TheBowman:
There are at least a couple deity players who can still grab the Pyramids just about every time. And since there is no level above deity, how can they possibly move up?
I think that this discussion would be irrelevant to such players.
LlamaCat:
The point is I was probably using it as a crutch for getting Representation so early and wanted to hear some other ideas for HR. And I've gotten some very good responses. But these attacks about my playing level or whatever are just out of left field. There's plenty of reason to get snippy.
The line of discussion is not from me, so if you're going to get snippy, don't get snippy at me. I'm just trying to clarify the point for the sake of discussion. Even so, an attack on your play level is either useful discussion or not, and if it isn't you can always ignore it. It's a message board. There's no need to get snippy.
On the whole, though, it didn't strike me as being an attack. It's more like "if you can survive getting Pyramids 50% of the time, then perhaps you're more skilled than the level you're playing at."
How is an allegation of skill an attack?
so back to my earlier post: Beelining toward the Pyramids and building it before the AIs is very doable in most games up to certain levels, if you really put your goal toward it. You simply sacrifice many other things if necessary... even building a second city, if you really want to. And I've done that in some games, at the severe cost of early expansion.
Personally, I don't see this behavior as "using a crutch." Indeed, practically all Civ-related behavior I see that "use a crutch" invariably involve using a particular approach to the exclusion of more sensible options. That's not a crutch. That's a handicap!
Why would you build Pyramids if you have an Industrious Civ next to you with Stone? Wouldn't it be more prudent to build a strong army and just take it when your enemy Civ completes it? Heck, give him Masonry so that he can get started on it right away!
As I've been saying, gunning for Rep all the time at the cost of an expensive Wonder
can be counterproductive, and the conditions where this is true is when you need more happy than Rep can give you, over more cities, and if you're not really planning on running that many Specialists in the first place. Wineries with Monarchy is yet another reason to pursue the tech with the attendant Civic.
