Well, I want to start playing these things again, and I'm not willing to wait a month, so I'm going to try this one. That said, the highest difficulty I've won a game on was Monarch, I believe. I've never even tried Deity. But hey I figure I'll give it a shot and see how long I can last before I lose horribly.
COTM 18 Pre-game discussion
- Thread starter Karasu
- Start date
Più Freddo
From space, earth is blue
Redbad said:
No. Mined Hill and irrigated Flood Plain equals two irrigated Plains: four food, two shields. Takes "only" five turns longer to accomplish not counting the cost of crossing the river, which will possibly be the same. Win is two gpt in the capital in despotism once the Hill gets worked.
I think I'll have to finish a few spread-sheets to see what is actually better.
7Losses
Chieftain
I've done some test starts and have been obliterated with about 10 bouts of disease before 1000 BC.
Is there anything that can be done about this? Deity is hard enough as it is without losing a third of your population (and a good settler factory).
Is there anything that can be done about this? Deity is hard enough as it is without losing a third of your population (and a good settler factory).
Marc Aurel
Philosopher Emperor
I also did run this situation with a created map around the start position info and all the Asian civs around me (Russia, Persia, Mongols ,China, Japan, India and Byzantines). I have suffereed a couple of embarassing defeats, but I will play this, since the situation is quite intesting and Civ4 is not that interesting for me. The animations make it run much too slow. (and I have a fast computer and graphic card) We need a mod as for the COTMs, in which the animations of going from one tile to another are disabled.- Maybe I only didn't find the button for that after one session. In any case I think I will move SE first and build a warrior for scouting, since trading as early as possible, before any AI does it, is crucial in this scenario. I think I will research pottery at max science, build a granary and set science to 0 and try to buy any tech from AI. - but that may be bad advices since I never won on Deity before.
Redbad
should have shaved
Più Freddo said:
Yes, but do you really want to work another floodplain?
And what about all that gold lost in the critical early stage when you don't use the gold/hill?
King Of America
Warlord
Will settling on the hill decresase the likelihood of disease as opposed to settling on a flood plain (FP)? In other words, assuming that you have the same number of FPs in your city radius, is disease affected by whether or not you settle on an FP?
Thanks
Thanks
Redbad
should have shaved
I'm not sure, but I think only the worked floodplain tiles count towards chances at disease and not the fact if you've settled on one.
You can only get disiease from actually working an FP tile (includeing the center tile if you settled on an FP, i think). But you'll have to work FP tiles if you want to get a decent expansion speed. With so many FP tiles i think everybody will get disease sooner or later in one of his/her cities, but there is a huge difference between getting it in the first few turns before the granary is built and getting it later. The difference may be even greater then the difference of getting a settler from a GH, that's why i think the game should be modded for GOTM to remove disiase from FPs.
Markus5
Code Monkey
I've been playing a test game (not at diety - I want to actually get to MilTrad and the UU) using DaveMcW's basic strategy. I got a 4 turn settler factory up quite quickly in the capital and churned out settlers. The other inner core cities built warriors and workers. There were a few barracks, too, but not many. One city started a prebuild. I researched as fast as possible to Lit and switched the prebuild to GrLib. There were no far ranging warrior explorations. Just enough to get the lay of the land, so to speak. Visitors arrived, some sooner, some later. Trading for tech was brisk and fruitful. After Lit, I researched to currency. I timed researching republic to complete when the GrLib completed, and accumulated gold. When iron was connected up, I started building barracks in cities and then they began building swords. A few productive cities slipped in libraries before resuming the production of swords and workers. My location in this world is very nice and I have lots of room for expansion. I'm a few turns into the MA, and have Monotheism and Feudalism. The GrLib hasn't given any free tech yet, but I'm playing at a lower level, so that's OK. If I actually got it built in the COTM, it would probably produce several techs. I'm about to revolt to republic. I'm a few turns from connecting horses. I'll switch to building horses (or knights if I get that tech) instead of swords. I'll try to get Leos to make the upgrade cheaper. I'll hold off upgrading until then or until I'm attacked. I'm trying to build up the gold chest. I'm researching straight to MilTrad. I'll build barracks, horses or knights, libraries, markets, workers and settlers. I'm sure this game will be much more successful than the real COTM. Diety. Ick.
@Marcus: i think you misunderstood what Dave said, i think he advised to research Literature not because of the GLib, but because it is likely to be a monopoly tech. Literature and Currency monopolies can be used to get tech parity with the AI in the AA and in the MA you don't need the GLib because you would be beelining to MT. I would rather build Leo's to upgrade my horses 
Markus5
Code Monkey
@Obormot: I agree with your reading. Research to Lit and use as trade. Research to Currency and use as trade. Leo's is the wonder to try hard to get. Sun Tzu is nice, but certainly second to Leo's. Note to self: don't bother with GrLib.
al_thor
Prince
Most (actually ALL) of the C/G-OTM's are actually more difficult than the advertised level due to the starting position, surrounding territory, etc.
Now we have a "diety" game starting on a Floodplain where disease is almost guaranteed. I suppose that I could accept this without grumbling except for one thing: Being stricken by disease is a roll of the dice. Some, if not most, will get it. Some will get it twice or even more. Being diety, this loss of life will be almost devastating (certainly a huge setback). What about those who escape the "roll of the dice"? They will be at a huge advantage. It's sorta like when you used to be able to get a Settler from the goodie huts - that "roll of the dice" was deemed to be an un-fair advantage.
