How do you decide on what mix to play?

[Yakk]

*nod*, the difference between normal and epic is that wars happen more completely within a single era, and you can build larger armies.

At epic speed (with 4 times as many turns):
Cities grow 4 times slower
Workers work 4 times slower
Cities build 4 times slower

Unless you insist on checking every screen every single turn, and micromanaging unit placement and exploration, the game doesn't go any slower.

During war, the game progresses at a slower pace, because you are manually moving your troops around. The effect is that your wars are more likely to end in the same era, and your standing army matters more. On quicker settings, you can often build an army to defend against attacking units before they reach you.

Interestingly, epic also makes slavery (and other rush abilities) more effective. You can use slavery 1 time per turn in both settings -- so in epic, you can build 4 units in the time it usually takes to whip 1 under the standard game. The "real cost" of slavery (population and unhappiness) isn't scaled down as much, so I guess that isn't all that important -- and the rate you can repeatedly whip production is usually only important when an army is moving at you, which scales up with your whip rate.

...

So really, epic isn't much slower.

A pseudo-marathon mod would be cute. Boost sight distance by a factor of 2, double unit movement, boost production speeds by 50%.

 

[Welnic]

Epic is only 1.5 times slower than normal, not 4.

 

[Solver]

Large or Huge map. I just never got into playing on smaller maps, too few AIs - less interesting diplomacy and all that.

Epic speed or my own custom speed. For a long enough game where even the units that become obsolete quickly make sense to be built.

Map type I always select, but I play different ones. Favorite is Fractal because it's pretty unpredictable. It can be, for example one small continent with an isolated civ and a huge continent with everyone else on. Or it can be three equally sized continents. It may have many good uninhabited islands. Or not. Or anything.

Leaders, my own and the AI ones, are always random. I like it because it forces me to adapt. If I draw, say, the Org & Phi Frederick, I might feel like I want to run a specialist economy and pump GPs. But then if I notice I have a low-food continent with few health resources but many hills, that challenges my plans. Even more so if I start next to some warmongers.

That said, I think leader selection may make for a nice learning experience on a new level. Say, if you're just making the switch to Prince, you may want to select easier settings - such as pick a leader you're comfortable with, or pick AI leaders that are possible to deal with (Qin Shi Huang and Ramesses over Tokugawa and Montezuma).

 

[manu-fan]

These days, after getting the same random leader 3 times in a row, I'm doing:

Each leader, one at a time.

Noble/Epic/Large/Pangea

Trying to win by domination as soon as posslbe. My best is 1782 AD.

Cheers.

 

[Solver]

I solve that problem by restarting if I happen to get a random leader with whom I played my last game or the one before that. That way, I always have some diversity.

 

[TRJS]

Has been very interesting to see everyones thoughts on this matter.

Must say I never really understood Fractal maps until I tried LucyDukes method of enlightenment. Might play them more often now.

 

[Ecofarm]

If you want a game with complex diplomacy, but a small map - add a few extra AIs.

I was developing a strategy for MP yesterday and thus played on noble (unfortunately, most MP games are on noble). One legitamate reason may be that war weariness gets out of hand on harder difficulties.

Well, things were going so well, I decided to play the game out. It's standard/pangea/normal speed. Only took 3.5 hours, despite standard size map. At epic or slower speed, it would have ended long before 1130AD, when it did (I decided to vassalize shaka instead of building a galley and taking his island city). It took a long time to march across a standard world on normal. Btw, I only used 1 Quecha (as my Medic_3).

How do you guys make the image smaller, and enlargable?... Seems so obnoxious to post this GIANT image.

 

[InFlux5]

You can learn strategies for every map type.

Assuming you are playing at the most appropriate difficulty for your level (it sounds like you are) then your ability to keep up in tech will be lower than the AI's if all are left to their own devices. That's why being isolated is horrible for techs - no trading means you fall behind. Period.

That's why most people, as I've learned on these forums, go for a cultural victory in that situation. Your isolation means you can go light on defense for a long time and focus on wonders and artists.