How long should the average game of FfH II last?

[Sporkbomb]

I am playing as the Luchirp on Epic, Noble, with a Large Highlands Map and I started a game this weekend. I spent many, many rounds doing some REXing, establishing a specialist site or two, and generally going about empire building (experienced with Civ 4 BtS, new to FfH). I never payed much attention to the calendar when playing BtS, but now there is a turn counter instead of a year, so I am obsessing about it.

I just wiped out the Amurites (pesky mages ) and comfortably settled in all of their cities, but I have eight more civs to worry about. My empire is about 12 cities large and I feel I am well on my way. However, I just discovered Iron Working at turn 439 and I was wondering what my target timeline should be. Am I well on my way, or am I far behind? I can't post a screenshot right now, but could you guys give me sense for how long your games go?

 

[Monkeyfinger]

I play on normal, and epic's turn counts are all roughly 1.5x normal ones, so... that's turn 292 iron working on normal? That's pretty bad on the mapscripts I play, but... uh, highlands should have a considerably slower tech pace than most mapscripts. So I can't really say much beyond "it's not HORRIBLE."

Do highland maps have multiple continents? If you're going for a military victory (which depending on what the RNG hands you, could be the only viable option) that lengthens the game. Takes me around 350 turns on normal to win domination victories that involve intercontinental warfare, so that would be around 525 on epic. Single-landmass military wins I tend to finish in under 300 (450 epic), same for builder wins with good terrain and game progression that supports them.

 

[Sporkbomb]

At least now I know I am working slowly. The thing with highlands (and arboreal and oasis) is that they are ALL land, no oceans or water mass larger than a few tiles, so domination is out of the question. If I strike out and double the size of my territory, I will only only end up with about three more mana (giving me a total of 7) and then the maintenance will kill me. I didn't worry too much about getting iron working because, power-wise, I am pretty strong compared to everyone else and my golems don't get iron weapons (though the iron golems are nice). The real question is, which victory should I strive for if I am behind and don't seem to have a clear path, but am still the most advanced and wealthiest civ? Thanks for your insight, Monkeyfinger.

 

[Monkeyfinger]

Get more mana nodes and make one of them metamagic. Get a mage with metamagic 2. Get the right manas for 1 subtower, build it, then dispel those nodes using your metamagic 2 mage then build them all for a different tower, etc. You can get a tower of mastery win that way.

 

[Sporkbomb]

Excellent idea. I should try aiming for that earlier. Thanks!

 

[Yarnosh]

I generally don't focus too much on which technology I'm researching at any particular point in the game because tech paths vary so much. For example, playing Svartalfar, I held off getting iron working for a LONG time because my army of Assassins, Shadows, and fireball tossing mages were doing so well. And the only reason I did get it eventually was because my caravels were being hassled by privateers and barbarian tiremes.

What I focus on is my gold/research percentage and research points per turn. By about turn 250 of a normal game, I should be surpassing the turn # in research points. I like to be up to about 1000 RP by turn 400.

 

[Sporkbomb]

I tried MonkeyFinger's idea and have started to make progress toward a Tower of Mastery victory, but it will take a little while. I only have the element tower so far. My big accomplishment is my new war with Einon Logos, which should add a great many cities to my empire, then I will research taxation and build money changers and tax offices to stem ther maintenance costs. The game, I think, is going to be a little longer than originally thought because now the rest of the empires are getting massive. I think having it on Epic, as well as having a huge, land based map is slowing everyone down. I will keep you guys updated. Research is fine, I am still the most advanced, but I like how you gave yourself a yardstick to measure by. Thanks for the feedback, Yarnosh.