SGOTM21 Lurker's Thread

[Izuul]

It looks like PD will finish Industrialism on T169 also, but there are still a couple of things that could potentially go wrong in their game.

 

[WastinTime]

I like to add the worker because it skips the first few turns of nothingness.

The AI difficulty, you want it to be higher? I thought Immo was already scaring away new players..?

Lure players into joining an Emperor/Immortal (or lower level game). And then give the AI free longbows... or a couple Rifles , etc for AI on another continent.
Not joking.

 

[LowtherCastle]

Immortal AIs don't tech fast enough to keep up with humans. Make the map toroidal and start a faraway AI with GLH. The rest will take care of itself.

Oh yeah, and no Mansa.

 

[Pangaea]

For all the talk I see about evil mapmakers, I wouldn't have expected comments and wishes along the lines of "the map isn't evil enough".

 

[BSPollux]

...and if you place just a few triremes close to the players starting location they call it unfair

 

[Gumbolt]

Problem is RNG. I still remember the Goldmember map. The minor Ai PR faced actually took out all the Indian cities early on. Then quickly began forming huge stacks of 20-30 units. We had to pretty much gift techs to the other Ai to stop them all being walked over. We were 1-2 turns from facing rifles with no real unit to fight them.

This is the thing, you can try to make one Ai more powerful but it can have a big knock on effect. Early rifles/LB for the Ai can allow them to quickly take down barb cities. Or give them confidence to start wars.

I do think there are ways to tinker with Ai starting techs and units to make life harder for the players. All of this assumes there will be enough players to form enough teams for another game.

 

[Deckhand]

For all the talk I see about evil mapmakers, I wouldn't have expected comments and wishes along the lines of "the map isn't evil enough".

Pollux has never been in the evil category. And I had "nice guy" by my avatar initially (until I did some not so nice map maker stuff).

One thing is that we aren't code reading deity players. But since I now have wins on Immortal vanilla and Deity BOTM, maybe I will stop giving the players advantages in the monthly games.
I think it's great that those that know the game so well, do so well.

 

[LowtherCastle]

I didn't have any issues with this scenario. I thought it was great. Challenging, fun and different. Complicated and involving all sorts of different facets of CIV. Giving us a worker sped up the game but of course also nerfed it. I liked the worker.

PD and TSR played this scenario completely differently, as far as I can tell from a very brief glance into their thread, and it appears we'll finish on the same turn. That's a huge compliment to BSPollux in my book.

 

[Gumbolt]

Looks like MGN, Jag and TSR are done. PD almost there. Xteam and FE left really. Xteam still have a lot to do in 2-3 days. Same for FE too. Both have 15-20+ turns remaining.

There will be no need for a deadline extension here.

 

[Seraiel]

If 2 teams still have to play so much, why not give them an additional week?

 

[WastinTime]

I read the whole thread. Early on BSP mentions 'traps' and things teams were starting to figure out, but then doesn't want to spoil it so early, so I'm not sure I know what the special features all were. Could you outline all these traps you set, etc.?
Seemed to me that the 'evil' was pretty low this time. I like high evil.

 

[Gumbolt]

I think the lack of horse/copper/iron. The way the French were set up to grab most wonders.

None of the remaining teams have asked for more time. It was clearly stated at the start it would not be given. Dhoom will bring Xteam home. FE will get their AP vote soon enough.

 

[Seraiel]

Which lack of Horses / Iron? Only because it wasn't in the capital?

 

[WastinTime]

It's really amazing, how Lowther and Wastin make plans and handle the game.

Thx Seraiel

Although Pollina was not as active as us two in the final turnsets, I want to point out that she was an equally involved and equally excellent team member throughout the game. We could not have done it without her!

 

[Seraiel]

You're welcome .

I noticed Pollina giving really good info and always being up to date, even with only little time.

What happened to Sossos btw.?

 

[LowtherCastle]

Also possibly unnoticed by others was how Pollina prevented catastrophic mistakes on several occasions.

Sossos got busy, as did Jastrow and Mitchum. All three contributed heavily for the first half the game.

 

[Pangaea]

Wasn't aware Pollina was a she. Her posts almost always impress me, as she clearly has a lot of knowledge. It's an incredible team you have. Same with PD really. I was particularly impressed by some of Doshin's posts.

Pretty astonishing if the two best teams finish on the exact same turn after such a complex game.

 

[Seraiel]

What's interesting about Pollina is that she has no history on CFC and was instantly between the top players, so good.

 

[Seraiel]

Doshin is a beast. I'm afraid of him since his 1060 AD Conquest with Louis on Standard / Normal. ^^

 

[BSPollux]

I read the whole thread. Early on BSP mentions 'traps' and things teams were starting to figure out, but then doesn't want to spoil it so early, so I'm not sure I know what the special features all were. Could you outline all these traps you set, etc.?
Seemed to me that the 'evil' was pretty low this time. I like high evil.

Each AI had its purpose. The 'trap' was to stop them in time.

Shaka, obviously, was set up to be a problem for the Dutch in the very early game. In my tests he was very close to killing him several times. He started with a capital that would allow him to build units very fast and the landscape would make him build his 1st new city inland, towards Billy. A team that abuses his buddy to steal workers (or whatever) might have caused him to lose to Shaka.

Mansa was set up to be a time waster. A war at the wrong time against him should have been a really bad idea. Due to his rich start he should reach the mid-game units quite easily. Beating them and the price of transport units would make the war expensive and most likely cost-inefficient. So there's a trap for "let's kill everything" guys.

Mao was the late game guy. He had the land to build a very successful nation, but the jungle stopped him from doing so too early. It would hold his production low, as he would build his early citys in there anyway. If teams didn't reach him in time he could have become quite strong. At least as strong as an AI can be in civ He had the chance

Toku was set up to defend his waters very well against people who try to steal his strategic res. If it ever happened. He would build up a navy and have few ways to go with it so teams would have had an entertaining little fight against it.

And the French were to make wonders more risky.

As I said the main goal was to keep the teams busy all game long. I didn't want to allow a team to secure the best possible win before turn50 and then bring it home on micro from there. I wanted to have them make decisions all the time. Oh an new AI! What is it like? Whats the best way to deal with it? Trade? War, if so when and how? Do we need him for a task, or can he help us with a task or even block it? Such things.