Move to next level or move to larger map?

[jeannie]

For the past five weeks, I've been playing Regent level on a small map, and I've gotten to the point where I can win consistently. (I played Warlord level for about a year before that.)

Now it's time to move to more challenges. Should I move up to the next level of difficulty, or should I stay on Regent but try larger maps with more civiliations before moving up a level?

I always play Panagea (or however you spell it), and my last game ended with a domination victory in 950 AD before I had tanks. (On Warlord level, I had always tried to avoid wars until I had tanks - I learned a lot about waging war earlier in these last few weeks, as well as managing to keep a good tech lead.)

What would you advise?

 

[Shillen]

It depends on how many opponents you're playing with. If you're beating it easily with the default number of opponents then I'd say move up to the next level. The default is like 7 on standard map, 11 on large, 15 on huge I think. If you're playing with fewer opponents then try playing with default number. I actually find larger maps with standard # of opponents easier than a smaller map. The game just takes longer on a larger map.

 

[farting bob]

try on a higher level on small or even tiny. then slowly move up in sizes. if you get to a stage where you loss most times, then you know youve reached a limit. then play just below that for a while.

 

[wilbill]

Do both. Move up a level, play a couple of games, then go back to regent and play a large map or two. Certainly difficulty level is the bigger change, but the game does have a different feel with a large or huge map than with the smaller maps. Don't get stuck on one way of playing - variety is good.

 

[jeannie]

Well, I tried moving from Regent to Monarch and decided that there was absolutely no way I was going to stand a chance in that game. Wow, what a difference - the AI advantage in research isn't something I'm ready to face yet! So I'll move up to a standard map on Regent. Thanks for the advice, everyone.

 

[Shillen]

Don't be discouraged, that's how it was for me too. It always seems like your current level is really easy, then you try the next one and it's impossible. I'm not sure what happens but eventually (almost suddenly), you can beat the next level up. And then that one starts getting easy after a couple games, etc. Funniest thing is once you start doing well on monarch you'll hardly be able to tell a difference between monarch and regent, even though the difference seemed absurd originally.

Oh another thing is you might want to keep restarting the game until you get a good starting position. It really can make a big deal. I don't normally advocate doing this, but it can make a big difference when trying to move up to a higher difficulty level.

 

[jeannie]

Originally posted by Shillen
Oh another thing is you might want to keep restarting the game until you get a good starting position. It really can make a big deal. I don't normally advocate doing this, but it can make a big difference when trying to move up to a higher difficulty level.

Thanks for your kind words of encouragement! And, don't worry, I'm 'cheating' with starting over and reloads as part of my learning strategy.

 

[cracker]

I think I would recommend that you shadow some of the players in the GOTM games and play the QSC segments at least just for yourself.

These games focus on only the first 80 turns of play but you get to compare your play skills to at least 50 or 60 other players to see what works better adn how players approach the same basic situation.

Most players who have been playing games alone (in a vacuum) are fairly surprised at how easy it can be to be very good at the game when you focus on key skills that give you the power to be successful.

I would recommend you read the article:

Improving Your Opening Play Sequences

and then look at the QSC games for

Qsc15-Russia (timelines and sample games from 56 different players)
and
Qsc16-Rome (Timelines and sample games from 65 different players)

You will get more out reading these resources than you will gain from playing 20 more games all on your own.

 

[Darkness]

I agree with cracker....

Reading the QSC timeline from games by for example, Moonsinger, ribannah, SirPleb, Kemal and DaveMcW tought me quite a lot about the beginning of the game, which IMHO is the gamebreaker...

Like for example when to irrigate the deer....

 

[zeeter]

I usually know when it is time to move up a level. Recently I was winning consitantly and decisively on one level and decided to move up. I played with the same settings except for difficulty. It was too tough at first, so I lowered the number of oponents until it became manageable. Then I added more oponents in subsequent games.
In most games you know that you can win shortly after your third or fourth advance. The best advice that I can give is to know when you're in a hopeless situation and simply restart. Some may call this cheating, but I don't see it that way. Why continue to play a game that you have no hope of winning?

What makes this game so great is that there are so many variations of it. You can master the Romans at diety, then try the Americans at warlord and be anihilated. Or try the Romans on a small Island map. Strategies change under different circumstances adding completely different aspects to the game.

