Noble's Club

[Groogaroo]

Hey Littlej, welcome to Nobles club

I can play without any Mods, correct?

No need for for any mods, correct. but as the save is set up to be a scenario you do have the option to use mods if you wish.

 

[littlej]

Perfect. I'm in, or at least I'll try

 

[grandad1982]

We're only a few days short of the twice a month. If we don't post the save then the players with less time can still benefit from pregame discussion.

As a side note it has to be said I love the WB save format! Its so versatile what with speed, MOD and difficulty choices being up to us.

 

[littlej]

We're only a few days short of the twice a month. If we don't post the save then the players with less time can still benefit from pregame discussion.

As a side note it has to be said I love the WB save format! Its so versatile what with speed, MOD and difficulty choices being up to us.

The WB save format is one of the reasons I decided to try out the next game. I really like playing Noble, Epic speed games, plus this group may help me actually stick through a game (I'm a chronic restarter).

 

[Groogaroo]

We're only a few days short of the twice a month. If we don't post the save then the players with less time can still benefit from pregame discussion.

I'm with you on that! But it I know once I see that start location I'm going to be bouncing around like a lunatic getting impatient to play the game!!!

plus this group may help me actually stick through a game (I'm a chronic restarter).

I know what you mean! The first two Noble Club games I would have given up on within about 100 turns if it wasn't for playing along with everyone else! Playing and picking up tips with these guys has really improved my game already.

 

[grandad1982]

Ditto the restarting! I get frustrated and open world builder to see what the map looks like etc and then think I can't be bothered to play as I ruined it by opening world builder!

The systamtic and stepwise approch of these games makes it much more managable! Also I don't want to look a wally in front of everyone!!

 

[ParadigmShifter]

Try some HOF games, you can't restart and you can't open worldbuilder.

 

[Bleys]

Try some HOF games, you can't restart and you can't open worldbuilder.

I can attest to that. Its the ultimate learning tool to be honest. I have yet to win one. This month I blew the Prince BOTM game, UGH!! I practiced too! But with the HoF rules, no reload, no restarts, period, and they can tell from your uploaded saves if you did.

I am making a firm commitment to trying to stop my re-loading re-starting ways. Its not like I do it a lot, 2 or 3 times a game, tops, but thats all it takes sometimes. Reloading and restarting can be very strong learning tools, they help you streamline your techniques and focus your strategies, but it can be a hard habit to break out of.

Just trying some HoF games and some GOTMs, I did discover the HoF MOD, which is really really strong, especially for people like me who like a lot of cities. Pre warnings about border pops, health and happiness caps being exceeded, etc, are invaluable. They are especially strong in the early game, when you want to hook up that 2nd ring resource ASAP, but forget to check to see if the border popped a couple turns or something. I cant play without it anymore, I lose track pretty fast.

Oh, before I forget, I asked rolo to make us another game. I sort of know how, but if I do it, I will have pre-knowledge of the map, and I want to play these as clean as possible. Here is what I requested (just sent the PM)

Kublai Khan, Pangaea, NO WILLEM! (only AI restriction I requested, I figured we are all sick of seeing that guy, he even showed up in our SG game!)

Will do the same as the last one, he will link me to his upload site, I will grab the save, and post the start in the new thread. Expect it in the next couple days. In the meantime, remember, there are other common-game themed series out there, like rolo's LHC. He has those set up the same way, you pick your level and speed, and play in your favorite MOD.

 

[Rub'Rum]

Maybe we should think of doing what we did in the first game concerning posts; put all checkpoints in one post. Or maybe two posts following each others at the beginning of the thread. I found it confusing to follow individual games in the second game because the different checkpoints were everywhere in the thread...

I know some people had the image-limit problem with the one post thing, that's why I'm saying maybe we can reserve two posts (or even three?) for the spoilers early in the thread and refer back to them when we reach them? And also limiting our image numbers would help make this work (I can just say I built a wonder, no need to screenshot it I guess, although it's not as glorious ). Same goes for random events... Only empire screenshots are kind of helpful. Notable tech trades are okay too, I forget to screenshot those all the time...

