CVDon
Warlord
I assumed every Civ would have a single city and you would see who could make the most of it. But then other Civs started founding cities. Is it just to see how long you can last before being eliminated?
What's the point of Single City Challenge?
- Thread starter CVDon
- Start date
oagersnap
Emperor
It's normally called One City Challenge. (OCC)
It's very hard to win when playing OCC, but it is possible. If you build up enough millitary to protect yourself and avoid wars, you should be able to win a diplomatic or space victory.
It's very hard to win when playing OCC, but it is possible. If you build up enough millitary to protect yourself and avoid wars, you should be able to win a diplomatic or space victory.
CVDon
Warlord
You can win????? How in the world could you possibly have enough military to protect you from Monty if you only have one city? Does the game use a different set of rules for Inter-Civ relations? I know AI-Civs will attack you if you are weak, even if you have good relations, judging from comments in other topics and first hand experience.
There must be some different rules in play during OOC games.
There must be some different rules in play during OOC games.
player1 fanatic
Fanatic
Noble difficulty OCC is very easy to win.
At least, that was for me.
Peace of cace.
Founded bunch of religions build most of the great wonder.
By the way I played chinese leader with Industrious and Finnancial. Industrious is by the way very important trait for this.
At the end I was so advanced technologically, that I built space ship at ease.
I guess it's harder on greater difficulties.
But never the less it was unique experience to play this one.
At least, that was for me.
Peace of cace.
Founded bunch of religions build most of the great wonder.
By the way I played chinese leader with Industrious and Finnancial. Industrious is by the way very important trait for this.
At the end I was so advanced technologically, that I built space ship at ease.
I guess it's harder on greater difficulties.
But never the less it was unique experience to play this one.
One City Challenge was originally an MP mod for C3c and is really meant for that format. All players in the game are only able to control one city and any city they take is imediately raized. This means the resources you have in your cultural borders are all you have to work with. Originally it was about micromanagement and what wonders you built and maximising the traits your civ had. Now it's a bit more about resources.
Luckily there is a mod where all players can start with most resources within 5 cultural expansions the map screw defence becomes redundant. In brief it's not really designed for SP. Economy and teching are obviously all important in this scenario as is wonder building, especially ones that increase cash/tech, if you're coastal you have the advantage of building the colossus, but ocean squares won't count to your score. A good scenario for those who like quick games. War is perfectly possible but can be very risky. It's different but can be alot of fun.
Luckily there is a mod where all players can start with most resources within 5 cultural expansions the map screw defence becomes redundant. In brief it's not really designed for SP. Economy and teching are obviously all important in this scenario as is wonder building, especially ones that increase cash/tech, if you're coastal you have the advantage of building the colossus, but ocean squares won't count to your score. A good scenario for those who like quick games. War is perfectly possible but can be very risky. It's different but can be alot of fun.
CVDon
Warlord
So if you played with 9 Civs on a small map, where there was not much room to expand it might be closer to what was intended?
player1 fanatic
Fanatic
Well, I played something I could call One City Challenge in time of Civ1.
I took earth map and Chineese and then tried to win Space Ship victory wihout additional cities.
Of course, in those days I did it on chieftain level.
Even in those days it was fun...
Then after I won with Space Ship I would build the army and conquer the world.
Those where the memories...
I took earth map and Chineese and then tried to win Space Ship victory wihout additional cities.
Of course, in those days I did it on chieftain level.
Even in those days it was fun...
Then after I won with Space Ship I would build the army and conquer the world.
Those where the memories...
yeah no reason you can't have fun with this in SP, just remember it's a MP type scenario really.
It's a shame you can't limit the computers to only having one city as this would give you more of an idea of the MP game.
Tech is everything as is wonder building anything that doesn't lead to this is redundant best traits in CIV? Financial is king with probably philosophical(for GL's golden ages, and tech/wonder building, expansive and organised all having a role to play, with industrious's use as quick wonder builder not to be underplayed. I think financial philosophical is probably the best combination, just for sheer cash and great leader potential but in a long game then I suspect fin/org would be best(Rome) But would have to play it a bit to really know for sure. Spiritual mmm not much use really, saving a turn of anarchy, you shouldn't need to change civics as much as in a normal game anyway, Agr is going to be pretty useless really, not enough units to make a huge difference as is creative, eventually everyone is going to get a size 6/7 culture pop and it applies to one city so the trait is rather nerfed.
It's a shame you can't limit the computers to only having one city as this would give you more of an idea of the MP game.
