Sid Level

[Takfloyd]

How hard is the Sid difficulty level, for example compared to Deity?
And, how many here has ever won a Sid game? I just want to know what I'm up against other than cold facts, before I (Maybe) attempt a Sid game.
Now, gimme some answers!

 

[Bartleby]

Many people have beated Sid. I'm not one of them.
If you have time to read, you might like to check out SirPleb's Going for Sid and Arathorn's I came, I SAW.

 

[rysingsun]

1) the games take a long time to play. my record turn length is a bit over six hours for a turn.
2) you can be doing really well and then get crushed in an instant ... this fact makes the games stressful.

i usually play deity not sid. but i have won one huge pangea sid and i'm currently working on an island game that could go either way.

 

[WackenOpenAir]

The difference between deity and sid is much, much larger than bewteen any other 2 levels. Sid is another game.

Sid is winable if you have some things going in your favour. Particularly an archipellago map is a great help.

There has been 1 Sid level gotm. This was a particularly easy sid level game. Maybe thats a good place to start your civ attempts ? I don't know the number, just find the one and only SID level gotm. (We, the gotm players, had cried for a sid level game for months, and when it came, most of us didn't play it till the end )

How many people have beaten Sid and under what conditions is unclear. I have not officially beaten Sid, but i had a few games where i quit when the win was sure. The gotm game is one of them, others were my own archipellago games where i restarted until i had a satisfying start position. I do not think there is anyone on this planet who can start random games on Sid level (random everything) and have a good chance of winning. I don't try a lot of Sid games because i just don't like the way they play.

 

[Marsden]

I squeaked one out on an archegeplago with the Byzantines. The Dromons are the only reason and some lucky geography are the only reasons I could have pulled it off.

 

[nerovats]

The jump form deity to sid would be more or less the same as jumpin from regent to DG, or maybe better, monarch to deity. A mayor leap. I have never beaten SID, but was able to play out a game till 2050AD. On random deity I probably have a succes rate of 40-50%. Another clue it's a mayer leap.

 

[vmxa]

I want to say that even archi maps are not a lock. I have yet to win on a pangea and only occasionally win on contients. I have even lost some island maps with great starts, if I start on a good size island.

That is because you cannot fill the land fast enough. The AI will bust into the next age and get sea crossings and soon on to ocean travel. If you have not filled the land before they found you, it can be a real bear to keep them off.

Invasions are not the AI's best suit, but with only paying 40% they can field lots of ships and troops to make your life tough. Then the invasions are usually done under them being in industrial age, unless you are on a smaller island and someone is close to you.

I have not drawn that many pangea maps, so maybe I will try a few. I seem to have ben drawing mostly contients lately. That and not getting in as much playing as in the past.

 

[Doc Tsiolkovski]

An instance of Extreme Bragging:

(The Indian game is Sid Vicious + Mag 7, btw).

Several notes:
Except for the Byz SS victory, all games were standard size pangea, 'cooked' in a way that no AI Civ had BW or WC as starting tech (and thus thay have only Warriors as starting units!).
The German/Roman/Aztec games were all played out with the very same strategy:
Restart until you get a really good spot (needs to make 10spt in Despotism without much work, and needs to possibly yield Iron closeby).
Start with Rax, 1-2 vet Warriors, 2 Spears, and as many Archers you can get; research towards Iron Working (that's why Germany is the best Civ for that approach, starting with WC and BW). Do not found a second city, unless you have really favorable terrain!
Declare asap (= your first Archer) on a nearby opponent. Let them smash their 15+ Warriors on your Spears, and hope for a MGL. After a time, try to get or at least raze one of their towns. Get techs for peace. Rinse + repeat.
If you have Iron, you should have a Sword Army around turn 50.
If not - next game.
Try it out, it is IMHO the easiest approach to Sid, albeit a pretty singleminded one...

That pic also shows how idiotic the scoring system works, IMHO. The Deity/DG games were far from being really impressive; those were just a couple of games were I managed to seize a nice chunk of land + luxuries earlier than in you regular high-level games. Why on Earth you get a better score awarded than for a nail-biting Sid victory...in other words, The easier the game, the higher the score...don't ask me.

 

[Pentium]

I have a grand total of 1 Sid win under my belt, and that came from many attempts and even more restarts (and of course Mapfinder).

But as and extreme builder I didn't build any land military whatsoever. The Dromons are simply too good to pass, so I built quite a few of them and used them to make the AI attack each other. They also saved me from several invasions the AI had launched on my small island.

I must agree with what the others have said that it's a completely different game. It'd not only much harder, it's different. AI manipulation is essential, if you get one or even more big empires to declare on you in the early game you're dead.

 

[vmxa]

Ok, how does won with no military on Sid? You can't win by culture. You really can't bribe civs as only the most backward will be behind you and they will just be of no help.

I participated in a Sid SG using Dromons and they can do a lot, but you need to eliminate civs.

Not likely to get the UN vote.

 

[Tone]

The answer, vmxa, is in the stars. Here's Pentium's game BTW.

 

[Aabraxan]

Is the AI aggression level set any higher on Sid, or is its propensity for violence merely a function of a larger military?

 

[Mirc]

From what I know, the aggression level is the same on Sid.

 

[Desertsnow]

Bamspeedy created a level 'Beyond Sid' that gives ridiculous advantages to the AI--and won.
Bamspeedy's "Beyond Sid"

 

[Xanikk999]

Bamspeedy created a level 'Beyond Sid' that gives ridiculous advantages to the AI--and won.
Bamspeedy's "Beyond Sid"

I have to read that, thats effing insane! How the heck could he win that!

 

[vmxa]

Tone, do not take this wrong, but this game is not a valid game to me. First it only has 4 rivals. The other important thing is I was lead to believe it was a small island. It is quite large, especially laid against only 1293 land tiles.

HoF games allow some very strange setting to be submitted. I have no problem with that, but you cannot compare them with std settings.

This is no way meant to say anything about the playing. Only that when talking about car performance for off the assembely line cars, you do not expect the same results from them as you would from Italian racing cars.

Both are good, but they are not the same. A smaller than std maps are requiring an asterik, same as super large ones. They are just different games. What you can do on one you may not be able to do on another.

 

[Desertsnow]

I have to read that, thats effing insane! How the heck could he win that!

Yeah, do read it. It's absolutely amazing.

 

[Takfloyd]

Ok... now that I've seen your opinions, it's time to show you what I'd already achieved before posting this thread:

Yeah, I've been playing this a lot before I came here. One could say I have some experience. I'll definetely try that Beyond Sid thing!

 

[Taras Bulba]

1) the games take a long time to play. my record turn length is a bit over six hours for a turn.

no wonder why i never get past cheiften...cheifton...whatever...since my games usually will last 6-8 hours! playing time... I go quick through and just get the job done fast while killing as many peeps as i can

 

[Desertsnow]

@Takfloyd: Holy hell!