Deity No Tech Brok. No Vassals game

[AbsoluteZero]

Some people are under the assumption that no tech brokering and / or no vassal states makes the game harder.

I've created a deity game with those two options and we'll see whether or not I find it easier or harder.

Settings:

Random Leader
Deity
Pangea
No Tech Brokering
No Vassal States
No Huts
No Events

Everything else is standard.

Here is the first start I rolled:



Catherine the Great.

Here's the save:

save

That's my personal website so don't worry no malware or anything.

Let the games begin!

 

[ABCDPuppies]

Ah excellent. I've been doing a little better on Deity recently and will try to give this a shot when I get home . Will be interesting to see how no trades affects things.

Out of curiosity, which (Russian) leader is it?

 

[AbsoluteZero]

Ah excellent. I've been doing a little better on Deity recently and will try to give this a shot when I get home . Will be interesting to see how no trades affects things.

Out of curiosity, which (Russian) leader is it?

Oh sorry, it's Catherine.

 

[ABCDPuppies]

Oh good. With fast settlers and border pops, we may stand a chance of snagging some territory from the Deity AI.

After scout move, may consider 2W for Cow and river access. Tech most likely Ag -> AH (if we take the Cow), then probably Wheel if we have horses or BW if not, followed by Writing for fast libraries. Or something like that?

 

[AbsoluteZero]

I settled on the rice

I played till 200 BC. I'll upload some vids in a few hours. Massive spoilers will follow

 

[ABCDPuppies]

I settled on the rice

Oh that's a good move too. 3F city tile, gets Cow and keeps unforested grassland hill (possible strat resource?), doesn't lose a turn and forest as 2W would, and dry rice isn't such a great tile to work anyway. Nice thinking.

 

[NihilZero]

After scout move, may consider 2W for Cow and river access.

2W might lose you a resource on that bald hill, though...I'd like to see what's in the unforested tile 2S1W, the scout can take a look there.

I'll be interested to see what the findings are here. I rarely take vassals myself and I think the vassal machanics favour the AIs (especially peace vassals). As for tech brokering, intuitively I would assume that no tech brokering is harder, but I thought the same about no tech trading and found out that the opposite is the case.

 

[ABCDPuppies]

As for tech brokering, intuitively I would assume that no tech brokering is harder, but I thought the same about no tech trading and found out that the opposite is the case.

Wait, I'm sorry.. what's the difference between no tech brokering and no tech trading? I never play with these settings.

 

[Gwaja]

Wait, I'm sorry.. what's the difference between no tech brokering and no tech trading? I never play with these settings.

No tech trades means nobody is able to trade any techs. No tech brokering means nobody can trade techs that they did not research themselves.

So basically, you cannot research Aesthetics, trade it for Alphabet, and then trade Alphabet for Iron Working. But you can still trade Aesthetics for Iron Working. ^_^

 

[NihilZero]

Wait, I'm sorry.. what's the difference between no tech brokering and no tech trading? I never play with these settings.

No tech trading - tech trades don't exist at all and all techs must be self researched.

No tech brokering - you can only trade away techs that you have researched yourself. So, when you receive a tech in trade, you cannot trade that tech onto others.

edit - er, yeah, what she said.

 

[ABCDPuppies]

Thanks guys.

 

[admtanaka]

I'll be watching this one with interest. Sounds like tough settings, but at least you have CRE.

 

[ahcos]

Oh that's a good move too. 3F city tile, gets Cow and keeps unforested grassland hill (possible strat resource?), doesn't lose a turn and forest as 2W would, and dry rice isn't such a great tile to work anyway. Nice thinking.

Rice isn't dry, irrigated by oasis. The corn is dry, though, maybe settle the corn?

Still, it might be a good move as it also keeps the oasis in the inner ring from the start, as catherine is creative that's not a too huge benefit but still should save one turn for starting tech. Plus the cow, ofc But there might be just another reason for settling the rice, scout SW/SS or SW/SE should clear things up.

 

[JammerUno]

No tech brokering makes the game a lot easier.

Same for vassals. AI mechanics favour the AI more than the human player; i.e. the AI is terrible at waring an effective war to a quick ending, but quite capable of being scary enough and having enough war success for a cap.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

No vassals is plus/minus, but NTB tends to make things easier consistently.

 

[admtanaka]

That's a little surprising to me. I would think the player brokers better than the AI. Does it just slow down the AIs more than the player? I never use the setting myself.

 

[AbsoluteZero]

Till 200 BC. I'll probably play the rest tomorrow since I'm feeling a little sleepy today.

Spoiler :

part 1

part 2

 

[Mylene]

Well, what i see here is a free ride HA rush on a HC who looks like as if he'd have an immortal defense.
Along with chatter like opinions of other players are bogus

Which pretty much makes me letting this be, cuz i don't see where it could possibly lead.
My gut feeling tells me options would have not changed this much, but i might be wrong and it doesn't matter anyway since your opinion seems fixed.

 

[babar]

AIs trade more freely with each other, and without the handicap humans get, so NTB slows down AI tech pace much more than it does the human's.

 

[Gwaja]

This looks kinda interesting. I don't care about how some game settings make games more difficult or easier, but playing around with different settings from time to time make things more interesting.

Looking forward to another good finish and another entertaining video from AZ.

@Mylene: Have you tried out the Tokugawa map yet?