I know this has been beat to death for *decades* now, but it's been about 15 years since i played MOO2 and it seems quite different than what I remember.
It seems to me there are fairly optimized Pick configurations:
At least this is what I do best with. I really like the Silicoids. A big advantage of Silicoids is that by doing away with Food and Waste, you eliminate the need for many techs, so not being Creative isn't much of a sacrifice.
As for the Creative configuration, it seems to me that -Population growth isn't a big factor, because you can quickly get Cloning Centers anyway, and just build those. Combined with building Housing, you can grow plenty fast enough, even with Subterranean. Subterranean is superior to almost any other economic bonus because more population is more valuable than added status to population. It is a little slower start than if you take +Industry or Rich/Artifact Home world, but not terribly so, and it hits like a truck by the mid-game. I'd always pick Subterranean over +Industry/Food/Science. More pop = better all around.
I will be on vacation October 12-19. Would someone be able to cover turns for those dates? I will leave instructions is thread, and will be available on the forum to respond to anything that comes up while I'm away.
This is a project several years in the making. The idea is simple: the outcome of AI Survivor games is often influenced by the map and by diplomacy. What if we took these factors out of the equation? Could we run a competition where AIs faced each other in 1-on-1 games on mirrored maps? And if we did, who would come out on top?
The biggest challenge is how big such a contest would be. If I were to simply throw all leaders in a single elimination bracket, it would take 51 games to decide a winner, but it would be a competition heavily affected by bracket luck and fluke AI decisions. Once I start looking at structures which reduce randomness (double elimination, best-of-3 matches), the number of needed games quickly goes past 100 - and of course, it's not just a matter of playing out 100+ games, but also reporting them. That's what Sulla pointed out when I talked to him about this idea a few years ago, and that's why I ended up putting it off
Well, seeing how interest in Civ4 isn't declining, and Civ4 AI Survivor is going strong as ever, I think now is a good time to come back to this idea. I had plenty of time to think about how much effort it would take, and am certain I will be able to play out this contest without abandoning it
With this in mind, there are two questions I'd like to ask:
The big one - Do you guys find this interesting? If I were to go ahead with this project, would you follow?
The less big one - I would like a QoL mod/script to make running the games easier. I have a detailed tech spec in mind, but the biggest change I would need is to automatically end player turns, so that pressing Enter every turn is not necessary. I would need to be able to look around the map during AI turns, and have certain triggers to stop autoplay. I'm completely unfamiliar with Civ4 modding, so would someone be willing to help me with this?
I played a game where I got isolated start but good 2nd planet and OK 3d planet, everything being 7 parsecs away. Unfortunately final war was triggered just as I got fusion beams and propulsion to start expanding.
I think it's interesting game, so I'm attaching a save - unfortunately I don't have final save. There are transports heading to silicoid planet next turn which you can most likely take if you bomb before landing.
Problem is holding planet and expanding. Is there an ace who can win this here?
Holy Arms seems a bit underpowered for a very rare.
It's just +1 to hit on normal units, but not those with chaos channels and I don't think undead units (not sure on that though).
It also replaces rather than combines with Holy Weapon that will almost certainly be available to wizards with Holy Arms, so it doesn't improve your best units.
Also it can be dispelled in battle I think.
Compare to Survival instinct which although it doesn't work on normal units, it works on units with chaos channels and undead and the bonus is so much better +1 to hit, +2 resistance and +1 defence and stacks with everything else and cannot be dispelled.
It's also just a rare spell as well compared to a very rare for Holy Arms.
I would suggest changing Holy Arms to work on all units not just normal ones as a +1 to hit and be able to stack with Holy Weapon if you have it. Perhaps the name would need to be changed though.
I've never been able to come up with a good Democracy build for MOO2. I just don't get it. I can't figure out why Its got 7 points either.
It seems to me that if you take Democracy it also forces you to need Creative in order to cover the spying deficiency. But getting Democracy and Creative is not easy without taking Repulsive. But taking repulsive seems to undercut a major aspect of Democracy, which is trade.
I like the concept, of a build that's high on research and income so that you rely on buying a lot of your production instead of working for it, but its just doesn't seem to work out well.
The best I've come up with is:
- Defense (-2)
- Attack (-2)
- Combat (-2)
Democracy (7)
Creative (8)
Large Home World (1)
The thought being that Creative will make up for the other weaknesses. I've played it a couple of times, but both were bad games in general, bad setups, etc.
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Baldur's Gate Solo Attempt Part 1: Figuring Out Dungeons and Dragons Mechanics
Don't know how far I'll get with this character, but I needed a break from Xenoblade for a bit. This is the Switch version with Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 (Enhanced Editions) on the same cartridge. One of its control schemes works well with a joystick, in case you're wondering how old PC RPGs would function on a console.
