might want to think about adding an opponent or two.

@CivilizedTiger: We've repeated before -- Elizabeth and Charlemagne at least -- so that's not a problem. I doubt I'd be good at judging map difficulty, but I could do the WB save edits. Make sure to create a Noble-level game; those are the easiest to adjust.

My problem with the Great Plains map is that its the MOST UNBALANCED MAP IN THE GAME. Seriously, you can start with 11 (!!) major food resources (I did once... great game), or NO RESOURCES AT ALL. (reeestart!)

My problem with the Great Plains map is that its the MOST UNBALANCED MAP IN THE GAME. Seriously, you can start with 11 (!!) major food resources (I did once... great game), or NO RESOURCES AT ALL. (reeestart!)

Balancing the start position is probably the easiest piece of hosting.

@ dalamb...I'm aware of the excess land issue, but I don't have much pity on imm/deity players. I'm more concerned about making the map balanced for noble/prince and possible for monarch/emp.

cas

@cas, CivilizedTiger: how soon do you want to do your Darius and Zara games? I'd like to do Qin at the end of January, but after that am happy to put off Peter for a while if you want your games in mid and late February.

I have a bunch of important exams coming, I intend to host in March, or at the earliest at the end of February.

@dalamb
Put Qin up for NC42 in the normal timeframe (approx 2 weeks) and I'll do NC43/Darius after that unless someone else speaks up.

cas

OK, I've noted cas for 43 (mid-Feb) and CivilizedTiger for 45 (mid-March) but CT can instead switch to 44 in late Feb.

A few statistics:

Most prolific mapmaker: TheMeInTeam, with 11 maps, followed by Bleys at 9.
Most popular mapmaker, by some definition of popular (average # messages per map): Bleys, at 139.3, followed by Krick19, at 127.7. Of course that was Back In The Good Old Days when the series was just getting started, more people were involved, and if my impression is correct, people were posting a higher fraction of "help the newbie" messages than they are now.
Most messages in a single NC map thread: 216 for Mehmed II, if you count my reply to the two most recent posters (no, that wasn't a gratuitous post, not at all). For a long time the record was 215 for Frederick.

I think I actually have more IU maps than NC hosted by me now...wow.

PYL needs some new maps too!

As I said before, I'd like to give Bismarck a shot.. maybe for 44 or 46 if nothing else is planned?

Feel free, as far as I'm concerned. 44 and 46 are both unclaimed. 44 would be around late february-- the 26th if we stick to the "every 2nd Friday" guideline.

Sure, I'd like to do that. I've checked out the Wordbuilder tutorial and it seems pretty clear to me. I guess I'll be doing 44.

Any chance of a new guy coming in and trying to host one? If I'm following dates right then 46 should be mid-late march? I've read over a few map modding guides (like TMIT's) and I have already tried my hand at it with some success. Maybe I could make a map and then send it to one or two of you to make sure it works before I host? I think I'd like to give Hammurabi a go if I get to host.