I finally got around to picking up the Civ Chronicles boxed set. If you're like me, and didn't discover Civ until Civ III, you won't be disappointed. Its so cool discovering how the original Civ was 90% gameplay, 10% graphics. It also reminds you what programs looked and acted like at the birth our good friend, the personal computer. I'm playing a space race game from each version of the game, in chron order, just to see the overall evolution of the series. I'm actually gaining a better understanding of irrigating tiles and balancing food with production, and getting that from the older games! The city screen in Civ IV makes so much more sense to me now.

So even though I already own Civ III and IV, this was the best game I've purchased in a long time. I figure its my small way of supporting the enablers of my civaddiction. Check it out.

(And "no," I am not a Firaxis employee, although I play one on TV.)

Hey guys, I just found out about your tournament and I still can't believe you this thing even exists!

MOO is one of my favorite games, and is easily the best TBS ever made.

Anyway, even though I love MOO I'm probably not good enough to face you guys in a tournament, but I do know someone who is.

My father has been playing MOO regularly since the day it came out, it's pretty much the only game he ever plays. He'll only play on impossible, and will only play as human (as according to him, all the other races make the game 'too easy'), he also doesn’t bother saving, and can sometimes finish games in under an hour; two hours at most. Watching him play is sick, he has it down to a reflex, the game seems like it's engraved into his muscle memory. He never stops to think... always just *click, click, click* until he wins. It's like he's playing a game of solitaire, and not a game that actually needs thought or effort. He wins literally every game of MOO he plays, and I've always thought that he must be the best Master of Orion player in the world. I'll see if I can send him your way, may God have mercy on your souls

Also, do you guys think there is a way to do multiplayer MOO, like send a save game back and forth, with each player controlling a different race? Now *that* would be cool, and for someone who literally knows the AI in and out like my dad, could pose a new challenge.

Be seeing ya!

Anyone else find Zehtuka's items?

So far I've heard mention of a horn, keg, bag, and shortbow. The keg is a one use item that works like any alcohol type item. The bag can replace one of your bag's in your inventory, has 10 storage slots and cannot be upgraded by a rune of holding.

And here's his shortbow that I just found. And I added the ebon mod on it because I was running out of room when I found it. 8)

KingOfPain Wrote:What about a list of NF elite skills location/boss you guys have come across so far, in a new thread? Save most of us having to spend too much time surfing the net.

• Faveo Aggredior - Nightfallen Jahai
  

• Hanchor Trueblade - Holdings of Chokhin
  

• Major Jeahr - Dejarin Estate
  

• Shiloh [Hero Trainer] - Sunspear Great Hall
  
• Achor the Bladed - Crystal Overlook
  

• Ravager of Dreams - Depths of Madness
  

• Chimor The Lightblooded - Nightfallen Jahai (Marked with red X)
  

• Ardeh The Quick - Joko's Domain
  

• Lunto Sharpfoot - Marga Coast
  

• Jarimiya the Unmerciful - Vehtendi Valley
  

Question: must one have a state religion in order to benefit from wonders like the Spiral Minaret and (in Warlords) the University of Sankore?
(I've been assuming that this is so, but I want to make sure.)
In advance, thanks.

I'm not sure how many of you have purchased Civ Chronicles, and I'm not sure how many of you have read Soren's article. I haven't finished it all the way through, but it was cool to see the mention of RB, Sirian and Sullla. For more, go here. Its a very good read.

Hi people! I'm Sandra, from Singapore, and I'm 18 y.o, it's pleasure to join http://www.realmsbeyond.net and have a discussion with your community. I am new english learner. so, please apologize my bad english

I think it is. The limiting factor was supposed to be the happyness cap. This trick allows you to get around it for free. I think that without it slavery would be balanced or maybe even underpowered.

