VoiceOfUnreason
Deity
- Joined
- Dec 5, 2005
- Messages
- 3,663
I'm still experimenting with the Foundation approach; this time, trying with Tokugawa.
The upsides: Toku's traits really suck - which means that they don't distort the game in any useful direction. Also, aggressive/pro means that early game units get their first interesting promotion sooner; that may or may not mean much -- I hadn't focused much on promotions in the earlier games because I think it's not too important.
The miserable starting techs eliminate one of the easy decisions; and make an interesting problem for animal starts. Fishing makes Worker first a bit less automatic.
From my point of view, the main downside is Samurai - which tends to make Tokugawa's mid game a bit monochromatic -- kill ALL the neighbors. On the other hand, I generally tie off the position before Civil Service anyway.
We're still seeing new players struggling with Noble, and under questioning we find that they spend and awful lot of time and energy on things that aren't winning. So this is an attempt at stripping away all the things we do that aren't winning.
The lessons within are expected to be simple, and generally applicable. In particular, a lot of "important" elements of the game mechanics are going to be completely ignored, because they are a distraction from the basic approach. Also, simple matters of technique may or may not get much attention - it depends on the kinds of questions that are raised.
The Plan for this game is Land, which offers a straightforward sequence of objectives
1) Claim more than our fair share of good land
2) Claim a neighbor's fair share of good land
3) Claim all of the good land we can reach
4) Win.
Settings
Difficulty: Noble
Speed: Normal
Map: Continents
Huts: Disabled
Events: Disabled
Leader: Tokugawa/Japan
The SAVE.
First checkpoint is at Turn 0.
Second checkpoint is at Turn 14
Third checkpoint is at Turn 30
Fourth checkpoint is at Turn 50
Fifth checkpoint is at Turn 70
The upsides: Toku's traits really suck - which means that they don't distort the game in any useful direction. Also, aggressive/pro means that early game units get their first interesting promotion sooner; that may or may not mean much -- I hadn't focused much on promotions in the earlier games because I think it's not too important.
The miserable starting techs eliminate one of the easy decisions; and make an interesting problem for animal starts. Fishing makes Worker first a bit less automatic.
From my point of view, the main downside is Samurai - which tends to make Tokugawa's mid game a bit monochromatic -- kill ALL the neighbors. On the other hand, I generally tie off the position before Civil Service anyway.
We're still seeing new players struggling with Noble, and under questioning we find that they spend and awful lot of time and energy on things that aren't winning. So this is an attempt at stripping away all the things we do that aren't winning.
The lessons within are expected to be simple, and generally applicable. In particular, a lot of "important" elements of the game mechanics are going to be completely ignored, because they are a distraction from the basic approach. Also, simple matters of technique may or may not get much attention - it depends on the kinds of questions that are raised.
The Plan for this game is Land, which offers a straightforward sequence of objectives
1) Claim more than our fair share of good land
2) Claim a neighbor's fair share of good land
3) Claim all of the good land we can reach
4) Win.
Settings
Difficulty: Noble
Speed: Normal
Map: Continents
Huts: Disabled
Events: Disabled
Leader: Tokugawa/Japan
The SAVE.
First checkpoint is at Turn 0.
Second checkpoint is at Turn 14
Third checkpoint is at Turn 30
Fourth checkpoint is at Turn 50
Fifth checkpoint is at Turn 70