Self-Imposed Rules

[JollyRoger]

Does anyone impose any rules on themselves, especially at the lower levels? I like to play a totally random game. I literally have to roll the die myself to randomize World Size and Level of Difficulty. At the lower levels, I will often impose limitations on myself to increase the challenge or set certain goals to give me something to achieve. Examples:

Take the advice of my scientific adviser for next tech to research or randomly select the next tech to research;

Build only one Wonder at a time - if I get beat to a Wonder, switch production in that city to wealth for the next turn so as not to gain anything from the failed attempt at a Wonder;

Never switch production in midstream unless to a unit along the same upgrade path (spearman to pikeman);

Build only Wonders that have common characteristics (industrious, commercial) as the civ I am playing;

Try to build wonders that your civ built - better yet - in a town historic to the Wonder (the Colossus of Rhodes is difficult to get, but the Oracle of Delphi is doable at lower levels);

Play at the aggressiveness level of your civ - i.e - Germany at +2 can attack anybody - a civ with a lower level of aggression can only attack certain civs, based on a score of -2 to +2 determined by the preferred/shunned governments of your civ and the opposing civs in question;

Playing totally peaceful - not even crossing a border with your unit except by accident.

There are many other ways to impose limits on yourself to increase the challenge at lower levels. I enjoy the challenge of the higher levels, but not for every game I play. But without adding some limitations on myself, Chieftain and Warlord can get very boring as soon as a tech lead is achieved. So if you do impose some rule limits on yourself, I would be interested in knowing what they are.

 

[God]

I don't bother to play warlord or chieften beacuse they get boring. I won't even play them with restricting rules. Much rather play a challenging monarch game.

 

[Heffalump]

I impose rules on myself. Nothing hard and fast but for me the game has to get the imagination running to be fun. And to get the imagination going the world has to have some real world attributes.

So if i build a peaceful and stable democracy I won't topple it at the drop of a hat to invade my neighbor. And i generally won't go to war as a democracy unless i think it's a situation where a real world democracy would go to war.

While in democracy in my last game i got dragged (via MP) into a war with India with whom i'd had gracious relations. I occupied 4 cities. Razing them was not the behavior of a good democracy. So I held on to them until the war ended. Then, over a period of post-war "occupation" of about 20 turns, I gradually withdrew my forces and returned their cities to them.

 

[Michael Collins]

Interesting Heffalump. In this last game you mention, I am assuming you gave these cities back to them in a negotiation as opposed to letting them "take" their cities back. Did you get anything in return for them or just the good feeling of being a world leader. If it was the latter, did you notice any benefits game-wise?

 

[MonkeyPaw]

A couple things I like to do...

When I get "Medicine", I like to give it to every civ that doesn't have it. For free.

When I have really good relations with a civ I used to be at war with, I'll often give them their workers back.

 

[Heffalump]

Interesting Heffalump. In this last game you mention, I am assuming you gave these cities back to them in a negotiation as opposed to letting them "take" their cities back. Did you get anything in return for them or just the good feeling of being a world leader. If it was the latter, did you notice any benefits game-wise?

That's right, i just gave them back. No deals. (After the first patch i've noticed the AI is reluctant to make deals for cities now anyway.)

I was hoping to get back to "gracious" levels with the indians but had no such luck. They remained furious with me even after my withdrawal and generous return of their cities.

It's interesting because the AI definitely keeps a measure of what you've done in a war. I've built relationships back to "gracious" after warring with someone so long as it wasn't a particularly bloody war (no captured cities etc). But the Indians seemed very unwilling to forgive me after I'd lain my hands on four of their cities ... even though I'd done nothing dishonorable and hadn't started the war.

(edited for typo)

 

[Zachriel]

HONOR
It is not a dishonor to declare war to protect your people. It is only a dishonor to say one thing and do another. Declare war before you attack.

Never punish civilians because of your anger with their king. Avoid the whip. Never raze cities. If you follow these simple rules, then the people will love you, and will follow you. Your nation shall grow strong and prosperous.

http://www.crowncity.net/civ3/

 

[Tweedledum]

There's only one rule...

KILL THE BASTARDS