Tech is everything as is wonder building anything that doesn't lead to this is redundant best traits in CIV? Financial is king with probably philosophical(for GL's golden ages, and tech/wonder building, expansive and organised all having a role to play, with industrious's use as quick wonder builder not to be underplayed. I think financial philosophical is probably the best combination, just for sheer cash and great leader potential but in a long game then I suspect fin/org would be best(Rome) But would have to play it a bit to really know for sure. Spiritual mmm not much use really, saving a turn of anarchy, you shouldn't need to change civics as much as in a normal game anyway, Agr is going to be pretty useless really, not enough units to make a huge difference as is creative, eventually everyone is going to get a size 6/7 culture pop and it applies to one city so the trait is rather nerfed.
Completely false. The OCC is originally a variant form of single-player challenge - a way to make the game harder and play rather differently. It predates C3C by quite a long time - for that matter, it predates any form of MP Civ by quite a long time, as it originated early in Civ1 days.Sidhe said:
The whole point is to make the game much harder, and force you into different avenues of play than you're used to. If your opponents were similarly limited, it would defeat the whole purpose.
player1 fanatic
Fanatic
Strange, I always though it's single player challenge, otherwise it would not have challenge in its name (what's challenging when every player has same conidtions).
EDIT:
Beamup beat me to it...
EDIT:
Beamup beat me to it...
Ok my mistake, well in that case it sounds rather dull, personally I'd rather play the MP version but I supose that's a matter of choice. And the challenge is to stay alive and out build the others. I really fail to see the point of taking out the empire building element to the game. The strategy is blatantly obvious too, out tech everyone&build wonders and go for a space race victory, conquest/domination only victory might be of some interest, other than that it sounds a bit 1 dimensional, I tech and wonder build the best therefore I win?
Where as in MP you at least have to worry about getting taken out by another player, with SP you can just palm off the computer opponents by acceding to all there demands and building a ludicrously large defence. Mind you I haven't played it SP so I'm just speculating.
Where as in MP you at least have to worry about getting taken out by another player, with SP you can just palm off the computer opponents by acceding to all there demands and building a ludicrously large defence. Mind you I haven't played it SP so I'm just speculating.
MrCynical
Deity
OCC has certainly been around since at least Civ 2, if not longer. In single player there would be very little point in having a game where all the AI civs were also limited to one city, since they are generally bad at city management. It would be much easier than normal mode. The whole point of a one city challenge is that it is a challenge and was originally begun by people who'd beaten the highest difficulty levels and wanted something else to try.
Yes, to some extent. You can build unlimited national wonders in your city, and things like the Wall Street and Oxford Univeristy only require one bank and university. Cathedrals however are not changed, and so cannot be built in a one city challenge. Fairly obviously the challenge becomes harder on larger maps (on a duel size map it isn't really a disadvantage at all), and with few opponents. 9 civs on a small map will probably remove most of the challenge though, and it's perfectly possible to win on a normal small or standard map at noble. Due to the limitations of one city it is impossible to get a domination or cultural victory, but all the others are still viable, space race being the most common.
It's not quite that simple, and you'll often have a major problem preventing another civ from reaching the domination limit on the smaller maps, since you're not occupying as much space as would be expected. I certainly wouldn't just accede to any demand from the computer, and I've fought plenty of wars in OCC games. I've even won one or two by conquest, though that is a rather tricky way to win them usually.
Yes, to some extent. You can build unlimited national wonders in your city, and things like the Wall Street and Oxford Univeristy only require one bank and university. Cathedrals however are not changed, and so cannot be built in a one city challenge. Fairly obviously the challenge becomes harder on larger maps (on a duel size map it isn't really a disadvantage at all), and with few opponents. 9 civs on a small map will probably remove most of the challenge though, and it's perfectly possible to win on a normal small or standard map at noble. Due to the limitations of one city it is impossible to get a domination or cultural victory, but all the others are still viable, space race being the most common.
It's not quite that simple, and you'll often have a major problem preventing another civ from reaching the domination limit on the smaller maps, since you're not occupying as much space as would be expected. I certainly wouldn't just accede to any demand from the computer, and I've fought plenty of wars in OCC games. I've even won one or two by conquest, though that is a rather tricky way to win them usually.
Steve2000
Mighty Pirate
Variants are a way for Civ players to make the game more fun, interesting, and challenging. OCC is but one of the many variant possibilities, it just happens to be one that was popular enough that the game designers decided to include it in the official game (along with always war).
