best random event

[lasombra1984]

I lost 2 subs fully loaded with tactical nukes to the Bermuda Triangle event. They were sitting under the polar ice, and they were my only two such nuke-equipped subs, and I had just voted for nuclear disarmament. That completely changed that game.

Re the oil event @Dhoomstriker, just because you can't use it doesn't mean the knowledge of where it's at isn't valuable. That kind of knowledge would inform my expansion and acquisition strategy, and would certainly influence the way I dealt with the AI's. If oil was plentiful, probably not so big a deal, but if land oil was scarce, I think it would be a game changer.

And anyway +1 hammer on farms or workshops is not marginal

 

[10lire]

barbarian uprising...so awesome when it happens to you early on :suicide:

You can say I'm crazy, but I love Barbarian uprising; it's a very challenging and adrenalinic event! And if you are lucky, the Barbs' SoD will attack not you but your neighbours: one time I declared war to Spain; when I was moving my SoD near Madrid, barbarians rose up attacking it one turn before I arrived! When the battle ended, Madrid had only one injured archer and I conquered the spanish capital with just one Swordman!

 

[avw94]

I actually like random events. It makes the game more unpredictable and forces me to adapt to new situations. As for my favorite, I don't really have one.

 

[jojorah]

The plagues in rfc i find fun!

 

[lasombra1984]

You can say I'm crazy, but I love Barbarian uprising; it's a very challenging and adrenalinic event! And if you are lucky, the Barbs' SoD will attack not you but your neighbours: one time I declared war to Spain; when I was moving my SoD near Madrid, barbarians rose up attacking it one turn before I arrived! When the battle ended, Madrid had only one injured archer and I conquered the spanish capital with just one Swordman!

You'll deal with Aryans (Archers) with at least 1 Axeman or 3 warriors.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

You'll deal with Aryans (Archers) with at least 1 Axeman or 3 warriors.

You will die to aryans if they spawn as early as they can spawn. The best player in the world will die to them when that happens.

That's the problem with events; firaxis doesn't know balance and it shows. There are a handful of events that are instant game overs, and a large chunk that provide benefit or penalty w/o involving the strategy aspect of the game whatsoever.

That's unfortunate. Much as I hate this mechanic, it had a lot of potential and had it actually been implemented decently, I'd have liked it.

If the setting is on, give me the religion spread event where you can buy into it to spread it more. That's an example of a good event; you have some options as to how to react and each of them is dynamic enough that you might choose it based on situation. Super good events like best defense (diplo "I win") and super terrible ones like bermuda triangle (kiss 20000 navy goodbye) do not belong in the game. All firaxis had to do was implement them so that they added to strategy...but then firaxis never got the controls working 100% in the past decade so w/e ^_^.

 

[aggri1]

I got a choice in my last game which allowed me to get a military academy. I thought that that was pretty neat (and it was actually in a great city for it, too!). I can't remember what the other option was.

In that game I also got free Shock for all pikes.

Perhaps the most amusing one was something about an election which was within margins of error. I could choose between all Courthouses +1 gold, or all Courthouses +3 culture. I liked that one, though it wasn't really very significant in the grand scheme of things.

I was also offered a few times the opportunity to gift to a Brother of my Faith (or whatever) some of my surplus resources (as he, Napoleon, was in a war). There didn't seem to be any benefit for me at all, as there was no change in diplomacy with the recipient (that I could tell).

 

[awesome]

i like the ones that want you to build stuff, especially the one based on d-day.

 

[lasombra1984]

I got a choice in my last game which allowed me to get a military academy. I thought that that was pretty neat (and it was actually in a great city for it, too!). I can't remember what the other option was.
.

Free Military Instructor specialist

 

[Nick Carpathia]

The free military instructor comes form a Castle. The free military academy comes from a drydock. I think.

 

[NothingWorks]

I find myself getting 'an arranged marriage that went wrong has spoiled your relation with x' really often, i've started wondering why my civilization bothers

I've never really had a problem with them in game, the good usually balances out the bad, just sometimes you have to alter your approach.

 

[Tlc2011]

I actually know of a hidden secret ULTRA DESTRUCTIVE EVENT: A Tsunami.
Either the city gets broken beyond repair or it's wiped off the map. You have
to edit the XML for it. I once edited the XML percentage for it to 100%

 

[Dhoomstriker]

You will die to aryans if they spawn as early as they can spawn. The best player in the world will die to them when that happens.

