So we’re going with Siam this time. The plan is to go ‘tall’ rather than ‘wide’ – Ie, few cities with high pop vs. expansion. I haven’t done much in the ‘tall vs wide’ balance changes, so hopefully I can get over 10 pop and claim victory :D In theory tall is competitive, but let’s find out.

I also refer to this thread (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=416112) in the first video for where the initial plan comes from. (Kudo’s to Martin for taking the time to research it) I didn’t manage to get the timing right due to the map, but overall I think I followed his general plan for the start.

Setup

I actually chose a ‘random map’ type just to see what happened. It’s an option just like the Fractal option, but you might also get fractal for the super ‘random-random’ map. In the end though, we quickly find out this is an islands map. (or small continents. either way, not much sharing of land and lots of 1 tile islands)

Otherwise all other settings were default.

And I didn't do any gold exploits this time ;)

First video (http://youtu.be/glTFX1jQNrs)

Uuh nice, I was playing some games with Ghandi and smaller but taller empires, but never on deity. So I'm looking forward as always to your videos.

Keep it up! :)

Uuh nice, I was playing some games with Ghandi and smaller but taller empires, but never on deity. So I'm looking forward as always to your videos.

Keep it up! :)

I stuck to the four city plan for some time, but there was some very nice city locations that I couldn't help myself but to get. I don't think I did the 'tall' part very well, but it was good enough for this game.

This one is *mostly* a peaceful game. (as requested) It's not my fault someone tempted me with their Capital. :lol:

It would be nice if you try some of the mods. Play a game with a mode and then you say if you liked it or not and if you recommend it etc etc.

It would be nice if you try some of the mods. Play a game with a mode and then you say if you liked it or not and if you recommend it etc etc.

I'm not quite a fan of mods, if you don't play completely conversions or fun mods. I think the vanilla game itself needs a lot of serious game time to consider its balance. They just opens more problems if the mods change the game drastically without the aim to get another game feeling.

The AI is the most crucial part in my opinion. Seeing MadDjinn's deity games stresses the stupid AI problems. He normally is completely overwhelmed regarding army size but always managing to defeat the enemy even with a few units just by controlling them well. It shouldn't be the aim of the game to just give the AI so much advantages to compensate its stupidity but that's another topic.

For future games: I would just like to see other Civs beeing played with concentrating on their strengths, e. g. raiding a lot with Askia or trying for an early push with the Germans. The English with their long bow would also be fun. But let's see what happens at the Siam game. Please upload more videos! :)

For future games: I would just like to see other Civs beeing played with concentrating on their strengths, e. g. raiding a lot with Askia or trying for an early push with the Germans. The English with their long bow would also be fun. But let's see what happens at the Siam game. Please upload more videos! :)

I always like requests :D

I'm pretty sure I work with Siams strengths in this one. :goodjob:

as per new vids... I've got to check to see why the vids aren't coming out in 720p. I'm using DivX and exporting to 720p, but something seems to have gone wrong.

The random map you got is just god-awful.

The random map you got is just god-awful.

well, bad yes, but not entirely awful.

Not the best map to show off the early legalism abuse since all the CSs are far away and I didn't meet enough AIs early to get RAs/trades going. Not to mention having to go to Optics first.

But it's a playable map, which I think shows more in the end. It's not perfect, so Ritter can't complain too much. :crazyeye:

thanks for the video .... a quick question and a request:

what does LP stand for?

and could you fix the audio ? the volume is so low it's almost as if you are not talking about whispering.

Sorry for mentioning another technical detail. But is it possible to go back to a 720p resolution? :rolleyes:

It really is a difference between 480p and 720p.


However, thanks for your vids! :)

thanks for the video .... a quick question and a request:

what does LP stand for?

and could you fix the audio ? the volume is so low it's almost as if you are not talking about whispering.

LP - Let's Play. It's the generic interweb term for video walkthroughs/showing etc etc. (or something like that)

audio - I had turned down the ingame volumes pretty low, but I guess the processing of the videos picked it back up. I also seem to have recorded while a bit sleepier than in the first set of videos. I'll try to talk louder and trim down the ingame volume a bit in the next set of videos. (this one is fully recorded)

Sorry for mentioning another technical detail. But is it possible to go back to a 720p resolution? :rolleyes:

It really is a difference between 480p and 720p.