Variants do not stop there though - there are plenty of great ones people on this forum have come up with like:
Hydrophobic (can't build naval units)
Isolationist (can't leave cultural borders with naval units)
No cottage challenge (never buld the cottage improvement)
Only cottage challenge (no worker improvements except for cottages)
And many more. If you think these type of games would appeal to you, you should check out Realms Beyond Civilization. It is another fansite dedicated to fun variants and challenges.
Variants do not stop there though - there are plenty of great ones people on this forum have come up with like:
Hydrophobic (can't build naval units)
Isolationist (can't leave cultural borders with naval units)
No cottage challenge (never buld the cottage improvement)
Only cottage challenge (no worker improvements except for cottages)
And many more. If you think these type of games would appeal to you, you should check out Realms Beyond Civilization. It is another fansite dedicated to fun variants and challenges.
The point is to put yourself under a massive handicap, so you have to play much better to survive, much less win. You'll be taking on full-sized empires with a single city! Out-teching the competition is an EXTREMELY tall order since you'll have a tiny fraction of their economy. Outbuilding them is even harder.
It's far from simple, and is very interesting. Typically running a Civ3 OCC increases the difficulty by about 2 levels.
It's far from simple, and is very interesting. Typically running a Civ3 OCC increases the difficulty by about 2 levels.
OK you've peaked my interest, I might give it a try once I beat diety level, so maybe in about 4 years then
Prince is petty easy, can beat monarch atm but that's not always easy depending on the settings etc, yeah I reckon maybe a year before I beat Emperor and then another to beat diety maybe
who knows?
Prince is petty easy, can beat monarch atm but that's not always easy depending on the settings etc, yeah I reckon maybe a year before I beat Emperor and then another to beat diety maybe who knows?scienide09
Regular lurker
The OCC provides a great challenge on Noble and above. Consider the fact that rival civs will continue to trade techs around you -- while you might have a large tech advantage, it may erode quickly as the game progresses. This is because later techs take longer to research, and you still only have one city to provide research. Then, when the AI trades with another civ (or a few other civs) for tech, you can easily fall behind.
You only have one production centre, while other civs have multiple cities, which can be simultaneously building wonders, units and buildings. In other words, while you can only produce something to improve your civ one thing at a time, all the AI players are capable of making multiple improvements in a single turn.
While it is quite easy to build up a large army to keep enemies at bay, a war on multiple fronts can be quite costly. But Conquest is possible. Domination might be, if one were to play on a tiny/duel-sized map, though I haven't tried. Going for Time/top score can be difficult; chances are that with multiple cities and a larger population, at leat one other civ will be ahead of you in score. While your one city will eventually be of legendary status, you can't go for a Cultural victory because you'll never have three cities of legendary status. Spacerace provides a tough challenge, as a close tech race means that your rivals will be producing spaceship parts at the same time, and again they have more production centres. As for Diplomatic victory, also possible, but those early friendly relations are key.
In the CivIV OCC, the limit of 2 national wonders per city is gone, which is nice. This means that your city can, at the same time, be an excellent GP farm, a major production centre, and a sceintific powerhouse. But in order to get it to that point, you have to manage carefully your resources, and pay particular attention to improvements in your fat cross, ensuring that you have a good mix of food, commerce, and hammers available for your city.
In my opinion, the OCC offers the player a well-balanced option, as you really have to pay attention to all of the aspects which make Civ a great strategy game -- micromanaging, military/warmongering, building, along with religion and diplomatic relations. In the OCC, ignoring any one of these can cost you.
You only have one production centre, while other civs have multiple cities, which can be simultaneously building wonders, units and buildings. In other words, while you can only produce something to improve your civ one thing at a time, all the AI players are capable of making multiple improvements in a single turn.
While it is quite easy to build up a large army to keep enemies at bay, a war on multiple fronts can be quite costly. But Conquest is possible. Domination might be, if one were to play on a tiny/duel-sized map, though I haven't tried. Going for Time/top score can be difficult; chances are that with multiple cities and a larger population, at leat one other civ will be ahead of you in score. While your one city will eventually be of legendary status, you can't go for a Cultural victory because you'll never have three cities of legendary status. Spacerace provides a tough challenge, as a close tech race means that your rivals will be producing spaceship parts at the same time, and again they have more production centres. As for Diplomatic victory, also possible, but those early friendly relations are key.
In the CivIV OCC, the limit of 2 national wonders per city is gone, which is nice. This means that your city can, at the same time, be an excellent GP farm, a major production centre, and a sceintific powerhouse. But in order to get it to that point, you have to manage carefully your resources, and pay particular attention to improvements in your fat cross, ensuring that you have a good mix of food, commerce, and hammers available for your city.
