fortydayweekend
Warlord
- Joined
- Nov 20, 2009
- Messages
- 239
Too much early conquest leads to out of control snowballing so I wanted to try a game without it. It was definitely more interesting and I only managed to get ahead on Fame late in the Contemporary Era.
Normal size, 6 cultures, normal Pangaea, many islands, all other settings normal.
I settled 2 cities, took one plus one territory from a neighbour early on in a defensive war, took one independent, and built one more on islands. Other than that I did no fighting.
Culture order was Egypt/Celts/Khmer/Dutch/French/Swedes. So all about industry and food, then built up my economy, then all about science.
Neolithic - 18 turns, not many mammoths so didn't get the hunter star. Claimed 3 territories, actually messed up by claiming 2 that weren't actually adjacent, so could have been a stronger start. Yields on the capital made up for it though!
Ancient - bought adjacent territory and attached to capital, then second city with natural wonder (+5 inf), settled 3 pop in each to work industry to get pottery, then pyramids and makers quarters online. Started working a couple of researchers once industry was self-sufficient to keep tech pace moving, but didn't rush any tech.
Picked up 4 warriors from curiosities. Won a couple of skirmishes against Harrapans, signed Non-Agg with Mycenaeans. Harrapans attacked, I took Mohenjo-Daro with the 4 warriors (helped by AI leaving fortifications to attack) and then defended 2 more attacks. Got lucky with timing as she hit 0 war support on the same turn as the attack that would have probably beaten me. Settled and took city + 1 territory.
Classical - got to try the Celts for the first time - food bonus is very good and it complements the Egypt start really well. Nemetons let me settle most of my scouts into the cities to work industry & research. I had prioritised river cities and irrigation which also helped. By this point I think I had met all other cultures and was trading with all except the Harappans, buying all the +X yield luxuries. Took an independent city that had popped up.
Medieval - took Khmer - Barays with 5-6 river adjacency are crazy. Also Barays (and I assume every other "double-use" district) add +10 for adjacent Commons Quarters - not sure if that's a bug or a feature. Anyway that came in handy later. Built 5th and final city on offshore islands to claim resources (whales and ?'s)
Early Modern - in my last game I felt like I didn't have a very strong economy going into the late game so this time I took Dutch and focused on Market Quarters. Added lots of districts to work all the pop I was getting from Nemeton & Baray focus earlier. Stability became a big issue, had to place a lot of Commons Quarters. This meant a lot of adjacency bonuses had to be sacrificed to keep stability up. It's a shame that this is only really an issue on the highest levels because it made placing districts much more interesting.
Industrial - economy was cranking but tech pace was average - I hadn't built any science districts, relying entirely on a few researchers - so went French. Rushed the Exhibition Halls and built a load of research districts. After manufactories came online stability was no longer an issue - didn't drop below 100% in any city and I didn't have to build any more Commons Quarters.
Contemporary - decided to go for Tech win so chose Swedes and paved the world with Research quarters. Built all the space programs but only had 2 oil worldwide so couldn't go to Mars. Got ahead of Gilgamesh in Fame a few turns from the end.
Snowballing - while it definitely felt like fast growth, the fact that the AI was more or less keeping up made it much less noticeable. There's nothing inherently wrong with exponential growth, but the game does get very boring as soon as you are too far ahead. I was behind on everything other than pop and industry for most of the game, and only ahead on money after going Dutch. I was mid-pack on tech right up until end of Industrial Era. Right up until the Industrial Era I felt vulnerable to Gilgamesh and that every quarter placement mattered.
AI cowardice - the top AI (Gilgamesh) had a huge military, similar pop and comparable tech to me. I had one stack each of warriors, gaesatis, and markabatas right into the Industrial Era. He ranged from Hate-Filled to Tyrannical and had demands against me and 100 war support, and no trade, but he never attacked. He wasn't directly a neighbour but only 2-3 territories away on Pangaea. That let me focus entirely on building and not having to maintain a standing army - I feel like this is definitely something that needs to be improved on the higher levels at least.
The game is a lot more interesting when there's a mix of building and war. The player can choose their preferred gameplay by choosing landmass, Pangaea should be almost constant fighting unless you work really hard to keep the peace, which should at the very least involve maintaining a large standing army.
Difficulty level - I've only been playing this since release, not in the betas.. there probably need to be higher levels that would require more conquest in order to win (like Civ4). Either that or nerf the "lingering in neolithic" strategy. They could also make the AI better at fighting, there's a few easy fixes, but I feel like humans will always be able to outsmart the AI given the complexity of the terrain.
Stability was a fun mechanic in Medieval/Early Modern. They maybe need to tone down the bonuses on lower levels so it becomes an issue, and also tone down the bonuses from Manufactories so that it's still an issue late game.