 

[cavemanf16]

I agree with zeeter. This game does change drastically based upon lots of factors, not least of which is what civ you are playing as. The UU for each civ is usually quite important, and will determine when you get your (usually) first Golden Age, when you start a conquest of a rival civ, etc. Not that all wars cannot be won without a UU, but it is an important aspect of the game.

The comment about starting as the Romans on a small island map, vs. playing the Americans on a huge map at Warlord level. Each game has quite different strategies for the player trying to gain an edge over their competition.

 

[zeeter]

That's why I think this game is so great. Playing the Americans on one style map is completely different than playing them on another style. Then changing the civ is different again. It is like getting countless games all in one. Well, with PTW one and a half.

 

[billindenver]

Originally posted by jeannie
Well, I tried moving from Regent to Monarch and decided that there was absolutely no way I was going to stand a chance in that game. Wow, what a difference - the AI advantage in research isn't something I'm ready to face yet! So I'll move up to a standard map on Regent. Thanks for the advice, everyone.

The AI doesn't have that much of an advantage on research, they just trade better than you. You can't possibly keep up with the AI's in tech on Monarch unless you trade a LOT. You won't learn how to do that if you keep playing Regent, because you can keep up on your own.

There are many strategies. Some people reduce science to 10% and then buy techs from the AI, others research techs that the AI usually doesn't research and try to be the first to get that tech. Either way, every time you get a new tech, shop it around to every AI. Don't be real picky. If they'll give you 30 gold, that's better than nothing. Always sell techs to the richest or most advanced country first if they don't have it. You may get another tech or two in trade, which you can then trade again to all the other civs. You should be able to keep up or close to the AI's during Ancient age.

Also, keep an eye on details. When your advisor says you can research a tech in 2 turns, try moving your science slider and see if you can save money and still research it in 2 turns. Same when 1 turn is left. In the early game, you may only save 10-20 gold per tech, but by mid game, it may be 50-100, and late game it can be 500. Add those all up and see how many techs you could buy with several thousand gold!

By late Medieval, you should be getting some techs ahead of the AI, and they will start paying you BIG money for techs. That allows you to keep science spending high. In my most recent games on Monarch and Emperor, in the Industrial age, I had science at 100% with no luxuries and no taxes, but I was still making 500gpt because of the techs I sold to the AI (electronics, scientific method, atomic theory, sanitation, etc)!

It may be intimidating to see the AI 4-5 techs ahead early in the game, but you can catch up. I encourage you to keep trying Monarch. You'll get the hang of it soon enough!

 

[zeeter]

billindenver is right. Once you've accomplished regent there is nothing left in it that will prepare you for monarch. The only way to get accomplished at it is to play and practice. With me, I played and played and eventually, without even noticing, I wound up getting better and better. You may find the odd game where for some reason you are on great land and all of your oponents are on horrible land, so keep that in perspective. One game does not make an accomplished player.
In the original Civilization I had a very weird game on the earth map where I was able to take out all of the competition within the first forty turns or so on emporer (or whater the highest one was). It was purely luck. There was no real gameplay in it because It didn't last long enough to have to worry about happiness or technology. For some reason I just got all of the rolls in combat. I began to play a bunch of games on emporer because of this win and was humiliated every time. Reason? I wasn't ready for it, but I thought I was because I had that great game.

 

[billindenver]

Originally posted by zeeter
You may find the odd game where for some reason you are on great land and all of your oponents are on horrible land, so keep that in perspective. One game does not make an accomplished player.

Absolutely, and the opposite is also true. I was playing a Monarch game recently, and ended up on a small island by myself. It took me about 120 turns or more to research mapmaking and a few more to get galleys built to try to meet other civs. I was at LEAST 10 techs behind and was getting nowhere fast.

So, I quit that game and decided to try an Emperor game. Wouldn't you know, that Emperor game has been one of the easiest I've ever had in Civ III. Unless someone pulls a surprise culture victory out against me, I've probably got my high score locked.

One more thing I'd suggest to Jeannie though. Play as Babylon for your first few games. You get cheap libraries and cathedrals and temples and universities, plus, you get an extra tech every age!! When I got Monotheism in my Emperor game, I was able to completely catch up in tech by trading that around! When I got Nationalism, it made me rich.