What are the chances of removing this particular "roll of the dice" for this game/difficulty level?
If not, I suppose that I will play this game, but will most likely "retire" after a round or two of disease.
Just my two cents.
Now we have a "diety" game starting on a Floodplain where disease is almost guaranteed. I suppose that I could accept this without grumbling except for one thing: Being stricken by disease is a roll of the dice. Some, if not most, will get it. Some will get it twice or even more. Being diety, this loss of life will be almost devastating (certainly a huge setback). What about those who escape the "roll of the dice"? They will be at a huge advantage. It's sorta like when you used to be able to get a Settler from the goodie huts - that "roll of the dice" was deemed to be an un-fair advantage.
What are the chances of removing this particular "roll of the dice" for this game/difficulty level?
If not, I suppose that I will play this game, but will most likely "retire" after a round or two of disease.
Just my two cents.
al_thor
Prince
It's my understanding, loosely based on experience, that you can be stricken by disease based entirely on the fact that your city-center tile is a floodplain.
Can anyone confirm or deny this?
Can anyone confirm or deny this?
denyd
Emperor
Bsically every turn you have a citizen assigned to FP tile there is a chance for disease and since there is always a citizen assigned to the center tile, you'd be subject to that roll of the dice every turn.
I should mention that sanitation & hospitals are rumored to prevent disease. Of course that means having to survive until then.
I should mention that sanitation & hospitals are rumored to prevent disease. Of course that means having to survive until then.
al_thor
Prince
Why, yes! That's the ticket! My initial build order will be a Hospital, and I will set my worker on "Automate - Clear Pollution".
I believe that you are right, denyd - I'm almost certain that it has happened to me before. That kinda shoots settling right on a FP, huh?
Here is another question: Do the odds of disease increase with the number of FP tiles worked? I suspect that the answer is YES, but just wondered if anyone had any input on that.
Thanks.
I believe that you are right, denyd - I'm almost certain that it has happened to me before. That kinda shoots settling right on a FP, huh?
Here is another question: Do the odds of disease increase with the number of FP tiles worked? I suspect that the answer is YES, but just wondered if anyone had any input on that.
Thanks.
Ok, ok... 
Flood Plains are not going to cause disease in this game.
Happy now?
Flood Plains are not going to cause disease in this game.Happy now?
7Losses
Chieftain
Karasu, you are a god (or Deity)
If it was only Emperor I don't think people would have complained as much but being Deity and all..
If it was only Emperor I don't think people would have complained as much but being Deity and all..
Well, down with disease, that changes everything.
Civ4? Sure, I want to play, but a hardware upgrade will be mandatory. I still have not made a decision.
Deity COTM? Hosted by Karasu - what will it be this time? In all my civving I've never completed a 20k game, so maybe I should try to get the last of the ya ya's out of Civ3 while I still can...
I'm listening to the strategists on this one.
I'm going to keep an eye out for a 'punk the wimp' opportunity- a really weak AI that can be forced to cough up even 1 or 2 cities. Healthy AI on Deity are just too dangerous in the early stages to fight with. This game will be about incremental gains. I expect to build cheap libraries to enable culture expansion to just one more tile in which to place another settler...
Civ4? Sure, I want to play, but a hardware upgrade will be mandatory. I still have not made a decision.
Deity COTM? Hosted by Karasu - what will it be this time? In all my civving I've never completed a 20k game, so maybe I should try to get the last of the ya ya's out of Civ3 while I still can...
I'm listening to the strategists on this one.
I'm going to keep an eye out for a 'punk the wimp' opportunity- a really weak AI that can be forced to cough up even 1 or 2 cities. Healthy AI on Deity are just too dangerous in the early stages to fight with. This game will be about incremental gains. I expect to build cheap libraries to enable culture expansion to just one more tile in which to place another settler...
Twonky
King
Hmm, I did some *very rough* calculation about settling SE or on the gold.
The citycenter will provide 5 commerce on the gold, 3 on the fp. Working a river-tile will net 2 commerce, the gold 5.
This gives: city on gold and working river-tile: 7 commerce, city by river and working gold: 8 commerce.
My guesstimation is that one will lose about 40 commerce in the first 30 turns when settling by the river instead of the gold. So you´d equalize that in turn 70 only - and you need to make sure that the gold is worked every turn of your 4-turn settler-cycle.
Hard to say which one is better, after all I guess it´s not that much of a difference.
Two questions: Does anyone know the exact number of beakers needed for Pottery on deity?
And when is commerce calculated ibt? Iow, will you get the commerce bonus if the gold is the "bonus tile"?
The citycenter will provide 5 commerce on the gold, 3 on the fp. Working a river-tile will net 2 commerce, the gold 5.
This gives: city on gold and working river-tile: 7 commerce, city by river and working gold: 8 commerce.
My guesstimation is that one will lose about 40 commerce in the first 30 turns when settling by the river instead of the gold. So you´d equalize that in turn 70 only - and you need to make sure that the gold is worked every turn of your 4-turn settler-cycle.
Hard to say which one is better, after all I guess it´s not that much of a difference.
Two questions: Does anyone know the exact number of beakers needed for Pottery on deity?
And when is commerce calculated ibt? Iow, will you get the commerce bonus if the gold is the "bonus tile"?