Normal size, 6 cultures, normal Pangaea, many islands, all other settings normal.
I settled 2 cities, took one plus one territory from a neighbour early on in a defensive war, took one independent, and built one more on islands. Other than that I did no fighting.
Culture order was Egypt/Celts/Khmer/Dutch/French/Swedes. So all about industry and food, then built up my economy, then all about science.
Neolithic - 18 turns, not many mammoths so didn't get the hunter star. Claimed 3 territories, actually messed up by claiming 2 that weren't actually adjacent, so could have been a stronger start. Yields on the capital made up for it though!
Spoiler :
Ancient - bought adjacent territory and attached to capital, then second city with natural wonder (+5 inf), settled 3 pop in each to work industry to get pottery, then pyramids and makers quarters online. Started working a couple of researchers once industry was self-sufficient to keep tech pace moving, but didn't rush any tech.
Picked up 4 warriors from curiosities. Won a couple of skirmishes against Harrapans, signed Non-Agg with Mycenaeans. Harrapans attacked, I took Mohenjo-Daro with the 4 warriors (helped by AI leaving fortifications to attack) and then defended 2 more attacks. Got lucky with timing as she hit 0 war support on the same turn as the attack that would have probably beaten me. Settled and took city + 1 territory.
Classical - got to try the Celts for the first time - food bonus is very good and it complements the Egypt start really well. Nemetons let me settle most of my scouts into the cities to work industry & research. I had prioritised river cities and irrigation which also helped. By this point I think I had met all other cultures and was trading with all except the Harappans, buying all the +X yield luxuries. Took an independent city that had popped up.
Medieval - took Khmer - Barays with 5-6 river adjacency are crazy. Also Barays (and I assume every other "double-use" district) add +10 for adjacent Commons Quarters - not sure if that's a bug or a feature. Anyway that came in handy later. Built 5th and final city on offshore islands to claim resources (whales and ?'s)
Early Modern - in my last game I felt like I didn't have a very strong economy going into the late game so this time I took Dutch and focused on Market Quarters. Added lots of districts to work all the pop I was getting from Nemeton & Baray focus earlier. Stability became a big issue, had to place a lot of Commons Quarters. This meant a lot of adjacency bonuses had to be sacrificed to keep stability up. It's a shame that this is only really an issue on the highest levels because it made placing districts much more interesting.
Industrial - economy was cranking but tech pace was average - I hadn't built any science districts, relying entirely on a few researchers - so went French. Rushed the Exhibition Halls and built a load of research districts. After manufactories came online stability was no longer an issue - didn't drop below 100% in any city and I didn't have to build any more Commons Quarters.
Contemporary - decided to go for Tech win so chose Swedes and paved the world with Research quarters. Built all the space programs but only had 2 oil worldwide so couldn't go to Mars. Got ahead of Gilgamesh in Fame a few turns from the end.
Spoiler :
Snowballing - while it definitely felt like fast growth, the fact that the AI was more or less keeping up made it much less noticeable. There's nothing inherently wrong with exponential growth, but the game does get very boring as soon as you are too far ahead. I was behind on everything other than pop and industry for most of the game, and only ahead on money after going Dutch. I was mid-pack on tech right up until end of Industrial Era. Right up until the Industrial Era I felt vulnerable to Gilgamesh and that every quarter placement mattered.
Spoiler :
AI cowardice - the top AI (Gilgamesh) had a huge military, similar pop and comparable tech to me. I had one stack each of warriors, gaesatis, and markabatas right into the Industrial Era. He ranged from Hate-Filled to Tyrannical and had demands against me and 100 war support, and no trade, but he never attacked. He wasn't directly a neighbour but only 2-3 territories away on Pangaea. That let me focus entirely on building and not having to maintain a standing army - I feel like this is definitely something that needs to be improved on the higher levels at least.
The game is a lot more interesting when there's a mix of building and war. The player can choose their preferred gameplay by choosing landmass, Pangaea should be almost constant fighting unless you work really hard to keep the peace, which should at the very least involve maintaining a large standing army.
Spoiler :
Difficulty level - I've only been playing this since release, not in the betas.. there probably need to be higher levels that would require more conquest in order to win (like Civ4). Either that or nerf the "lingering in neolithic" strategy. They could also make the AI better at fighting, there's a few easy fixes, but I feel like humans will always be able to outsmart the AI given the complexity of the terrain.
Stability was a fun mechanic in Medieval/Early Modern. They maybe need to tone down the bonuses on lower levels so it becomes an issue, and also tone down the bonuses from Manufactories so that it's still an issue late game.
