Game speeds and how they effect your gameplay

[Lathorian007]

I was wondering how most of you guys adjust your game according to speed?
Like on normal games which seems to be a popular choice people talk a lot about REX and grabbing as much land as possible.

On marathon games, things take longer to develop so does this change how fast you expand or the flow of your game at all?

 

[madscientist]

Longtime marathoner, now an Epic speed person.

This has been dicussed before, however a quick answer is

It's easier to war on slower speeds that faster. The flip side is that it's harder to play peaceful at slower speed.

Another basic difference is in marathon buildings are 3X the speed to build yet units are only 2X. Epic scales at 1.5 with the rest of teh game.

 

[mariogreymist]

I play mostly marathon, but a bit of epic. Peaceful development is definitely much easier on faster speeds, warring is much easier on marathon.

One aspect not often discussed is the lessened need for numbers of workers on marathon. Because the actions take longer (chopping a forest on marathon is 9 turns, for example) the time moving them into place is less significant.

Also: forest regrowth becomes meaningful on marathon; a good checkerboard chopped city will regrow completely with the aid of preserves.

The single biggest difference (related to the general warring observation) is the increased ease with which one can rush one's neighbors. I once captured cities and land enough to have over 100 cities with nothing but Praetorians, winning a huge domination victory without ever needing to use a galleon. (Yes, there was another inhabited continent) The value of good early UUs like War Chariots, Immortals and Prats are exaggerated; so much so, that when I play any other speed with Persia, Egypt or Rome I feel cheated.

 

[Lathorian007]

things I find about marathon is REX is hard to do because your cottages take a longer time to develop so you can cripple your economy.

I agree with the worker aspect I don't think you need 1.5 per city, also I find upgrading units to be very expensive do you guys not bother with it? If I get attacked I might upgrade my broder cities to help with defence.

 

[mariogreymist]

Upgrade expenses are scaled with other speeds, I believe. Consider the you get from a trade mission on marathon. If you usually pay by taxing 100% for a few turns on epic, those few turns will need to be doubled on marathon. It's a normal reaction to be nervous about the time these things take, but it is scaled, and 0% on the science slider for three turns on epic is equivalent to doing it for six on marathon.

I usually only upgrade troops which are level 4 and above, and maybe a few with 8-9 xp (non-CHA). That's on all speeds. Of course, if I have a load of money on hand, I will consider upgrading whole stacks, but that's rare. I also try to plan ahead...I don't build a stack of trebs while researching steel, for instance; I build the ground troops instead, waiting for the ability to build cannons before building any siege. I also usually upgrade all my triremes for caravels, just because it's so cheap.

 

[Neo-Dar]

I usually find myself playing on epic just for the pure fact that warring is just not practical on lower speeds because everything obsoletes too fast but if i just want a peaceful game then i will play on normal or even quick because it really is alot easier.

so it really depends on what game speed you are on to decide which strategy you use to make yourself the king

 

[DMOC]

Marathon is much more a military game. Barbarians and other civilization's military all become more powerful at this setting, so you have to do what you can to keep up.

I myself prefer Epic, a nice balance between the rather quick normal setting and the long marathon option.