Ducki went Regent... How'm I doin'? - Page 5

vmxa1 · November 7, 2002, 21:56

Ducki, about time for a new thread. did you get PTW? If so call it Ducki does PTW at Monarch or whatever you are doing.

ducki · November 7, 2002, 22:18

Wow, you're right! Page 7!

Well, I've tried a couple of Monarch games, but I've also found PtW to be a bit harder than vanilla civ. Damn tweaks by Soren.

Anyway, yeah. As soon as I have a civ I want to try at Monarch, I will start anew.

And on the FP, how do you get it built in anything resembling a "short" period of time with distance corruption? Do you depend on a GLeader?

Anyway, sure, look for Ducki does PtW at Monarch, coming to a 'poly forum near you soon!

Hmmm...maybe Celts. Mmmmm....

vmxa1 · November 8, 2002, 03:54

You are fee to do regent at ptw. The FP depends on how things are at the time. If I have war going and get a leader, then that is the ticket. If nothing is going on, I have the time to build the old fashion way. If I do, I will have workers concentrate on getting the mines up for that city. I have been known to do a small prebuild with only 7 cities.

badams52 · November 9, 2002, 01:27

ducki,

I can't tell you the best method for monarch level since I spend most of my time playing regent, but except for those pesky babylonians, I too almost always have the tops in culture. The early war mongering for me usually begins when my cities have nothing important to build. I tend to expand about 2-3 turns slower than the AIs and focus on taking their cities with swordsmen. Since I know the AI will work at the highest speed possible to expand, let him do the expanding for me and I'll just take over with vast army when I'm ready.

it also helps to only build units in cities that have a barracks. Don't underestimate 1 hit point in the early goings! Unless it's a border city, i'll hold off on the temple since the AI does the same.

my starter city (since it has culture and expands on it's own) looks like warrior, warrior, barracks/settler, settler/barracks, defensive unit...

following cities: barracks, spearman/settler, settler/spearman, temple?

once I go to war, usually because someone decided to declare war on me, all (most of) my cities begin producing military, and we don't stop till the other empire is in ruins. Maybe the AI has improved with PtW, but I've found his biggest weakness is his unability to stop a warmonger from taking his cities.

btw, you could cut down the amount of pages if you up the posts per page in your forum settings. I like fifty per page myself.

alva · November 9, 2002, 16:31

ok, i'll continue to use this one then

I staring to become top dog (still not leading on tech, but I'm getting stronger, while all the others are getting weaker

- managed to steal Smith and build Seti
- I wanted to hurt to Persians first and hard, but I noticed the Indians started taking Chinese cities. And I couldn't figure out why (they should be much stronger) until I saw, they didn't have any oil anymore, duh.
- So now I'm shifting my attention towards the chinese, and deal with Persia later
- I had to switch back too monarchy though (WW)
- As I see it now, I should win (even if India changes sides). Unless I left 'culture victory' on (really can't remember)
- that's another reason to visit the chinese

, as they are way the strongest in culture
(just took one their cities, about a size 17 (they all resisted but one

this never happened to me on any other levels)
If want to see the save, just ask

(more later)

vmxa1 · November 9, 2002, 17:27

Sounds like it is all over but the shouting. I can not recall having all but one resist, but I do know I have had 21 resistors in a 24 city. It did not starve down quickly eihter, but I had lots of units in it and it did not flip. I do not relate it to the level with this so much as it is just more likely at emp, that I will run into those big metros and try to hold them. At deity, is see less of them as the game ends sooner as I dislike the hassle with unhappiness. At lower levels they do not do as well at getting large cities. I am starting to think that may change with PTW. They seem to go into a more enlightened build mode. I have not gotten enough play time in to say.

alva · November 9, 2002, 17:33

aaaaaah, forgot the map again!!!

Quote:

I do not relate it to the level with this so much as it is just more likely at emp,

true, but the AI does build more on higher levels (culture, etc..)
All my non-deity games, I have lead in the culture department. And thus have less resisting problems.

alva · November 10, 2002, 12:58

how about this for resisting

vmxa1 · November 10, 2002, 15:32

HUm, lots of friends I see.