However, thanks for your vids! :)

I know :(

I record via fraps in 1920x1080p. Movie Maker decided to default to a 4:3 ratio rather than a 16:9 ratio. So when I thought it was doing 1080p output, it was actually doing 1440x1080p. When processed through the DivX converter to make it 720p for Youtube, it gets cut to 960x 542 or so. Which is obviously not 720p.

Unfortunately the first 20ish vids of the Siam game were already passed through MM with the original fraps files deleted. (had to do that. 20 vids x 15min/vid x 4Gb/2 min = way bigger than my HD) So from around vid 22ish on, it'll be back to 720p.

Unless someone can let me know how to take a 1440x1080 vid and get it into the correct 960x720 size, I'll have to ensure the next set of vids are better. This was my first pass at using the new setup for recording, so I will incorporate the feedback into the next set.

what does LP stand for?

LP stands for "Let's Play". Essentially, recordings of normal (usually not 100% runs, and also not walkthroughs) games with audio (usually) commentary either recorded with the gameplay or after the gameplay.

Good videos, it's interesting to see people play on this high of a difficulty - I just got to prince. :goodjob:

do a MP lp duel/tiny 90turns maybe or longer if you can, always war.

do a MP lp duel/tiny 90turns maybe or longer if you can, always war.

?

an all war duel/tiny game?

Can you explain the MP and '90 turns or longer' part?

Is it that you want me to record an MP game that survives more than 90 turns before failing?

Now what I want to see is this:

Play as Rome, Marathon or Epic speed, small/tiny map. Finish the game (domination victory) before you enter the mideval era.

Now what I want to see is this:

Play as Rome, Marathon or Epic speed, small/tiny map. Finish the game (domination victory) before you enter the mideval era.

can we go for Renaissance instead? it's really really easy to hit medieval fast with RAs.

can we go for Renaissance instead? it's really really easy to hit medieval fast with RAs.

Historically, the mideval era began when Rome fell - which was my point.

EDIT: But if you believe it's impossble - Renaissance is also acceptable.

Historically, the mideval era began when Rome fell - which was my point.

EDIT: But if you believe it's impossble - Renaissance is also acceptable.

It's that that it's impossible, it's that I have this constant RA need and well, Longswords are in medieval.

Alright then, Renaissance it is.

Are you going to try it?

Alright then, Renaissance it is.

Are you going to try it?

I always like suggestions. :goodjob:

It won't be right away, but I'll file it away for when I go Roman. I think I need a different VC type for the next video set.

So where's your OCC Aztec cultural win through warmongering (hint hint)?

So where's your OCC Aztec cultural win through warmongering (hint hint)?

that was just a concept discussion thread ;)

and well, I still have to post this LP first :P

but that one may be coming soon.

Hi MadDjinn, quick question regarding research.

While you are doing research agreements you are leaving about 1 turns on some techs, why is this?

Regards.

Ah nvm, saw your reply on the video, thanks.

Hey I love your videos Madjinn! I watch 'em all the time and its great getting to watch one of the better players execute the strategies i read about all the time as well as giving commentary. Keep up the good work. I feel like im watching the Civ version of the Starcraft pro scene. Lol! Id love to see you play as some of my favorite civs (Egypt, Aztecs, Russia) or maybe test out the Greeks. Keep the vids coming!:goodjob:

Hi MadDjinn, quick question regarding research.

While you are doing research agreements you are leaving about 1 turns on some techs, why is this?

Regards.

Ah nvm, saw your reply on the video, thanks.

To answer your follow up Q from the vids, no the RA won't choose any tech that has more than 33% of the beaker total researched there yet, in general. So as long as there are techs with no beakers put into it, it will take them. If however, you only have techs to choose via RA that have beakers into them, then they will be taken.


Hey I love your videos Madjinn! I watch 'em all the time and its great getting to watch one of the better players execute the strategies i read about all the time as well as giving commentary. Keep up the good work. I feel like im watching the Civ version of the Starcraft pro scene. Lol! Id love to see you play as some of my favorite civs (Egypt, Aztecs, Russia) or maybe test out the Greeks. Keep the vids coming!:goodjob:

Thanks :D I'm still not at that level, but I am getting better ;) Figuring out how to deal with the AI and anticipating it makes the game much easier.

I do plan on doing LPs for all of the civs eventually and definitely like getting suggestions on which ones to do next.

