AU302: One City

Dominae · April 11, 2003, 20:28

Welcome to the newest course of the Apolyton University! If you're new to AU, see introductory paragraph below to get yourself oriented.

What is the theme for this course? An excerpt from the Book of 'Poly:

And the Deity-of-your-choice spoke in His or Her booming voice: "Thou hast been chosen to be the leader of a great civilization, one that will be confined to one settlement only, a thriving metropolis in My honor...and it will be Good. Beware! Do not defy My decree, or thou shalt be slain, then reincarnated on a so very cold island. Go forth now, and prove thyself." And it was done. And it was Good.

If you're still not sure what the point is, it is this: you must beat this game with the help of one city only. It is possible! You may not 1) found a city with Settler if you already control a city, 2) capture cities, 3) buy cities, and finally 4) accept cultural conversions (you must always "rebuff the rebels").

You may pick any victory type you want, but note that the following are in increasing order of difficulty, and therefore your "grade" in this course is directly related which victory type you opt for (mind you, any OCC victory is impressive, IMO):

Diplomatic
Cultural
Spaceship
Conquest
Histographic (yeah right!)

Domination victory is enabled, but you will never achieve it. True to original OCC, you should aim for the Spaceship victory, as it provides for the most interesting game.

Here are some of the scenario variables (others will be revealed in-game):

World size: Small
Water coverage: 70%
Land form: Continents
Temperature: Temperate
Climate: Normal
Age: 4 billion years

This scenario may be played either with stock Civ3 or the Play the World expansion. In the former case, these are your opponents:

English
Indians
Iroquois
Romans
Zulus

If you use Play the World, your opponents are instead:

Celts
English
Indians
Koreans
Romans

The file at the end of this post contains three versions for the game: Civ3 1.29, Play the World 1.14 and the AU mod for Play the World 1.17. I believe the 1.14 Play the World version is compatible with 1.21, but I'm not 100% certain.

Help each other learn! As your game progresses, please post your comments in the strategy/spoilers/comments thread You are also expected to provide a full report with screenshots when you're done. Due to the nature of this game, game logs would probably be a good idea. This way you can compare your games to others' in a very precise way, and therefore see exactly what you did different (better or worse, or just "different") from someone others.

Good luck, and have fun!

---

New to AU?

Apolyton University is a school of strategy, where students sharpen their Civ3 skills and share their experiences in a series of thematic games. When playing an Apolyton University game, gaining and sharing knowledge is more important than getting a high score, or even winning the game. Participants are encouraged to share their strategy after the game, and even to try several attempts.

For single-player games we have developed the AU mod (an earlier thread may be found here), whose main purpose is to challenge the player with a need for deeper strategy. To accomplish that goal, the mod tries to improve the AI and present the player with more strategic decisions, while changing as little as possible.

Dominae · April 11, 2003, 20:37

Here is a screenshot of the start location (it gets better!):

Dominae · April 11, 2003, 20:47

Some general help and hints with OCC:

1. Play carefully! Ponder every decision you make, from turn 1 until you've completed the Spaceship. There is not much to do with only one city, so what you do do you might as well do it well!

2. Be nice! Unless you plan on winning via Conquest (good luck!), diplomacy and generally peaceful relations will be extremel important in this game. The reason the course number of this game is 302 is that it is a more advanced form of AU102, 'Give Peace A Chance'. Although you are allowed to build military units in this one, you're not going to be a warmonger. Put your builder hat on.

3. Research ravenously (cool word, eh?)! Consider: you need to reach the Modern age at around the same time as the AIs.

4. Choose wisely! Your civ choice is your first big decision, and is in fact one of the biggest you'll make in this game.
5. Try again! Play until either win or are obviously beaten, the start right over (with or without reading the spoilers). The games will not take too long (compared to playing on a Huge map), and you'll learn something every time (if you're in to that sort of thing).

Here's a link to threads on OCC, in case you want to do your homework before jumping in:

OCC games for fun

Quest for OCC launch

Feel free to link to other OCC threads you know about.

Dominae

BigDork · April 11, 2003, 21:15

Hi everybody...

Well this should definatly be interested. I have no clue how to go about doing OCC so I'm looking forward to the challenge. Dom, thanks for the links. I am gonna need them. I'm not sure that this is gonna be the game that I make my leap to Monarch, call it a hunch.