Sunstone · November 10, 2002, 16:25

a short interruption allowed ?
Ducky, why did you found your first city on this hill ? I am just curious. I´d go for the grassland, I think.

good game, btw.

badams52 · November 10, 2002, 16:48

actually, funding on a hill or grasslands doesn't matter in terms of resources since each city you found automatically gets 2 food and 1 shield regardless of the underlying terrain. so Hills are actually better since you still get the defensive bonus, unless the surrounding city terrain doesn't have many hills, then grassland would be better to get more production from the hill later.

also he's right next to two game resources which gives the instant bonus without having to wait for his city to expand.

I probably would have gone inland and not gone coastal for my capitol city since I want a great productive city as my capitol, but that would have ended up wasting the cows.

Where to place the starting city is often debated, but in reality, I think it makes little difference in the exact place you place your city. The starting position is much more important.

ducki · November 11, 2002, 01:25

I was going for both coastal - harbor, ships, Great Lighthouse, Colossus - and Defensive bonus.

This being my first Regent game, I didn't know how aggressive the AI would be, and I tend to leave my cities ungarrisoned for quite some time.

In my first attempt at a Monarch game, an AI warrior wandered upon one of my (as usual) unprotected early cities (my second city, IIRC) and sacked it just like a barbarian would. Oh sure, they declared war seconds before he raided my royal coffers, but I sure didn't expect that. So now I tend to keep at least one military unit nearby - if I have roads, I can often use a single unit to "defend" up to 3 cities with a good road network, but only up to a certain point.

So, if I were to play this over again, I probably wouldn't move to the hill on the coast - I'd be more likely to try to be inland by at least 1 square, preferably two, so I can let this city become a truly productive powerhouse.

I've only recently discovered the real beauty of riverside cities - sure, the extra gold is nice, but not having to blow production on an Aqueduct is probably the single most beautiful thing about rivers.

I tend toward an "optimal" city spacing, trying to avoid overlapped tiles as well as wasted tiles, but I'll readily put up with either waste or overlap if it means I don't have to build Aqueducts. I can use that same time to crank out two horsemen or more, or I can start a Wonder prebuild without worrying whether 6 citizens will be good enough for long enough.

Boy, can I ramble or what?!?

Anyway, Sunstone, I went to the hill for defense and on the coast for all the additional units/wonders/buildings that a coastal settlement allows for, even if I ended up using Heliopolis for most of that.

vmxa1 · November 11, 2002, 04:54

I feel that the river boost is too great.

ducki · November 11, 2002, 06:00

The only downside to the river is, you darn well better have some troops garrisoned there or you'll have a hard time keeping your citizens in line. Assuming you've got good food tiles, that is.

DaveMcW · November 11, 2002, 06:50

Historically the river boost has always been great. The first civs all started on major rivers, and rivers still give modern cities an economic bonus today.

ducki · November 11, 2002, 12:51

Anone that hasn't seen it, I started a Monarch game and have a new thread up. I haven't updated it since my last session, but it's still pretty recent, and anyone that wants to pitch in from the peanut gallery, feel free.

PtW seems much harder, coupled with the jump to Monarch and I am just barely keeping up. Or rather, just barely keeping a little behind.

vmxa1 · November 11, 2002, 14:32

A free aqueduct is just too strong. You have the chance to get over pop 6 before you would have had the tech, let alone build it.
I understand the real world parallel, but it just seems very powerful.
ducki, I do not worry about happiness, you can always do something to cope. I will take the trade for a free size 12 with the headache of management of moods.

ducki · November 11, 2002, 14:48

Oh, don't get me wrong, I'll take the free aqueduct and easy growth any time it's even remotely possible, too. Often "messing up" my "desired placement" plan.

That was just a warning to people that tend to leave cities ungarrisoned that the lack of an artificial cap at 6 pop means you could potentially run into Civil Disorder if you don't stay on top of things.

Besides, if you've hit pop 6, surely you can crank out a warrior or horseman really fast to make someone content, no? Odds are you're still in despotism at that point anyway, so the military police thing is still valid.

And now that warriors can upgrade all the way to guerrila(sp?), it's not such a burden to have a zillion of them, aside from unit upkeep. I love Medieval Infantry, btw, I just wish they kept up with my Knights.

Of course, I generally have a few MedInf following my army around to play Garrison Duty until the Pikeman guards I'm working on in my production centers show up to take over.

Anyway, yes, if at all possible, found a city on a river, even if it is "non-optimal" placement. The free aqueduct is worth more than a few wasted or overlapped tiles, especially in the early game.