I'm not a programmer, so I'm wondering how tough it would be for them to at least code the AI so that they don't keep moving land melee units into naval unit firing range? It's currently like shooting ducks in a barrel and makes water maps completely trivial, in combination with the fact that the AI can't put together a properly executed naval invasion to save their life.

I'm not a programmer, so I'm wondering how tough it would be for them to at least code the AI so that they don't keep moving land melee units into naval unit firing range? It's currently like shooting ducks in a barrel and makes water maps completely trivial, in combination with the fact that the AI can't put together a properly executed naval invasion to save their life.

Hopefully the coming patch will help out a lot in that respect; given the long list of naval invasion related items there.

I'm not a programmer, so I'm wondering how tough it would be for them to at least code the AI so that they don't keep moving land melee units into naval unit firing range? It's currently like shooting ducks in a barrel and makes water maps completely trivial, in combination with the fact that the AI can't put together a properly executed naval invasion to save their life.

The extent of my programming knowledge comes from a very specific form of Lua, but I may have an answer.

It should be quite easy to keep them out of naval bombardment range, but at least for Germany there wasn't much of a point to doing that. It was either lose the capital (and therefore all the units) immeditally, or later. There wasn't a lot the AI could have done with that. :(

For a naval invasion I can't really give you an answer other than it's tough to write code that would be valid in every possible situation like AI code would have to be for a game as complex as CiV.

arg...

Siam LP, from #16 on, is a jumble. I'm not sure what happened, but I think the original fraps files got out of order in the file system. All I would do is select all and move into Movie Maker (that worked for the first 15 videos), but apparently the files were out of order and I didn't catch it... grr.. camstudio is looking nice again.

I could post the rest, but they'll have a few sections of the video from the beginning attached to the end. It seems that it's only a few sections moved that way, but it'll make for some poor viewing. I don't have the fraps files anymore, so I can't just re-merge them. I might (very big might) be able to go in and cut them apart again... will have to test this out in Movie Maker. (the edit features seem to be greyed out at the moment - might be preview related)

edit:

ok, this seems easy, but will be time consuming to redo the last 11 videos.

two splices and a move is all that is needed. Thankfully it's not multiple issues. but then I have to resave the movie followed by re-DivX converting the movies. This will take time...

please make a video of a multiplayer game. As it will have to be in one sitting, 90 turns duel game may be the best.

please make a video of a multiplayer game. As it will have to be in one sitting, 90 turns duel game may be the best.

ah, ok that's what you meant.

I'll see if anyone wants to roll with that. Finding someone who isn't about to be rolled by basic tactics would be nice. I can likely get more than 90 turns done. It'll just depend on how much HD space I've got available at the time.

The extent of my programming knowledge comes from a very specific form of Lua, but I may have an answer.

It should be quite easy to keep them out of naval bombardment range, but at least for Germany there wasn't much of a point to doing that. It was either lose the capital (and therefore all the units) immeditally, or later. There wasn't a lot the AI could have done with that. :(

For a naval invasion I can't really give you an answer other than it's tough to write code that would be valid in every possible situation like AI code would have to be for a game as complex as CiV.

Compounding the problem is the fact that you can take over a city with one melee unit from the water, as long as you bombard the city down to one hit point with your navy. If this was changed so that the melee unit would be required to land first, then capture the city on the next turn, the AI melee units would have a chance to defend (if they were kept just out of naval bombardment range). This would at least force players to build a larger land army to conquer, rather than just a host of ships plus one land unit.

Compounding the problem is the fact that you can take over a city with one melee unit from the water, as long as you bombard the city down to one hit point with your navy. If this was changed so that the melee unit would be required to land first, then capture the city on the next turn, the AI melee units would have a chance to defend (if they were kept just out of naval bombardment range). This would at least force players to build a larger land army to conquer, rather than just a host of ships plus one land unit.

true, but then what's the point of the amphibious promotions?

I wouldn't be opposed to melee units being banned from amphib assaults on cities if the Dev wanted to change it. Though, how exactly would you be able to take a 1 tile island city? The AI loves to make those.

Looking foward to the conclusion of this great game of yours.

Good point about the 1-tile island cities, although, it wouldn't break my heart if they coded that out of the game as well.

should have 2-3 new vids up today. spliced and merged... hopefully I'll get better at that part as I go.

May I just say that you, MadDjinn, and Bibor, are absolutely great! I love your videos! You guys are great!

