Deity Fun #5 - Burger King [Fractal, STANDARD, all random, no huts & events]

[Manco Capac]

Salutations wannabe deity player (the positive meaning ofc) and experts,

after the fourth installment, Deity Saladin, it is time for the fifth installment: Burger King, the one every player should love!

The standard duration between installments is 15 days.

You embody the holy roman emperor...

Description of leader and civilization:

Spoiler :

Charlemagne is seen as the worst AI ever for gathering all the bad sides in one civilization.

Initial techs are Hunting and Mysticism. Except early religion gunning, which is shooting in the foot, mysticism has almost no early value in the development of the civilization. Yeah, monuments help to get access to second ring resources, but, you know, creative trait does the job (for those leaders who have it). SH is a no-no wonder except for Obsolete.
Hunting, we already had this discussion: not really a food tech and gives a weakling instead of the sturdy warrior. Yes, the scout has a niche use on deity if it passes the animal period (T5-T15).

Traits are Protective and Imperialistic. Two weak traits for most. Protective forces the player to let the AI wanders in our lands and pillage everything...but on deity...it has its uses as early DoW can always happen. Hostile environments are less threatening with those defensive promos.
IMP is often viewed as weak given most of the time, we barely have space for cities. It is almost a one time bonus...then we need to conquer to get more cities.
But IMP means earlier settler or maybe another one just in time and on deity it is always nice to be able to compete the AI, especially combined with BW tech.
On pangaea, yes, the IMP is limited, but on FRACTAL or an island-type of map, the use can be extended. Virgin islands can be settled quite easily thanks to this trait. And on terra map, IMP is awesome.
The other side of IMP is the double XP gained towards a GG. Quite unfortunately, it has no direct economical kickback but an early way may provide two GG's and helps a little towards higher promoted units.

Harness yourself to another adventure and comtemplate the starting location!

Starting Location and Settings.

Spoiler :

General properties of this serie:

In general, nothing stands out as evident compared to other hosting games.
But there are tendencies of fractal maps. Large mapsize will be questioned at some point though.
The games are usually tested and should be winnable, thus may offer some fun factor.
Quite often, the leaders in control won't be the greatest of all; I won't make a specific list of the forbidden ones, but the chosen leaders should not offer at all direct cheese strategy like quechua rushes or WC rushes. Ancient times units tend to help a lot over later ones.

Isabella may be forbidden due to her overpowered unit. This always can be revoked though.

Requirements for the save:

Spoiler :

BUFFY or BUG mods.

If you meet some kind of bug where your leader names is stuck in a long list fashion, then press escape, take option, change resolution, refuse to keep the changes permanent and the bug is gone.

Players who makes shadow of this game:

PeteJ
GKey
Georgjorge
TMIT
shakabrade
Zx Zero Zx

My own shadow:
Wait 15 days.


My shadow on tape. (NEW)


Due to the latest leak of info from r_rolo1, supposedly, Lock Modify Assets is not a perfectly safe mean from abuses. I thought what might be the ultimate way to play fair (as I am in anti-cheat bigot ): a let's play à la AbsoluteZero or TMIT without all the sparkles and coolness. Anyways, these videos are not for gaining views, but to provide a legit support to fair-play. I have nothing to hide and this proves it further.

Here are the videos in question.

Still uploading them. And I need to repair some files.
Thanks TMIT for the help.

And 14 hours of play is humongous! At least, I am playing faster and faster.
Wonder if I can play less than 10 hours one day...
And now I understand you, TMIT, why you are complainig for large maps...
not even large map here and controlling my big stack was awful.

 

[lymond]

Ah nice...Tachy Vids! It'll been fun to watch you play. Now you just need to get miked up!

.....just took a quick peek so as not to spoil (not that it will help me any from failing miserably)

I expect we might see My drop by for this one....right My?

 

[soundjata]

Ohhhh no commentaries on the video

 

[TheMeInTeam]

I'll play it once i can find a little time.