The best player in the world will do one of the following:
a) Get a Settler fast enough for a second City
OR
b) Capture an AI's City

Then, they will leave their capital undefended. The Aryans will walk in, capture said player's capital, and then move on, leaving that player's capital undefended.


Since that best player in the world has a second City, that player will not die to a Conquest Victory. That best player will also have a Warrior (or other Military Unit) near enough to their original capital in order to recapture the undefended City before either an AI does so or before the City comes out of revolt and the Barbs build a defensive unit there.


That's not to say that the Event is balanced: it clearly isn't when it is one of the Events that the BUG Mod disables. Seeing as how BUG is supposed to advertise "Unaltered Gameplay," the Event was indeed deemed to be unbalancing enough to be disabled (thus going against the general policy of avoiding the alteration of gameplay). But, the best player in the world can survive such an Event.

I actually know of a hidden secret ULTRA DESTRUCTIVE EVENT: A Tsunami.
Either the city gets broken beyond repair or it's wiped off the map. You have
to edit the XML for it. I once edited the XML percentage for it to 100%

Is there a choice between a City being "broken beyond repair" and having the City being destroyed? Also, what does "broken beyond repair" mean?

 

[lasombra1984]

Volcano errupion is awful also.
Especially if it hits cottaged Floodplains(((

 

[Dhoomstriker]

Volcano errupion is awful also.
Especially if it hits cottaged Floodplains(((

What's so special about Cottaged Floodplains? Aren't any Cottages going to be equally affected?

Or is there something worse that happens to Floodplains, such as the Floodplains turning into regular Desert?

 

[lasombra1984]

What's so special about Cottaged Floodplains? Aren't any Cottages going to be equally affected?

Or is there something worse that happens to Floodplains, such as the Floodplains turning into regular Desert?

I will not cottage green/brown tiles close to mountain but I will think about it on FP tiles.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

The best player in the world will do one of the following:
a) Get a Settler fast enough for a second City
OR
b) Capture an AI's City

This was made in ignorance and is wrong. If Aryans come "as fast as they can", you will not do either of these things before you die. Neither will the best player in the world. The best player in the world would not open up with 4 warriors and park them in the capitol every game, so the best player in the world would die (Vedic Aryans can hit from turn 20 on IIRC, sometimes just after you finish your first worker).

Then, they will leave their capital undefended. The Aryans will walk in, capture said player's capital, and then move on, leaving that player's capital undefended.

Nope, the Aryans will walk into a capitol that has maybe 1-2 warriors tops and the human will die.

You can't squirm out of this I'm afraid. There is no way to put up a settler by turn 30 normal speed unless you open settler first (if you do this aryans can simply take both cities before you finish a warrior). There is no way to capture a 2nd city by turn 30 unless you're playing below monarch (is the best player in the world playing below monarch?) and even then, the aryans can magically spawn and hit your capitol when you move out to take this magical 2nd city you claim someone could possibly get by turn 30.

My foot. You micro perfectly, do everything to the best ROI possible, and you die anyway. You die unless every game you play you train at least 4-5 warriors before anything else and leave them all defending the capitol. The price this puts on one's empire is high enough to be a sucker play.

 

[Dhoomstriker]

The best player in the world would not open up with 4 warriors and park them in the capitol every game, so the best player in the world would die (Vedic Aryans can hit from turn 20 on IIRC, sometimes just after you finish your first worker).

Well, it's easier to claim what the best player in the world is less likely to do than to explain exactly what the best player in the world would do, unless you happen to know her or him.

But, likely said player uses the BUG Mod and doesn't have this Event enabled, so if they were to play a game just to prove that they could beat an early Vedic Aryans Event, they'd probably do so with the pure intent of showing that they could beat it... and thus they'd do whatever it took to defeat the Event (such as settling on a Plains Hills square with a Plains Hills Forest in the big fat cross then spamming Warriors).

You can't squirm out of this I'm afraid.

I wasn't going to even try until you made this claim saying that I couldn't!

There is no way to put up a settler by turn 30 normal speed unless you open settler first (if you do this aryans can simply take both cities before you finish a warrior).

Well, sometimes (rarely) opening with a Settler first is the right play. Nothing says that you have to settle anywhere within range of the Vedic Aryans... you could settle this City on the other side of a neighbouring AI and use that AI as a buffer, for example.