The only way to fix the overpowerness this is to make slavery very bad unless you use the 2-pop whip trick or fix the 2-pop whip trick. I would fix the 2-pop whip trick by not making slavery hammers overflow. This would screw over the casual player but it will make no difference to his gameplay or fun level. The two-pop whip trick is sooo clear that even he is aware of it. I saw it on my first game without even trying. Wasting hammers and failing to get hammers feels the same after awhile unless your a roleplayer. Only a few casual players are role players. If the causal player is not willing to mirco he will resign himself to wasting hammers or failing to bet hammers and feel the same way. If he is into mirco he will mirco ether way. The same goes for hard core players. So both systems use the same mirco everyone but one breaks the game and the other does not...

Lastly, RB better do something otherwise games will turn into who can slave his citys better. That's unfun. It can start by banning slavery or the 2 pop whip trick. If anything thing is broken in this game and should be banned this is it.

Hi all, I've come a bit late for this, but it doesn't make that much of a difference, since I retired around 1800 AD, knowing two things: 1. I'd have gained full control over the big lake in some turns; 2. I'd have lost the game.

Long story short, I tried to expand as much as possible early on around the lake, managaed to make friends with Genghis, then he was slaughtered by Frederick and I made friends with Cathy and signed a DP. Then Izzy attacked me as soon as I had gone to free religion and conquered one of my cities. It wasn't enough to steal the water tiles there, as my culture from the other cities was predominant, but I stopped there.

This game felt a LOT harder than a prince game, basically because of the shape of the terrain and the lack of happiness. I had barely enough commerce to keep up, but too few cities to compete in a war. I managed a blitz against Frederick, but that was it.

The full report is mostly written, I'll put it online in some days if I get the chance.

I didn't finish, so I'll give the executive summary of my game.

I was not fond of the starting location: everything was forested (I had forest growth cover the one unforested square), and the combination of the lake and the arctic location meant that it was impossible to found cities close to the capital for low upkeep. As it was, I built my first two cities on the land, at positions reasonably close to Paris. I think this was a mistake: there was much better land across the lake, and resources that I should have had sooner.

I emphasized industrious with a hard play for wonders. Unfortunately, I don't think I emphasized the one I should have prioritized most: the Pyramids. I did get Stonehenge, the Oracle (for Metal Casting; I wanted the Colossus and early forges), and the Great Lighthouse in the BC era. I later picked up the Colossus (without copper), the Hanging Gardens, and the Sistine Chapel (with a lucky great engineer from Paris). Catherine beat me to the Great Library by one turn in 1070 AD, though.

The most annoying aspect of the game was the diplomacy. Isabella founded Buddhism and Saladin Hinduism. Because she was on one of the rivers that flowed into my sea, Buddhism quickly spread to all my cities, with almost no effort on my part. Good, right? Not hardly. Catherine, Saladin, and Huayna were all Hindu, and I had to kill Isabella, Frederick, and Ghengis because of their proximity to my rivers and sea. Meanwhile, Ghengis founded no fewer than three different religions and was Confucian. I wanted to make allies with the civs who weren't adjacent to the lakes and rivers, but this forced me into atheism and made Isabella angry at me for not converting. By the time I ran out of time, Isabella was obviously planning to sneak attack me; I'd had an assault planned against Ghengis, but hadn't executed it and needed to redirect all my troops for a war against Isabella.

I'd managed to claw my way into a tech near-lead by the time I stopped, with only Frederick having techs I didn't (and I had a few expensive techs he didn't). With the Spanish war looming and somewhat annoyed at my lack of progress, I didn't have the time or the motivation to finish. While my opening wasn't that bad, I think I lost focus in the early part of the midgame: I couldn't settle on a diplomatic strategy that worked, I was too wary of the aggressive AIs to go for a land rush, I didn't set up my techs or production right for an early war, and when I did militarize, I didn't pull the trigger soon enough. The result was a scattered, haphazard approach that didn't work, especially since it was clear that Catherine was turning into a monster in the midgame from the Fin/Cre combination and lack of adjacent enemies. When Catherine grabbed the Library, I decided that was a reasonable ending point, since pulling out the victory at that point would have required lots of effort to recover from my previous mistakes.