 

[Manco Capac]

^^
Yes, there are some. Some scribbles in ALT-S and many "F-ck", "WTH", "Goddammit" or "take that piece of turd".
Very enlightening...

But I do put some of my principal thoughts of the main decisions.

-----------------------------------

Some thoughts:

I rate this deity game as...hmm...3.5/10. If you take right decisions, there are almost no ways to lose the game early...unless barbs get their lucky day.

Engineering rush IS NOT necessarily the path to winning the game. This type of rush is made exclusively for pangaea maps as you bulb non tradable techs and the main purpose of this early AD rush is to conquer everything asap. Or collect early vassals for them to do the dirty job.

On fractal, you don't know what's ahead, but if you recognize a sufficient amount of AI's, then the Eng rush is a valid path.

BTW, this map is the second inland start generation. There is a vid called Charlemagne Fail where I noticed the terrible isolated island and my economy crumbled. Yes, I got early monarchy, but isolated deity...no for now. And I was enough stupid to forgot the ultimate trick against barbs: unit wall tactic. Fishy maps were discarded automatically for getting some inland start to promote Eng rush.

 

[Mylene]

Maybe...all this talk about "cheating" in single player games really turns me of.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

^ That's a lot of talk from a very few individuals. I don't see why anyone should let that get to them, especially given some of the OTHER arguments that same side has made .

 

[shakabrade]

Maybe...all this talk about "cheating" in single player games really turns me of.

Why would you care for an opinion of a few newbie players without manners? Some people just can't accept someone is so much better player and instead of trying to understand what makes a strong game, they accuse people of cheating and make fun of themselves. Lack of sportsmanship and consequently lack of skill and credibility, so again, why would you care?

I'd even want to play more amazing game so someone would accuse me of cheating, never enough compliments.


I also think Tachy's vidmaking for sole purpose of proving she's not cheating is unnecessary. Especially when her playtime is already a bit too stretched.



Regarding this game: I am looking forward to playing this game. Haven't played HRE since my maranoob phase when they were my favourite civilization, IIRC. Next week hopefully.

 

[Manco Capac]

I also think Tachy's vidmaking for sole purpose of proving she's not cheating is unnecessary. Especially when her playtime is already a bit too stretched.

Now, people are ganging against me? Hey, first, I'm not the one who started the fire about cheating...you know.

And this statement contradictory: you said those with stretched playtime and few posts are possibly cheaters and now you say my vid is unnecessary, but at the same time think I play too long. I'm confused now.

Anyways, putting myself on a tape helped me greatly in terms of time. Yes, it is 14 hours, but consider 1.5 lost hours (vids charging via camstudio while I forgot to pause), another >2 hours lost because the game is slower along camstudio. So perhaps I could have played this in 10-11 hours. Far better than my usual 15-18 hours.

Maybe...all this talk about "cheating" in single player games really turns me of.

Hey, did you forget BOTM52 is the final nail to the coffin against those who accused you of cheating?
And If I remember correctly, you playtime was really nicely short.

Haven't played HRE since my maranoob phase when they were my favourite civilization, IIRC.

Favorite?
I would understand someone likes HC or Roosevelt...but Charlie. Unless you had the same thought process as me in another game: win with the weakest. In HOMM (Heroes of Might and Magic) I and II,
I used to like Knights faction because they were so underpowered (but at the same time, if they survived enough long on impossible difficulty, recruiting another faction creatures make the weakest the strongest).

Charlie has some sharing traits with the Knight Faction.
Early: super weak.
Later with corps: overpowerful!

 

[shakabrade]

^^
True, I also provoked some great players with no posts by saying they are possibly cheaters to make them share some wisdom (and screenies) for comparison so we could all steal it , but without much success.

My post was about people playing 60 and even more hours. I'll never understand it except playing parallel games on different machines (or cores somehow) to try all the possible permutations, or they just never exit the game and don't ever turn computer off (offense against ecology, still don't approve it).

