Epic6 - Sina's Report

[Sina]

Ok, I officially can't count. I thought Epic 6 would close next Monday and haven't written a report yet. I don't really have time either right now.

So I can just put up a short summary and hopefully add some screenshots tomorrow. I took plenty this time.

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Conquest in 1844AD
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Epic 6 was my first AW game and I had no real idea what to expect.
The starting position looked nice, so I settled in place and started on a warrior. Archery was first to be researched.

My early research order was Archery -> AH -> Agri -> BW -> Wheel -> Pottery. I built a worker right after the first warrior and then went straight onto Archers. In the meantime my scout scouted and met nobody for a long time. The first war declaration occured in 3100BC (Toku). He for sure had to go before the age of Samurais.

In 2860BC I met Ghandi. He should be an easy target.
Nothing much was happening until 2170BC when my first Settler was finished.
He founded Hamburg next to the copper.
(Screenshot later)
It would become commerce heaven.

I went ahead with my proposed research plan and Pottery was researched in 1810BC. As I didn't have any experience with AW and didn't know when to expect attack stacks from the AI, I decided that I wanted Longbows as soon as possible. Therefore research went towards Monarchy. HR would be the best civic for the early wars.

Gandhi made the first war effort in 1810BC as well. He sent a stack with warriors (3) to pillage my copper and take Hamburg. He didn't manage either though. I had 3 Archers in and around Hamburg.

In 1330 BC Munich is founded and I can't recollect the exact spot now. It was on the river W of Hamburg as a forward city towards Gandhi. He would be my first target. Munich claimed the Horses.
(Screenshot later)

Unfortunately, Bombay is on a hill (by the incense) and I decide against trying to take it with Axes. Those hammers are better spent on another Settler and a Library.

Cologne is founded (865BC) south of Berlin to claim the other horses, sheep, spices and whale.

My scouting Axe finds Tokyo in 790BC and it is only guarded by an Archer and a Warrior. I attack and kill the Archer, but the Axe is quite injured now. Further combat will have to wait a bit.

Oh, I went for Stonehenge eventually and get it in 775BC.

In 625BC I attack Tokyo again, now with two Axes, and raze it.

I research Monarchy in 580BC and finish the Oracle next turn. I take Feudalism with it. I don't know if it's a good idea or not. I revolt to HR and Vasselage.

Not many notes for the next century. Apparently, things went well and I build up an attack force for India. I should have screenshots for this as well.
I take Bombay in 55BC and keep it. My advancement on Delhi was severely hindered by Alex and Gandhi sending units to attack Bombay, but it couldn't stop my mighty army. Delhi is mine in 305AD. I already have a Prophet waiting for it. (Gandhi founded Hinduism and Judaism).

I start seeing more and more AI stacks from now on. So far, I can keep up with them.

I get a source of gems in Berlin in 455AD. In the same year Gandhi hands his resignation in. His last city, Madras, is razed.

Now I need to get some order into my defenses and my economy.
Research goes towards CoL and Literature (Confucianism is founded in Hamburg, I believe).

I get A LOT OF attacks at Delhi. I have already read a few reports and nobody else had that many attacks. The AIs would bring mixed stacks with up to 15 units! I'm really glad that I did go for Feudalism. I got a LB in there early and he saved the day.
(Screens later)

Delhi was under heavy fire up until 1100AD and I couldn't build anything there or in/around Bombay. My other cities suffered as well as they had to build military most of the time. I don't know why this went so differently for me and i got some real resistance from the AIs. My luck?

The highlight was apparently the year 1247. That turn there were altogether 34 units attacking Delhi. No wonder I got a 80xp LB....

I didn't get a chance to go on the offensive again before 1340AD. Then it was all out on the Japanese with Maces, Cats, Pikes and soon Knights.
I raze 6 cities in the next 100 years.

The year 1502 arrives and instead of the planned Conquest Victory, I'm still only razing Japanese cities. I have 7 cities on my own. That won't win me a prize.

In 1523AD I don't really want to keep on with this game anymore. I lose a battle at 99.4% odds. That can't be possible!!! This wasn't the first mid-90% battle lost and it really annoys me.