There is no way to capture a 2nd city by turn 30 unless you're playing below monarch (is the best player in the world playing below monarch?) and even then, the aryans can magically spawn and hit your capitol when you move out to take this magical 2nd city you claim someone could possibly get by turn 30.

Since we're splitting hairs (I mean, we both agree that the Event is unbalanced and is out of place in the game--particularly when it comes as early as you describe having seen it), I think that we can somewhat disagree all in good fun, at least that's my intention. For example, rather than there being "no way" to capture a 2nd City, one could simply get really lucky with the Random Number Generator. What's to stop you from getting +2 Experience from Barb Units without losing any Health (or with Healing quickly), possibly having the Aggressive Trait, and then getting something like 5% odds (a made-up number) instead of closer to 2% odds (which is still possible with enough tries) of taking the City?

Besides, if you're going to die anyway, what's the harm in throwing a Warrior or two at an AI's capital (if that's all of the Military Units that you have at the time) or even better an AI's second City that doesn't have Cultural Defences (if they have such a City) rather than simply immediately giving up upon spotting the stack of Barb units?

Unlike Vanilla, BtS AI often leave many of their Cities defended by only a single Archer.

That early in the game, you might not even have to face whipped AI Archer reinforcements.


If you manage to have 2 or 3 Warriors, assaulting a City early on (i.e. that has low Cultural defenses) and which only has 1 Archer isn't completely a fool's errand.


Besides, you don't even care how good the captured City is, just that it is a City which you can possess for at least a short period of time.

You die unless every game you play you train at least 4-5 warriors before anything else and leave them all defending the capitol.

Who is to say that opening with 5 Warriors isn't a power move?

That's easily 2 Worker steals on a difficulty level where the AIs start with a Worker and also sufficient units to attempt a reasonable chance at successfully rushing an AI capital on lower difficulty levels.


Besides, another valid opening could be early Archery. 1 Archer and 1 Warrior defending in your capital would have a reasonable chance of fending off 4 attacking Archers, which should be very achievable.

Again, who is to say that opening with Archery isn't a power move... not only can you Worker steal but you can also succesfully choke multiple AIs. If doing so is your plan, it won't be hard to have your own newly-built Archer defender by the time that the AIs send any of their starting units as a counter on your capital.


So, there are two potential openings that not only could give you a decent edge (given the right circumstances--being isolated won't work) while also offering a potential chance to avoid an early Random Event screw-job.

The price this puts on one's empire is high enough to be a sucker play.

I'm not disagreeing here. It's a ridiculous Event based on its potential to occur quite early in the game.

I just looked up the Event's criteria:
The Vedic Aryans
Prereq: One player knows POLYTHEISM AND one player knows ARCHERY
Obsolete: NATIONALISM or PRINTING_PRESS or EDUCATION or GUNPOWDER or ASTRONOMY
Active/Weight: 20/200
Result 1: 4 Barbarian Archers (Standard size Map) spawn


Given that only 1 player needs to know Archery, even on a difficulty level where none of the AIs start with Archery, it won't take long for a single player to learn Archery. Then, as soon as Hinduism has been founded, "it's on!" Well, at least it will be when an Event is triggered.


However, I LIKE the idea of the Event, as often a human player will finesse the idea of ignoring early defense in favour of spawn-busting and/or skipping Military Units altogether. It's nice to have this well-used formula get messed-up every once and a while. However, it would be fairer if the Event had better requirements, such as (just thinking off of the top of my head here): 2 Cities minimum, the knowledge of Bronze Working by the targeted player (although you still have the potential to be messed with if an AI's Event decides to come after you instead, so maybe this thought needs rework), 5 population total across your Cities (for the ability to sacrifice your early game for survival by whipping defenders), and/or some later tech level, such as 1 player having the knowledge of Alphabet (in order to stick with the current theme of at least 1 player knowing a certain tech).

 

[nihil8r]

I actually like random events. It makes the game more unpredictable and forces me to adapt to new situations. As for my favorite, I don't really have one.

i agree. after playing the game for 100000000000 hours, random events add some fun. sometimes you get screwed but so does the AI.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Well, it's easier to claim what the best player in the world is less likely to do than to explain exactly what the best player in the world would do, unless you happen to know her or him.

