Thibix Magnus
Warlord
- Joined
- May 19, 2019
- Messages
- 200
I’m curious to hear thoughts about OCC. It can be very funny, and can be actually quite different from a normal tall play. I’m only now playing my first (emperor-quick, willing to go higher difficulties) and just theory-crafting for more. Here are my initial thoughts but curious to hear about other’s experiences, particularly on higher difficulties.
Because of the drawbacks (OCC and quick speed), I allow myself some treats: convenient start to see the monopoly layout, and restart at will. I’m just gonna stay there so I might as well get a nice location! Re-starting until you are happy is a fun game in itself. Considerations for city location, in addition to the usual stuff for a good capital:
- Defensive features, as I can’t rely on satellites or large armies. It could also mean fewer workable tiles than a normal tradition capital. Mountains, lakes… and if coastal, a strait between land masses really helps. I would add aesthetic considerations here too. Your only city should be really special.
- How I can reach my monopoly (that should be a % bonus one). Will border expansion be enough? Will I need a citadel, will it make an enemy? Will I use statecraft instead? Will I be William? Do people just forsake monopoly in OCC?
- Monopoly type: should probably be a percent-based bonus, as only a small number of resources will be worked by the city. Exception being faith, as picking beliefs is so important. Corporation is maybe less important but can be a factor.
- Victory type and map: for cultural, it helps to reach all players with trade routes so either pangea or coastal city. I don’t know how viable are science or diplomacy OCC, science has the advantage of being the most friendly victory, if the start is great but really hard to defend.
These additional constraints mean some civs that are maybe not tradition-oriented might actually make good OCC, like Inca that can set an impregnable capital while not losing yields to mountains, Soshone have better chances to reach the monopoly, defend better and optimize ruins...
Pantheon: besides Nature for Inca and Festivals for Holland (risky), the only option is probably goddess of Beauty. Maybe purity with a big Aztec lake, but very hard until border growth is tweaked to target lakes.
Wonders: to found with Beauty, hard to not spam a bit at the beginning. Great Wall can be important for both defense and reaching monopoly with a citadel. After it’s a matter of managing aggression: OCC has a harder time defending than a 3 city tradition, but the more defensible the city is, the more wonder spam is viable.
Religion: most holy city yields founders are good. I’m still finding hard to justify DI outside of golden age civs. My current play is Byzantium OCC and I’m not convinced of DI (Pilgrim super holy sites are fun though). If willing to maintain a dominant religion for diplomacy, OCC might struggle to generate faith so ceremonial might be particularly useful.
What are people’s experiences? Do you prefer some types of map, do you go for science or even diplo victories, maybe vassals, which path to reach monopoly, notably at higher difficulties?
Because of the drawbacks (OCC and quick speed), I allow myself some treats: convenient start to see the monopoly layout, and restart at will. I’m just gonna stay there so I might as well get a nice location! Re-starting until you are happy is a fun game in itself. Considerations for city location, in addition to the usual stuff for a good capital:
- Defensive features, as I can’t rely on satellites or large armies. It could also mean fewer workable tiles than a normal tradition capital. Mountains, lakes… and if coastal, a strait between land masses really helps. I would add aesthetic considerations here too. Your only city should be really special.
- How I can reach my monopoly (that should be a % bonus one). Will border expansion be enough? Will I need a citadel, will it make an enemy? Will I use statecraft instead? Will I be William? Do people just forsake monopoly in OCC?
- Monopoly type: should probably be a percent-based bonus, as only a small number of resources will be worked by the city. Exception being faith, as picking beliefs is so important. Corporation is maybe less important but can be a factor.
- Victory type and map: for cultural, it helps to reach all players with trade routes so either pangea or coastal city. I don’t know how viable are science or diplomacy OCC, science has the advantage of being the most friendly victory, if the start is great but really hard to defend.
These additional constraints mean some civs that are maybe not tradition-oriented might actually make good OCC, like Inca that can set an impregnable capital while not losing yields to mountains, Soshone have better chances to reach the monopoly, defend better and optimize ruins...
Pantheon: besides Nature for Inca and Festivals for Holland (risky), the only option is probably goddess of Beauty. Maybe purity with a big Aztec lake, but very hard until border growth is tweaked to target lakes.
Wonders: to found with Beauty, hard to not spam a bit at the beginning. Great Wall can be important for both defense and reaching monopoly with a citadel. After it’s a matter of managing aggression: OCC has a harder time defending than a 3 city tradition, but the more defensible the city is, the more wonder spam is viable.
Religion: most holy city yields founders are good. I’m still finding hard to justify DI outside of golden age civs. My current play is Byzantium OCC and I’m not convinced of DI (Pilgrim super holy sites are fun though). If willing to maintain a dominant religion for diplomacy, OCC might struggle to generate faith so ceremonial might be particularly useful.
What are people’s experiences? Do you prefer some types of map, do you go for science or even diplo victories, maybe vassals, which path to reach monopoly, notably at higher difficulties?