Classical_Hero has asked each team to discuss its preferred game settings. You can read the official game settings thread here (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=358213). Since they're so many options, I thought a poll would be too cumbersome, so let's just throw around a couple of game settings and see if anyone disagrees.

Huts: On/Off
Events: On/Off
Vassal States: On/Off
Barbarians: None, Normal, or Raging
Tech Trading: Normal, No Tech Trading, No Tech Brokering
Difficulty Level: Low (Noble/Prince), Medium (Monarch/Emperor), High (Immortal/Deity)

All looks good to me, I'll second all of those settings. The only one that there's a bit of a question mark over is the difficulty level, as I know a lot of them are played on Noble, but it might just get silly in terms of expansion rates with low maintenance costs. So Monarch sounds like a good compromise.

Huts, Events and Vassal States should all be off, period. They add nothing to a pitboss game, and deter quite a lot.

I definitely want TT on.

For barbarians I'm ambivalent, I wouldn't mind them off completely but would be fine with either setting, it's fine for everyone.

For difficulty level - this is not a solo game where we need to worry about cheating AI. I typically find that pitboss games are by far the most fun when played at Deity level, especially with TT on, since the tech trading speeds up research quite a lot more than in your average solo game. So my vote is Deity.

Huts, Events and Vassal States should all be off, period. They add nothing to a pitboss game, and deter quite a lot.

I definitely want TT on.

For barbarians I'm ambivalent, I wouldn't mind them off completely but would be fine with either setting, it's fine for everyone.

For difficulty level - this is not a solo game where we need to worry about cheating AI. I typically find that pitboss games are by far the most fun when played at Deity level, especially with TT on, since the tech trading speeds up research quite a lot more than in your average solo game. So my vote is Deity.

:goodjob:
same opinion i have

For barbarians I'm ambivalent, I wouldn't mind them off completely but would be fine with either setting, it's fine for everyone.

I'm guessing you wouldn't mind not seeing any barb axemen roaming around, right? :p :lol:

sorry Niklas, couldn't resist...

Anyway, I support all of DMOC's settings.

From this, it looks like we only have to debate on the difficulty level. I would have selected deity, although I was concerned with how the early game would simply be us vs. barbarians for a while, especially if we're given as much land as we did last game.

From this, it looks like we only have to debate on the difficulty level. I would have selected deity, although I was concerned with how the early game would simply be us vs. barbarians for a while, especially if we're given as much land as we did last game.

Hey guys, most of you are Deity players, I hope you would know how to keep us safe:), and since I don't play Deity yet, I would like to see what tricks you can use to balance growth and happines and barbs in the beggining.

All other settings are fine, and I would only go for Tech Traiding ON, since that is the best part of these games, from what I've seen.

Well, I usually rely on a combination of fogbusting warriors and the AI's numerous scouting units ... (which we will not have here). It will be interesting to see what the other teams have to say about difficulty level.

Deity
Tech Trading ON
Normal Barbs

I can't play well on deity in single player but should definately make for the best game in this kind of environment.

edit: huts/events/vassals: OFF

Tech trading OFF
Normal barbs
Huts/events/vassals OFF

Difficulty level depends a bit. I'd generally like imm/deity, but lower would be ok if tech trading really was off.

Re: deity barbs
I don't really have experience with MP, but I imagine there'd quite a delay in them entering borders due to slower expansion pace by players?

I'm generally liking the settings!

Think Monarch makes sense as it keeps the costs of things a bit more sensible?

Not entirely sure about tech trading, think that's the one which will have the biggest impact on the way the game plays out... personally I lean towards NTT, but TT could be fun as long as we are happy with the alliance/cartel stuff that comes with it?

If we're stuck between a moderate/hard difficulty level, how about we choose immortal? It seems like a nice compromise to me. As always, state your opinions. :)

Also, are we in favor of normal speed?

Yes (10 chars)

2-0 in favor of normal speed so far. :)

Did I mention that the fast worker is actually BETTER on normal speed than in epic and marathon? Even more incentive for normal speed.

2-0 in favor of normal speed so far. :)

did i mention that the fast worker is actually better on normal speed than in epic and marathon? Even more incentive for normal speed.

3-0:).....

