Do you have your own rules ?

rugbyLEAGUEfan

rugbyLEAGUEfan

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Do you have any rules that you play by that restrict the huge amounts of options in the game ? Here are a few of mine......

I won't use spies to incite revolt in lieu of siege . iMHO it's just totally unrealistic and the AI never does it .

I will play for a diplomatic victory but only build the AP in the majority religion.

I won't leave any city without at least one defender , not even for a turn even with the Great Wall (meaning I build it far less)

I don't ask for gold to create 10 turn treaties . I think it's a lot more fun having to defend all your borders . But if I get asked for tribute and give it , I may use peace period as an opportunity to declare elsewhere.

I'm just getting a little stale and wondering if anyone else has a few that I can try
 
rugbyLEAGUEfan said:
Do you have any rules that you play by that restrict the huge amounts of options in the game ? Here are a few of mine......

I won't use spies to incite revolt in lieu of siege . iMHO it's just totally unrealistic and the AI never does it .

I will play for a diplomatic victory but only build the AP in the majority religion.

I won't leave any city without at least one defender , not even for a turn even with the Great Wall (meaning I build it far less)

I don't ask for gold to create 10 turn treaties . I think it's a lot more fun having to defend all your borders . But if I get asked for tribute and give it , I may use peace period as an opportunity to declare elsewhere.

I'm just getting a little stale and wondering if anyone else has a few that I can try
Click to expand...

The one defender bit is normal. No one likes a ton of unhappy in their cities.
 
AJ11 said:
The one defender bit is normal. No one likes a ton of unhappy in their cities.
Click to expand...

That's a fairly glib reply . In fact in a large empire with numerous access to resources it is very easy to keep A majority of cities undefended without going over the cap.....in fact that's the reason I have this rule as I think it's unfair as the AI would never do it
 
Sounds more like you have a "code of honor" rather than rules
 
I have a few little rules about what I consider cheating and what I don't. I will reload from auto-save if something happens that is the result of automation stupidity, like worker suicide or if I accidentally move units somewhere I didn't intend to.

I also allow myself to reload from 4000BC save if I found my capital and then see that moving one space over or something would have been far better.
 
I think everyone has their own set of rules that they follow. Whether it be from a bad/good past experience or to make the game more interesting, it is all for the fun of the game.

Myself, I have a couple of rules (keep in mind, I play most of my games on earth maps).

1. I will use the worldbuilder to find out where the AI has placed its cities and if they are crap, I will resettle them. One part of this is that I must try to duplicate the city as close as I can and give the AI something else like an extra worker.

2. My capital will always be my largest and most powerful city in the world (since I will be leading the best civ in the world lol). This usually means adding several resources around the city.

These are just a couple I use unless I am playing the game in order to actually beat it (aka play it as it was meant to be played).

To each his own.
 
rugbyLEAGUEfan said:
That's a fairly glib reply . In fact in a large empire with numerous access to resources it is very easy to keep A majority of cities undefended without going over the cap.....in fact that's the reason I have this rule as I think it's unfair as the AI would never do it
Click to expand...

Why are you flirting with a -6 unhappiness when you can just have 1 warrior sitting there and cooling his heels? In a large, sprawling empire, your problem is not unit upkeep (even with Pacifism on). The vast majority of your gold deficit is going to come from city upkeep.

The only time even interior cities should be completely undefended is if they are rushed/airlifted to a border city under threat.
 
Watch some AZ videos. I noticed he quite often leaves some cities undefended just to get that extra bit of edge in his attack force.
 
Well the policy OP brought up is "always under any circumstances have garisson". It is of course OK to play by this rule, but it is by no means always optimal.

/ontopic: I have never used nukes to win a war.
 
Not really. Honestly, I haven't played enough to develop them. I only reload if I make an actual mistake (like moving a unit to the wrong space) and not for combat results, AI decisions, GP yields or the like. The only real exploit I know of is the contribution of gold to an AI for the purpose of taking it back in trade deals and then denting their economy, which I don't do.

It would be interesting if Civ4 had a semi-formalized suite of conducts to which players could adhere as in NetHack. The only one that seems popular is the x City Challenge. I suppose the nature of the game is such that these wouldn't really be practicable.
 
It always makes my games more fun if every once in a while, I use world builder and make a huge barbarian force by my borders/cities. Its not much of a rule, and it usually results in me losing cities, but it seems more historically accurate.
 
Ok , so here's the garrison thing :confused:

Firstly . If you think about it I'm sure people leave their cities undefended often . Especially in the early game . Do you sentry your starting warrior ? If you start with a scout do you go worker first ? my early cities often need 2 to 3 defenders....a couple of fog busters AND a garrison . The garrison guy can NEVER leave

Later on , especially in wars of opportunity where your force is quickly cobbled together the ability to leave a few cities undefended can really boost your stack . In an early rush , having to always leave a garrison in captured cities can significantly nerf your attack

I used to often do this and properly done it can offer big advantages especially in the early game . It's a little disingenuous to think the only reason I used to have undefended cities is to save a few gold in maintenance as has been posted .

As has been pointed out this is far from optimal and does make the game harder . But the AI never has undefended cities and if anything , goes overboard with too much defense in it's interior .
 
I think it's kind of interesting that you adjust your playstyle to match the AI, whereas I adjust the AI's playstyle to match my own. :)

By the way, there are some rare cases where the AI can leave a city undefended. It doesn't /mean/ to leave them undefended, but there are some cases where it just doesn't notice that it has done it.
 
Sure I have my own rules.

A recent one is always choosing the cheapest tech as the next one to research. I know that there are more strategic ways of doing things, but I figure that before fission the government didn't direct the research very much- it just sort of happened.
 
I role play depending on whatever leader I random IE continent wide conquests with Genghis Khan or pillaging with galleys with Ragnar.
 
I don't backstab my allies.

However, the definition of ally is very strict. Someone that is friendly to me does not me I am friendly to him, especially if I got it by paying tribute.

My modifiers go:
+0 Same Religion
+5 Mutual War
+5 Trade Relations
+5 Defense pact
+5 You voted for us
-10 You voted against us! (Causes ME to plan war)
-20 You refused to help us during war time
-999 You declared war on us!
-3 You made an arrogant demand! (Causes ME to plan war)
-2 You keep asking me for stuff, or other demands
-10 Our Close borders spark tensions
-5 You refuse to let me win the game

Also anyone that becomes a peacevassal, causing someone else to declare war on me, will be wiped off the planet.
 
I always start with a random civ and leader and play what I get - no reloading no matter what the start looks like. Never use WB during a game. Never build nukes - if possible get the UN GenSec position and make nukes illegal. (I'm actually considering modding them out.) Play with all victory conditions on, so the AI is not prevented from winning by one that I am not pursuing, except by my in-game strategies and actions (except time which I turned off long ago). Vassals off. Try to stay a true ally of any AI that treats me the same way.
 
mintegar said:
Well the policy OP brought up is "always under any circumstances have garisson". It is of course OK to play by this rule, but it is by no means always optimal.
Click to expand...

To which I replied that no one does the opposite as a policy, which got BOTH your knickers in a knot for some bizarre reason.
 
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