That being said, who are we playing again? Was it Kublai Khan? Aw, I played him just 2 weeks ago Oh well. That was a space victory again.

 

[ParadigmShifter]

Also try Bindy's challenges in the HOF forum, you can play at settler if you want, and he tracks who won so you get a mention.

HOF gauntlets are often low levels too. As long as you get a win, that's a result.

 

[Bleys]

Maybe we should think of doing what we did in the first game concerning posts; put all checkpoints in one post. Or maybe two posts following each others at the beginning of the thread. I found it confusing to follow individual games in the second game because the different checkpoints were everywhere in the thread...

I dont mind this, IF people link the location of those updates in their posts. Its not hard, here is a link to my post just a few above this one. Each individual post has a "Postcount" # in the upper right-hand corner, just click it and copy the location into your "checkpoint announcement" post.

And sorry about the choice Simon. It seemed to be the consensus. Hes a good war monger, and also has a trait thats easy to leverage (CRE), especially on Pangaea maps.

 

[ParadigmShifter]

SimonL, if you just got a space vic with KK, go for a dom or conquest this time. Keshiks are made for that. Focus!!!

 

[grandad1982]

@ SimonL
I just posted links in my first post. This seems like the best way to do it to me. I put to many screens in - need to focus more! - so 1, 2, or even 3 posts isn't enough for me!

 

[Bleys]

Especially Pangaea. I dont think I have ever had a space win on a Pangaea map, I almost default Domination every time, even one time in Vanilla when I WANTED to try space, but got a Dom (I always forget to uncheck the other VCs when I want to try a specific one)

 

[ParadigmShifter]

Cultural on pangaea if you want to challenge yourself...

 

[schwartz]

Just tossing the idea up for a later game:
Sitting Bull. I like the idea of running an EE with him. Philosophical can generate a couple of Great Spies and protective's cheap castles(+25% EPs too, that's key!)/walls + good archery units make for a solid defence while tech stealing/causing trouble. Possibly another Pangaea game for the future.

 

[Rub'Rum]

Okay, well... Um... maybe we can reserve one post early on in the thread, and in that post, we put links to the proper update posts under the proper checkpoints? That seems somewhat twisted... What I mean is like

Checkpoint 1
LINK TO POST

Checkpoint 2
LINK TO POST

and etc.

I don't know if I was the only one confused, but since we all play the same map, it was hard to remember the beginning of a particular individual's game and I had to sift through the previous pages to find the proper posts.

 

[Groogaroo]

@SimonL

Yeah it gets harder as the thread gets longer, trawling back through to rimind yourself whose was what and such

I think reserving a post at the beginning and having links to your updates is the way to go!

@Bleys

I picked up the latest LHC, yet to play it, so I may give it a whirl!

 

[Bleys]

Thats a strong idea Simon, let me toss in a possibility to refine it even further:

How about each time we post an update, we simply create a link back to our previous updates. They do something like this in the GOTMs, where there is a Pre discussion thread, a First spoiler thread, and a Final spoiler thread. Experienced posters link back to their other posts for reference, and it seems to work well. Heres an example:

Checkpoint 1 AD (Checkpoint 4000 BC <here, link to proper post>, Checkpoint 2000 BC <here>)

Spoiler :

Then checkpoint info in the spoiler, so those who wish to go back and see the previous ones can.

 

[littlej]

Damn, you guys are using your brain power here. I like the linking idea.

Checkpoint 1
link here

Checkpoint 2
link here

Spoiler :

I lost here

That way when you post your final checkpoint, someone can go through and check out your game fairly quickly.



Now some initial thoughts on Kublai. Horseback riding is a pretty key tech (and the sooner the better) but once we reach it and if we are ready to roll, we're going to have to keep our economy running somehow. Priest specialist and/or cottage spam (depending on the terrain) ASAP might work, even obsolote's SSE. Also, it'll be important while in war to cut off the AI from metal to lower the number of Spears we face.

This waiting is going to kill me