How Do You Play Civ MP?

Pembleton · October 9, 2001, 15:36

I have never played Civ MP before. I have played Age of Empires, Age of Kings, and Diablo 2 almost exclusively MP, but not Civ.

I'm asking because I'm wondering how the game is set up. My friend I met in college and is now far away wants to play MP 1v1 and I want to know how many civs you guys play with.

Do you just have your 2 civs as the only ones or do you have computer controlled civs as well, and how many, what difficulty, etc.?

Edit: I'm asking how do *you* personally like to set your games up, not how do you use the interface to actually start a game.

dainbramaged13 · October 9, 2001, 15:39

i never played civ mp

Pembleton · October 9, 2001, 15:41

Quote:

Originally posted by dainbramaged13
i never played civ mp

I sincerely appreciate your advice.

Crouchback · October 9, 2001, 15:43

Hotseat rocks. But I've played a couple of games of civ MPG by email, which is great. Human beings are so much more inventive and challenging than any AI.

David

drake · October 9, 2001, 15:45

You can play mp any way you want.

2-7 civs, either human or AI controlled.

Any skill level.
Any map or scenario.
An option to play with 2x movement and production (for faster developing games)

The "host" will set up a game, choose these options and then send their ip (which is printed in the civ window after setup) to all other people in the game.

The outside players will go to join a mp game, insert the ip and connect to the hosts machine. The host can then launch. Civs are picked and the map is generated on the host machine.......

After a short wait, the game loads up and its time to play. Its a very simple process.

Pembleton · October 9, 2001, 15:47

I'm not asking *how* to set up the game.

I'm asking how *you* play the game. Do you play 1v1 usually or with other civs? What difficulty? Etc?

Am I right in assuming the PBEM is usually people playing 1v1 with no computer civs in the game?

How do people would play on ladders play the game? I assume those games are 1v1.

What size map?

This thread would probably be more suited to a poll as to what options people like to pick when playing MP but it seems like there would be too many options.

drake · October 9, 2001, 15:52

I've played it just about every way.....

Currently playing a 7 player game which has been going on since February.

7 is a few too many people IMO though, because of length between turns....

4 people is probably my favorite combination. It keeps turns fairly short and still allows a wide base of diversity between the players.

1 on 1 duels are kind of dull IMO so I havent played one in almost a year. But if you like quick games, fast and furious, this is a good choice.

edit: The skill level doesnt matter to me as long as its king and up.
And I prefer a game on a map no smaller than the standard medium size. The current game I'm playing is on a semi-giga map....its about 10-15% larger than the standard large map.

Pembleton · October 9, 2001, 16:01

Quote:

Originally posted by drake
I've played it just about every way.....

Currently playing a 7 player game which has been going on since February.

7 is a few too many people IMO though, because of length between turns....

4 people is probably my favorite combination. It keeps turns fairly short and still allows a wide base of diversity between the players.

1 on 1 duels are kind of dull IMO so I havent played one in almost a year. But if you like quick games, fast and furious, this is a good choice.

edit: The skill level doesnt matter to me as long as its king and up.
And I prefer a game on a map no smaller than the standard medium size. The current game I'm playing is on a semi-giga map....its about 10-15% larger than the standard large map.

This sounds like you don't play with AI players then? If that's the case, it doesn't sound like the difficulty would really matter with the exception of its effect on happiness, etc.

Crouchback · October 9, 2001, 16:12

Sorry Pemberton, misread you intention.

Hotseat over a weekend with as many people as can be rounded up and no AI, it just gets in the way for a short while.

The difficulty settings just determining how fast things can be built/discovered, so a lower can make for a fast and exciting game.

David

PN · October 9, 2001, 16:19

Quote:

Originally posted by Pembleton

This sounds like you don't play with AI players then? If that's the case, it doesn't sound like the difficulty would really matter with the exception of its effect on happiness, etc.

