Also, what are some of the settings you all play with for normal games? More specifically: is the game "better" with Vassal States turned off, No Tech Brokering turned on, and perhaps on Epic speed instead of Normal? I know it's really a matter of personal preference (so don't give me that answer
), but are there some options that are very popular and used among the respected players?
Thanks in advance!
How could one resist the answer 'it's a matter of personal preference'.
I don't really like the way Vassal States were introduced in this game. You'll often see a newer player ask 'How can I get rid of a vassal', fully assuming that it can be done. But the issue is, you can't and that's a bit of a forced and ugly solution to a potential exploit (conquer enemy partly, make enemy vassal, rebuild, conquer the rest).
Another issue with vassal states is that a civilisation that you're conquering can become a vassal to another civilization which automatically ends the war and puts your cities out of this civilisation's borders. In earlier versions, you'd be at war with both civilizations, now you're at peace with both and will have to redeclare war if you want to conquer more. It would have been better if you got an option once these 2 civilizations signed their vassalage treaty.
And third, the AI will never fully conquer an enemy. This means that in the rare situation where an AI is actually very successful at war, you won't get a very large AI civilisation, but a combination of a strong civilisation and several vassals. This combination is a lot weaker than a single strong civilisation would have been. Several small civilisations never work together really well.
The last negative about vassal states is related to technology trading. If you trade a technology with your vassal, then it will often just trade it on with your enemies. The AI and vassals will trade all the technologies among oneanother.
Oh, and the human player cannot become a vassal, voluntarily or forced.
It seems like vassal states were added to a diplomacy system which isn't build for it and wasn't really adjusted well to compensate for the addition.
I've played a few games with the option on, but now I usually have it off. I guess that most players will use the standard option, but it is hotly discussed and many really dislike vassal states.
The 'no tech brokering' option is often embraced by those players who dislike the fact that the tech trading between their vassals and enemy civilisations. It's also preferred among the players who like to trade away their technologies without unforeseen consequences (like the technology getting spread further to their enemies). Personally, I view this as the pro-human setting. It's really designed around limiting the technology trading of AI civilizations which is often disliked by human players. You can only trade those technologies that you research yourself. While it is a fair setting as it is equal for both human and AI, the human will be able to pick his research projects better so as to be able to trade technologies.
I have not really used it yet (for a full game). Most of my games have used the normal technology trading rules. Note that technologies are often used to bribe civilisations, so this setting has an effect on diplomacy.
I'm now playing my first game without technology trading. It will also have some effects on diplomacy. I won't get demands for a technology and I can't trade technologies at all. Since I play at fairly high levels, this setting should make the game harder as I can't use technology trading to compensate for the AI bonuses. I wonder how the game will turn out.
According to polls, epic game speed is the most used setting (on this forum) which is remarkable as it's not the standard setting. What it actually does, is turn the game into more individual decision moments which each are a little less important than the decision moments in a normal game. You have more turns, but during a lower percentage of those turns, you will actually discover a technology or build a structure. Almost everything is scaled on the other than normal game speeds. You will have 50% more turns on epic, but building projects, research times, worker actions times and GPP's needed are also increased by 50%.
One of the very few things which aren't completely scaled is the movement rate. Units move at the same speed. This means that there is more movement during an epic game and this makes war a bit easier. A conquest victory is easier on epic than on normal.
It's often a good idea to play the bigger maps on a slower game speed. This way, you'll compensate the longer distances by more movement.
BTW, I agree with Lord Parkin that you should play at the settings that you enjoy most.
