On what level will you play your first game? - Page 2

Executor · October 6, 2001, 19:27

Quote:

Originally posted by JellyDonut
Those of you who are planning on playing Deity right away: prepare to lose. Even if the new AI has an adequate grasp on the strategy of the new features, that is a tremendous advantage for it over you who have not yet become acquainted with them.

General Civ2 strategies, slightly modified, will probably suffice in winning the game. As long as you expand quickly, attack neighbouring civs before they have time to grow into threats, etc. then you should have no problem.

Nemo · October 6, 2001, 19:33

Quote:

Originally posted by Executor

General Civ2 strategies, slightly modified, will probably suffice in winning the game. As long as you expand quickly, attack neighbouring civs before they have time to grow into threats, etc. then you should have no problem.

man, i hope you are wrong...i want to incorperate new strategies

fanatic civver · October 6, 2001, 21:09

Deity - I play civ1 and 2 at the highest difficulty all the time, so it will be interesting to see if civ3 poses a harder challenge or not.

Provost Harrison · October 6, 2001, 21:12

I will probably try first time on Prince. I don't want to be worried about significant trouble from the opposition when I play the first game; rather I want to get to grips with the game itself from beginning to end without struggling to survive and thus be able to explore the full features of the game. I will move up after this game very promptly though...

ixnay · October 6, 2001, 21:14

Probably prince, for the same reasons as PH.

Speaking of prince, I now have 300 posts! Yay!

JellyDonut · October 6, 2001, 21:17

Quote:

Originally posted by Executor
General Civ2 strategies, slightly modified, will probably suffice in winning the game.

I highly doubt that "slight modifications" can compensate for the new emphasis on culture, trade, diplomacy, borders, resources, etc. etc. etc.

Provost Harrison · October 6, 2001, 21:20

Quote:

Originally posted by ixnay37
Probably prince, for the same reasons as PH.

Speaking of prince, I now have 300 posts! Yay!

About time, I am just preparing to make the big push to Deity.

Really though, some people say they are going to play on Deity, but I think it would be better to play on a lower level and get more used to the game and it's mechanics and features where your opposition are quite relaxed and easy-going. I want to figure out what I am doing before I go head-to-head with fully potent opponents.

Executor · October 6, 2001, 21:53

Quote:

Originally posted by JellyDonut
I highly doubt that "slight modifications" can compensate for the new emphasis on culture, trade, diplomacy, borders, resources, etc. etc. etc.

Not very difficult to build a few colonies. Temples and universites and all the buildings that are classified as cultural I built in Civ2 anyway, hence I don't have to do anything different. Diplomacy? What diplomacy? Declare war on the rest of the world. More challenging when they have a network of alliances against you.

True, some of my strategies will be delayed, like the population explosion (WLTKD) till I get the Wonder, and ICS will have to be modified, but I'm confident in my ability to defeat the AI.

Vlad Antlerkov · October 6, 2001, 22:04

Chieftain, largest world map, British, 15 other civs. Just want to get a feel for the game.

JellyDonut · October 6, 2001, 22:12

Quote:

Originally posted by Executor
Diplomacy? What diplomacy? Declare war on the rest of the world.

It's kind of hard to wage war on the world when rubber and steel are nowhere in sight, or later in the game, uranium

Executor · October 6, 2001, 22:57

Quote:

Originally posted by JellyDonut
It's kind of hard to wage war on the world when rubber and steel are nowhere in sight, or later in the game, uranium

If I don't have enough territory to have rubber and steel by that time then I deserve to lose.

Sirotnikov · October 6, 2001, 22:59

I thought about playing King, but ended up chieftain since I really don't knwo what differences does Civ III has.

You don't knwo waht to research or what units to build, so ti would be pretty tasteless to start on anything higher than prince only to get your ass kicked.

orange · October 6, 2001, 23:08

Quote:

Originally posted by Stuie
Prince, random 180x180 map with 16 Civs, I'm the Romans. All options ON.

Stuie! Lansdale PA?? Holy crap I probably live 2 minutes from you.

Simpleton · October 6, 2001, 23:09

I picked Chieftain since I don't want to feel pressured while I pick up the nuances of the game. It's what I did with Civ2 so why not.

Stuie · October 6, 2001, 23:56

Quote:

Originally posted by orange
Stuie! Lansdale PA?? Holy crap I probably live 2 minutes from you.

Hah! I finally updated my profile with an exact location and someone actually notices! But orange, your profile says Newark DE........ a little more than 2 minutes.

But to the topic: The higher cost of building settlers (two population points instead of one) should also change our thinking from Civs 1&2. I'm hoping I can focus on quality instead of quantity when it comes to building cities. I for one dislike anything that comes close to an ICS strategy, preferring to actually develop my cities.

But to each his own....

JellyDonut · October 7, 2001, 00:05

Quote:

Originally posted by Stuie
I for one dislike anything that comes close to an ICS strategy, preferring to actually develop my cities.