I didn't make HERMAN blind, as I did look up some character creation advice on Reddit and GameFAQs. Reloading IS allowed, because only masochists play with permadeath in a regular RPG. You'll know why once I start recounting battles.
HERMAN was born with a suspiciously Gnome like portrait for a Human. He was called to be a Priest of Helm, mainly because he wanted that kit's special abilities that a regular Cleric couldn't have. His starting stats looked like this:
STR: 17
DEX: 12
CON: 16
INT: 12
WIS: 18
CHA: 10
WIS is the main stat for Priest spells. Dungeons and Dragons Clerics don't seem to be waifs like Final Fantasy White Mages, and function like weaker Fighters with healing and support spells. Clerics "memorize" spells, but automatically learn them instead of having to find them. STR and CON for damage and HP make sense in this context. I would have liked higher DEX, but an 85 roll only goes so far.
HERMAN lived in the castle town of Candlekeep with monks for his whole life, at least until random people started attacking him. Such as Carbos, who said "I deliver your skull and I'm set for life". HERMAN instead handed his head to him with a Seeking Sword slash. Seeking Sword is a special Priest of Helm ability that temporarily gives the caster a +4 sword with a -4 THAC0 bonus that deals 2d4 damage and allows 3 attacks per round.
Since he was always a loner, as soon as HERMAN heard "Heya! It's me, Imoen!", he sauntered in the opposite direction. He had to deal with a Wolf and Diseased Gibberlings if I remember correctly. Cure Light Wounds for HP recovery and Sanctuary to make enemies ignore the caster were the go-to spells. (Though Diseased Gibberlings are easy enough that even Level 1 characters shouldn't be afraid. . .)
At the Friendly Arm Inn, a wizard named Tarnesh greeted him. . .with a Mirror Image. It seems the "never trust wizards" rule applies to Baldur's Gate as well as every other work of fantasy fiction. But HERMAN had another Priest of Helm trick to dispel the illusions: True Sight. This didn't prevent Horror from making HERMAN Panic and run away while an anonymous Guard slashed Tarnesh to death for 6 damage.
HERMAN retrieved Joia's Flamedance Ring by battling Hobgoblins on the north side of the Friendly Arm Inn. Combat with them looked like both sides whiffing melee attacks until someone quickly died. Baldur's Gate and Xenoblade may both be real-time combat systems with auto-attacks followed by occasional special moves, but their mechanics are different. Baldur's Gate seems to prefer low accuracy (at least at the beginning), while Xenoblade drags out its battles by giving its enemies excessive HP.
Baldur's Gate reminds me of the old Fallout games when traveling between areas. Especially the ambushes. HERMAN once died to being surrounded by Bandits. Tell me why ANYONE would want to play this game without reloading a save when there's a significant amount of luck involved?
The town of Beregost featured a scene where a wizard and his henchmen accosted Neera the Wild Mage. Neera used her best "damsel in distress" voice to persuade the Lawful Neutral HERMAN to help. She remarked on my solo status by saying "Now, where are the rest of your men hiding? I'll be honest, I was betting on you having a legion of soldiers, because you'll need it, and-OH GOODNESS, THEY'RE HERE".
HERMAN was suspicious of all mages, and those with unpredictable magic in particular. True Sight was necessary to dispel the Thayan Wizard's Mirror Image. In one failed attempt, Neera heedlessly sent a 6 damage
Burning Hands at my character.
There was no time to brandish Seeking Sword, so HERMAN chased the Thayan Wizard into a corner and bludgeoned him to death with his Mace. This wasn't due to tactical planning; the AI was just that good. Neera's Magic Missle blasted one Thayan Bodyguard for 4 damage. Neera protested that she would "die in the wilderness", but HERMAN had no patience for prospective companions.
After that debacle, HERMAN entered an inn and talked down Marl from attacking him by offering to toast his adventurer son's memory. Didn't know that was a possible resolution to the quest, but hey, he got 900 experience from it and leveled to 2! Even in a D&D game, it seems talking to NPCs can be worth more experience than murdering them.
One quest, Landrin's Possessions's, required that HERMAN kill 4 spiders in a house and brink back wine and a shoe. He of course stood no chance against all of them at once. But with some save scumming, he lured one out and hacked it apart with Seeking Sword. Resting at the inn proved that the spider stayed dead, so he did it again. Cure Light Wounds ensured survival against one of the spiders. Each spider yielded substantial experience since Baldur's Gate uses a "split experience" formula, like other RPGs such as Dragon Quest 3.
Level 3 at the end of the 1st update? How long before HERMAN reaches the Baldur's Gate 1 cap of 10?
