Well I'll go to the foot of my stairs

[Drasca]

pick Rome to win you an Archi game (where Washington/Qin Shi Huang are far better)?

Different civs excel in different situations. Rome's forte is winning land wars against AI. Praetorians are strong no doubt about it (playing Rome/Pangaea as my first game on Emperor certainly gave me an, um, twisted view on the difficulty level). But difficulty isn;'t just dependent on the difficulty level but all those other customizable settings. If I played Caesar on Islands I'd probably get my tail kicked.

I agree with you on the customized difficulty settings. However, you'd likely win with Roman Legions by Mediterranean galley on a water map where seas are low enough, or island chains great enough to pull a Veni Vidi Vici, to scout and conquer all around you. Consider this, the AI is restricted by sea, and the necessity of building roads for fast travel is no longer the case. Galleys give Legions 2 movement and bypass most terrain difficulties and enemy defensive road advantage. Add the fact JC is expansive and organized for fast granaries, lighthouses and courthouses--all important on water maps--and you'll have a winning combination.

[Coolhand]

I can't understand the attraction to using exploits; replaying the same approach, map, civ, strategy every game; cherry picking your enemies to fit your strategy; turning off the barbs; or milking the game with boring repetitive non-quickest victory seeking approaches. Where is the fun? It is like cheating with Worldbuilder, reloading if something doesn't go your way, or quitting the game if you get a poor start.

One of the reasons I joined here is I liked the approach shown in the SG games. That is how I play too (just not as well).

I have just won my first two nobel games and I was pumped! The second one was as random as I could get it, and I only beat Cyrus to space by like 10 turns (we were neck in neck and he had a higher score and bigger military and land mass- but my piece loving, religion collecting mighty Indian scientists came through in the end!).

Heck I play Random 75%+ percent of the time. I just wish you could do a true random draw. Random Civ, Size, Map, everything completely random. Just select "Play Now", your difficulty and the "Complete Random Game" selection and start. That way you would have no idea what was coming, what map you were getting ect. Heck you could even make the Era random.

On higher difficulties, raging barbs, always war and other variables could be randomized and announced at the start of the game. Sure make the first 30 turn more interesting!

[Atlas]

Heck I play Random 75%+ percent of the time. I just wish you could do a true random draw. Random Civ, Size, Map, everything completely random. Just select "Play Now", your difficulty and the "Complete Random Game" selection and start. That way you would have no idea what was coming, what map you were getting ect. Heck you could even make the Era random.

On higher difficulties, raging barbs, always war and other variables could be randomized and announced at the start of the game. Sure make the first 30 turn more interesting!

I like the way you think!! More random!

ps. I do like the random personalities. I started turning that on all the time and now I don't cringe when I see Mansa or Monty You sort of start from scratch with each of the other civs. It is a big advantage to the human to know that Izzy is going to go nuts about religion and that Hatty will be your friend even if you aren't hers.