4-0 normal!

Normal speed for me too, 5-0.

Actually, if we end up with a tie between hard and medium difficulty level, we should vote Deity. It's unlikely the other teams will vote Deity, more likely Monarch, so the end result of the public vote will be the compromise we're after. ;)

6-0 for normal speed. That is the one where the game is most balanced, right?

And Epic could just be too long and drag...

Other teams are reporting their official votes in the main forum. Here's ours so far:

7-0 normal speed,
7-0 Huts off
7-0 Events off
7-0 Vassal off
5-1 Tech trading ON
5-0 Barbs on (no one wants raging?)

Immortal difficulty seems to be the median vote. It's also my vote.

Anyone object to us reporting these as our official team vote?

Other teams are reporting their official votes in the main forum. Here's ours:

7-0 normal speed,
7-0 Huts off
7-0 Events off
7-0 Vassal off
5-1 Tech trading ON
5-0 Barbs on (no one wants raging?)

Immortal difficulty seems to be the median vote. It's also my vote.

Anyone object to us reporting these as our official team vote?
Other teams are reporting their official votes in the main forum... we have so far:

DMOC will post our vote as a team leader, and I thought we agreed on Deity so we can get Immortal to play.

Yes DMOC will report. I saw Niklas said to vote Diety to get Immortal... didn't see anyone back him up...

The actual vote on difficulty:

DMOC: Medium (Monarch)
V8: Monarch sounds like a good compromise
Niklas: my vote is Deity
Snaaty: <same as Niklas>
BackLogic: <same as DMOC>
Amhed: wants to see Diety tricks
Bing: Diety
Pants: Diety
Bob: Monarch

total: 4 Monarch, 5 Diety.

DMOC proposed Immortal as official vote. I support that.

Edit: I'm neutral on diff. Again, with no cheating AI, it's not that big a deal. I'm just trying to move the process along.

Don't know what Diety is...

I'll settle for Monarch difficulty.

No huts, no events, normal speed, vassal's off, barbs on

And no tech trading! ;)

Don't know what Diety is...
Diety is the level where you die.

For those who didn't get it, it's supposed to be spelled Deity, not Diety, despite wacko English pronounciation... :rolleyes:

Originally I was going to suggest deity since I couldn’t remember how slow things were on other levels. And I suspect most our opponents are not very well trained on this level, and if we get REALLY LUCKY someone is going to lose a capital again :P

However, I did do quite a bit of benchmarking lately, and I think it would be wise for us to re-consider this.

With Ghandi, our opening strategy, and fast-workers, it is to our advantage to play on a lower difficulty setting. The early part of the game is quite important. If we play monarch, we actually do have a chance to even get Oracle, with a second city, 3 fast workers, and get that 100% GE very early (oracle done before turn 50 even).

When this monarch level is switched to deity, the power/success of this opening move drops down dramatically. It takes much longer for ironworking, etc, to be researched. Also, the barbs will show up much more early, and much more stronger. We will have to shift to more protection in this spot, and our tech will drop off even more. Meanwhile, the financial leaders will be getting the best of things here.

With our 3-move workers, it is a big disadvantage for tech costs to be increased. I think we should vote for the opposite extreme in difficulty here.

BTW, anyone who is Charismatic or Aggressive (even protective) is going to be getting an advantage on the harder setting. Let’s not make their synergy any better than it needs to be.

i see what obs wants to point out... ...when going for ghandy, what we seem to be agreeing to, we should bettergo for monarch diff...

...so obs has me convinced already, please switch my vote to monarch:


DMOC: Medium (Monarch)
V8: Monarch sounds like a good compromise
Niklas: my vote is Deity
Snaaty: monarch (changed from deity)
BackLogic: <same as DMOC>
Amhed: wants to see Diety tricks
Bing: Diety
Pants: Diety
Bob: Monarch
obs: monarch

total: 6 Monarch, 4 Diety

I like Obsolete's reasoning, although i'm not sold on the oracle-mids gambit. Anyway, my vote goes to monarch

My vote for Deity is not based on what I think would be optimal for us at some particular strategy, but what I think is the most fun to play overall. It would be a bit sad methinks, to base our choices on what would be best for us. I find it a bit cheesy to win because the settings were in our favor, rather than because we played well. No, my vote is even more firmly on Deity.

