News: WOTM 04 Pre-Game Discussion

[The Lance]

As this will be my first GOTM/WOTM I think that I'll stick to that nice lil hill. I usually play the longer games, epic and marathon, so this will be no big change for me. However the difficulty is new to me, I usually stick to a lower level and challenge my self by trying different strategies. This should be interesting to see how I stack up.
lol, who am I kidding, I'll be happy to make 1AD

 

[Numdydar]

Lets see the last Warlords game kicked everyones butt so you thought you would UP the difficulty level even higher? Why on earth would you do that? Are you trying for zero submission this time lol. I was really hoping for something a little easier this time around.

Numdydar

 

[lroumen]

Let's be original as in every pre-game discussion and move the settler!

I always found Augustus to be an early game warmonger and then switch to cultural victory tactics somewhere mid-game when the nearest neighbour has been conquered. I might try that, though the capital needs movement then.

I think that the screen shot has a hidden whale 2 blots south which we then cannot use because noone moves the settler from the nice starting spot. There's always a nasty surprise like that.

 

[UCPLion]

Hi everyone. Although I've been a civ player since the old days of Civilization, some 15 years ago, only recently have I started playing GOTM/WOTM games. The first I submitted was WOTM 3 (go figure!) and GOTM 13 is going OK.

WOTM 4 will actually be my first Emperor game, so I’ll se how far I’ll go. Not being much of a warmonger, the marathon speed combined with the Praetorian will probably make me play a more aggressive game. I’ll settle in place and take it from there.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

I think that the screen shot has a hidden whale 2 blots south which we then cannot use because noone moves the settler from the nice starting spot. There's always a nasty surprise like that.

I'm not sure I'd rate unreachable whale as that much of a nasty surprise. You can't build whaling boats until optics, and even then the production bonus is pretty small. The only good thing about it is the happy face, and by the time you have optics the whale should be in your cultural borders if you settle in place.

I generally pay almost no attention to whales in Civ 4.

 

[JMaltman]

I'd agree with the DynamicSpirit.

So we'll have a spectacular production city, but will need to settle or conquer somewhere to get commerce going at even a reasonable clip.

Looking forward to this. And the marathon speed will give me a little more patience - I rushed a bit in the last WOTM and fell flat on my face.

 

[cas]

Lets see the last Warlords game kicked everyones butt so you thought you would UP the difficulty level even higher? Why on earth would you do that? Are you trying for zero submission this time lol. I was really hoping for something a little easier this time around.

Numdydar

It was not the difficulty level (ie...Monarch) in WOTM3 that kicked most people in the backside. It was the map layout. GOTM10 ? was immortal diff but had such a generous resource/AI layout that it was easier than most emporer games.

Anyway, this game screams warmonger, but I think I'll try a different VC depending what I find north.

cas

edit: grammar/sentence structure

 

[Svelte]

A practice map:

View attachment 144205 (HOF2.08.001)

 

[Alraun]

Lets see the last Warlords game kicked everyones butt so you thought you would UP the difficulty level even higher? Why on earth would you do that? Are you trying for zero submission this time lol. I was really hoping for something a little easier this time around.

Numdydar

The last game had a rough map with Aggressive AI and a mediocre leader. This map has an excellent start, the leader with arguably the best UU and given that very difficulty, I'd be pretty surprised if we don't have iron to go with it.

 

[Thrallia]

The last game had a rough map with Aggressive AI and a mediocre leader. This map has an excellent start, the leader with arguably the best UU and given that very difficulty, I'd be pretty surprised if we don't have iron to go with it.

I don't think Gyathaar has ever given us metal in the starting location...

 

[Alraun]

I don't think Gyathaar has ever given us metal in the starting location...

Maybe, but this is the first "high level" game.

 

[Murky]

I'm thinking a Moonsinger style domination win for a very high score.

 

[Asty]

I'm thinking a Moonsinger style domination win for a very high score.

I realize that was done under 1.09 (I think)...but how in the hell?

 

[Murky]

I realize that was done under 1.09 (I think)...but how in the hell?

They use HC's Quechuas to rush the AI cities and ignored maintenance cost. If you read the Player Log you can see how they were losing units because a lack of funds towards the end. The negative income level really didn't matter because they were only turns away from winning.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

I realize that was done under 1.09 (I think)...but how in the hell?

As far as I can make out from the game history, she declared war on other civs very early on, took quite a few cities, and then once she'd conquered most other civs, took about 40 settlers and founded them all the same turn. She won domination when their culture expanded 30 turns later (thanks to her having built Stonehenge). She allowed her economy to go to ruin in order to expand so quickly, to the extent of units disbanding themselves all over the place for lack of funds towards the end of the game.

What I don't understand is
(a) how she captured cities so early (the first one on turn 20, the 6th one on turn 35) given that all she'd have had would have been a couple of quechas. For me, 35 turns is scarcely enough time even to find where so many civs are let alone take most of their cities against very high battle odds.
(b) where she got the production from to build ~40 settlers in time to have them all in place for turn 240 (as far as I can tell she did have about 20 cities at that point so maybe it's plausible, but then ~6 of those were ones hse'd only just founded anyway, which makes the problem even harder). She must have been chopping and poprushing everything in sight (easier on 1.09 I guess since chopping gave more hammers)

 

[Ribannah]

Moonsinger is a lady.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

Moonsinger is a lady.

Ooopsy! I've corrected my post. Thanks Ribannah!

 

[Alraun]

What I don't understand is
(a) how she captured cities so early (the first one on turn 20, the 6th one on turn 35) given that all she'd have had would have been a couple of quechas. For me, 35 turns is scarcely enough time even to find where so many civs are let alone take most of their cities against very high battle odds.

The standard good quechua start of a plains hill and working a forested plains hill pumps out quechuas every 6 turns on marathon. Also, with a packed map and the fact that the AI starts with 2 settlers on Deity, they aren't that tough to find.

 

[Mastiff_of_Ar]

A practice map:

Thanks a bunch! Something to do tonight... I like you a lot!

 

[Hooha]

Originally Posted by Erkon
Quick comparison of number of turns available:
Marathon 1200
Epic 660
Normal 460

I don't understand what the fuss is over playing a marathon game. It's like playing 3 normal games, right? Surely most of us plays more than 3 games in a 6 week period, right? Or do I play too much?