One city challange: AI can build multiple cities!! Booooring... :(

[SPQR300]

I started a one city challange and I was really suprised that AI civs can build multiple cities. I wanted to have a fair game with an interesting twist, but this way it's just not fair. I could only have a chance if I played on warlord or settler. I would like to play OCC with fair conditions. I know the veterans will say that it is the way OCC has always been, but once we got a good AI, there is not much sense to handicap the players and thus making games challanging for him this way. The harder AI's will do it, I don't think that there are many players who are bored with Deity and need such challanges like Always war or OCC to make the game even harder. Knowing that the AI has unfair advantages ruins the fun, but while playing on harder difficulties these advantages are not so obvious, so you it's acceptable.
So summarised: I would love a game where all civs can only build only 1city, I don't care if its name is not OCC, but there should be something like that, because it sounds much more fun then such a handicapped game

 

[lost_civantares]

I would love a game where all civs can only build only 1city,

That in its self would be extremely boring, you wonden't meet for a much larger number of turns, you would just build units and build units.

And if you think that just an OCC on noble is hard you should readed the Succesion Game forum, they do the impossible (man, if I only had a reliable amount of spare time!) and it is so cool for some of the incredible hard ones (they had one where they had an always war occ challenge,a and though they lost because it was when everyone but the beta testers had only had it for a couple of weeks, it was very cool.

Moral of the Story , what seems hard now, ultimately isn't once you get used to it.

 

[SPQR300]

I played tiny map with 8 civilizations, so there would have been a nice culture war for territory etc... I discovered most of the civilizations in 20 turns Ok I think the current OCC can be fun, but I longed to play that way

 

[Urederra]

You might be able to modify the script or phyton easily and disable settle building, for everybody. I don't know how to do it, I have never opened the .ini or .py files on Civ IV yet (I wanted to play vanilla for now ) but if you do it, maybe you'll find an easy way to disable the training/building of any type of units, settlers included. (But allow the first settle to exist, of course )

 

[Guerra]

They should add an option to disable certain units/wonders/buildings/technologies.

 

[mike p]

OCC is not nearly as hard as you might think. Yes the AI can build more cities, and more units and hold more territory, but you get to stack all of your national wonders in one city, after having to build only one of the prereq buildings for things like Oxford University, Globe Theater, and Wall Street. Your city gets so many bonuses it's almost insane if you build enough units early to not get wiped out.

Ironworks + Heroic Epic + West Point + Red Cross all in one city? Sounds good to me. Globe Theater means unhappiness is not an issue for your whole empire. All Civics are ridiculously cheap because your population is small. You build the National Epic and it doubles ALL of your GPPs instead of them spreading around over a bunch of cities, which also means lots of super specialists.

It does a require a different play style, but once you make that adjustment, I don't think OCC is that much more difficult than the regular rules. Though if you don't have a good mix of resources you could be in some trouble. But even that can be overcome with good diplomacy and tech choices. You can still get a Diplomatic or Spaceship victory even if you don't have iron or horses.

I find it to be an interesting variant when I'm looking for a quick game, since one city takes a lot less time to manage.

 

[SPQR300]

OCC is not nearly as hard as you might think. Yes the AI can build more cities, and more units and hold more territory, but you get to stack all of your national wonders in one city, after having to build only one of the prereq buildings for things like Oxford University, Globe Theater, and Wall Street. Your city gets so many bonuses it's almost insane if you build enough units early to not get wiped out.

Ironworks + Heroic Epic + West Point + Red Cross all in one city? Sounds good to me. Globe Theater means unhappiness is not an issue for your whole empire. All Civics are ridiculously cheap because your population is small. You build the National Epic and it doubles ALL of your GPPs instead of them spreading around over a bunch of cities, which also means lots of super specialists.

It does a require a different play style, but once you make that adjustment, I don't think OCC is that much more difficult than the regular rules. Though if you don't have a good mix of resources you could be in some trouble. But even that can be overcome with good diplomacy and tech choices. You can still get a Diplomatic or Spaceship victory even if you don't have iron or horses.

I find it to be an interesting variant when I'm looking for a quick game, since one city takes a lot less time to manage.

Wow, this seems interesting, I might give it a try to finish the game I started. With so little space for every civ(8players on tiny) it might not even be that hard. THX

 

[Roibeárd]

I agree with Mike. That one city can be quite powerful and it's cultural borders expand farther than you'd expect. By the late industrial period you can crank out an infantry unit every turn, so a powerful military isn't too hard either.

The problem is actually achieving a victory condition. Cultural is out, because you don't have three cities. Domination is very tough, because you need to be defensive with your military. And diplomatic is just as tough because you don't have the population to dominate the voting. Space race is the most likely, but you've got to build parts one at a time. You can't even get a points win because you don't have the population.

However it is an enjoyable way to play a quick game. It's fun to build that "Super City" and see other cities "vaporize" when your cultural borders overcome them. Plus, one of the things I liked was not having to scroll all over the map constantly moving units around.