BigD

nbarclay · April 11, 2003, 21:37

This is NOT the kind of game to be leaping to a higher level on, especially with no better a starting position than we seem to have. I suspect that I'll be going down at least a couple levels from my usual Emperor, since I have almost no OCC experience.

Dominae · April 11, 2003, 21:39

Quote:

Originally posted by nbarclay
This is NOT the kind of game to be leaping to a higher level on, especially with no better a starting position than we seem to have.

The start is not that bad!

Still, Nathan is correct: if you want to be even mildly successful at this game the first time around, I suggest staying at your current difficulty level, or dropping a notch.

Dominae

BigDork · April 11, 2003, 21:41

Dom...

I can't wait to give it a try. Unfortunatly I'm working all weekend and doubt I'll have time to play. Maybe if I skimp on some sleep. Hrm, sometimes I think badams didn't have a bad idea after all.

BigD

nbarclay · April 11, 2003, 22:00

It's not a bad start, but when you only get one city, it's nice to have an unusually good start. Of course there's no telling what redeeming qualities might be lurking just out of sight.

By the way, should we play this as a random map in terms of resources that are only revealed with certain technologies, or is the starting area rigged to be special in that regard? Normally, if I'd got a OCC start like this, I'd do some looking around for a little bit better starting position since I have no REXing to get behind on if I wait a little. But I don't want to shoot myself in the foot if there are special reasons for settling in the starting area that only become visible later designed into the scenario.

DaveMcW · April 11, 2003, 23:09

Quote:

You may pick any victory type you want, but note that the following are in increasing order of difficulty, and therefore your "grade" in this course is directly related which victory type you opt for (mind you, any OCC victory is impressive, IMO):

Diplomatic
Cultural
Spaceship
Conquest

You forgot Histographic!

Dominae · April 11, 2003, 23:16

Quote:

Originally posted by DaveMcW
You forgot Histographic!

Now that would be something to see! I'll put it right after Conquest...

Dominae

BigDork · April 11, 2003, 23:22

Actually I'm considering not playing the AU mod this game. I think I'll give it a try first with the AU mod but if that doesn't go too well I'll just bop down to PtW. With the SS parts spread out more it may make it more of a challenge to blast off to AC.

BigD

Dominae · April 11, 2003, 23:49

Ok, Nathan made me feel bad about the "poorness" of the start. I've gone back and improved it somewhat. The cost is, unfortunately, a slightly less "realistic" start, but I'm surey you all want goodies instead of realism (I know I do when I play OCC).

For those 3 people who have downloaded the scenario already, you may either 1) stop and restart with a better initial location, or 2) stick with the harder version and get more recognition when you launch the SS.

Dominae

Dominae · April 11, 2003, 23:52

Here is the old scenario, in case anyone wants to try a real challenge...(heh, just kidding!):

BigDork · April 12, 2003, 00:30

Dom...

I think I'll give them both a try, starting with the easy one of course.

BigD

nbarclay · April 12, 2003, 00:48

"Realistic" is a somewhat relative concept. If I were starting a OCC game on my own, I'd keep restarting until I got a starting position I like. So "realistic" to me means "about as good as I could expect to find in a reasonable number of restarts." (Which is why the starting position here didn't - and, really, still doesn't just based just on the initial view - particularly impress me.) Others - especially people with more OCC experience than I have - might approach such a game differently in search of more of a challenge. (Edit: Please don't interpret this as criticism, since it's so much a matter of taste. And thanks for setting up the game.)

Nathan

Master Zen · April 12, 2003, 02:20

Yes, this is the game I wanted to play since the last AU (huge, too slow on my P3). I'll definitely give it a try. I've never tried a OCC so I'll drop to Monarch and see how it goes.

Good luck to all, and a big

to Dominae for setting this up.

Fosse · April 12, 2003, 15:11

Oops... I accidentaly voted PTW stock... count me as an AU player.

Konquest02 · April 12, 2003, 15:42

I have a little free time on my hands, so I might fire this game in the computer. We'll see what happens!

I'm playing AU mod, on regent...

epics · April 13, 2003, 01:47

First try on AU game.
Do you build the city on the wheat? I would go SE or E

edit: how do I start the game? load the scenario or replace the civ3bic??

Master Zen · April 13, 2003, 01:53

you can build the city anywhere you want. But choose wisely, it may be the single most important decision you make

Dominae · April 13, 2003, 02:09

Quote:

Originally posted by epics
edit: how do I start the game? load the scenario or replace the civ3bic??

