Looking for a new challenge

[dannymd]

I've been playing Civ2 for about 11 years now and I am beginning to run out of interesting and challenging ways to play the game. I mostly play on premade worlds (can't stand the misshapen blobs that get randomly generated) with standard rules (though selecting bloodlust) at deity level.

Each game is very similar. In the beginning I expand as much as possible, build as many wonders as possible, and make peace as much as possible. I rush to democracy and once I reach it build the Statue of Liberty and change to fundamentalism. At this stage I simply go for hardcore productivity and get rid of all the annoying civilizations in the area. I then expand and tech a like mad till I've exceeded everyone else and that's about it. The game also ends with some insanely exaggerated air invasion on civilizations without planes.

The question is how to make the game more interesting without knowingly playing badly. I recently experimented with playing democracy the entire game, but all it meant was no battles until I had a super fleet and overthrew the democracy to destroy all the other civilizations. I even give lots of technologies to my enemies to improve their chances, but no matter what they will never develop their cities to the level I do, and never reach my level of productivity.

What is the answer? Not building certain wonders? I tried this also by not building the Great Wall or the UN to prevent automatic cease fires, but this didn't change anything. I wonder if there is a way to make the game more challenging without having to impose a handicap. Any ideas appreciated

Please note that I am referring only to AI.

Cheers

 

[Magic_gorter]

Have you tried playing higher levels then Deity??? We played a few months ago a Deity 3+ game and it was a lot harder (in the beginning) to win this one. It was not possible to get all the wonders and we we needed a lot of turns to get to the point where the ai was weaker then we. It was however a democracy game and we had some rules like not trading to others after to domestic deliveries.

You can also wait till 1 AD and then start playing...

 

[Prof. Garfield]

I personally find the map generator to work well for large maps (I seldom play on anything smaller), so you should probably start playing on those to get some variety.

Asside from playing on higher levels, there really isn't much you can do without specifically imposing a handicap of some sort on yourself. You can try completing a conquest while staying in democracy to gain experience that way, and/or play some spaceship games.

If you want a different sort of game, analyze your strategy a little and determine what you always do, and restrict yourself from doing some of those activities (eg trading, building certain wonders).

UN and Great Wall seldom change the game dynamic, in my experience. I don't bother building the Great Wall, and the UN is there to keep me out of annoying Cease Fires.

You may also try the One City Challenge (OCC). Essentially, you can only own 1 city and you try to win by spaceship.

 

[dannymd]

Thanks for the advice. Wasn't aware there was any defined level above Deity, does it involve reducing the riot factor to very small digits and slowing the tech? Can you point me in the direction of an explanation?

Cheers

 

[jaymis]

You should try go for an "early conquest".

i.e. Whats the earliest year you have ever conquered the world? I'm not that great a player; I usually manage a win in the 1400's, with my earliest win being in 1340.
I will stay in monarchy for the entire game and win with elephants and crusaders; waiting around till democracy takes too long!

It makes for quite a different game than the one you described above

 

[CharlieChuck]

Thanks for the advice. Wasn't aware there was any defined level above Deity, does it involve reducing the riot factor to very small digits and slowing the tech? Can you point me in the direction of an explanation?

Cheers

The riot factor is from about the second citizen onwards in deity+3, It's not as impossible as it sounds, but having a good map and AI position is very helpful. The AI can grow their cities to ridiculous sizes (especially the one that gets pyramids) so trade produces a lot of gold/science boost. It's also easier to get alliances/gifts early on as you're so weak.

To get deity +3 you need to adjust your game.txt file by adding lines under the deity in the @difficulty part of it.

Prof Garfields post here explains it well http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=8000805&postcount=9

Also you can play deity+3 games on a non-adjusted game.txt file. Have a look at the Deity+3 succession games in the 'Stories & Tales' Sub forum, you can download these and open them to give you an idea of what it's like.

This one's a good map and starting position, The future roman superpower (starting file 6 posts down) http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=191696

 

[JAC1]

How about editing a scenario? For example, take the WWII scenario that comes with the game, and merge the Turks with the Neutrals by 'destroy[ing] all units at cursor' in the Turkish cities and taking them as the Neutrals. Leave one city intact and create a Turkish engineer somewhere remote like Greenland or the fertile valley in the south-east (Pakistan,) or, if you want to make it really tough, somewhere near the other Civs, like Morocco, Ireland or Sardinia. Build a new city, create a palace and then switch back to the Neutrals and take the last remaining original Turkish city. Then edit the treaties to erase all memory of the 'war' and the inherited Turkish contacts with civs, and save the scenario. Don't forget to edit the name to something more appropriate. The 1939 Turkish tech is bound to hold you back, especially with a population of 1, but you can reduce it further if you want. With all that in place and lots of aggressive AI wandering around, you're looking at a long, protracted battle, and potentially only emperging on top in the late 1990s. There are lots of scenarios with big, powerful AI, and tweaking the tech can make them moreso. There are plenty of challenges out there, you just need to engineer them if you want the extreme rags-to-riches ride. Looking back on the process I just outlined I am somewhat concerned at the obsessiveness that drives me to such long-winded shennanigans.

 

[WildPony]

Some possibilities:

1) Limit the number of cities you can build depending upon the kind of game you want to play, perhaps 1, 2, 3, 5, 7 or 10. For any "challenge" vs. the ai, a city limit is an absolute essential. 100 cities vs. 4, 6, 8, 9, and 11 doesn't make for much of a game .

2) Possibly don't allow yourself the benefit of utilizing trade caravans.

3) Possibly don't allow yourself the benefit of utilizing dips or spies for bribing and/or stealing.

4) Possibly don't allow yourself to capture enemy cities (you can only raze them).

5) Possibly don't allow yourself to make peace with AI.

6) Possibly don't allow yourself certain wonders which you deem powerful.

7) ... and for the most exciting challenge of all by far, face off with a strong human