IMHO, ICS is not a strategy; it's a cheat.

Sarxis · October 7, 2001, 00:20

KIng. That will be easy enough, and give me a chance to become accustomed to CivIII.

And ICS would be good if it was better balanced. Afterall, there are plenty of asian countries that have cities that are highly developed, but are just SPRAWLING with population.

JellyDonut · October 7, 2001, 00:29

ICS is unrealistic. Those Asian countries with huge populations are having a problem with it. The gov'ts had to resort to extreme measures to combat them (like the 1 child maximum in China or the whole Indira Gandhi scandal), but in Civ II biger always equals better.

Large empires geographically also have severe problems. It's what caused the Roman Empire to split up. Once an empire becomes too large, trans-empire communication becomes difficult, different parts of the empire start to become distinct in culture and eventually in ideals until the empire splits (although modern empires like China and the U.S. have the advantage of modern communications technology to keep them together).

Sarxis · October 7, 2001, 00:39

I agree JellyD. These are the types of things that Firaxis could use to balance ICS.

And just for the record, I never use ICS- I like my bases 'Deep and Wide'.

Mankind · October 7, 2001, 03:42

First I'll play on cheftain.

Skanky Burns · October 7, 2001, 07:05

Im gonna play on Prince level (which is also my rank

) so that im not going to be immediately crushed by the AI, but at the same time the AI wont reward me for using stupid tactics.
In Civ 2, i played on the lower levels, and never defended cities with more than 1 unit. This allowed me to use almost all my resources for building other stuff. Obviously, on higher levels this didnt quite work

One barbarian and my defender would be dead.

And a warning to those planning on trying the ICS strategy: The new 2-pop settlers will mean that a perfectionist civ will get land faster than an ICS civ will. Check the ICS thread in this forum for more details.

Edit: A link to the ICS Thread

SerapisIV · October 7, 2001, 10:46

I'll be playing Prince first. Knowing full well that it probably won't be a real challenge, I plan to use it to explore the resources and diplomacy system without having to worry about serious opposition. Probably move up to King for my second game to try for real and then emperor by my third once I've actually figured out the game. I'll get to Deity after a few months, as I doubt I'll be able to kill off more the 4-5 games in the first few months because of work and school

Uncle Thade · October 7, 2001, 13:31

I plan on Diety, I just want to see what the AI is really made of and how many times I'm going to shriek and throttle my own ineptitude.

Heck I'm not going to even read the manual!

It's going to be just like being a newbie!!!

Jason Beaudoin · October 7, 2001, 13:36

I plan on taking Prince (probably).

Largest map, 16 civilizations, and all the features turned on. Playing as the Germans or the English.

I want to experiment with the new features, and I don't want to be destracted by having to just survive, but at the same time, I want to see other civilizations advance and interact well, so a medium level is best in my opinion.

BTW, how does anyone beat Diety. I've never been able to do that. The hardest I could ever play was King in CIV2.

cyril25376 · October 7, 2001, 17:01

I will play as Warlord. But when I loose to often I will change to chieftain

JellyDonut · October 7, 2001, 17:05

Quote:

Originally posted by Jason Beaudoin
BTW, how does anyone beat Diety. I've never been able to do that. The hardest I could ever play was King in CIV2.

This is how a Deity game went for me:
1) Set up city.
2) Notice city in civil disorder.
3) Raise Luxuries to maximum.
4) Notice city still in civil disorder.
5) Attempt to buy temple; no money.
6) Utterly, utterly screwed.
7) ctrl+alt+del

Executor · October 7, 2001, 17:10

Quote:

Originally posted by JellyDonut

This is how a Deity game went for me:
1) Set up city.
2) Notice city in civil disorder.
3) Raise Luxuries to maximum.
4) Notice city still in civil disorder.
5) Attempt to buy temple; no money.
6) Utterly, utterly screwed.
7) ctrl+alt+del

After building your city immediately create a few warriors.

Akron · October 7, 2001, 17:14

In civ 2 deity, all you have to do is get past the early game and quell your people's unhappiness. Build caravans to get wonders, expand fast, there are a lot of things that help. Once you're past the early game, you have no problems, as the ai is as stupid as ever. It simply uses its increased production power to move yet more units aimlessly around the map!

Be Quicker · October 8, 2001, 11:38

I'll try Prince.
On a related note, will there be a tutorial game (like in CivII)?

Th0mas · October 8, 2001, 13:00

If the difficulty levels are set-up the same way as in SMAC and CIV II then Prince will be my choice.

Based on that assumption, King would be a level playing field between the AI and myself - so start with Prince, for a bit of a challenge without either a complete walkover at Chieftain/Warlord or a hopeless disaster at Emperor/Diety.

Another point - at Diety the game will be extemely skewed - you may miss some of the subtleties e.g. Diplomacy on Diety - AI Bias so they all hate you?