HOT3 - Suggestions

[Rowain deWolf]

Originally posted by rodneysandy

I have only seen one less than good starting position(RBE12 I think) and all the big hitters lost that one except for the German with the unpronounceable name As it was,he was accused of playing an ICS start to his game

I guess you mean Epic 12 and neither has Urugharakh been accused of ICS (after all he had just 3 cities close) nor did the othe r players lose because of the starting location but more because of the other restrictions (No upgrading and no prebuilding)

If you look at LK36 you will see that this was not such a good starting location and we had only 7 cities for a long time and still managed to win

Rowain

 

[Sirp]

Please correct me if I'm wrong but I get the impression that all deity game starts in succession games were engineered to give the players a good starting position.

Some are, but more traditionally the first start that comes along is taken.

I have played at least 10 deity games and never had the sort of starts that i have seen here.You know the sort of thing,3 wheats,3 cows,6 bonus grass,luxuries in easy reach as is iron and horses.O.K. I exagerate but not by much.

I have similiar sort of starts. It depends heavily on your map settings. However, if you choose map settings that are conducive to you having a good start, they will also be conducive to other civilizations having a good start, and vice versa.

Note also that starting positions are NOT influenced by the level you play on.

I have only seen one less than good starting position(RBE12 I think) and all the big hitters lost that one except for the German with the unpronounceable name As it was,he was accused of playing an ICS start to his game

RBE12 (not a succession game btw) was a game that was engineered to have a particularly *bad* start. That game had a start about as bad as a four cattle start is good. Indeed, that game was very very hard to win on.

Other games have had bad starts; see RBE2. That was a difficult start. See the naked vikings game. Even see RBE9 (I think - the Japanese conquest-only game), that start was average at best.

In fact, I'm not sure there has been a single Realms Beyond Epic on Deity that has had a bonus food tile within the starting city radius. Maybe the Middle Eastern one; I can't recall the starting location in that one.

-Sirp.

 

[hotrod0823]

Okay Looks like Option II or III are posibilities:

I was reminded that GOTM18 will be Celts so I am partial to the Vikes and looks like an island hopping game with a conquest goal.

The only players that have shown interest are:

Hotrod
Aggie
Jack Merchant

This will start as a 1.14 game with only conquest enabled. No other varients. Monarch or emperor on a standard map. Difficulty is open for discussion.

Looking to start by the end of the week but would like to get 1 or 2 more players.

Hotrod

 

[Aggie]

Hotrod, everything is fine with me! Great to hear I'm in.

 

[Arutha]

May I suggest that you make it emperor then? Frankly, Vikes with their berserkers absolutely rule archipelago maps at lower difficulties. My easiest game so far wasn't on regent, but on monarch: 20% archipelago with the Vikes. My starting position was ugly: dry tiny island (4 cities with overlap). In spite of that, the ai never got a chance.

If you're looking for a fun game, go ahead. It *is* fun. But don't expect a challenge, unless somehow you get a dud start and several ai start on the same landmass and one of them swallows them all before you make contact.

 

[hotrod0823]

I am open to Suggestions! Arutha are you in?

 

[Arutha]

For a suggestion, check my "option IV" proposal at the bottom of page 1.

I may be interested, yes (would be nice to delurk and be part of the fun instead of just reading about it, hehe), but:
- I don't qualify for option 1 (although far from an expert, I have two deity wins)
- There's already been a sg with Vikings on Archi and I've already played it in single player on monarch
- The anti-infantry game is like Charis's MOW game.

So I guess that as a good lurker I was just waiting for the "perfect" game to de-lurk, but hell... why not.


Here are more variant ideas if you want:

The Wandering Mongols

Every ai must be conquered, one at a time. Once the capital of the current "prey" is captured, the palace must be moved there. Once it is completed, a new "prey" may be chosen. We can be at war with other ais, but only towns (size 1-6) can be attacked (and razed). Cities or metroplises cannot be attacked (that includes pillaging their tiles).

Nirvana

Indians. Every citizen must be "happy" or a clown. No unhappy or mere content citizens allowed, ever. No taxman or scientist either. If for whatever reason a city riots, then the goverment falls.

Restricted

The buildings, wonders, and victory allowed are restricted by the civ traits. For instance, only a scientific civ can build libraries and aim for a Space Race victory. Opponents are the civs not sharing the chosen civ traits.

 

[jack merchant]

I'm currently playing a Deity game with tech parity in the industrial age - so option I would after all be fine by me (I did have inordinate luck in having my relatively weak neighbours build the Great Library for me). That might also interest Borealis enough to give us an extra player. 3 might be too little.
If you decide to go for the islandhopping Vikings, both emperor and monarch are fine. Emperor might be more of a challenge, which can only be good

Happy to hear I'm in !

 

[Aggie]

Sounds like I'm at he same point as Jack Merchant, also playing my first deity and also par, no ahead, in tech in the industrial age (TeO ).

Only thing about the viking game would be that I'm currently playing two warmonger SG's already.

 

[hotrod0823]

Well I guess by overwhelming support for Deity we get to see if we can win on Deity.

If Borealis is upto it we will go on Deity as the Vikings - Random map all victory conditions on the table - no variants!

Roster:

Hotrod
Aggie
Jack Merchant
Borealis ( provided she confirms)
Open - Players without a diety victory or a vet who wants to help 4 deity neophytes .

Okay now if that is okay and I get confirmation from all players I will set up the game and we will start shortly. I am coming up on LK42, HOT2 so my game will be on 1.14 for a little while and I will be able to take a break from Epic 25.

To all lurkers: Constructive advice appreciated !

Hotrod

 

[Aggie]

I'm in!

 

[jack merchant]

Confirm ! Are you sure the Vikes are the right civ to start deity on though ? Ah well, if we don't come out ahead, we'll go down in a blaze of glory

 

[Sirp]

Yeah I'm really not sure that you guys want to start out on Deity with the Vikings. You're essentially playing a civilization which requires lots of warfare to do well.

Unless you all have playing styles heavily bent towards warfare (and when I say 'bent towards warfare' I mean that's how you build your empire, I don't mean that you like building a strong economic base with which to finance war), playing with the Vikings will be rather difficult. Expansionist will be of marginal usefulness on a 'pelago. Militaristic will give cheap harbors, which is nice, but other than that will require warfare to be of much use.

My idea for a "Deity TDG" would be a high-land pangea (80% standard or 70% large), with a builder civilization like Egypt, or maybe the Ottomans if we wanted the chance for a bit of later-game action. Not that I'm saying Viking/'pelago/Deity would be impossibly hard, and I'm sure it could be lots of fun. Unfortunately I won't have time to play a game like this for a while

-Sirp.

 

[Borealis]

I'll be in, but please put me later in the roster- I'd like to get closer to finishing HOT2 and farther on Phys1 before I start another SG.

 

[hotrod0823]

Point on the Vikings taken. This is why we have these discussions. I haven't played as Egypt or the Ottomans in a while I will try to tailor our start as Sirp suggested.

Borealis thanks for responding. I will put you up fourth.

Hotrod

I will look to start in the soon. Maybe tomorrow or later tonight depending on other SG commitments. Tonight looks light so we could get under way later.