You're not hiding behind pretend non-logic so easily. Take any start where worker first has the proven highest average returns. The best player loses every one of those, because he knew it was highest ROI.

But, likely said player uses the BUG Mod and doesn't have this Event enabled, so if they were to play a game just to prove that they could beat an early Vedic Aryans Event, they'd probably do so with the pure intent of showing that they could beat it... and thus they'd do whatever it took to defeat the Event (such as settling on a Plains Hills square with a Plains Hills Forest in the big fat cross then spamming Warriors).

This argument suggests a player who plays stupidly to prove a point. I don't think that is indicative of a good player, yet alone the best.

Anyway, overly excessive hedging is an example of a bad player, not a good one. You don't see routinely successful players spamming out 30 longbows every game "just in case" 2 AI happen to roll a war check at the precise same instant. Good players don't constantly harm their beaker rate just because an event MIGHT happen, either. I don't know why I'm bothering with this paragraph; you're a reasonably good player. I know you don't do these things either, and I know for a fact that you'd die every single time vedic aryans hit that early because you're not stupid enough to set yourself back 20+ turns just on the off chance they might happen.

Also, BUG mod has absolutely nothing to do with this event....

I wasn't going to even try until you made this claim saying that I couldn't!

I don't blame you...but you still can't .

Well, sometimes (rarely) opening with a Settler first is the right play. Nothing says that you have to settle anywhere within range of the Vedic Aryans... you could settle this City on the other side of a neighbouring AI and use that AI as a buffer, for example.

And you could still die. Aryans do some funny stuff with "target city", which is why they're still not "fixed" in 3.19 (I'm surprised you've yet to cite the changes to this event rule in recent patches that claimed to fix it but did not).

For example, rather than there being "no way" to capture a 2nd City, one could simply get really lucky with the Random Number Generator. What's to stop you from getting +2 Experience from Barb Units without losing any Health (or with Healing quickly), possibly having the Aggressive Trait, and then getting something like 5% odds (a made-up number) instead of closer to 2% odds (which is still possible with enough tries) of taking the City?

Okay, maybe it was presumptuous to assume that it's IMPOSSIBLE to win a warrior rush on immortal/deity. You could attack 3 archers with 3 warriors and, in theory, wipe the city out without taking damage. The odds against this are so astronomical that nobody with sense would do it, however .

Besides, if you're going to die anyway, what's the harm in throwing a Warrior or two at an AI's capital (if that's all of the Military Units that you have at the time) or even better an AI's second City that doesn't have Cultural Defences (if they have such a City) rather than simply immediately giving up upon spotting the stack of Barb units?

Because unless you're sitting on the borders with 3+ warriors, it won't make a difference. AI generally has at least 2 defenders in its city and you have to be close enough to reach it before the aryans kill you. Again, I point out that unless you opened warriors first, you have ONE warrior near the AI. Not 2 or more. One.

Unlike Vanilla, BtS AI often leave many of their Cities defended by only a single Archer.

Not on immortal+ they don't. Windows with a single archer are incredibly rare...and the ability to actually attack them before they whip another one with a 1 move unit more rare still.

Note that you must also find an AI and reach it BEFORE you try your 1/1000 odds chance to win with your 1/100 odds chance of having that 1/1000 chance even be possible. I'm probably being generous to you on the probabilities, too.

If you manage to have 2 or 3 Warriors, assaulting a City early on (i.e. that has low Cultural defenses) and which only has 1 Archer isn't completely a fool's errand.

If you do this you're dead before you reach AI cap. You don't have enough time to make those warriors AND move them over before you get killed. I said you had to hold all 4 warriors in the capitol for a reason.

Besides, another valid opening could be early Archery. 1 Archer and 1 Warrior defending in your capital would have a reasonable chance of fending off 4 attacking Archers, which should be very achievable.

It isn't.

It's nice to have this well-used formula get messed-up every once and a while.

Messed up by practical decision standards, not decision-void random chance. Barbs in general are garbage; they can have 100's of impact on you or other civs early on at complete random. Where as player-player wars later on have ways of planning around the RNG, barbs do not. If the game wants to screw you, it can and will. I have a word for players who play with barbs on and don't occasionally eat a horrible start or a city lost due to barbs:

Liars.

Your rule proposal just makes a completely ridiculous garbage event into a still badly-designed one that encourages players to do something stupid on the off chance it happens. These things are bad design. People need to think a little before propping up bad design.