In my opinion, the OCC offers the player a well-balanced option, as you really have to pay attention to all of the aspects which make Civ a great strategy game -- micromanaging, military/warmongering, building, along with religion and diplomatic relations. In the OCC, ignoring any one of these can cost you.
scienide09
Regular lurker
I can't re-post the pics, so here's a link to my post in the legendary cities thread. They're from an OCC game, Noble, Pangea, three AI civs.
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=3643180&postcount=16
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=3643180&postcount=16
budweiser
King of the Beers
If you change it to a three city challenge, you can get cathedrals back in play and open up the possibility of a cultural win.
There's a good strategy guide about OCC around on the forums, but OCC are actually very winable, here's a few reasons why:
1) Wonders, wonders, wonders. While the AI's are expanding, your building wonders. You get a worker and a warrior early, and then its wonders for a while. I play prince and can normally get stonehenge, the partheon, and the oracle early on.
2) More money then you've ever dreamed. You have no maintenance costs, 0!! I easily start having 1000's of gold towards the middle of the game, running 100% science the entire game. That means I can now almost cheat like the AI. Whenever I get a new military tech, my ENTIRE MILITARY gets upgraded at once. I usually can do this easily with money to burn.
3) The magnified power of city buildings. Library = 25% science rate to your ENTIRE civilization. Academy = 50%. Beaurarcray civic = 50% more science, gold, and production to your entire civilizaiton. While your enemies are having to build 10 times the amount of buildings you do to get the same benefit, and you start reaping the benefits very quickly.
4) The power of specialists. Great people = great specialists. Great prophets give me +2 hammers, +3 beakers (always run representation on OCC), and +5 money. With a forge, ironworks, factory, power plant, heroic epic, I believe that's 7.5 hammers when building military units. And you will have a ton of specialists. Great people come early and often in OCC normally.
5) Power Culture. With the wonders and such you'll be building your culture will be unparralled. No city built near yours will survive for long, they will convert and crumble.
6) Small borders, powerful military. You'll will not have the military production of your bigger brothers, but if your smart you won't need it. You can literally put a military unit on every square you own if you work for it, and with theocracy they can all have two promotions (who needs vassalege, with a barracks and theology that's all you'll need). With west point later on they will all have 3. And of course, your money ensures every unit you own will be top of the line till the end of time.
7) No happiness, ever!! With drama and the globe theatre, your entire civilization will never have an unhappy person. You won't need culture sliders, you won't need colisseums and the like. Nothing, nada, once you have drama you will never worry about unhappiness.
With all of this going for you, OCC can really work. Now you still have to contend with the commerce and industrial might that naturally comes from big empires, but its not nearly as overwhelming as it might appear.
1) Wonders, wonders, wonders. While the AI's are expanding, your building wonders. You get a worker and a warrior early, and then its wonders for a while. I play prince and can normally get stonehenge, the partheon, and the oracle early on.
2) More money then you've ever dreamed. You have no maintenance costs, 0!! I easily start having 1000's of gold towards the middle of the game, running 100% science the entire game. That means I can now almost cheat like the AI. Whenever I get a new military tech, my ENTIRE MILITARY gets upgraded at once. I usually can do this easily with money to burn.
3) The magnified power of city buildings. Library = 25% science rate to your ENTIRE civilization. Academy = 50%. Beaurarcray civic = 50% more science, gold, and production to your entire civilizaiton. While your enemies are having to build 10 times the amount of buildings you do to get the same benefit, and you start reaping the benefits very quickly.
4) The power of specialists. Great people = great specialists. Great prophets give me +2 hammers, +3 beakers (always run representation on OCC), and +5 money. With a forge, ironworks, factory, power plant, heroic epic, I believe that's 7.5 hammers when building military units. And you will have a ton of specialists. Great people come early and often in OCC normally.
5) Power Culture. With the wonders and such you'll be building your culture will be unparralled. No city built near yours will survive for long, they will convert and crumble.
6) Small borders, powerful military. You'll will not have the military production of your bigger brothers, but if your smart you won't need it. You can literally put a military unit on every square you own if you work for it, and with theocracy they can all have two promotions (who needs vassalege, with a barracks and theology that's all you'll need). With west point later on they will all have 3. And of course, your money ensures every unit you own will be top of the line till the end of time.
7) No happiness, ever!! With drama and the globe theatre, your entire civilization will never have an unhappy person. You won't need culture sliders, you won't need colisseums and the like. Nothing, nada, once you have drama you will never worry about unhappiness.
With all of this going for you, OCC can really work. Now you still have to contend with the commerce and industrial might that naturally comes from big empires, but its not nearly as overwhelming as it might appear.