DMOC: Medium (Monarch)
V8: Monarch sounds like a good compromise
Niklas: my vote is Deity
Snaaty: monarch (changed from deity)
BackLogic: <same as DMOC>
Amhed: wants to see Diety tricks
Bing: Diety
Pants: Diety
Bob: Monarch
obs: monarch
Ceil: Monarch

7-4

...so obs has me convinced already, please switch my vote to monarch:

You may want to still change your mind on that as well. If we vote monarch, the average may still end up around Immortal or so. I think we should try to swing down to settler or nobel (which one was the easiest?). We should not give out free lunches to our opponents.


My vote for Deity is not based on what I think would be optimal for us at some particular strategy, but what I think is the most fun to play overall. It would be a bit sad methinks, to base our choices on what would be best for us. I find it a bit cheesy to win because the settings were in our favor, rather than because we played well. No, my vote is even more firmly on Deity.

We are ALL trying to have fun playing here, but I would think MOST of us want to play optimal as well (this is important!). Or am I mistaken? When I said we should call ourselves the Templars, I did not imply we should play as bad as them too!

I don't understand your reasoning on it being SAD, that we play this right by selecting the choices that best benefit us. In every ladder game I used to play, bargaining for YOUR best settings was SUPPOSED to be a big part of the strategy to begin with. I haven't played in years but has it really changed THAT MUCH?!

The administrators ASKED US, including every other team which options they prefer for a reason. Just who's team are you REALLY on? :P

My vote for Deity is not based on what I think would be optimal for us at some particular strategy, but what I think is the most fun to play overall. It would be a bit sad methinks, to base our choices on what would be best for us. I find it a bit cheesy to win because the settings were in our favor, rather than because we played well. No, my vote is even more firmly on Deity.


everybody has the right to vote for what he feels is the best choice for him.

i just want to point out that for me the diff.settings (as will be all map settings we can take influence upon) are part of the (our) strategy already. i wouldnt call it cheesy cause we vote for settings in our favor... ...cause if we start to take the argumentation this way, we can also call it "not so clever", not to vote for the optimal settings;)

everybody can vote for the settings he likes best in my opinion. and it doesnt matter if this is based on strat. thinking, personal liking or simply a vote without deeper thoughts behind it

I see it that way:
we are right now set on ghandy as leader. but if the final map and settings come out, we maybe will switch leaders again, simply cause ghandy isnt good for the map (imagine we would end up on an archipelago map)...

i´m completely against basing a vote on an average... ...i like deity as settings still, but right now prefere monarch. i dont like emperor + immortal, so i would prefer if we simply stick to the majority for our vote (which is between deity and monarch right now), or some ideas like voting settler from obs might come to execution:crazyeye::lol:

i´m completely against basing a vote on an average...

My main issue with trying to bias the vote was not so much a quabble between our own team, but if we feel the other teams all want to have a HARD setting (as they should), then to really get something like Monarch we need to slide down to settler anyway. IIRC it was stated team results would be averaged.

No matter how you cut it, we gain the most with the least amount of barbs, and the quickest tech-timelines. Our fast-workers can also chop out more settlers since our maintenance on total # cities will be reduced. And while this may also benefit anyone who took IMP as a trait as well, we do hurt those who went for ORG.

TBH, I don't get how we can even pick a leader, let alone an opening strat, without fully knowing the game settings. I initially let Gandhi slide, 'cause he's just all-around awesome. On an archipelago map, though, I'd easily prefer Liz, and probably some others... This discussion seems kinda backwards to me.

I still personally prefer a deity game, esp. as it seems that we'll be playing with TT. Looks like Monarch is winning, though, and I agree with Snaaty that we shouldn't average it out.

The other teams voted emperor, emperor, and noble, so if we vote Monarch, we would simply solidify that difficulty level. :) Any comments or concerns?

Yes, let's vote Monarch then.
It won't be deity anyway with those votes.

Yes, let's vote Monarch then.
It won't be deity anyway with those votes.

:goodjob:nothing to add

Team vote stated. :D

I think DMOC's settings are appropriate for MP.