Not For the master players...

Father Beast · May 16, 2001, 13:49

Since I am something of a crappy player, I come up with these "cheater Strategies" to play at high levels and make it somewhat interesting.

Yes, I know horse and others will say I'm a wimp. Fine. I'm just having fun.

1. superheadstart. set to Deity +4 (don't even try it, it's called on my machine) (see "super Deity" thread for how to do this) and Barbarian Wrath. at beginning of game open cheat menu, and give yourself all techs. that's it. no more cheating allowed. save it as scenario if that cheat button at the bottom of the build menu is too tempting.

Surprising as it may seem. This is still difficult. I went Fundy before building first city, and churned out fanatics (only twice as expensive as warriors) and flooded the map. When I came upon a viking city, I lost about 5 fanatics to a defending rifleman (WHERE IN HE** DID THEY GET THAT!), and the real problem began when Barbarians arose. I don't know if it's the barb setting, or the difficulty level, or a combination, but when barbs arise, it is a HORDE!!.
on a side note about half the huts I opened revealed barbs, only about 6 or so, but not so bad. when there's an uprising, there's a WHOLE LOT. they spread from a central point, and keep coming from that point for dozens of turns as the ones next to it move away. I counted about 80 Barbs from a single uprising covering the map. might have been closer to a hundred. I forget how many I killed.
And they're mean suckers , too. the two uprisings I've seen in BC years were either Cannons and Fanatics, or Cavalry and Partisans.
The AI must have an advantage against these guys, because I saw a phalanx hold against about 4 cannon on the same turn. you don't have that advantage.

The AI production advantage is amazing, too. My beautiful city with farmland and supermarket was a size 4, when all of the top cities in the world were size 8, each with a wonder! I tried building a wonder, once. I tried building the UN, and it would take about 27 turns to build. when I had about 8 turns to go, I was told the Chinese discovered communism and started the UN. they finished it when I had 3 turns to go, and nowhere near enough money to finish.

Father Beast · May 16, 2001, 13:52

Another thing to do, is go into rules.txt, and go to the setting "first unhappiness at chieftan level". Change it to 26 or so. there shouldn't be any serious unhappiness problems in the game. play at any level you want. the AI still gets tough, but the unhappiness isn't a problem...
Haven't actually tried this myself. might become kind of boring, since happiness wonders no longer pack the same punch.

Father Beast · May 16, 2001, 13:55

Another thing is to change the "first unhappiness" factor to 2, ands play at chieftan with deity level unhappiness. WARNING: the AI will be more upset by this than you are. I'm told happiness wonders become unbelievably powerful.

jake03 · May 17, 2001, 07:38

[quote]Originally posted by Father Beast on 05-16-2001 01:49 PM
Since I am something of a crappy player, I come up with these "cheater Strategies" to play at high levels and make it somewhat interesting.

Thank You!

Finally a post by an average Player. I was begining to think I was the only one who fould this game difficult. And I agree if I pay for the game I set it up to be entertaining not frusrtating, although I do not always succeed.

Marquis de Sodaq · May 17, 2001, 08:54

Yes, that blasted AI is virtually immune to barbarians, no matter what the odds. Where the AI rifleman came from - different techs trigger what units can be found in huts. If you had all techs, then that rifleman probably came from a hut. Imagine, a rifle packing minor tribe was sufficiently impressed with the AI warrior to want to go mercenary.

I like the idea of barbarian wrath - they might actually end up with several cities, making them a true factor in the game. Does it work with other settings being normal?

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"There is no fortress impregnable to an ass laden with gold."
-Philip of Macedon

Julius Brenzaida · May 18, 2001, 04:48

[quote]Originally posted by Marquis de Sodaq on 05-17-2001 08:54 AM
I like the idea of barbarian wrath - they might actually end up with several cities, making them a true factor in the game. Does it work with other settings being normal?
/quote]

Up to my knowledge, it does. But remember that because of the AI vs Barbarains cheat, most of the red cities will come from your empire ... Fun to play, though !

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Oh Man, when will you understand that your greatness lies in your failure - Goethe