RB1 - Cuban Isolationists

[The Condor]

Oh, well . Thanks anyway for answering. I don't like the normal continents as much because they usually are just two massive blobs with all the civs on them. It was nice playing the custom continents because it allowed you to lessen up the amount of civs fighting with you for the same landmass before I realized they were all in the same areas every time. Also, one more question concerning custom continents. Why are they so boxy? The general shape of all of them are squares or rectangles. At least the normal continents have more features. Also also, why do the custom continents look like they have been through a shredder? They generally have these "lines" of land with miniature lakes or coasts in between them. However, the regular continents are usually lacking any lakes and are generally just land and *gasp* more land. Last but not least, why are they so different?

 

[Sirian]

Oh, well . Thanks anyway for answering. I don't like the normal continents as much because they usually are just two massive blobs with all the civs on them. It was nice playing the custom continents because it allowed you to lessen up the amount of civs fighting with you for the same landmass before I realized they were all in the same areas every time. Also, one more question concerning custom continents. Why are they so boxy? The general shape of all of them are squares or rectangles. At least the normal continents have more features. Also also, why do the custom continents look like they have been through a shredder? They generally have these "lines" of land with miniature lakes or coasts in between them. However, the regular continents are usually lacking any lakes and are generally just land and *gasp* more land. Last but not least, why are they so different?

They are constructed differently.

They are not always boxy, though. Try playing with two or three continents and you'll see more variation than with five or six. There are some templates that will put a continent in the middle of the map, for instance, and some with unusual zone shapes.

I added as much variation as I could, in the time available to me. More is possible, though. Pretty much the sky is the limit on adding more variation, as long as buffer zones of water are maintained between any two zones to ensure no "bleeding together" of continents.

Try some Ice Age. I think you'll like that one. (It's my best script.)

Also try Archipelago, Snaky Continents setting. Good luck.


- Sirian

 

[The Condor]

Thanks, I will try that. I am not trying to dis your maps but instead bringing attention to some of the more unusual aspects of them that irritated me a bit. Sorry if I am a nuisance but I feel entitled to ask questions concerning a game I bought and demand answers so once more thanks for answering in a timely fashion and not ignoring or putting down my concerns. Without further ado you may go back to your regular obliteration of the infidels without much concern of another post from me.

 

[Rayanth]

Thanks, I will try that. I am not trying to dis your maps but instead bringing attention to some of the more unusual aspects of them that irritated me a bit. Sorry if I am a nuisance but I feel entitled to ask questions concerning a game I bought and demand answers so once more thanks for answering in a timely fashion and not ignoring or putting down my concerns. Lastly, are there any [adultswim] fans out there because no one has yet to figure out where I got my user name and signature from. It does not matter too much but it is weird that after a month no one has even guessed where I got this from. Without further ado you may go back to your regular obliteration of the infidels without much concern of another post from me.

More likely: nobody cares.

I for one would like to see this thread get back on-topic. the discussion of username origins should be left in the Off-Topic forum

 

[Subtestube]

I added as much variation as I could, in the time available to me. More is possible, though. Pretty much the sky is the limit on adding more variation, as long as buffer zones of water are maintained between any two zones to ensure no "bleeding together" of continents.

Sorry to keep off topic, but I have a quick question regarding this (if you have time). When you say, the sky's the limit, how far exactly does that go? I mean, I've had a look at the script (I've never done any Python, but it looks *fairly* human readable - not quite the C++ code I'm accustomed to, but nevertheless...), and it looks like you've pretty much hardcoded the templates for each variation. Would it be possible to do something like, randomly generate continental centers such that they were roughly evenly distributed*, and then use something like Voronoi tesselation to get regions? In other words, given a bit of time, would it be possible to write a more general random/custom continents script? Or is there some limit in terms of the coding that means you needed to use hardcoded templates? Or, in fact, did you simply find that this way gave you the best results?

If I've been at all unclear, I apologise - I'm quite tired, as it's late at night. Also, I really like the snaky continents archipelago - just been playing on one, and it's great!

Besides that - this thread is fantastic! I'm amazed at how deep your understandings of the game are! Well done guys, and props on making a very interesting read.

*This could either be done by actually randomly generating the centers, and then regenerating if they were too close, or, and better in my opinion, statically distribute them in some way, and then jitter the centers.

 

[Drugged_Unholy]

Sorry to further hijack the thread...Is there any way of getting a totally random map like in civ 3? I quite like discovering whether I am on continents, islands or pangea, yet in civ 4 it seems I have to choose one style before hand.

 

[Runriot]

Sorry to further hijack the thread...Is there any way of getting a totally random map like in civ 3? I quite like discovering whether I am on continents, islands or pangea, yet in civ 4 it seems I have to choose one style before hand.

From what I understand, tilted axis is the best that you can do without modding. While in tilted axis you'll have north-south wrapping of the map instead of the traditional east-west always, but the land masses are random from there on out. At least, thats what I have gathered from the other couple threads on Random maps

 

[Gufnork]

I'm curious what your plans are for the Combat III tank. Are you planning on getting Commando or what? With the opposition you're facing I see no reason not to taking anything but Pinch for defense and City Raider and/or Barrage for offense.