Unzip the files, put them in your Scenarios folder (the Play the World one, if you've got the expansion), then select 'Load Scenario' in-game. Try not to peek at the lower left-hand corner of the screen, as the entire map is revealed to you before you begin.

Dominae

Fosse · April 13, 2003, 10:42

Just a rule clarification... if I pop an advanced tribe from a goody hut, then my only option is to IMMEDIATLY disband it, right then and there, correct?

Dominae · April 13, 2003, 10:56

Quote:

Originally posted by Fosse
Just a rule clarification... if I pop an advanced tribe from a goody hut, then my only option is to IMMEDIATLY disband it, right then and there, correct?

Yes. In this case, let's just say that if you end a turn with two cities, you lose.

Dominae

Wizard55 · April 13, 2003, 12:06

Since this is my first time at OCC, I wanted to know if it is okay to have as many colonies as you want??

Thanks

Dominae · April 13, 2003, 12:08

Quote:

Originally posted by Wizard55
Since this is my first time at OCC, I wanted to know if it is okay to have as many colonies as you want??

Yes, as many as you want.

Mountain Sage · April 14, 2003, 03:59

Dominae,

Is 1.14 PTW compatible with MOD 1.17?

I'll play it, of course, but I'll start only at the end of April (Easter Holidays coming!!!!).
Any time limits?
Any official winners?

nbarclay · April 14, 2003, 06:15

Apolyton University doesn't have official winners because we don't want a competitive spirit interfering with people's fun. In a competitive game, there tends to be a lot of pressure to base choices on what will achieve the highest score (by whatever scoring system is used). In contrast, Apolyton University encourages players to build the kind of civ that makes them happy, and to experiment, learn, and share what is learned.

That's not to say that you can't play AU games competitively if you want to. I definitely do weigh my performance against the performances of others to see how I did. But be aware that the people you're "competing" with may not be trying to compete with you, in which case it may be sort of like winning a "footrace" against someone who's just out jogging.

The AU Mod version numbers are completely separate from PtW patch numbers. Dominae used PtW 1.14 to create the game, so it had better work with that version.

Nathan

Mountain Sage · April 14, 2003, 09:17

Therefore, no

1. Best screenshots of the game
2. Best storytelling,
3. 'Official' highest score, gold etc.
4. Earliest spaceship built
5. Earliest/overwhelming diplomatic victory
6. Biggest domination victory and meanest army
7. Max number of civs annihilated
8. Etc etc etc

A well

I'll survive and go on playing

Vlado · April 14, 2003, 10:00

Excellent! This is going to be so much fun. Easter is coming, I have no work to do (almost) and we're going to my parents in law. That means that I woun't do any cooking and I'm allowed to play computer games in front of the tv since my wife will have many other people to talk to during the shows!

I'm soooo happy!

If your colony is covered by the AIs culture, eg their borders expand over it, what happends to it?

Edit Added question

Dominae · April 14, 2003, 11:02

Quote:

Originally posted by Mountain Sage
Dominae,
Is 1.14 PTW compatible with MOD 1.17?

If you have Play the World 1.14 or 1.21 installed on your system, you should be able to play any of the 3 files I included without any problem.

Quote:

I'll play it, of course, but I'll start only at the end of April (Easter Holidays coming!!!!).

That's a (relatively) long time! We'll probably started another AU game by then, but please try this one out anyway.

Quote:

Any time limits?

No.

Quote:

Any official winners?

No.

Quote:

Therefore, no

1. Best screenshots of the game
2. Best storytelling,
3. 'Official' highest score, gold etc.
4. Earliest spaceship built
5. Earliest/overwhelming diplomatic victory
6. Biggest domination victory and meanest army
7. Max number of civs annihilated
8. Etc etc etc

Not officially, but this does not mean you should not take these things into consideration (especially the screenshots)! I suppose we could start giving out "bonus marks" in those areas, but I believe it would just make the people who do not get them less likely to participate. Competitivness is weird that way: if you're going to make something even slightly competitive, you'll immediately lose some of the less-talented "students", which is really not what we want to have happen, since the whole point of AU is to learn (and to have fun).

Personally I really liked your storytelling in AU207, and I'm sure others did too. If something strikes you as being really good in someone's AAR, feel free to give them the "thumbs up". This sort of recognition among your peers is, IMO, far more important and sincere than an official rating system.

Dominae