Starting Settings

[Jewman]

I play the same settings for every single game, i used to do continents but now i do:
pangaea, small, 3 billion years, sea level low, resources abundant no barbarians no city states.

in civ 4 i also had a similar specific way of setting up all my games, i think it was big and medium large with low sea level but i had barbarians on then.

anyways. i have a couple curious questions. for anyone playing without city states, what do you with great merchants. ive never built a trading post and im not sure if its really worth it althought ive heard it can be useful if you get it early on.

also im just wondering in general how many people play with city states off? to be honest i play without em because they look dumb in the map. i like when all the civs fit nicely like a jigsaw puzzle across the map. city states always seem to be in the way and they complicate diplomacy in a dumb, non realistic/ rpg-like way. i don't play for realism im just saying that that specifically bugs me. just me, not saying its bad in general.

thats it!

 

[Civ4Brains]

thats cool, you don't have to like their "style" but CS's, as i'm sure you already know, are incredibly useful assets for developing your own empire. I don't quite understand what you mean by "complicate diplomacy in a dumb/ non-realistic rpg way" but if it bugs you then yeah switch em' off i guess

 

[jojorah]

I like city states, to conquer without po as many civilizations if you where to attack one. They also tend to have very good population for your empire, along with recuarces and often natrul wonders. Great merchants, well no one uses those i dont think anyways. I customize my start with the mood im in. If i feel like i want to have a competetive culture game i disable all victoryts exept culture. Same with any victory i am trying to acheive. I also make my leaders that i put in my game good for the victory im going for. So askia japan ect

 

[Camikaze]

Great Merchants aren't really all that good anyway. Building a Customs House can be quite good early on, but otherwise a GM is just an extra golden age.

As for the second question; I always play with city states. They're part of the game. I don't turn civilizations off, either. And I don't specifically remove any other part of the game.

 

[spider1]

Great Merchants aren't really all that good anyway. Building a Customs House can be quite good early on, but otherwise a GM is just an extra golden age.

As for the second question; I always play with city states. They're part of the game. I don't turn civilizations off, either. And I don't specifically remove any other part of the game.

I've tried sending Great merchants off on trade deals before and they haven't made the money I would have hoped. I guess the trick is sending them to the other side of the map for more money.

As to my starting settings, I generally use continents (standard or large), no ruins, policy saving on, resources set to abundant. But it also depends on what I want to play that day and if I select a particular leader or not. If I select Bismark or the Aztecs I sometimes set the barbs to raging.

 

[Usuno]

I've always gotta have raging barbs on, makes the early game less boring when you've got wave after wave of harassment coming at your city. I play marathon only though, so it matters more if you leave barb camps unattended. 1 tile pillaged in normal = 4-6 turns of work. 1 tile pillaged in marathon = 11-13 turns. 1 worker stolen on normal... I forget, but on marathon it's 35.

On the plus side they often cap the other civs' settlers and workers because AI is too dumb to escort. My compensation for dealing with moar barbs. c:

 

[spider1]

On the plus side they often cap the other civs' settlers and workers because AI is too dumb to escort. My compensation for dealing with moar barbs. c:

You know, I've noticed that before but never turned on raging barbs in most games. Interesting. I think this coming weekend when I start one of my long games I'll turn on raging barbs and play Babylon on a higher difficulty setting and see how that works out.

 

[JoeBas]

Random everything, non biased starts, random personalities. Been playing on "Standard" speed, thinking of bumping up to the next one since the patch gives more to, you know, do.

I like not knowing what kind of map/world I'll have, etc.

 

[Randall Turner]

You know, I've noticed that before but never turned on raging barbs in most games. Interesting. I think this coming weekend when I start one of my long games I'll turn on raging barbs and play Babylon on a higher difficulty setting and see how that works out.

I always play raging barbarians. I wonder if it's not a cheat, though, now I think about it. I just like to kill them - didn't consider that the AI would have more problems with them than I would.

 

[Janig]

jewman check maps of central europe when the holy roman empire was around, then city states might make more sense to you.

i play Small/Immortal/Terra/Normal Speed/normal settings. I reiterate that terra seems to be a great choice of map. Ive quite enjoyed my past 5-10 games or something and theyve all been terra.

 

[Usuno]

I always play raging barbarians. I wonder if it's not a cheat, though, now I think about it. I just like to kill them - didn't consider that the AI would have more problems with them than I would.

Mm, it's not a gamebreaking difference, as far as I can tell. I kill and scout for barb camps judiciously, while the AI tends to do silly things like keep their soldiers cooped up in their base instead of barb hunting, getting their scout wounded and fortifying until either the barb gives up and leaves or someone puts him out of his misery, losing settlers to barbs... some civs are smart about it, or take advantage of it (songhai, germany), and at least one will have only 1 city with no workers or settlers while I'm tearing it up in Medieval era.