(March 3rd, 2012, 21:07)antisocialmunky Wrote: Civilization Economics: You have 1 Cow. You build some pastures around it to feed your people. The population grows uncontrollably. You enslave everybody and work half of them to death.
(The subtitle of my spoiler thread comes from my username, a Finnish word which has its own Wikipedia page.)
So what are my goals for this game? In descending order of priority:
Uphold RB's values of perseverance and sporting behavior
Have fun!
Play the best Civ I can
Get better at Civ
Create an entertaining and engaging spoiler thread for you, my devoted fans
As I mentioned in my first post here at RB, I've only been playing Civ 4 for a short while. I've read a lot of spoiler threads of games gone by, but there's no substitute for experience. To that end, I would greatly appreciate if an experienced player were willing to dedlurk me and provide macro-level advice - I wouldn't be expecting you to be a turnplayer or create worker micro charts, but I'd like help with things like dotmaps, tech path, and general war planning. Shoulders of giants and all that!
Anyway, it seems to be traditional to provide impressions of your opponents, but I'll save that for after we sort out the civs and leaders. All I'll say for now is that I hope I don't start near team BXB!
(March 3rd, 2012, 21:07)antisocialmunky Wrote: Civilization Economics: You have 1 Cow. You build some pastures around it to feed your people. The population grows uncontrollably. You enslave everybody and work half of them to death.
For the record, I intend to take a page out of Commodore's book and name units after lurkers who post in my thread, because nothing motivates audience participation more than being sent to die by proxy.
I'll open with this: I see a lot of mentions of sandboxes in players' threads. I assume making one involves going into Worldbuilder and just setting up the terrain such that it matches what your exploration reveals, then gaming out the possibilities for micro/movement. Anything else I should know about how to operate one?
(March 3rd, 2012, 21:07)antisocialmunky Wrote: Civilization Economics: You have 1 Cow. You build some pastures around it to feed your people. The population grows uncontrollably. You enslave everybody and work half of them to death.
It's important to get all of the game settings correct; those can affect tech costs and maintenance costs.
I would also recommend having the same number of opponents, then sequestering them in individual mountain valleys then you can control them for later sandboxes, if you plan on doing that.
Merovech's Mapmaking Guidelines:
0. Player Requests: The player's requests take precedence, even if they contradict the following guidelines.
1. Balance: The map must be balanced, both in regards to land quality and availability and in regards to special civilization features. A map may be wonderfully unique and surprising, but, if it is unbalanced, the game will suffer and the player's enjoyment will not be as high as it could be.
2. Identity and Enjoyment: The map should be interesting to play at all levels, from city placement and management to the border-created interactions between civilizations, and should include varied terrain. Flavor should enhance the inherent pleasure resulting from the underlying tile arrangements. The map should not be exceedingly lush, but it is better to err on the lush side than on the poor side when placing terrain.
3. Feel (Avoiding Gimmicks): The map should not be overwhelmed or dominated by the mapmaker's flavor. Embellishment of the map through the use of special improvements, barbarian units, and abnormal terrain can enhance the identity and enjoyment of the map, but should take a backseat to the more normal aspects of the map. The game should usually not revolve around the flavor, but merely be accented by it.
4. Realism: Where possible, the terrain of the map should be realistic. Jungles on desert tiles, or even next to desert tiles, should therefore have a very specific reason for existing. Rivers should run downhill or across level ground into bodies of water. Irrigated terrain should have a higher grassland to plains ratio than dry terrain. Mountain chains should cast rain shadows. Islands, mountains, and peninsulas should follow logical plate tectonics.
(March 3rd, 2012, 21:07)antisocialmunky Wrote: Civilization Economics: You have 1 Cow. You build some pastures around it to feed your people. The population grows uncontrollably. You enslave everybody and work half of them to death.
(May 7th, 2013, 20:44)Sisu Wrote: Thanks Merovech, I'll make sure my initial scout bears your name
Which settings specifically affect those costs?
Awesome!
Map size, difficulty, and world wrap, mostly.
Merovech's Mapmaking Guidelines:
0. Player Requests: The player's requests take precedence, even if they contradict the following guidelines.
1. Balance: The map must be balanced, both in regards to land quality and availability and in regards to special civilization features. A map may be wonderfully unique and surprising, but, if it is unbalanced, the game will suffer and the player's enjoyment will not be as high as it could be.
2. Identity and Enjoyment: The map should be interesting to play at all levels, from city placement and management to the border-created interactions between civilizations, and should include varied terrain. Flavor should enhance the inherent pleasure resulting from the underlying tile arrangements. The map should not be exceedingly lush, but it is better to err on the lush side than on the poor side when placing terrain.
3. Feel (Avoiding Gimmicks): The map should not be overwhelmed or dominated by the mapmaker's flavor. Embellishment of the map through the use of special improvements, barbarian units, and abnormal terrain can enhance the identity and enjoyment of the map, but should take a backseat to the more normal aspects of the map. The game should usually not revolve around the flavor, but merely be accented by it.
