18 Civilizations on a Duel Map

Cervus · Jul 22, 2008

I don't like large maps, as you can't really pay attention to minor details (geography and resources). I don't like having many cities, as it feels like work. Thus, I prefer Duel maps and mostly OCC games.

Recently, I started another OCC game on a Duel map and chose the maximum number of civilizations (i.e. 18 including mine). I haven't finished it yet, but it turned out to be quite fun.

At first, everyone was pieceful, so it felt a bit boring (I'm not quite a warmonger, but I like war-related politics). I took the matter in my hands and used diplomacy to make a few AI's fight each other. I found that in such conditions a war quickly pulls more civilizations into fighting each other (oh, the politics). The Relations screen would sometimes look quite red

I was attacked myself a couple of times, once by three AI's at once, but managed to defend my only city, again using diplomacy to set friendly civilizations on my enemies.

I wonder if other civfanatics enjoy something like this, and encourage others to give it a try, especially if you start feeling bored on huge maps.

Firestorm94 · Jul 22, 2008

i'm a huge map fan, the bigger, the better, but i think ill try this idea (domination victory any1?)

wilcoxchar · Jul 22, 2008

I tried this with a previous patch and got either a culture or domination victory (can't remember which) as Russia. I played peaceful throughout the game, somehow managed to squeeze 3 cities in my patch of land. and even managed to destroy four civs by flipping their 1 or 2 cities. :lol:

Cervus · Jul 22, 2008

Since my game is One City Challenge, I can't go for cultural victory. Neither do I hope for domination, of course. I'm winning by score so far, but this can quickly change if an AI becomes stronger (e.g. by conquering another).

So far only one civilization has been destroyed. Russians

I hope to maintain the balance and probably have my space victory.

thadian · Jul 22, 2008

never done it, dual maps just... ive never played one, so im not hating, i just dont want a game thats so short and undeveloped - but this is why i love civ, so many different types of people can enjoy it how they want to

gogogo space race!!

Frankthetank · Jul 22, 2008

an interesting challenge - must be a fast game with so few cities to manage

r_rolo1 · Jul 22, 2008

I've done it once.... after getting a second city ( a ex-capital is better

) it is simply rolling over if you pick your foes wisely.

King Jason · Jul 22, 2008

Well, the vast majority of the cities you'll capture will be capitals. In a way, you're sort of rigging the resource placement to be a lot more robust than it would be with the appropriate amount of civs.

Not to mention, the strength of rushing goes through the roof with this setting.

Cervus · Jul 22, 2008

thadian said:
never done it, dual maps just... ive never played one, so im not hating, i just dont want a game thats so short and undeveloped

Well, I'm not quite sure it's that short. One can still kill a few evenings this way. I guess what I like the most about it is that you can give your full attention to your only city (or a few of them) and geopolitics, as you don't have too much stuff to manage.

Another thing is that my laptop is too slow to comfortably handle large maps

Cervus · Jul 22, 2008

King Jason said:
Not to mention, the strength of rushing goes through the roof with this setting.

So true. A late war is quite challenging, as you'd likely face several opponents. No only that, but sustaining a war when you've got just a city or two can badly harm you economy/science.

While I'm trying to get through the current game more or less peacefully (already on the second place due to Korea's successful expansion), I will probably try an early rush the next time (will have to uncheck OCC, of course).

Da_V_Man · Jul 23, 2008

I was inspired by this thread to try a 18 civ duel, and I have to say it's pretty cool; like a rainbow.

Now there are only 7 civs left with me really far ahead of everyone else. This is also the first time I tried an early war. I met Mansa a turn or two in and immediatley DoWed him. I strolled in and needless to say, I obliterated him. I had no Horse(oddly enough, no one did. No horses at all on this map), or Bronze but finally got Iron.

I built a stack of Swords and some cats, and bowled over several civs, and became quite advanced. Several civs later and I have "unified" the continent with a score of almost 5000, and over 10 cities under my belt. Since I don't like nukes, I got them banned before they were born, and then I razed the UN (I didn't like the city placement)

I think I am going to try for my first conquest victory.

lesbianondrugs · Jul 25, 2008

I've tried this yesterday and it's cool

love it!

Everyone is against everyone, multiple wars, need to watch my back. Very very different that larger map

. Cervus- thanks for the idea!

Desert-Fox · Jul 25, 2008

I played it too in several times. Once I did it in island map where I got quickly room for 4 cities while the others had 1 or 2. But it makes the game too easy because if you overwhelm quickly some opponents then you get huge lead and you don't need any diplomacy to win even in monarch level.

thebastard · Jul 25, 2008

i've tried it too, picked pericles for the ulitmate fun. my second border pop actually razed a japanese city! i could have easily won a conquest victory (had grenadiers, rifles and cannons against longbows), i got a diplo much earlier though.

if you play an OCC the civs that manage to found more then one city can be a bit of a threat, but other than that packing 18 civs on a duel-size map is fun to play.

lesbianondrugs · Jul 25, 2008

Desert-Fox said:
But it makes the game too easy because if you overwhelm quickly some opponents then you get huge lead and you don't need any diplomacy to win even in monarch level.

Yes, indeed it is much easier. The crucial point is to get more cities in the beginning. I play on Monarch and I am leading (and I have never won Monarch before on 'standard' maps).

But hey, it is fun

it's like a 'coffee break' :lol:

SwordofStriker · Jul 25, 2008

I refer to this as the "Cage Match."

It's definitely easier and I can bump the difficulty up these very small maps where the AI is too crowded to grow from the very start. These settings tend to lead me to early warring that pretty much never ends. Still, it can be fun and is a nice change.

claesbrandt · Mar 30, 2016

It is too easy, but I sometimes enjoy doing this too. Its okay to have some fun

22 civs on duel map, high sea level to make it even more compact. Pangea map usually. Only domination victory. If you want, you can chose Shoshone for extra tiles at the start, but it doesnt really matter that much, as you will take cities. But the real reason why I have fun with this is to watch all those civs that cannot settle, capture a lonely settler as worker. Always fun to get revenge on Alexander this way lol.

bobwwd · Mar 30, 2016

I used to play Duel maps with 18 civs with my friend on LAN sometimes, man it was chaos.

Sometimes we put 2 teams, 9vs9 and map wrap was toroidal

Lexicus · Mar 30, 2016

lesbianondrugs said:
Yes, indeed it is much easier. The crucial point is to get more cities in the beginning. I play on Monarch and I am leading (and I have never won Monarch before on 'standard' maps).

But hey, it is fun it's like a 'coffee break'

YMMV. I think it's actually harder if you play on a difficulty level you're unaccustomed to. I for example would be absolutely hopeless at such close quarters with the Deity AI. More room to expand is actually easier for me when I move up difficulties.

claesbrandt said:
It is too easy, but I sometimes enjoy doing this too. Its okay to have some fun 22 civs on duel map, high sea level to make it even more compact. Pangea map usually. Only domination victory. If you want, you can chose Shoshone for extra tiles at the start, but it doesnt really matter that much, as you will take cities. But the real reason why I have fun with this is to watch all those civs that cannot settle, capture a lonely settler as worker. Always fun to get revenge on Alexander this way lol.

Hey, this is the Civ IV forum! Take your Civ V talk somewhere else :lol:

claesbrandt · Mar 30, 2016

Lexicus said:
YMMV. I think it's actually harder if you play on a difficulty level you're unaccustomed to. I for example would be absolutely hopeless at such close quarters with the Deity AI. More room to expand is actually easier for me when I move up difficulties.

Hey, this is the Civ IV forum! Take your Civ V talk somewhere else

Aww, daumn my bad, sorry

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