I know you play more than me only because you pay more attention to city/tile/unit movement micro. Something I don't do past turn 100 since I don't think it adds much to the game considering how much RL it takes (not efficient). Different philosophy, but you're closer and closer to it.

I didn't watch your video yet not to spoil the game too much. I have nothing against your vids, but your reason for making them. You always share your knowledge and I have learnt more than 50% obscure game mechanics I know from your posts alone. Now I'll be able to see your style of play (scout movement, stack builds, building priority, things I don't do and can't imagine) something I am very interested about and be sure I'll steal all the good moves.

 

[lymond]

I simply vote we refrain from bringing up references to "cheating" in any context and ignore those who do, as I've done for quite some time. IT has no place on this forum. The folks who matter here all trust each other. In fact, it doesn't even closely birth as a infant thought in my mind unless it is brought up.

(Honestly thought rolo should not have brought that point up in open forum even though it's a pretty obvious evil thing to do for those so inclined to do it...or have the means to do it)

okay...now for something completely different

come back, My!

 

[Mylene]

You played Homm too? Very nice, a classic like Civ ~~
There might be only 1 game i spent more time with than Civ4, Homm 3

Not really bothered, just playing on my own was more relaxing lately.
You shouldn't force yourself into making videos..deity players are not interested in win or loss (what certain peoples seem to think), but unique tactics, details and overcoming fun games.

 

[shakabrade]

^^

You played Homm too? Very nice, a classic like Civ ~~

+1 here
Like there is any other HoMM than HoMM 3 (ok, maybe 2).

Regarding win or loss, dunno, still like to win. But there were many heroic losses I felt like they were victories (THIS IS SPARTA!!! stuff).

 

[TheMeInTeam]

I DEMAND COMMENTARY.

Though I haven't watched it yet since I don't want to spoil.

HOMM III is still among the greatest TBS ever although the SSG made warlords games give it a run for its money . Unlike any game in the civ franchise the controls work too . Factions were more balanced than II IMO. I am going to start my LP of V soon but I'm guessing III is more balanced than V also (not counting the conflux expansion town anyway).

 

[Mylene]

Did you guys know there is a player made patch for Homm3 now?
Easy splitting up armies with 1 click, or transfering between heroes..it's awesome
Also can use higher resolutions now in windowed.

 

[shakabrade]

Splitting armies enhancement is really welcome.
I spent much time balancing my stacks so no potential damage goes to waste. I used calculator and abused ''visions'' spell to see my enemies army composition and unit counts, then calculated their HP and my damage, then optimized my stacks. But only for strong enemies, ofcourse.

However, HoMM3 had the same recipe for winning at any level of difficulty: Logistics and Pathfinding (more movement=more experience=more resources=more gold=more chests=more mines=easier defending=faster attack=less resistance...), Town portal (you can have only one real hero), Level 1 spells: slow, cure, bless, curse, haste. But its been 6-7 years I've played it (coincidence, Civ 4 got out then...).

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Did you guys know there is a player made patch for Homm3 now?
Easy splitting up armies with 1 click, or transfering between heroes..it's awesome
Also can use higher resolutions now in windowed.

I was using it near the very end of my LP of the game.

However, HoMM3 had the same recipe for winning at any level of difficulty: Logistics and Pathfinding (more movement=more experience=more resources=more gold=more chests=more mines=easier defending=faster attack=less resistance...), Town portal (you can have only one real hero), Level 1 spells: slow, cure, bless, curse, haste. But its been 6-7 years I've played it (coincidence, Civ 4 got out then...).

Other ridiculous spells:

- Blind (quite possibly the best single spell for combat in the game)
- Res (and undead versions when undead)
- Summon elemental (on very strong knowledge + power heroes they could solo run maps on impossible in campaign, but good even in single maps end-game)
- Prayer
- (often banned) fly and especially dimension door.

