Recent content by rgduck

Interesting. I've never looked at the code myself, only relied on other peoples' work. If I understand you correctly, these numbers from Carl are essentially wrong, as some of the modifiers he gives are actually multiplied by a variable he doesn't discuss? Honestly, it would make more sense, as...

As an embarrassingly experienced Deity player, I do recommend newer players read this guide... but treat it as a generic guide to diplomatic victory and ignore the specific claims about how great smallness and piety are. The "small piety" strategy derives from these two ideas: 1. You can win...

Rush composite bows, crossbows, and/or artillery. These techs are all OP relative to their position on the tech tree, and the AI is remarkably bad at dealing with them. Pick one, build your whole game around reaching it early, and you'll steamroll your AI neighbors. This is how top players win...

Lots of good advice above on how to mitigate the problem, but IMO the best solution is to avoid the problem entirely. In games where there is a clear tourism leader, or where you're already heavily influenced before reaching ideology, just delay your ideological choice and follow the leader's...

Whoa! I definitely didn't know this. Your guide is super-detailed, and I don't mean to diminish your contribution by oversimplifying it, but let me confirm that I understand the basic concept: When making peace offers, the AI considers your military strength *and* your economic strength. As a...

Gah! Literally the turn after I posted this, one of my "friends" moved a bunch of units into sight. The next turn, I got backstab DoW from another. Now I'm fighting both. I suspect I'll be okay, but I've cut it awfully close. I've left myself fall behind on military tech and units trying to...

It's going well, but not much like I had planned.

Well, the current lockdown seems like a good time to come back to this game. Here are my thoughts before starting: I like to let the achievements guide my play in these CDG games. For the luxury, Polder, and NW achievements, Liberty feels like the obvious opener. I want a bunch of cities and I...

Well done, penguin74! This isn't an easy map. For learning to war better/faster, I'd highly recommend Acken's Chu-Ko-Nu video. It's pretty easy to eliminate a neighbor early once you know the right build order and a few key techniques.

T217 DomV, 30 pts

Playing this map makes me feel like the AI's Shaka... so many cities, so much war.

Blatc, that's a really good point. I suppose the same argument applies against the Honor opener. It may earn an extra early policy, but you'll never kill enough barbs for that to translate to an extra policy in the late game.

I'm late to the party, but this is a fun map! I don't think I've ever gotten to use the tundra pantheon before.

T203 DomV. 20 pts: Floating Gardens before NC: 1 point per expo with Floating Gardens before NC is completed. 5 pts (cap + 4 expos + neighbor's cap) Jaguar Army: 1 point for every 3rd Jaguar online at the same time. No partial credit! 6 pts (built 18 of them right after NC, then gave most of...