I play a lot of PBEM. Just like the SP game, the difficulty setting (and map size) mostly affects the pace of the game in terms of interaction with opponents. With fewer turns to discover the fast moving units, and not too many worries about people's happiness, you can explore more quickly. And in PBEM, interacting with real human beings more fun than the AI.

Ironwood · October 9, 2001, 16:20

If you've either got a LAN or an internet connection you can leave running without worrying (ie. it won't tie up the phone) it's pretty easy to play network mode, though unlike in SMAC, it's no better than playing hotseat (simultanious turns in SMAC).

Me, I prefer to play with as many civilizations as possible, always, which means if I'm playing another human player, there are a lot of computer civs. I generally play at king, or if the other player doesn't mind, even emperor level (I have yet to even beat it SP at Deity). I like the computer civs to be tough, thus making it possible that a player alliance may be necessary for part of the game.

Inverse Icarus · October 9, 2001, 17:07

no point in talking about this on civ3 forums. no mp in civ3.

October 9, 2001, 18:10

Quote:

Originally posted by Jingo
no point in talking about this on civ3 forums. no mp in civ3.

That is not yet confirmed; but we do know that IT WILL eventually be rolled out, maybe just not with this release. So his question is still valid.

dainbramaged13 · October 9, 2001, 18:43

Quote:

Originally posted by Jingo
no point in talking about this on civ3 forums. no mp in civ3.

ub.. uber... uberkrux? is it... you?.... jingo? ok...

anyway, its coming out in an expansion pack. but this should be moved nonetheless because its civ2 moslty.

Quote:

I sincer++++appreciate your advice.

your welcome

Inverse Icarus · October 9, 2001, 19:28

name change.

MING POWER.

Sarxis · October 9, 2001, 23:01

I never played CivII MP, but I play a lot of pbem in Alpha Centauri, see here: http://apolyton.net/forums/forumdisp...s=&forumid=101

I have tried playing other TBS games hotseat, but unfortunately, I don't have enough immediate friends/family that are interested in such games (panzies!

). And I have played the online MP of Alpha Centauri a little, but it is hard to get enough people to sit still for that long. Oh, and I also played a couple of games of CTP2 online, but that was a BIG mess.

But the SMAC pbem is quite kewl, even though it moves on at a slow pace sometimes. The reason it is good is because there is so much out-of-game diplomacy that can go on that the experience becomes rich.

Civ MP is great!

DanS · October 9, 2001, 23:21

Civ MP is a lot of fun. Can't really envision playing Civ alone anymore. Like AH, I'm sure I'll feel lonely in Civ3.

Haven't played in about 1/4 year, but normally play 2x production, 2x movement, 4 or 5 players. Deity. Raging Hordes.

I found that trade and diplomacy were crucial parts of an MP game, whereas they weren't so important in an MP game. Also, some MP players are experts at coordinated attack. I can imagine an AI being OK at coordinated attack, but never approaching expert level.

If you've never had Xin Yu build the Hanging Gardens on you in 2550 BC, then you don't know a challenge.

Pembleton · October 9, 2001, 23:57

Quote:

Originally posted by DanS
I found that trade and diplomacy were crucial parts of an MP game, whereas they weren't so important in an MP game. .

Eh?

ColdWizard · October 10, 2001, 01:28

my more recent games i generally play with 3 other people (4 civs) with no ai. double production, single move. hordes of barbarians (that like picking on me). small map and deity (*** rules

)

most of the games i've played are 2-4 humans, no ai, small map, 2x2x, king (typical zone-type rules)

Quote:

This sounds like you don't play with AI players then? If that's the case, it doesn't sound like the difficulty would really matter with the exception of its effect on happiness, etc.

the difference of the effect on happiness between king and deity is rather pronounced IMHO and drastically affects strategy. it also affects how tough the barbs are.

Jahi · October 10, 2001, 02:30

does civ2 test of time have a Play my email option??