Agree, great game... (although you are right in that you don't go tall well... the fact that you took so long to build lighthouses..(+2 food every fish tile) and granaries in cities was painful.)

Agree, great game... (although you are right in that you don't go tall well... the fact that you took so long to build lighthouses..(+2 food every fish tile) and granaries in cities was painful.)

yeah.. I'm stuck in my ways with warring and expansion. :cry:

I'll try 'tall' again in another video. My real issue with going tall is that the techs that help it out (up to engineering) best and the SPs (tradition) are not my usual start plans, and are sub-optimal in a lot of games.

For going tall I can remommend Gandhi (obviously). My last game with India was really awsome, with 6 cattle, horses, iron and two luxuries in my capital... :D

That really was great fun, but very lucky of course. Just for the fun of it I played "one more turn" (OK, actually some more ;) ) just to see my capital grow. I stopped at 55. With a Mech Inf as garrison I had a city strength over 130... You certainly don't need that city size, but Gandhi makes it possible. At no point in my whole game I was in danger to go into unhappyness.


And you shouldn't do random maps anymore. :D ;)

For going tall I can remommend ... (obviously). My last game with ... was really awsome, with 6 cattle, horses, iron and two luxuries in my capital... :D

That really was great fun, but very lucky of course. Just for the fun of it I played "one more turn" (OK, actually some more ;) ) just to see my capital grow. I stopped at 55. With a Mech Inf as garrison I had a city strength over 130... You certainly don't need that city size, but ... makes it possible. At no point in my whole game I was in danger to go into unhappyness.


And you should... do random maps anymore. :D ;)

I edited your comments :p

I dislike ... due to the easy happiness factor and that I don't believe it's actually working properly; even with later adjustments. It's too easy to spam cities and overcome the negative part of the UA but still enjoy the positive side of it. Once they use adjusted happiness instead of straight pop for determining building effects, then I might use them again.

random maps are fine. It just so happened that it landed on that sort of map. Next time, it may be the flattest land in existance while I use a naval civ.

anywhom... trying to upload #21. the DivX Converter would not work with the file (any files from Movie Maker now for some reason) and even Movie Maker doesn't like it anymore. Hopefully it's solid given that I had to splice and merge it.

Yes, it really is much more easier with ... . :D

Why do you think it's not working properly? Haven't heard about that before.

However, currently waiting for your new upload :)


My vote for one of your next challenges goes to the Aztecs. Pillaging improvements for gold and killing units for culture. That sounds like fun and possibly allows a completely different empire strategy as you could achieve things with strategic warmongering that is usually covered by buildings :)

Yes, it really is much more easier with ... . :D

Why do you think it's not working properly? Haven't heard about that before.

However, currently waiting for your new upload :)


My vote for one of your next challenges goes to the Aztecs. Pillaging improvements for gold and killing units for culture. That sounds like fun and possibly allows a completely different empire strategy as you could achieve things with strategic warmongering that is usually covered by buildings :)

It's broken due to how easy it is to overcome the 4 unhappy from the city just by growing to 8 pop. Before the change where happiness buildings got limited to pop, everyone had a chance to overcome city unhappiness by buildings. Now India is the only one. (easily) If they ever limit happiness coverage of buildings vs. pop to the adjusted pop (after modifiers) then the game will be in better balance wrt that part.

new uploads are there now. had to just toss in the 1Gb #21 since movie maker and DivX converter refused to open the file after it got spliced/merged. so 1 time 1080p (though much smaller due to prior issues)

Aztec game is already in progress. Will see how it turns out.

Id really like to see you use the Aztec UB to the max potential. Along with their early Social Policy potential. They may have as much an early advantage as the French in the hands of a good player like Mad.

The last video of the Siam series is currently uploading.

