Opti Mizer
Chieftain
- Joined
- Jun 9, 2010
- Messages
- 1
I'm new to this forum, but not new to Civ II. While I've played and won at all levels, I play only to relax, so I usually play at lower levels; finding other ways to be challenged. One of the things I do is impose extra rules on myself. This thread is to brainstorm ideas for other ways to add challenge to the game other than just playing at Deity+n. The ideas here involve no senario creation, just play with standard setup, but impose rules on yourself. If this is not the right place for this thread, I appologize and feel free to move it. Quick background, I usually play w/o spaceships and w/o restarting elminated players, but most of the ideas below work well with or w/o these. I intend to post another thread (tomorrow?) on map ideas.
1. One city (this is extensively covered elsewhere). A custom map can add a bit to this.
2. Give away Mobile Warfare as soon as you learn it; wait a bit before building tanks; then launch into an epic tank battle.
3. (Large World Map): Start in England; take over NA first; then hit Asia.
4. (Large World Map): Immediately build a boat and Settler; travel to Australia; minimize your original city and build your empire in Australia.
5. (Large World Map): Start in Asia; cannot set foot on NA at all until you are ready to win IN ONE TURN. (I almost made this the one time I tried; boats full of tanks and nukes sitting just off their shores; FUN!)
6. Win with nothing but Knights (and perhaps a couple Warriors / Pikemen for early defensive purposes only).
7. Stick with Fundamentalism (or some other single Government).
8. (Large World Map): Start in NA; cannot leave there until you get the xyz advance (typically Mobile Warfare). Combining this with #2 (give away tanks) gave me one of the most enjoyable games I ever played.
9. Help Barbarians take over. Play with raging hordes; EMPTY but do NOT take enemy cities and/or leave your own cities empty; stay out of way of barbarians (other than defending one or more of your own cities). (Actually, after some initial success, I found this game to get boring because the barbarians are just not aggressive enough.)
10. Cannot attack at all until xyz advance (I usually use Stealth).
11. (Multiplayer): Cannot fight at all until year x (typically 1 AD). (Recommend you agree up front on allowed Diplomat / Spy actions.)
12. Airforce only. Can attack only with air units (typically Stealth and Helos). Variations: Limited to one Carrier; works well with one-city; not allowed to build Apollo or do any exploration until attacking.
13. (Islands; perhaps edit map to eliminate large islands): One city per island max (must be careful to map island before settling as you may be on the same island with two Settlers.)
14. Minimum spacing of cities. Cannot hit villages or take over enemy cities within that radius, either. I usually play with 6, but much large minimum distances work, too. Vairation for Infinite City (ICS) fans: Expand with a large minimum spacing for awhile, then suddenly go into full ICS mode with no minimum spacing - can really explode quickly!
15. Counter-Strike-Only: Cannot attack anyone unless and until they attack you first. Then, you must attack them continuously and mercilessly until they are eliminated (note, UN and/or SOL really help with this).
16. One Attack Unit: Can have only one unit that attacks (perhaps limited to only one defense unit as well). Can disband unit to build an upgrade. Variation: Can attack only after you have a tank.
17. Rivers Only: Can build cities only on river squares (obviously works best with a "Wet" world).
18. One max of each improvement. Can build only one of each improvement and each in a different city, so perhaps one city with Temple, one city with a library, etc. Obviously and extreme ICS game has no improvements, so trivial. This is more for a middle of the road (~20 cities) game.
19. Concentric Expansion. Can build cities only if no other city is closer to your capital. Combined with #14 (minimum spacing) works well. If you do it optimally, the map display starts resembling a cystal lattice after awhile. Variation: Each city must be exactly one more space from your capital than the last city (can result in a spiral).
20. Limited RL time. Win in x minutes against n AI at level m. Variation: what is the minimum number of minutes at a given level?
