Should I set this up as a teaching game?

[rmunn]

So I'm trying to get myself past Noble, and starting random games on Prince to see whether I can take them to victory. And I just got a really interesting start: Louis XIV (Industrious/Creative), with stone AND marble in the BFC. Pretty much any wonder I want is mine for the taking. This is just shouting "cultural victory" at me, despite my usual habit of going for either conquest/domination or else space-race victories.

What I'm wondering is, should I try to set this up as a teaching game for other Noble-or-lower players to learn from? (Are there any more Noble-or-lower players around? I get the impression that most forum posters are winning on Immortal and play Deity when they want a real challenge, so I may be far behind the skill curve here). And if so, I'd welcome some advice from forum posters who've done teaching games before, since I've never done one. How many screenshots and/or saves should I post? I started the game with the Better BUG AI mod -- should I create a WorldBuilder save in order to let people play it modless? And I'm sure there are other details that I haven't thought of yet.

Or perhaps I should play the game out on the forum, posting updates every so often on my strategy, and let the more experienced players shadow my game and/or critique my mistakes. I have huts on, so random hut pops might make a difference in shadowing the game, but on Prince difficulty, that shouldn't make the difference between success and failure. My own brilliant moves and/or horrible mistakes will have a lot more to do with my success in this game than early hut pops.

Screenshot of my starting position attached. Let me know what you think: would this make a good teaching game? Or should I play this out as a "learn from my horrible mistakes as the experts correct my boneheaded moves" game? (Hopefully I won't do anything TOO boneheaded... but you never know). Or would this be boring for some reason (e.g., cultural victories are boring to watch because nothing much happens, or this start is too overpowered and the victory will be a cakewalk, or something like that)?

EDIT: While creating a WorldBuilder save, I snuck a quick peek at the map -- and there's something rather... interesting... about this start, that may make it unsuitable for a learning game. Advice requested.

Spoiler :

I'm isolated on my own not-so-little continent. I'd been planning on building the Great Wall anyway even before I peeked at the map -- which means I'll be able to build nothing but a single Warrior in all my cities, and spend ALL the rest of my hammers on wonders and/or cultural buildings, until the first AI starts researching Astronomy. I'll even be able to ignore the diplomacy game until the AIs hit Optics and start sending caravels my way. And should I get DoW'ed, defending against invasions will merely require a decent naval fleet: if I can sink their galleons before they land, that's dozens of units whose impure blood will never quench the thirst of my fields. (Bonus points for pointing out why that reference is actually inappropriate in this particular game).

 

[Shurdus]

Posting or playing it out sounds good to me. Do as you wish?

 

[rmunn]

Huh. I can't seem to attach the WorldBuilder save -- it seems CivBeyondSwordWBSave isn't a valid extension according to the forums extension manager...

How would I go about attaching a WorldBuilder save to this thread?

 

[VoiceOfUnreason]

Huh. I can't seem to attach the WorldBuilder save -- it seems CivBeyondSwordWBSave isn't a valid extension according to the forums extension manager...

How would I go about attaching a WorldBuilder save to this thread?

The usual answer is to either rename the file, or pack it into an archive (zip file).

 

[rmunn]

WorldBuilder save attached. Here be spoilers.

 

[vixafox]

What I'm wondering is, should I try to set this up as a teaching game for other Noble-or-lower players to learn from? (Are there any more Noble-or-lower players around?

I think a teaching game would be worthwhile. There are still some Noble players that read this Forum (me for one).

With regards to the start, I am not so excited about it as you seem to be. Sure, the stone and marble is nice, but you will need food to enable your workers to work the quarries. I think that lack of any high yield food tiles in the BFC will certainly stifle progress and limit the value of this site as a solid Capital in the long term.

 

[timmy827]

What map script was it? (standard ones shouldn't have jungle in starting fat cross)

 

[TCMIV]

A teaching game with marble/stone in the capital's BFC + an Ind leader is a bad idea, in my opinion. I know that in my case I was trying to get away from building every wonder in the game when I started playing at noble/prince. On the other hand, I guess people could learn which ones are worthwhile in a game like this.

 

[Jerrymander]

Use Louis's skills to build wonders that enable you to slingshot to Gunpowder and stomp the world with Musketeers.

Easy as pie on anything below Monarch

 

[Ignorant Teacher]

I fixed your WB Save. Now it doesn't show the other leaders, you can pick your speed and difficulty. I just didn't bother setting the appropriate techs for the different levels, but, if someone really wants it, it's just opening the Worldbuilder file with OpenOffice Writer (or the word processor of your choice) and adding them to the correct teams. I also removed the no vassals and the no events options. If you want them, start a custom scenario.

BTW, what's this crazy mapscript?

 

[rmunn]

What map script was it? (standard ones shouldn't have jungle in starting fat cross)

PerfectWorld2: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=310891

 

[dirtyparrot]

I think that the thing that holds back most players is that they like to build wonders too much. I don't think that this game helps that much in this regard. Unless there is some type of irrigated corn in the fog SW, that seems like a really food poor cap you're going to get.

 

[rmunn]

Well, I checked World Builder again, and I've decided not to play this as a teaching game. Besides the "don't teach people the bad habits of going for every wonder" thing, there's only one food resource in the capital's BFC: pigs SSE of the settler's starting position. Plus, my entire continent is fairly food-poor, making a GP farm location rather difficult to find, and then there's the whole isolation thing (which I mentioned in the spoilers above, but spoilers aren't relevant if I'm not going to play it out). All of which are fairly unusual conditions that would make for a poor teaching game.

Now, whether it would be entertaining for the Emperor+ players to watch and comment on my mistakes... that's a different question.

 

[TCMIV]

Who needs food for a GP farm when you're IND with marble/stone!

 

[huerfanista]

Who needs food for a GP farm when you're IND with marble/stone!

All those wonders will produce a ton of gpp - settle all gp for a SSE/WE.