This is a great discussion, but lets see how tough everyone really is.... How about a friendly little competition?
The following scenario is designed to compare REX skills and the other topics discussed in this thread on a tiny pangea map. The computer players have been removed to eliminate that random element of play, but I have added in a few extra barb camps to force players to produce at least some military units.
When choosing the map, I wanted a normal random generated map with sufficient room for people to compare and contrast their growth strategies on. Since many people, either manually or by using one of the tools available, specifically hunt for a starting position that already has fresh water, and other
starting conditions nearby, I did the same type of search. The first random map that met those conditions is the basis of this scenario. Note, the starting position has been tweaked to give some options that allow a strategy to be demonstrated. (No I am not starting anyone in the middle of a desert.)
Since some players make their strategy based upon if more shields or if more food is available I have given you a choice. The starting position is on a mountain. All players will have to move to found their first city. If you move north, you will have two cows. If you move east, you will have 2 flood plain
wheat. For those of you that can not decide, if you move north-east, you will get one of each.
The objective of the scenario is to see how many turns it takes to get 10, 20, and 30 cities. Post your dates/turns for each of these 3 levels, along with a short summary of how you managed your cities as far as granaries/settlers/workers/etc. Since this is not a real contest, the only award you will get is the unending respect of your peers.
Here are the world parameters for the map that was produced:
Tiny, 60% Ocean, Pangea, Random seed=1020939890. The rest were defaults.
I then modified the map as follows:
The western most starting position was assigned to player 1.
the northwest wheat was deleted, and 2 cows were added.
The players starting position was changed to a mountain to force a first turn move.
The other three starting positions were deleted and replaced with barb camps.
A few additional barb camps have been placed as well.
I then created a small 3x3 island where I placed a new (second)
player starting position.
Scenario properties were changed setting number of players to 2.
I modified the rules to change world size settings for "Tiny" to
match some of those for a standard world, namely optimum city number
was changed to 20, and tech level was set to 240.
As a recommendation, I would suggest that the Maya would be a great choice for everyone to play. They are agricultural, industrious, start with pottery(Granary), have a UU that may even supplement their worker pools with a few free slaves. If you think you need a different civ to demonstrate your strategy, feel free since this is just a friendly competition. Oh yes, I am playing at Emperor level.
And finally, good luck and have fun.
http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/41993/REX-Challenge.biq