Bloody Darius again!

[Walter R]

So I've been playing King again and winning comfortably enough, so thought I'd better get back to trying Emperor. Set up: England, Large Islands, Marathon, 10/20.

So I get to Astronomy and guess what? Just like last time Darius is a runaway! And once again he is a long way from my homeland.
Only this time there'll be no dilly-dallying about whether to go SV - I'm going after him as soon as I can get a few SOTL, and I'm going to give that sucker a headache he won't forget! I'll let you know how I get on.

 

[tat501]

This is the problem I have with island maps. The AI can get all safe and secure and focus on infrastructure and there is little any other civ can do early to cripple them!

I suppose it can be quite fun if you're playing as England and just go blast them with your Ships of the Line later on.

 

[Walter R]

True. And true!

Incidentally, if I select small continents I set sea level higher and conversely on large islands I set sea and rainfall lower - both of which tend to give more landmass and interesting maps.

 

[Camikaze]

This is the problem I have with island maps. The AI can get all safe and secure and focus on infrastructure and there is little any other civ can do early to cripple them!

Being someone who plays on lowish difficulties, I don't mind this sort of thing - allows for one AI to be a little bit of a challenge, without actually being anything to worry about.

 

[Aristos]

Being someone who plays on lowish difficulties, I don't mind this sort of thing - allows for one AI to be a little bit of a challenge, without actually being anything to worry about.

You play in lowish diffs???

Hmmm... better lower those posting numbers and use the time to play instead

 

[Camikaze]

I usually play on Warlord or Prince. I'm fine up to King, and have dabbled with Emperor, but when I'm playing I'm not really looking for a proper challenge. I'm playing to relax. Having one civ that's competitive makes things more interesting, so it's good to see an AI that's managed to dominate their continent or group of islands or whatever, but at Prince you know you're always going to beat them in the end anyway.

 

[chazzycat]

Persia is easily the best AI civ in my opinion. They seem to be runaways most frequently of all the civs. Darius is my nemesis.

 

[Walter R]

So I've been playing King again and winning comfortably enough, so thought I'd better get back to trying Emperor. Set up: England, Large Islands, Marathon, 10/20.

So I get to Astronomy and guess what? Just like last time Darius is a runaway! And once again he is a long way from my homeland.
Only this time there'll be no dilly-dallying about whether to go SV - I'm going after him as soon as I can get a few SOTL, and I'm going to give that sucker a headache he won't forget! I'll let you know how I get on.

Wow! This game is going great. Briefly so far:
Captured one Persian city, razed two others, accepted peace.
Beat the crap out of Askia - my 3 SOTL then have logistics.
Capture Edinburgh, wiping out Celts and get a 4-way DOW (Gandhi, Haile, Bismarck and Sulemein). Cue capture of Indian cities and host of wonders. Then Istanbul, at which point get very favourable peace deals with India and Ethiopia and Ottomans.
Now beating up Bismarck.
My 3 SOTL and 1 privateer are heavily promoted and rule the waves! Looks like I'm in with a shout of winning this one...

 

[Walter R]

Wow! This game is going great. Briefly so far:
Captured one Persian city, razed two others, accepted peace.
Beat the crap out of Askia - my 3 SOTL then have logistics.
Capture Edinburgh, wiping out Celts and get a 4-way DOW (Gandhi, Haile, Bismarck and Sulemein). Cue capture of Indian cities and host of wonders. Then Istanbul, at which point get very favourable peace deals with India and Ethiopia and Ottomans.
Now beating up Bismarck.
My 3 SOTL and 1 privateer are heavily promoted and rule the waves! Looks like I'm in with a shout of winning this one...

Yep, I've won my first Emperor game - well technically I haven't yet because I'm doing my tidying up beforehand; but as I could have captured the Ethiopian capital any time I wanted for the past 200 turns or so, this one's in the bag. And it's been one helluva good game, rarely had a more enjoyable one.