 

[tymmail]

I think a key factor for a playable OCC game is the map size. Only a tiny map is possible. Otherwise, you'll be overwhemed.
I've tried a OCC game on a standard map, 8 civ. By 18XXAD, all civ demand tributes/Tech from me and declarded war on me one by one (Monty, Napolean, Cyrus, Alexander; I was playing Chinese). I hold off attacks one by one until Alexander give me a final blow using Knights.... Using my 28 units of pikmen/spearman/archer/longbow/swordman/axeman/catapult, I killed >80 enemy units (Knights+macman+crossbow+catapults+elephats).
It is amazing to see how tough a city defence can be in an OCC game!

 

[jeremiahrounds]

Thats not true! You can win on standards via space race [though ive never won an OCC prince or higher]. In fact... i dont think ive ever played a game on a smaller map then standard. lol. Thats cheatin! (we all have our "thats gimping it" rules)

One thing is for sure though alot of what happens in OCC depends on the luck of the initial start.

Also to the OP i dispute your reasoning I think half of what makes OCC interesting is that your alone and there is alot of them.

HOWEVER! I would very much like to see you get your wish for a force OCC for all.

Though I think I would implement it as two sliders:
Your max number of cities
The AIs max number of cities per an AI.

The reason is I would like to toy with "3 city challenge" But I want the OCC rules to kick in when you hit your "max count of an improvement" IE you could make your globe theater when you had theaters in all your cities if you were at max. That sort of thing.

And to do that I would do it as a max city slider: one each for you and the AI (though the top of the slider would be "unlimited" after 24 or something)

 

[Yzman]

I am getting confused with some of the posts in this topic. Can you build the improvements that usually require 6 cities in a one city challenge?

 

[scienide09]

Yes, since you only have one city, you only can build all buildings there. You only need to build one prerequisite building. This is true for all buildings and wonders, EXCEPT for the 'cathedral'-type buildings -- one temple will not let you build a cathedral.

edit for clarity

 

[Veteranewbie]

Talk about it - you actually got to save time and shields from building settler early in the game and swap to wonders spamming.
One of my OCC game I go so well that I end up with a better score than the civ that has 7 cities, that plus the border of my Capital is almost as large as the territories of 3 medium sized cities combine

 

[vinstafresh]

I just got in at work and I feel like giving this a try now

The horror, the horror...

 

[Junichiro]

Well, so far I haven't yet won a single OCC game (I have played on tiny-standard maps) and occasionally I won't even survive to see Mansa or Gandhi to fly to Alpha Centauri but every time they have been fun games.

But settler-building and early land grab are typically my weakest points anyway so now I don't have to care about them.
As said, you will get only one city but it will be the toughest city in the game.

 

[jeremiahrounds]

theres alot of things that can make it randomly harder or easier. Alot of pure builder tech traders can make it impossible. Its actually the only time you want some war mongers around as your turf is very easy to defend and they give the builders hell.

Best part of OCC:
Your culture autorazes cities.

Think about it! Your borders are death. Thats the win.

 

[NuWorld]

I started a one city challange and I was really suprised that AI civs can build multiple cities. ...
So summarised: I would love a game where all civs can only build only 1city, I don't care if its name is not OCC, but there should be something like that, because it sounds much more fun then such a handicapped game

Play standard map with 18 civs and most civs will have 2, 3 cities max. With financial trait you won't have any cash problems and you'll be on par techwise, even late in the game, just beeline for alphabet. Don't neglect your culture, you want to expand your border as much as possible. Don't build unnecessary buildings like corthouse, rush cheap buildings, even wonders and build units all the time, you're gonna need them eventually. Diplomacy is the key for victory.

 

[DagorFunk]

I've played a few OCC's. I managed to win one on a small map, noble difficulty, using Peter. The Philosophical trait is probably the most important for the GPP, Expansive helps deal with health issues, and the Cossack dominates. If you do the Liberalism slingshot to get to Military Tradition early you can whipe out at least one or two neighbours before they get to riflemen. Being able to churn out Cossacks in one or two turns means you can keep up a strong military that will overpower your rivals. I ended up with a conquest victory that was only delayed because I didn't have oil for tanks.

My last OCC I was Elizabeth but it was barely fun. I was against Isabella, Montezuma, Tokugawa, and Mao. I managed to survive until the end but the constant war and pillaging of my resources prevented me from actually staying close to the leaders.

 

[SPQR300]

I found philosophical extremely importan too. I am in 1000AD now, but I have ~120GPP/turn . I chose spiritual too, because it is quite useful at diplomacy and with one city you use theocracy when yyou are building units, and org. rel when buiding buildings.

 

[NuWorld]

You could try larger maps with more civs, but enable PA to be able to get a powerful ally. Regarding GP, after I completed National & Heroic Epic, I was spawning only Great Artists. I used them to push my borders, but I wished for occasional Merchant or Engineer to pop up.