21. Every WOW. You must own EVERY Wonder by the end of the game. Variation, you must build them all yourself.
22. (Large World Map; Start as Russians in normal location): Must build a road from Moscow to the East coast of Asia before building any additional cities. Variation: Can only build a city when the road around it is already irrigated.
This is by no means all the rules I've toyed with over the decades of play, but it gives this discussion a start. What are other ways people have challenged themselves over and above just playing at higher levels?
Opti
1. One city (this is extensively covered elsewhere). A custom map can add a bit to this.
2. Give away Mobile Warfare as soon as you learn it; wait a bit before building tanks; then launch into an epic tank battle.
3. (Large World Map): Start in England; take over NA first; then hit Asia.
4. (Large World Map): Immediately build a boat and Settler; travel to Australia; minimize your original city and build your empire in Australia.
5. (Large World Map): Start in Asia; cannot set foot on NA at all until you are ready to win IN ONE TURN. (I almost made this the one time I tried; boats full of tanks and nukes sitting just off their shores; FUN!)
6. Win with nothing but Knights (and perhaps a couple Warriors / Pikemen for early defensive purposes only).
7. Stick with Fundamentalism (or some other single Government).
8. (Large World Map): Start in NA; cannot leave there until you get the xyz advance (typically Mobile Warfare). Combining this with #2 (give away tanks) gave me one of the most enjoyable games I ever played.
9. Help Barbarians take over. Play with raging hordes; EMPTY but do NOT take enemy cities and/or leave your own cities empty; stay out of way of barbarians (other than defending one or more of your own cities). (Actually, after some initial success, I found this game to get boring because the barbarians are just not aggressive enough.)
10. Cannot attack at all until xyz advance (I usually use Stealth).
11. (Multiplayer): Cannot fight at all until year x (typically 1 AD). (Recommend you agree up front on allowed Diplomat / Spy actions.)
12. Airforce only. Can attack only with air units (typically Stealth and Helos). Variations: Limited to one Carrier; works well with one-city; not allowed to build Apollo or do any exploration until attacking.
13. (Islands; perhaps edit map to eliminate large islands): One city per island max (must be careful to map island before settling as you may be on the same island with two Settlers.)
14. Minimum spacing of cities. Cannot hit villages or take over enemy cities within that radius, either. I usually play with 6, but much large minimum distances work, too. Vairation for Infinite City (ICS) fans: Expand with a large minimum spacing for awhile, then suddenly go into full ICS mode with no minimum spacing - can really explode quickly!
15. Counter-Strike-Only: Cannot attack anyone unless and until they attack you first. Then, you must attack them continuously and mercilessly until they are eliminated (note, UN and/or SOL really help with this).
16. One Attack Unit: Can have only one unit that attacks (perhaps limited to only one defense unit as well). Can disband unit to build an upgrade. Variation: Can attack only after you have a tank.
17. Rivers Only: Can build cities only on river squares (obviously works best with a "Wet" world).
18. One max of each improvement. Can build only one of each improvement and each in a different city, so perhaps one city with Temple, one city with a library, etc. Obviously and extreme ICS game has no improvements, so trivial. This is more for a middle of the road (~20 cities) game.
19. Concentric Expansion. Can build cities only if no other city is closer to your capital. Combined with #14 (minimum spacing) works well. If you do it optimally, the map display starts resembling a cystal lattice after awhile. Variation: Each city must be exactly one more space from your capital than the last city (can result in a spiral).
20. Limited RL time. Win in x minutes against n AI at level m. Variation: what is the minimum number of minutes at a given level?
21. Every WOW. You must own EVERY Wonder by the end of the game. Variation, you must build them all yourself.
22. (Large World Map; Start as Russians in normal location): Must build a road from Moscow to the East coast of Asia before building any additional cities. Variation: Can only build a city when the road around it is already irrigated.
This is by no means all the rules I've toyed with over the decades of play, but it gives this discussion a start. What are other ways people have challenged themselves over and above just playing at higher levels?
Opti
