Marathon Game Speed

[Oggums]

The beginning is very, very slow.

It seems like the longer games are easier, when played on the same difficulty level, since you can war for longer without units becoming obsolete. Although this is the exact reason I wanted to play a longer game, it negates the AI production bonus, when you can use the same 15 city raider 3+combat promo swordsmans, without having to start building macemen. Once my city raider swords were promoted and had proper escorts (Catapults, shock axes and formation spears (phalanx in my case)) they steamrolled the AI without any loses.

Perhaps kicking the difficulty up a notch when playing a marathon game is the way to go.

 

[rabottens]

How does the longer time frames effect war weariness?

 

[DaviddesJ]

Decided to play a "Marathon" game. One thing I've noticed already is that the 10-turn penalty for Slavery oppression in a city, and the 1-turn penalty for Anarchy in your entire Civ, are much less of an issue.

I don't think this is true. The 10 turns of unhappiness from Slavery should increase to 30 turns at Marathon speed.

 

[DrewBledsoe]

I don't think this is true. The 10 turns of unhappiness from Slavery should increase to 30 turns at Marathon speed.

Nope its still 10 turns (Anarchy tends to be 3 turns now though):- I play marathon exclusively (have done for last 2 weeks non stop).

To me its best mode by far even though it has its pros and cons, which I'll do a proper post about when Im not so tired

Edit:- You know it could be 30 ..my brain seems to be suffering from "fog of war", I'll get some sleep and check tomorrow

 

[DaviddesJ]

Nope its still 10 turns (Anarchy tends to be 3 turns now though):- I play marathon exclusively (have done for last 2 weeks non stop).

That's weird. Slavery gives 15 turns of unhappiness at Epic speed, so I don't understand why it would give only 10 turns of unhappiness at Marathon speed. Seems like a bug.

 

[Wodan]

I don't think this is true. The 10 turns of unhappiness from Slavery should increase to 30 turns at Marathon speed.

I don't think it did. Somebody can verify, if they've got a game handy. (My current one is Epic.)

Edit: duh, DaviddesJ just did.

Regardless, the other thing I said is definitely true: the Anarchy for switching a civic or religion is still the same. 1 turn for most switches, 3 for multiple civic switches. I had just noticed that in my game, when I posted. I was thinking, whatever penalty this is in a Standard game, the net effect is much much less in a Marathon.

Wodan

 

[Requies]

Originally Posted by Wodan
Decided to play a "Marathon" game. One thing I've noticed already is that the 10-turn penalty for Slavery oppression in a city, and the 1-turn penalty for Anarchy in your entire Civ, are much less of an issue.

I don't think this is true. The 10 turns of unhappiness from Slavery should increase to 30 turns at Marathon speed.

LOL

Originally Posted by ancestral
As far as I know, in Civ IV, it's 1 population point sacrificed for every 30 hammers. So if your production has between 31 and 60 hammers left, that will be two people sacrificed.

As I said in my posting, that's not how it works. If you are going to claim that I'm wrong, you should first try it for yourself.

Req

 

[Wodan]

That's funny, Requies. Good one.
(No offense, David)

 

[Requies]

That's funny, Requies. Good one.
(No offense, David)

Just to make sure that we don't have any miscommunication, I didn't mean to offend, I just found it funny (but I guess I have a strange sense of humor).

OTOH, David was right, I just tested (ahem ) a Marathon game, and after I whipped, the city was unhappy for 30 turns after.

Req

 

[DaviddesJ]

I get 30 turns also. I would have been astonished if it were 10 turns (it's just multiplying the time by a parameter in the XML file, and it would seem really, really strange if it did that correctly at Epic speed but not at Marathon speed), but, I admit that anything is possible.

 

[Harald]

...
Regardless, the other thing I said is definitely true: the Anarchy for switching a civic or religion is still the same. 1 turn for most switches, 3 for multiple civic switches. I had just noticed that in my game, when I posted. I was thinking, whatever penalty this is in a Standard game, the net effect is much much less in a Marathon.

Wodan

I usaly get 5 turns of anarchy when I do multiple switches.

 

[soulless2004]

Due to the new patches, I have absolutely no problems with game crashes when playing any other speed except for Marathon; in which point it crashes about 1000AD and then more frequently after that. Marathon, however, is IMO a fantastic speed to play. I'm tempted to download the 6050 turns a game mod, however I have a feeling that I'd spend more time rebooting than playing on my machine.

 

[ComradeDavo]

I'm currently playing a game on Marathon speed and I find it to be a great addition to the game, cheers to Fiarixis for it! I like long games where combat can be drawn out!

 

[Lorteungen]

Marathon is what civ4 should've been by default. Shortening the game was the worst gameplay decision in the entire civ series.

 

[Wodan]

Marathon is what civ4 should've been by default. Shortening the game was the worst gameplay decision in the entire civ series.

The default speed is purely for new players. Those who have experience and find dissatisfaction can choose the other speed.

So, are you saying that the first game of a new player's experience should be on Epic or Marathon speeds? I think that would prolong the learning curve = a bad thing.

Wodan

 

[DraconisRex]

I've played Marathon. It's a blast for civilizations that have strong early and middle units. My highest score to date was a Marathon Japanese empire. Having those Samurai last more than a blink was a great. I've also done it with the Romans and achieved a very high score as my legions of superior (unfortunately named) Praetorians mowed down empire after empire.


OTOH, if you're playing more of a builder, it's really tedious as it takes forever to build improvements, buildings, etc.

 

[DaviddesJ]

Marathon is what civ4 should've been by default. Shortening the game was the worst gameplay decision in the entire civ series.

I think it's way too slow for most players. If it were the default, most people would be turned off by their first experience with the game. The default should aim for the sweet spot that most people will enjoy. Marathon is good as an option.

 

[weasel281]

I've been searching unsuccessfully for an hour to find the differences between game speeds in the 1.52 patch. Could someone please post, or direct me to a place that has the changes to production, research, anarchy, and rushing penalties for each speed?

I've only played normal, and am looking for what my next speed should be. Thanks, guys.

 

[DaviddesJ]

All of the information about different game speeds is encoded in

C:\Program Files\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\Assets\XML\GameInfo\CIV4GameSpeedInfo.XML

Although there are some additional tweaks, it is approximately:

Marathon: 33% of Normal speed
Epic: 67% of Normal speed
Normal: 100% of Normal speed
Quick: 150% of Normal speed

 

[lord_graywolfe]

i tried marathon but i didnt like it. maybe its just me but it seemed to be working backwards. i mean it was taking me 30 turns to make a warrior and in that time i had researched hunting and domestication. before i usally finished my first warrior and hunting at about the same time. the tech wasnt much slower than before but the units took forever. think ill stick with epic for now but i might try the super epic game of 6050 turns.