I take a longer break from the game, but ultimately decide to finish it. It is won already.

I basically just went for war from here on. Razing cities where I find them. It's bloody, very bloody.
Toku goes down in 1613AD and Saladin in 1688AD.
Research on Chemistry finishes in 1732AD and many CR3 Maces are upgraded.

I lose another unit at 99% odds in 1813AD. That is just disgusting!

The game got very boring in the end. I have 2 stacks running around razing cities and won't need any more. I don't think AW is a game for me.
I conquer all other civs in short succession and win a conquest victory in 1844AD.

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I think playing this game was a bad idea for me. It burned me out. I'm a builder and usually go for Space or Culture victories. I don't like fighting all the time at all.

Add to that my experience with the combat odds and you might understand why I am really fed up now. How can it be possible to lose highly promoted units at 99% odds?

I'll play Epic 8, but think that was it CIV wise for me for a while.

[Rik Meleet]

15 units? 34 units? 80 XP defending longbows ?? WTF went so differently in your game?

[regoarrarr]

I had a lot of activity at Delhi too - but not as much as you. I also had multiple losses at 99+%. Like I said in my thread, the RNG giveth and the RNG taketh away... :-)

Not that it makes it any less frustrating I know

[Sina]

I don't have time to process and upload the screenshots right now, so here is just one. This is how it typically looked around Delhi. The AIs would come with such an amount of forces every few turns.

http://img239.imageshack.us/img239/9300/...024aw5.jpg

I have no idea why it went like that in my game. I guess it's just my luck and that the game knows that I would prefer peace.

[Sullla]

Wow, sorry to hear you got bogged down in the engame here. That can definitely happen with dozens and dozens of units moving around on the map. As far as why the AIs were stronger in your game, it's difficult to say without more info. It may even have been a particularly unlucky break to have tons of them show up at the same time by coincidence. I'm sure there was some reason for it, but like I said, we'd probably need more comparitive info to figure it out.

I lose a battle at 99.4% odds. That can't be possible!!! This wasn't the first mid-90% battle lost and it really annoys me.

Quite a few people griping about the dice luck in the threads I've read... A 99.4% battle means exactly that - the unit wins 994 out of 1000 times. However, that does not mean that it's impossible to lose. With so many battles going on, you're much more likely to see the improbable combat results in an Always War game than elsewhere, just because of sample size.

Unless it's in a critical situation (like, your defending archer loses at 99.4% odds and your capital falls) it's probably best to just go with the flow and not worry about it. You might get one or two bad rolls in Civ4, but that's a world of difference from Civ3 (where a patch of bad luck could take out an entire army - no joke!)

[T-hawk]

What Sulla said. You should lose one out of every ten 90% battles, by definition. It's just that human nature is to remember the exceptions, not the common cases. In my game, I wasn't mad or feeling screwed by the RNG at all, just pointing out the few exceptions where it did go against me. My one-out-of-twenty chance on a 95% fight just happened to come in my very first fight, when it was eminently visible and annoying.

[Sina]

Don't understand me wrong, I had fun playing the game until the middle ages. It was exciting to see if I could hold this or that position and what the AI would do.

Then the game got tedious and boring when I started to attack again. It was clear then, that I would mop up easily. I normally stop playing when the victory is in the clear. I don't finish a lot of games that would end in conquest or domination.

I know that I'm supposed to lose some of the 90% fights and that's not surprising, but 99%? I never win anything at 0.4%. The annoyance about that just added to my already annoyed feeling.

Sorry if I sounded too negative. That was not my intention. It's just that AW is sure nothing for me. I just don't like moving lots of stuff around.

I'm sure I'll be back with renewed interest and patience in a while, but right now, I'm burned out.
Back to Diablo2 for a while.

[abgg118]

I also lost a 50XP unit with 99.5% odds. It feels really unfair, but that's exactly what "probability" is. It may mean you will win 995 out of 1000, but those 5 losses have to happen some time ...But I understand, it's just soooo frustrating when it happens, especially if you happen to fall victim to more than one such "exception" ...