 

[rcoutme]

Ok, I have just read through the first 22 pages of this thread (yes...straight through ). Given my condition (CFIDS), that has got to be like some sort of record for me. I am still waiting for my computer (new one) to arrive so that I can actually play the game! I got it a week ago, but my ancient machine just doesn't have the to run it.

This is a GREAT thread! I love the combat sequences and the amount of WW shown that you guys experienced (in taking out England, you only just started...at least up to the end of p. 23...on your other conquests...) as that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy about the changes that you (and many of us, when I come to think on it) lobbied for in this and the Apolyton forums.

I can hardly wait to read the rest, but I think that 7 hours is about all I can take at one bite.:suicide:

Hope that the rest is as entertaining as the beginning has been.

Rcoutme

 

[Rhyanon]

This thread is just as addicting as the the game itself is. When does it go on?

Patiently waiting

 

[ChrTh]

This thread is just as addicting as the the game itself is. When does it go on?

Patiently waiting

Well, Sullla said he'd be able to play today ... so I guess it's just a matter of whether the Save ran into any more trouble when Sirian sent it to him

 

[Subtestube]

From what I understand, tilted axis is the best that you can do without modding. While in tilted axis you'll have north-south wrapping of the map instead of the traditional east-west always, but the land masses are random from there on out. At least, thats what I have gathered from the other couple threads on Random maps

I'd just like to say that I've only had the worker CTD when playing on Tilted axis maps. I've never had it on anything else, so at the moment Tilted Axis isn't so cool [for me at least]. Still, it might work for everyone else just fine!

 

[NeMeSiS_BE]

It's damn hard to choose each evening last several days...
Only have limited time free after kids are asleep and my work is done... What should i choose :

* Play Civ IV (got my copy on monday last week)
* continue to read this tread

Just finished reading trough - finally - and enjoyed every minute of it.

Sullla - Sirian - u Rule !!!!

Reading this tread is bringing up my Civ IV knowledge up to speed really fast...

Guys - really -

Can't wait to see this game finish - and then see some more games from you guys !!!!

 

[Sirian]

Sorry to further hijack the thread...Is there any way of getting a totally random map like in civ 3? I quite like discovering whether I am on continents, islands or pangea, yet in civ 4 it seems I have to choose one style before hand.

It's only possible with a new map script.

I'm sure someone will put one together at some point.

When you say, the sky's the limit, how far exactly does that go?

There's no limit on the number of new templates that could be added. One idea I have, for the future, is to add more templates to the script in the expansion. If scripters will produce new, high quality templates, maybe some of those will eventually make it in, too.

The concept is limited by the need to maintain water buffers between continents, though. (Something I already explained.)

Would it be possible to do something like, randomly generate continental centers such that they were roughly evenly distributed*, and then use something like Voronoi tesselation to get regions?

That would require a new map script. Anything you can program in Python, within the boundaries of the data you have to pass back to the game, is on the table.


- Sirian

 

[Sirian]

I'm curious what your plans are for the Combat III tank. Are you planning on getting Commando or what? With the opposition you're facing I see no reason not to taking anything but Pinch for defense and City Raider and/or Barrage for offense.

Combat III is better vs Artillery or enemy tanks or helicopters than is Pinch. Turning one or two units to being better defensive units can be helpful. Pinch makes good defense vs Infantry and Marines, but is worthless against other unit types. Combat is a generic "good against everything, great against nothing" promotion.

The war with Rome is practically over, but if we do end up invading another continent, they will be farther along. *shrug* There is usually more than one right way to do things in Civ4.


- Sirian

 

[·Imhotep·]

@Sirian:

Thx for posting your unit overall view. Hey, you sent over 80 units to the cemetary and nonetheless grasped a lot of ground - and besides, brought two glorious civs (and probably a third one on the next turns) to an end. Shows two things: 1st) The Hydra helped building up some pretty industrial powerhouses, 2nd) Losing means nothing - as long as you win !

Regards,

Lord Timon

 

[Gufnork]

Don't give too much credit to the hydra. They managed to box in the English early and got a huge chunk of the continent that they could settle in their own pace. It was their expansion that gave them their power, not the hydra, although it helped. They had a near optimal start for the hydra and Sirian spotted that immediatly (or just thought it would be fun to try and was lucky).

Sirian: Bah, long term planning? That's for sissies and commies!

 

[rcoutme]

(5) 1950AD


Lots of units there. For the hundredth time, this isn't Civ4 folks! The AI knows how to defend itself. Our forces will have plenty to do here.

Hmm...sure looked like Civ4 to me!

 

[Sullla]

(0) 1966AD OK, I spend quite a lot of time just staring at the map, trying to figure out where our units are and how best to move them. Sirian's done a great job of attacking, naturally, but he did miss one or two tricks. First of all, where are the settlers? We need extra settlers to fill in some of the cultural borders - remember, Rome's got a city on a separate island to the north, and we can't reach it without expanding our borders and sending a transport. I queue up some settlers to take advantage of that. Yes, I recognize that we're going to swap to Universal Suffrage soon, but it's still good to have some settlers on hand!