4. Realism: Where possible, the terrain of the map should be realistic. Jungles on desert tiles, or even next to desert tiles, should therefore have a very specific reason for existing. Rivers should run downhill or across level ground into bodies of water. Irrigated terrain should have a higher grassland to plains ratio than dry terrain. Mountain chains should cast rain shadows. Islands, mountains, and peninsulas should follow logical plate tectonics.
Hey man, you'll note I didn't rank where my outside-of-Civ activities fall in relation to these priorities
In all seriousness, it was spoiler threads from the likes of Sullla, LordParkin, novice, you, and Krill that made me so eager to play in these games myself, so I fully intend to act such that when I go over all the threads at the end of the game, I can say "Yup, mine was the best"
(March 3rd, 2012, 21:07)antisocialmunky Wrote: Civilization Economics: You have 1 Cow. You build some pastures around it to feed your people. The population grows uncontrollably. You enslave everybody and work half of them to death.
I compiled this list by looking at Find All Threads; for obvious reasons, this won't find games where the player was on a team and the spoiler thread was made by someone else (though I did remember that Brick was broing it up with Commodore in PB9 and 10), but it's a good start for getting a sense of people's histories and styles.
(March 3rd, 2012, 21:07)antisocialmunky Wrote: Civilization Economics: You have 1 Cow. You build some pastures around it to feed your people. The population grows uncontrollably. You enslave everybody and work half of them to death.
teleh is one of the "true newbs" in the game. Dude talks more even than I do (and I won Most Talkative in my high school senior yearbook, back in the day) and has a LOT of ideas. Let's see how that translates to his game: will he go for a wet and wild creative game or more standard stuff?
Hannibal is Financial and Charismatic. This seems like a "tall" pairing - use Charismatic's bonus happy to work a ton of cottages and secure a tech lead. He has no cheap buildings. The Immortal is a chariot that receives defensive bonuses and beats up Archers - going to need spears if I neighbor him. The Apothecary is a grocer with +2 health, which will mostly be relevant in the Industrial Age. Starts with Agriculture and Hunting - good growth combo!
Quote:Molach is Kublai Khan of Rome
Molach is another unknown. As for KK of Rome... Um. Aggressive/Creative paired with Praetorians is a "go take people's land" pairing if ever I saw one. The Forum gives him pseudo-Philosophical for staying power, as do his cheap libraries. I want to start as far away from him as possible. Starts with Fishing/Mining.
Quote:Team ʥ Sisu is Huayna Capac of Russia
Going to do more extensive analysis of myself and my pairing in another post, but the quick and dirty is: I feel I am one of the weakest players, with the strongest leader, and the weakest civ. Hunting is a very weak starting tech in non-RBMod, which Mining (and faster BW) somewhat redeems, but Cossacks are very lategame for Ancient Age starts and the Research Institute is irrelevant unless I somehow survive to a Modern stalemate. Industrious/Financial pretty much begs me to Oracle Metal Casting, and appeals to me quite a bit, being a builder at heart. The trick will be maintaining enough defense that my wonders and cottages aren't a buffet line for my neighbors!
Quote:Team 1 Oxphenbutazone is Gandhi of Netherlands
Oxy is another of the newbies. Spiritual is a trait I was kind of hoping to get for multiplayer, as anarchy is a real bummer, but it takes a lot of work to leverage powerfully (as Spullla did as Locke and Cervantes in PB whichever it was). Philosophical is in a similar boat - he's going to have to play a little differently than he might otherwise to maximize his strengths. The East Indiaman will give him dominance of the seas if he reaches Astro first, and Dikes are Moai for everyone at Steam Power. Starts with Fishing and Agriculture - another good growth combo, but really subpar if Commodore doesn't put him on the coast.
Quote:Team 2 BaIIkuro is Joao of Portugal
We have unrestricted leaders on, right? Kuro has some games under his belt, which I'll look at at some point, but from comments in the signup thread he's prone to abandoning ship at some point. BaII is another member of team Utter Newbie. Joao is the REXiest of leaders, but as a result of those hammer bonuses he takes some MM to get the most out of his traits. Fast granaries are sooooo good for whips, though, which in un-nerfed land will give him production well into the midgame. I expect this dude's lands to be totally deforested very quickly. I kind of hope I start near them - fast expansion might lead them to skimp on military... Portugal's UU is another boat (lol, as Locke would say), and allows him to start colonizing ocean islands before anyone. The Feitoria will give all those fishing villages pseudo-Financial for economic staying power. Starting techs are Fishing and Mining - BW/worker first and chop out a workboat, maybe?
Going to review the other five tomorrow, it's late here. Really excited!
(March 3rd, 2012, 21:07)antisocialmunky Wrote: Civilization Economics: You have 1 Cow. You build some pastures around it to feed your people. The population grows uncontrollably. You enslave everybody and work half of them to death.
![[Image: tumblr_lw2qumunOK1qj8wtqo1_1280.jpg]](https://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lw2qumunOK1qj8wtqo1_1280.jpg)
![[Image: 22695401.jpg]](http://cdn.memegenerator.net/instances/400x/22695401.jpg)
Portugal's UU is another boat (lol, as Locke would say), and allows him to start colonizing ocean islands before anyone. The Feitoria will give all those fishing villages pseudo-Financial for economic staying power. Starting techs are Fishing and Mining - BW/worker first and chop out a workboat, maybe?