Not-quite-random opponents?

[1940LaSalle]

It's easy to hand-pick one's opposition, and it's also easy to go simply with the luck of the draw. But what about a situation where you don't care who the opposition might be as long as it's not from a handful of civs? For example, let's say you're open to almost anyone except (for discussion purposes) the Greeks, the Mayas, and the Zulus. Is there some way to deliberately exclude those three but make it open season for everyone else, apart from editing the default scenario (if indeed that could be done)?

 

[Spoonwood]

I don't know of any such trick. But, I do know that as soon as enter the playing screen and the date reads 4000 BC, you can then hit F10 and check your opponents. Of course you might have a start you really like then with opponents you don't, but it's better than nothing I suppose.

 

[Aabraxan]

I don't know of any such trick either. I suspect that if you followed Spoonwood's advice, and saved before making any moves, you might be able to recreate your start and swap out some opponents using Play Last World. Unfortunately, I'm not entirely sure how that works. It has something to do (IIUC) with putting the same number of seafaring civs in or some such. Hopefully, someone who understands that better than I can chime in and help out here.

What I'd like to be able to do is select a handful of civs for me to play. For example, I might want to play a game as China, or the Ottomans, or the Maya, but can't decide which. I'd like to be able to set those three in a group and start creating random maps using Quick Start and have the game select from China, Ottomans or Maya randomly, but not choose outside that group.

 

[Spoonwood]

You could also number the tribes, and/or divide them up into blocks. Then roll dice and use the numbers to pick the tribes.

 

[Aabraxan]

That would partially solve the problem.

 

[Optional]

Is there some way to deliberately exclude those three but make it open season for everyone else, apart from editing the default scenario (if indeed that could be done)?

Well, you could take the editor, go into Rules > Civilizations, pick the Zulu and click 'delete', do the same thing to the Greeks and the Mayans and save that. Call it 'NoZuluGreeksMayans' or whatever, and then you have a scenario that can be accessed through choosing 'CivContent', and it will be like a regular game, except you will never get those civs you don't want. If you choose 'New Game' you can then still get them, because you haven't replaced the default biq., but only added a 'NoZuluGreeksMayans' file and put it at a different place. Would that work for you?

 

[1940LaSalle]

Those are some interesting suggestions. Being an engineer and therefore a math geek, the random number approach (essentially that recommended by Spoonwood) is the one I find most aesthetically appealing. However, the exclusionary approach advocated by Optional is also an elegant solution: clean, quick, and requiring minimal modifications. Gotta try both. More to follow. Thanks.

 

[Nergal]

I've had the same problem, I like random games but there some Civ combos I hate. I like the idea of dicing and then selecting opponents.