Restarting Civs

Brundle · February 23, 2001, 07:56

Hi,
I just joined this board, but I've been reading for
quite a while.

I was just wondering if, when your playing your games of Civ II, whether or not you enable/disable the
restarting civs option. Are the high scores in the hall of fame section played with restarting civs or not?

I just wondered if there was a general concensus about this because obviously it can make a massive difference in a 7 civ game.

Thanks in advance.

Tizzy · February 23, 2001, 08:35

I usually play with the restart option enabled, especially as I've been mainly playing OCC lately.
The more Civs there are, the greater the opportunity to trade and get gifts!

DaveV · February 23, 2001, 08:51

A sweeping generalization: conquest players hate restarting civs; spaceship players don't mind them. Since I nearly always win by conquest, I generally disable restarting civs.

Blaupanzer · February 23, 2001, 17:18

Always use restart. It increases the challenge and never creates a rival worth worrying about. It's somewhat like "raging hordes" for the barbs. It's somewhat wimpy to avoid these, IMHO.

sulla · February 25, 2001, 22:24

I usually play with restart enabled as I gravitate towards empire building in Civ II but, when I feel like conquering the world I disable as it is the biggest nuisance in the world to conquer a civilization and then have to conquer a new one.

Qin Shihuangdi · February 26, 2001, 00:00

I always thought that the number of civs one destroyed figured into one's final civ score. Am I right in thinking that? So even when I play conquest I restart as the restarted civs never end up getting very powerful and are easy to eliminate towards the end of the game.

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One hundred victories in one hundred battles is not skillful. Subduing the other's military without battle is skillful.

Sunzi, The Art of War

Scouse Gits · February 26, 2001, 00:05

Am I correct in thinking that if you have the option for re-starting civs activated - they will not re-start from 1500AD onwards? (Deity)
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SG(2)

La Fayette · February 27, 2001, 10:29

quote:

Originally posted by Scouse Gits on 02-25-2001 11:05 PM
Am I correct in thinking that if you have the option for re-starting civs activated - they will not re-start from 1500AD onwards? (Deity)
---------
SG(2)

I think you are correct (but haven't tested it thoroughly, sorry ST!).

Lefty Scaevola · February 27, 2001, 10:32

I play restart. I like a target rich environment.

LeeT · February 27, 2001, 16:13

An eliminated civ will restart - meaning it or another of it's colour - if the computer thinks there's enough room in an unclaimed area of the map, up until 1750 I believe. Whenever it drops to one turn being 2 years; I think that's 1750. If too much of the world is already claimed, they won't restart, so if you settle a wide area, or have a small landmass it's less likely to occur.

When it does, it seems to pick at random which of the three civs of that colour to restart. I've toasted the Romans three times in a row; I've also had the the Vikings following the Germans following the French.

Later on civs will start close to scratch, but not quite. At a certain point they all start with Muskteers even though they don't have Gunpowder.

A good warmonger's challenge is trying to kill as many civs as you can, bonus points for killing the same one more than once I guess, which means the most important wonders are actually Marco Polo and the United Nations, because it's often the only way to find out who showed up - they can appear in areas you've already explored as long as they're not settled. (and if you want to be really nasty, contact the fledgling civ, give them as many advances as it takes to make them worshipful, trade maps and send the fleet!)

And yes, I usually play with restart enabled, and no, I don't know what the damn spaceship looks like.

Marquis de Sodaq · February 27, 2001, 23:40

Always play with the restart enabled! Disabling is basically just a cheat to make it easier to conquer the world. This makes finding new people to crush an ongoing entertainment.

I too have destroyed the same civ multiple times. In one game I squashed the Romans, and the AI dropped the Celts between my wandering elephant and the sea. i promptly trampled them, being a good neighbor and all. the next turn, the Russians appeared in the same square! This repeated turn after turn. one elephant destroyed seven civs, 3 of them the Celts. Apparently the world was too crowded for the AI to put them anywhere else...

George Garrett · February 28, 2001, 01:43

Since Great Library is an early Wonder of mine,(every time TWO civs discover an advance, you get it, too), I like to have civs restart, since one or two of 'em, invariably get knocked out by the AI early in a game.

debeest · February 28, 2001, 03:05

Nope, I don't think the number of civs destroyed has anything to do with game score. Just pride.... Scoring is one of the few really straightforward things about Civ: population (and happiness), Wonders, future techs, spaceship, and the absurdly elusive "world peace bonus". Although the manual is in error even about this. It says you get a bonus for early world conquest. Actually what you get is "scoring completed" and no score if you don't remember to save your game before you wipe out the last enemy (or land on AC).

La Fayette · February 28, 2001, 09:47

quote:

Originally posted by Marquis de Sodaq on 02-27-2001 10:40 PM
! Disabling is basically just a cheat to make it easier to conquer the world.

..

Disabling is a possibility offered by the designers of the game and explicitly described in the book. It cannot be named a cheat.
Anyway you can make the difference very slight: destroy all cities but one in each of the AI civs; then take care, slash and bash if needed; then come back and kill them all in one turn when you want to go to bed.

Edward · March 1, 2001, 11:44

Although I allow destroyed civs to restart in my games, I agree with La Fayette's judgement. Disabling "restarting civs" is no more of a cheat than playing at Chieftain level.

Sean · March 3, 2001, 06:43

I use both. But it can get damn annoying killing off tiny civs, that are so far behind me. Where is the challenge?

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Give me Liberty, or give me death!

LeeT · March 3, 2001, 08:34

Yep, that's why if I'm really in the blast them all mood, MPE or the UN is so necessary. Occasionally, Civ decides an island/continent is large enough to support a civ and drops a restarted civ's settler on it. But there's not a single grassland or plains tile on the island, so they never build a city, and there's no other way of tracking down where they are!

I was trying to conquer without building any wonders, and after killing off ten civs, the game kept going, but I couldn't find anybody. Because there were no enemy cities, none of Trade advisor, find cities, checking unit locations, etc. would help. I finally rush built Marco, and found two different settlers wandering on polar islands.

One was about eight tiles in total size, all arctic and tundra. To be honest, I'm guessing the settler was a restart, but the poor bastard may have been there since the dawn of time :-)

Kuciwalker · March 3, 2001, 08:41

quote:

Originally posted by Scouse Gits on 02-25-2001 11:05 PM
Am I correct in thinking that if you have the option for re-starting civs activated - they will not re-start from 1500AD onwards? (Deity)
---------
SG(2)

Nope, I've seen spanish restart all the way up to 1950.