(1) 1967AD Unbelievable amount of stuff finishes. How many cities do we have again? Oh yeah, we have 60 of them now! Lots going on, no doubt. We also get the annoucement of about a half dozen border expansions, most of them in the conquered Indian territories. It's hard to keep track of it all!

Two Peaks founded on the spot where our settler was located. Now we just need some more settlers! First military action of the turn does not bode well!

Wow, the odds of that happening aren't very high (especially with a stealth, sheesh!) but those SAM Infantry *CAN* shoot down air units. Pretty rare for them to do enough damage to kill one outright though! Then our second stealth ALSO gets intercepted (although fortunately not killed). Geez! Only two SAMs in there, and they BOTH intercept our stealths? I think Sirian used up all our good luck on his turn! Anyway, our other air units enjoy the typical success:

Lots of damage, city defenses cut in half, etc. Then time to send in the tanks, naturally:

Old hat by this point in time. By the way, wasn't it nice for Rome to line up their whole navy in Ardea for us to sink? When the city was captured, they all went down to the bottom. I suppose the Roman captains scuttled their fleet rather than let it fall into Cuban hands, kind of like what the French did with their Mediterranean fleet did in 1940. But I'm straying from the subject here...

Rome appears to be regrouping for a last stand at Pisae - in any case, there are three infantry with City Garrison promotions heading in that direction. Well, rather than let them use those promotions in the city, I catch them out in the open with our tank:

Not gonna let you reach that city! Incidentally, that's a Barrage III/Combat II tank there. Along with the standard Blitz promotion that all armored units have, he's got a total of SIX promotions. Wow, what a champ! Time to upgrade him to Modern Armor and let him kick even more behind. The other two infantry on that tile are cleaned up as well.

Promoting a unit doesn't allow you to airlift it? Hmm, I guess you learn something new every day. I'll just have to airlift the unit next turn... Actually, that's incorrect, I was trying to airlift a unit in a city that didn't have an airport! Finally, the Greeks show up with a real naval unit this turn, a battleship in the east! Our own battleship intercepts:

The battle is dead even, 52 vs. 52 on the combat strength, so of course we end up losing it, heh. Our destroyer who was accompanying the battleship then takes it out. See, this is why you need to use task forces for your navy! Even though the luck went against us, we simply used another unit that we had on hand to get an even exchange. Next battleship to be finished will head to replace this one.

Well, that's turn ONE. Oh wait, I still have eight more to go? Hmm, this is going to take a while!

 

[Sullla]

(2) 1968AD Huayna comes begging for peace, yet he won't give us even a tiny junk city in the ice for it. This is clearly a little out of whack at the moment (AI is desperate for peace, but also apparently hardcoded never to part with a city - Soren, you're reading this, right?) So the war will go on! Lots more builds finish, borders expand, yadda yadda. One thing I have been doing is setting a lot more builds to stealths instead of modern armor - we're overflowing with armor, we need more air power!

Behold the Roman counter-attack!

One tank! But I think it's the first AI tank we've seen all game. I weaken it with our fighter, then kill it with a modern armor. Too bad our gunship wasn't in range, that would have been a prime opportunity to use it!

Up at Pisae, Caesar is trying to make good his escape!

Transport and a settler - get him, he's trying to run away! Well, fortunately our air force and tanks will make short work of him. Both Roman SAMs actually intercepted our stealths (sheesh!) but by overwhelming them with units, our air force does massive damage. Tanks roll! So, in answer to the question, "Why make any tanks Combat III? Shouldn't they all just take Pinch before that?" - well, you're forgetting that sometimes you fight units that aren't gunpowder units. Like - other tanks!

Armor battle! Oh, too bad, looks like our armor won! So, just to be clear, always try to have at least one or two units on hand with different promotion routes, even if it does mean just having a unit with nothing but Combat promotions. You never know when different promotions might come in handy!

Short story: Pisae is taken with no losses.

Caesar's transport goes glug glug glug to join the rest of the Roman navy. There's still a destroyer sitting there, for whatever good that does. Since Pisae will be in resistance for quite some time (11 turns! I don't want to wait that long!) I'll see if I can found a new city in the area to allow us to island-hop to that separate Roman holdout in the north.

Settler airlifted to Pisae, will found a city next turn and we'll be island hopping up there in no time. But how will we do that, you ask? How will we pull transports out of thin air? Time for a civics swap, methinks!

And so we switch to Universal Suffrage! Often overlooked in Civ4 is that you CAN rush things as in previous Civ games, you just have to go to Universal Suffrage to do it. Since we have no need ever to research another tech again, let's put our income to good use by going to Suffrage. Free votes for all! Without all our free specialists providing the beaker boost from Representation, our research time for Future Tech 1 falls from 10 turns to 83 (!!!), but that basically means nothing. Now we can put our 1422 gold/turn income to good use - starting next turn!