Finished my KING game yay...

[floppa21]

Well, I finished the second King level game I started. Strange thing is, I got a better rating and higher score than the last Prince game I played... I just recently started saving finished game scores... Well King was a race at the end for SS and 3 other civs were building along with me. I finished a complete SS and launched, the bastard Persians did a complete but only with ONE of each Habitat, Life Support, and Solar Panel... My SS landed 5 turns before their's would have. Went awfully slow at the end, as in 5 minutes between turns, maybe more... Has worked agaist me in that I have no desire to play CIV2 ever again... Well, at least for a week or two.

Thanks to Starlifter for the words of advice/encouragement. Maybe I'll try Emperor here soon, if I feel like punishing myself...

 

[starlifter]

Yeahhh! You'll chew 'em up and spit 'em out at Emperor, Floppa! Just go after those happiness wonders, like MC and JSB! At midgame onwards, there will be little effective difference. The hard part is just getting thru the ancient era until you get into a modern Govt! The SoL can cure all that ails even the worst of happiness problems, if need be .

 

[duke o' york]

Do my eyes deceive me?

Is that starlifter, champion of the power democracy, recommending that someone use fundy to avoid happiness issues? I've seen it all now!

Edited to make it clear I was just teasing

 

[starlifter]

Have you heard of Power Fundamentalism? I wrote an post on how to do that about a month ago. PF is much easier to run, but does not have the +1 pop each turn that a PD does. Fundy, and eventually PF, is good for folks just starting their new careers at Emperor and Diety if things are rough as they hit the democracy advance.

It may surprise you to know (but I've posted it several times before), I had absolutely no clue about Demcracy in my first game... I'd never seen any Civ game before, and when I discovered Democracy, switched Gov'ts, and you talk a bout a mess... units dying, gov't immediately collapsing.... I didn't touch Dmeocracy again for a long time!!!

I started by going to Fundy at SoL, building lots of stuff, and about 1900 finally Democracy. Then just moved the date up and up, and one day jumped right to democracy wiht no fundy/commie. And so it's been a very long time (GOTM 6 or 7 probably) since I've used Communism. I can't remember my last Fundy (maybe a couple years ago).

But Fundy and Commie are nontheless appropriate under the right circumstances.

Actually, Fundy is (for myself, in my own playstyle) a "grossly unfair advantage" over the AI, esp. when played as PF.

So yes, I advocate various Gov'ts, depending on what a person wants to do and their experience/comfort level.

 

[duke o' york]

I've read pretty much all your posts (apart from the Middle East ones in OT as I decided ages ago to keep out of those particular scraps) so I read the power fundy with interest. I do like the democracy attribute of growth each celebration turn, and find that it makes for a much larger score than perhaps other wise when at the end of the game you found cities, buy them temples, marketplaces, banks, colosseums, stock exchanges, superhighways, aqueducts, sewer systems and mass transits (yes, all of these!) and then just stick enough engineers in to get them celebrating and ignore them until the time comes for SS launch. You will get them from size 3 to 14 before your SS arrives, and that translates into loads of extra points in the end.
I too shrank from Democracy in my first game of Civ 2, despite the fact that I used to run it rather well in Civ years before, and just concentrated on conquering the world in Communism by weight of extra troops but while you are on the lower levels it is important to never rest on your laurels. Start of on a new level with a large world, 3 civs and your favourite barb level and when you can win with that, then stick an extra civ into the mix or a higher level of barbs and practice that. You will be learning enough each time you play to be able to handle the next game's slightly higher level of competition, whether from 7 civs or barbs. When you can do King, 7 civs, raging hordes then move up to Emperor, 3 civs, favourite barbs and go from there. If you are determined to get good at the game then this may eat up a lot of your time but it's worth it! You may find parts too easy but by all means jump ahead by 2 or even 3 civs - don't consider this a definitive guide. But you must play games that challenge you a little bit more until you get to the Holy Grail of Deity (spelled E then I ), 7 civs, Raging Hordes!

 

[Sodak]

Tip of the hat to you, floppa21! It's fun to conquer a new difficulty level. You won the race, hoorah!

I recall often being remembered as "forkbeard" at the game's end, back in the early days...

 

[floppa21]

Thanks guys! I always do the 7 civs, but, (now I hang my head in shame and embarrassment...) I play with no barbarians... I did try raging hordes once, and I swear they showed up twice. It didn't really have any effect so I dropped it. And I was bribing barb dips instead of capturing them...

Well Duke, I didn't even think to try Emperor with less than 7 civs... Maybe that will help me a little. MIght actually finish the first game this way... 1st King game I stopped when I reached Industrialization, they were whuppin me but it did give me a feel for the happiness and all...

Starlifter, I never use anything BUT Mon,Rep,Dem... So I don't know how tough this will be for me, I just might have to try Comm again, at the least...

 

[starlifter]

Starlifter, I never use anything BUT Mon,Rep,Dem... So I don't know how tough this will be for me, I just might have to try Comm again, at the least...

It occurs to me that people could get the idea that there's pretty much one way to go all the time (reading my & others' regular espousals of Democracy) .... but there is nothing wrong wil hanging out in Communism or Fundy and having war, or building Infrastructure, etc. Democracy grows so fast (with infrastructure) that unless you are really pushing for an early finish (like maybe in a GOTM), that fast Democratic growth can make up the population lag from some turns in Commie or Fundy.

If you have all the tech you want, and fast growth is done, then drop to Communism and keep about 30% Lux so all that trade and bonus keeps coming in... and make vet spies & whoop up on the AI....

 

[starlifter]

by Duke o' York:

I too shrank from Democracy in my first game of Civ 2, despite the fact that I used to run it rather well in Civ years before,

Shoot, I didn't even touch Democracy for quite a while after that first disaster! I was pretty mad. I kindof expected "instant bliss" with Democracy, boy was that wrong! One of my early problems, aside from not understanding the finer details in general, was that I had no idea how to make a taxman or scientist. Somehow, the book just was not too clear on it, at least to me. So I had a lot of Elvii in the first few games. That probably helped, even though I did not realize why at the time, because my 3rd and subsequent games were at deity, and I had to learn the value of happiness wonders quick. I actually lost MC in my 4th game, and building cathedrals everywhere was a real pain! So happiness was job one from that day forward for me, LOL...

 

[Marlos]

For what it's worth, Floppa, keep trying! When I first started civving, I would win at one level then try the next level and see how I would do. I learned :grad: several tricks and shortcuts by trial and error (boy did I need CFC back then ), and found out what I could really live without (like Pyramids) and still win the game.

I like Duke's suggestion about ramping up. Wish that I would have done that!

By my other posts, you can tell that I am a PD player most of the time. But recently I have discovered the advantages of Communism and Fundy and plan to use them in the future.

I would also suggest that you try a scenario if you haven't done so already. Let me tell you, you can learn much by warring constantly. And always remember, if you want to keep your opponents from winning, remove them from the game (one city at a time!)

 

[sethos]

@floppa21
My advice: Try deity. There's only a little difference between emperor and deity.
I play deity since February 2002. Best Score: 494%.