Recent content by Ataxerxes

This is my experience also. Although it's a cheese victory, the AI never thinks the of the steps necessary. The only benefit of capturing the AP is you're guaranteed to be a candidate for AP Resident. If you become resident, you control if a resolution is even voted on (no vote on AP...

I was a 40-year old history nut with very little knowledge of computer games. I picked up Age of Empires II at Costco because I wanted to play as the Byzantines (strange reason, but that was it). I got to really enjoy the game on my old computer. I got to enjoy the series but I was also...

A sidelight to economic civics being different in different situations is in an OCC. When I play an OCC I virtually always use Environmentalism. Your one city will be your National Park city often with several forests having preserves. In that situation environmentalism turns out to be a very...

Me too. It doesn't make sense but I like it. How much can India conquer? Probably my main victory type winds up being diplomation. I own the world!

Probably out of laziness I use State Property the most. Setting up corporations and getting executives going takes more time. I like being able to get new cities on line quickly with watermills and workshops and not worrying about the distance factor. I'm not saying it's necessarily better...

That's actually truer than you might think. If you look at road maps of the Midwest, the roads form a grid pattern and at almost every intersection there is a small town. Each town generates commerce from serving the farmers nearby.

Many of my WTF moments are with warmongers. Everybody's Buddhist and the AP is Buddhist. The motion for "Defensive Pacts with all Members" is passed. Two turns later Ragnar, who is one of the most powerful civs, declares on his neighbor. How to dogpile yourself. He wound up getting...

This.:agree: The fast worker is only average on Marathon - a strong combat UU would do better because they don't obsolete as fast. It's still a decent UU and nowhere near the worst as long as Panzer, Ballista Elephant, SEAL are still out there. On Epic it's an above-average UU, probably top...

Congrats! Almost all professions or hobbies have their own artificial speaking patterns: "I axe rushed Monty then turtled to space. There were no other warmongers." Bridge: I reversed the dummy and then end-played my RHO. Accounting: e-mail subject: 401(k) SAS 70.

I agree with everything except Monty. Unusual for a psycho, he values religion highly so he can be trusted. This isn't to say I would want to be BFF with him instead of Boudica. The never DOW at pleased for Boudica is a big plus. The huge backstabber is Cathy - never trust her!

I confess that I used to think as you do about the Aztec UU. It's a nonstandard UU to be sure but it has uses that were outlined. It can make a fantastic Supermedic - Woody III and Medic III on the same unit for 26 XP's? And really I don't like to Sword rush when the counter (Axe) is...

This:agree: If Panzer bonus matters, something weird is going on. Collateral damage rules by that point of the game. I love the Oromo Warrior for the reasons cited. Drill II ain't much, but Drill IV on 5 XP's IS much. I used to regard the Jag as useless, but enough good players have...

Thanks. I will avoid Fuchida. Fascinating character but not all interesting people write fair accounts.

I'm thinking about getting a few books on Pearl Harbor and Midway I believe "At Dawn We Slept" is one of the best ones about Pearl Harbor as is "Miracle at Midway" by the same author. Am I correct that these are very good books or are there better ones? Also, what about "Midway - the...

I know I sound like I argue both sides of my face, but I don't consider Musketeers better than Cataphracts and Vultures. Admittedly I hate Dogs (wasted on SB super-archers). I think the Musketeer itself is a nice unit (AI doesn't handle speed well) but most of the time they only have a short...