I did say something about nukes at the beginning of the game, right? :crazyeye:

Helo MadDjinn, the game was very nice, I enjoy watching your games and I liked that you showed us how to beat the game in a peacefull way. I would love to see a multiplayer game of yours though, if you can do this it would be awesome. The games vs the AI are all about exploiting its weakness and taking advantage of the fact that it is ... well lets say stupid. However, playing versus humans is another deal, probably it would require much more scouting to see where others are at, etc. which will make your experience playing it, and our - watching, much more fun :)

Keep up the good work!

thx for vids. enjoyed watching them. Watched some of the aztec video before..

you always seem to have complete clarity over what you're doing - I make a start and then start to drift and lose direction completely...

during this campaign, to what extent do you know what your strategy will be long term? It seem like in 2 or 3 places you re-evaluate what you want to do. Is that common or just for the purpose of demonstration here?

thx for vids. enjoyed watching them. Watched some of the aztec video before..

you always seem to have complete clarity over what you're doing - I make a start and then start to drift and lose direction completely...

during this campaign, to what extent do you know what your strategy will be long term? It seem like in 2 or 3 places you re-evaluate what you want to do. Is that common or just for the purpose of demonstration here?

for this game, I pretty much stayed on track. Minor changes as I decided to go Space, and had to stop myself from therefore going full war along the way.

Otherwise, I tend to have a set goal near the beginning of the game which is sometimes determined by the AIs/map. Left alone, I sometimes just start building too much and don't get as active as I should.

ok cheers.

I might post a game in the forums and get some advice along the way to keep me on the straight and narrow.

MadDjinn, have started to watch quite a few of your videos. My question is unrelated to strategy and is about your interface. I noticed that when you have a Settler selected that only the tiles that would be within a cities workable range show the yield markers. Is that an option or a mod?

Also, when notifications appear on the right you are clicking through them and they disappear. When I click them they re-center my view on the appropriate area for the message. Option or mod?

Finally, when your units are out of movement points the icons above their group go away. Mine dims but doesn't go away. Is that an option or a mod?

If they are options which ones are they. I've tried a few different things with no luck.

Thanks.

Helo MadDjinn, the game was very nice, I enjoy watching your games and I liked that you showed us how to beat the game in a peacefull way. I would love to see a multiplayer game of yours though, if you can do this it would be awesome. The games vs the AI are all about exploiting its weakness and taking advantage of the fact that it is ... well lets say stupid. However, playing versus humans is another deal, probably it would require much more scouting to see where others are at, etc. which will make your experience playing it, and our - watching, much more fun :)

Keep up the good work!

At least AIs are somewhat ''constant'' and it's more easy to set-up a kind of victory or such. It's like writting a book. Nobody can really ''disturb'' you. Doing a mp video on youtube not really existed in civ4 excepted some few turns to show some little tricks but this ''underground'' world will always stay underground for obvious reasons. It's like playing another game.

MadDjinn needs to find good players too or it will look too easy lol. Because sometimes it's like playing chieftain, and sometimes, with the right people, it's much harder than playing deity.


Sp mode is perfect for such videos. Not mp. Who want to tell all the tricks to everyone? Nobody as i know.

MadDjinn, have started to watch quite a few of your videos. My question is unrelated to strategy and is about your interface. I noticed that when you have a Settler selected that only the tiles that would be within a cities workable range show the yield markers. Is that an option or a mod?

Also, when notifications appear on the right you are clicking through them and they disappear. When I click them they re-center my view on the appropriate area for the message. Option or mod?

Finally, when your units are out of movement points the icons above their group go away. Mine dims but doesn't go away. Is that an option or a mod?

If they are options which ones are they. I've tried a few different things with no luck.

Thanks.

I don't use mods for the vids. (or at all really.. don't even have the download a mod achievement)

Settler - might be an option? Thought that was 'vanilla'.

notifications - I'm using right click to get rid of them. Left click is what you're doing.

units - uhm.. pretty sure it's vanilla, but if not - option.

If options.. would need to back and check.

MadDjinn needs to find good players too or it will look too easy lol. Because sometimes it's like playing chieftain, and sometimes, with the right people, it's much harder than playing deity.


Sp mode is perfect for such videos. Not mp. Who want to tell all the tricks to everyone? Nobody as i know.

yup.. finding good MP players is harder than it seems.

oh wait...

I have no issues with showing people every trick in the book. You can't always use them, and it generally takes someone with skill and practise to know exactly when you use it. Besides, after awhile, there'll be more games closer to Deity than to chieftain ;) which is better IMO.

I'm starting to watch this but unfortunately, I find the background music and noise too loud.

I'm starting to watch this but unfortunately, I find the background music and noise too loud.

It took a while for me to get the right settings.

Some of the prior ones had bad audio or other recording issues.

I think the balance you achieved for Rome was perfect!

Yeah Rome series was good... Any idea what civ you are going to do next ? :O