dalamb
Deity
The Nobles' Club series started out as a way for Noble-level (and below) players to improve their game. Most of the original participants now play at much higher levels, so this has become a way for advanced players to help others learn to play better. You can play your own game at any level and with any mod, but it would be nice to comment on the games of other players and give them advice.
Our next leader is Pericles of Greece, whom we last played in NC XXXIV. The Greeks start with Fishing and Hunting.
Finally, a cut and paste of our standard doctrine:
There are no hard and fast rules here: fun and learning are our primary goals, but we do suggest that you update your progress at various points in the game, using the Spoiler feature of the boards. You can post as often as you like; here's one suggestion:
We also welcome players to ask for specific game advice, as we have a number or stronger players who lurk and help out with solid tips, and of course, we help each other. Replies to specific questions should also be in spoilers, with a simple "@" in front of the person the answer is directed towards.
Special Thanks go to Bleys and TMIT, who really made this series a great one, r_rolo1, mapmaker extraordinaire, for his maps for most of the series, and all of you for playing.
The WB-saves are attached (zipped; they are bigger than standard saves). To play, simply download and unzip it into your BTS/Saves/WorldBuilder folder. Start the game, and load your favorite MOD (if you use one, if not, check out the BUG MOD), select "Play Scenario", and look for "NC 73 Pericles Noble" (or Monarch, if you want the AI to start with its usual Archery bonus tech, or Immortal for Archery+Hunting, or Deity to add Agriculture). This allows you to play with your favorite MOD at the Level and Speed of your choice. From Quick-Warlord to Marathon-Deity, all are welcome! We stuck with the name "Nobles Club" because it has a cool ring to it.
Note: The standard saves have no huts and have events turned off. If you want tribal villages and random events, choose the saves with "Huts" in their names. If you want huts but no events, select the Huts saves and use Custom Scenario to turn on the option that suppresses events.
For players on Monarch or above, you should add archery as a tech for the barbarians (if you don't, the AI will capture their cities very early). This cannot be done in the WB save file and must be done in Worldbuilder as follows:
Our next leader is Pericles of Greece, whom we last played in NC XXXIV. The Greeks start with Fishing and Hunting.

- Traits: Pericles is Creative and Philosophical. CRE give +2
in each city, meaning they grow without your having to built monuments and libraries, and also lets you build those libraries (plus theatres and the UB, Odeon) for half the hammers. PHI gives you +100% Great Person points and half-price universities.
- The UB: The Odeon, a Colosseum that gives +2
instead of +1, 2 free artists, and +3
-- a nice boost if you're going for a cultural win.
- The UU: The Phalanx, an Axeman with +100% defence against chariots, the usual bane of axemen.

Spoiler map details :
Tectonics, Mediterranean, Wet. I generated a lot of test cases before generating the game map, so here's some general characteristics I've seen.
Spoiler what the script seems to genereate :
Read "is/are" as applying to the average of what I've seen, and not necessarily specific to the game map. This kind of map looks roughly like the Mediterranean Sea, but sometimes the Straits of Gibraltar get closed off. Normal climate gives a lot of plains and deserts, which is why I picked Wet. Some starting positions seem to be quite mediocre. Some seafood starts have lots of food (including some on land); others are more "normal". The South is often, but not always, narrower than the North, but on the few maps I investigated thoroughly they tended to have fewer AI in compensation. The south has flood plains, though not necessarily in Egypt. There are lakes large enough to have seafood -- which will likely cause the AI to build more ships than it can sensibly use. I've seen a fair number of resources in places with no food nearby. It has almost twice the usable land as most maps we've used -- more so even than Highlands.
Spoiler edits :
So, to be fair to Immortal players, there are 16 AI instead of 6, which brings the "usable land per civ" down to about the average we've had during the series. I regenerated until I got one that met several criteria:
- At least 3 decent seafood starting locations actually occupied by civs (since I was hesitant to second-guess the script as to whether some of the unoccupied seafood locations were appropriate starting locations)
- Gibraltar is open.
- Land distribution met the "typical" I'd seen while investigating (a few had far less land than usual, or an exceptionally narrow "north")
There are no hard and fast rules here: fun and learning are our primary goals, but we do suggest that you update your progress at various points in the game, using the Spoiler feature of the boards. You can post as often as you like; here's one suggestion:
- 4000 BC (starting thoughts, no spoiler required for that discussion)
- 1000 BC or so (how you decided to progress up the early tech/build paths, which AIs you have met, where you're thinking of putting cities, etc)
- 500 AD or so (after establishing some cities and a possible plan of action)
- 1200 AD or so (mid-game, Lib race, wars or peace, or whichever happened or didn't, met other
- continent if applicable, etc)
- 1600 AD (or when you have decided on a course of action and a specific victory condition)
- End of game (Victory!!! or defeat, no shame in losing, especially if you tried a higher level. Learning is what we focus on, not fastest win or biggest empire)
We also welcome players to ask for specific game advice, as we have a number or stronger players who lurk and help out with solid tips, and of course, we help each other. Replies to specific questions should also be in spoilers, with a simple "@" in front of the person the answer is directed towards.
Special Thanks go to Bleys and TMIT, who really made this series a great one, r_rolo1, mapmaker extraordinaire, for his maps for most of the series, and all of you for playing.
The WB-saves are attached (zipped; they are bigger than standard saves). To play, simply download and unzip it into your BTS/Saves/WorldBuilder folder. Start the game, and load your favorite MOD (if you use one, if not, check out the BUG MOD), select "Play Scenario", and look for "NC 73 Pericles Noble" (or Monarch, if you want the AI to start with its usual Archery bonus tech, or Immortal for Archery+Hunting, or Deity to add Agriculture). This allows you to play with your favorite MOD at the Level and Speed of your choice. From Quick-Warlord to Marathon-Deity, all are welcome! We stuck with the name "Nobles Club" because it has a cool ring to it.
Note: The standard saves have no huts and have events turned off. If you want tribal villages and random events, choose the saves with "Huts" in their names. If you want huts but no events, select the Huts saves and use Custom Scenario to turn on the option that suppresses events.
For players on Monarch or above, you should add archery as a tech for the barbarians (if you don't, the AI will capture their cities very early). This cannot be done in the WB save file and must be done in Worldbuilder as follows:
Spoiler how to add techs to the barbarians :
- Zoom in all the way so you can't see the rest of the map.
- Use the CTRL-W key (or the menu) to enter the worldbuilder. Avoid looking at the mini-map in the lower right corner.
- By default you're in "player" mode (look in the box in the upper right; the icon that looks like a person should be selected). You'll get a drop down menu labeled with your leader's name. Barbarians are at the bottom, so cover the rest of the list with your hand if you don't want to see who else is on the map. Select "Barbarians".
- Select the "Technologies" tab in the box on the left.
- Find Archery (the arrow head icon; 8th row, 3rd column from the right) and click it.
- Exit the worldbuilder.
- Zoom out again after the map fades, and start playing.