 

[Manco Capac]

^^
True, I also provoked some great players with no posts by saying they are possibly cheaters to make them share some wisdom (and screenies) for comparison so we could all steal it , but without much success.

My post was about people playing 60 and even more hours. I'll never understand it except playing parallel games on different machines (or cores somehow) to try all the possible permutations, or they just never exit the game and don't ever turn computer off (offense against ecology, still don't approve it).

I know who you are targeting mainly despite never declaring them: it must be some people like Cactus Pete, Jovan Kukic and now evil_spock.
Especially Jovan who barely communicates to the community. He's subscribed to a SGOTM team and IIRC he barely posted. At least evil_spock posted recently his playthrough how the hell he beated me on conquest by friggin' 800 years.
Simply amazing! I've lot to learn...

And being a deity player doesn't equate to beat a beefed up prince player.
I dubbed a player crushing many other players on every level of difficulty a metaplayer, which means in my sense, difficulty is not a matter, but knowing what the level requires to be efficient. For instance, cuirassier rush is awesome on EMP+, but waiting for then on prince is simply not choosing the right strategy. And what I did (wasn't cui rush though) as main strategy was simply not the good one.

As I said, I've lot to learn.

You played Homm too? Very nice, a classic like Civ ~~
There might be only 1 game i spent more time with than Civ4, Homm 3

Not really bothered, just playing on my own was more relaxing lately.
You shouldn't force yourself into making videos..deity players are not interested in win or loss (what certain peoples seem to think), but unique tactics, details and overcoming fun games.

Looks like everyone who is deeply in love with CIV has an ex called Homm.
Yeah, I played Homm, HommII, HommIII and a little HommV.
For some reason, I like the two first elements of the franchise.
And gay dragons. (for those who knows original homm jargon) jk
And paysants were the most ridiculous unit ever.
And lightbolts on paladins from Warlocks and boom all dead.
Indeed, highest HP units were the best as survivability was the most important in those games.

Now, it makes sense to me why Dirk is annoyed by now...just like Duckweed and most of the elite. No more entertainment.

Then I'm no deity player (ha) because what I care the most is win and be at the same time supaaa competitive. In my very first post here on CivFanatics, I made myself clear in the HoF community: bloody competition. So, in the end, with that mindset, the durability of CIV is infinite as never I'll gotta be as competitive as Duckweed (metaplayer), Rusten (deity), Jesusin (culturehogger) and many other folks who are versed in their domain.
And yes there is Unconquered_Sun I barely know who is versed in small empire then burst out like a dragon.

I simply vote we refrain from bringing up references to "cheating" in any context and ignore those who do, as I've done for quite some time.

Ok. I'll try to stay away from such ideas. I'm thinking about making G-146 for the its own sake. Something like 2 attempts and not cheesing the thing. This means no abuses, but OTOH I need my fill of huts!

I DEMAND COMMENTARY.

(-5) : You made an arrogant demand!
Tachywaxon enters in WHEEON mode.

----------------------

 

[Manco Capac]

Some settling discussion?
Where to settle and such stuff related to the thread.

 

[Conquistador 63]

Excuse me for being off-topic, but I couldn't resist: I'm also a HoMM veteran. II was good, III was awesome. IV sucked, and V...was there a V?

However, CIV has one big advantage over HoMM - since I only play CIV single player, I can save and go to sleep, and have a normal day at work the following day. OTOH, HoMM had most of its appeal in head-to-head games (at least to me).

I lost count of the nights I started a MP game (well human vs human) at 8 or 9pm and it didn't finish until 4 or even 6am - barely enough to take a shower, grab coffee and leave to work.

That was due to the fact that many players refused to save a game and continue some other night. There wasn't a lock to saves, so one could go and cheat just by loading it from the opponents seat, revealing stuff otherwise unknown to the cheater.

Still, there were quite a lot of honorable and great players which I miss from those good old times. Some even created leagues and ladders which were a lot of fun to play in. I wonder if there are such leagues still active out there.

Enough rambling, GL on your Deity fun.