DISCLAIMER: LONG first post:
First, some background . . .
I've been down with Civ since day one, but always remained at a novice, "princely" level throughout my 'career' (if you could call it that) ~ even now, i only consistently win on noble via time victories 90-95% of the time ~ unacceptable to me.
It's only been over the past week or so (literally) that i've come to see the more strategic, chess-like, aspects to the game and have come to a MUCH deeper appreciation of it in many regards. Now, ideas like 'strong/weak cities' or 'an agressive city' actually MEAN something to me, and I can see how these things all affect game play. well, DUH you may say
What changed my understanding was the reports on this board, first found via sullla's walkthrough. Once i read that, i was 'hooked' as it were. I went through all his records there, and followed the links (where i continued to devour records, like a civ locust going from website to website). So, by the time i came to the forums, here, i had a pretty good (PRET-TY, PRET-TY good) inkling of the Epic 1 game and the Extreme Azteskimo Adventure game. So, before i had skimmed through only 1 or 2 reports of Adv 1, i decided to take on the warlord 'challenge' just to prove my mettle, as it were
(rather than ranting, I believe this smiley is praying feverishly)
So, keeping my cheating in mind (in that i had some information about the layout and such), my results were:
Diplomatic Victory (backdoor Domination really)
1872 AD
Score: 21865
Game Score: 5076
Herewith are my Meditations on RBCiv Adventures 1:
During the initial exploration, as London built a warrior, i came upon Isabella. Here was my most flaggerent cheating offense. As Izzy's warrior moved east, i declared and sacked her city. Now, i must say, that i don't think that i'd've EVER thought of that move on my own, though now it seems perfectly logical enough (if their first warrior is exploring, of COURSE nobody's home).
I built a scout or two, an archer perhaps, explored, met the others and founded York on the ruins of the Spanish 'empire'. I nabbed Judaism shortly thereafter, and began spreading the faith as well as my English progeny. City 3 went btwn the horse and wine, on the outlying grassland north of London. City 4 nabbed the copper, deer and sheep southwest of it. I built up my cities and my infrastructure, spread Judaism (Frederick and Peter converted; only Asoka remained ~ a Hindu). I built two cities on the northern peninsula that: one in the east to act as a canal and nab the wheat, the other in the west to grab the iron and the fish.
I got both Fred and Pete to declare on the infidel Asoka, and, shortly thereafter, Fred asked for help. I obliged, deciding that instead of having a core of a few, strong cities to settle the new world and win by space, i would move for domination. I quickly took out Asoka, leaving him wiht only one city on the small island lying north (almost, the 'England' of this 'old world'). [ed. note: now, after the fact, i see that i should've used my army to go after fred or peter (prob. Fred=only 4 cities) in order to secure the domination, but "say lavey"
]
So, with half of the Old World mine, I set off for the New, not minding the smaller islands to the north. Found a city on the island halfway btwn the continents, sacked one barb (took me several days to realize barb meant was short for barbarian ~ i thought it was the real world 'barb' ) city in the north, two more in the north over the course of my settlement. Once i had 99% of the New World done, I still had only about 61% of the land.
D'oh!!
Not wanting to take the time to settle the northern islands, i build the united nations (though now i realize that, for time and scoring purposes, i should've dropped sci to buy the UN faster, but . . .) Got the diplo. victory in 1872, w/Freddie voting for me and Pete being the other candidate (but i didn't need any other votes anyway).
Conclusion: Well, i cheated, so that skews things a bit to say the least. Even still, being that i consider myself a seriously weak and 'thoughtless' player (or at least I was), i was proud of my win ~ a win on warlord is betting than a Time on Noble, at least for last night it was.
So, i'm off to play Epic 1 and Adv 2, even though I know the scenarios inside and out at this point. a)it IS random to some degree, so my game won't be exactly the same as the others, and b)on Noble (and esp. Monarch levels) i need all the help i can get.
First, some background . . .
I've been down with Civ since day one, but always remained at a novice, "princely" level throughout my 'career' (if you could call it that) ~ even now, i only consistently win on noble via time victories 90-95% of the time ~ unacceptable to me.
It's only been over the past week or so (literally) that i've come to see the more strategic, chess-like, aspects to the game and have come to a MUCH deeper appreciation of it in many regards. Now, ideas like 'strong/weak cities' or 'an agressive city' actually MEAN something to me, and I can see how these things all affect game play. well, DUH you may say
What changed my understanding was the reports on this board, first found via sullla's walkthrough. Once i read that, i was 'hooked' as it were. I went through all his records there, and followed the links (where i continued to devour records, like a civ locust going from website to website). So, by the time i came to the forums, here, i had a pretty good (PRET-TY, PRET-TY good) inkling of the Epic 1 game and the Extreme Azteskimo Adventure game. So, before i had skimmed through only 1 or 2 reports of Adv 1, i decided to take on the warlord 'challenge' just to prove my mettle, as it were
(rather than ranting, I believe this smiley is praying feverishly)So, keeping my cheating in mind (in that i had some information about the layout and such), my results were:
Diplomatic Victory (backdoor Domination really)
1872 AD
Score: 21865
Game Score: 5076
Herewith are my Meditations on RBCiv Adventures 1:
During the initial exploration, as London built a warrior, i came upon Isabella. Here was my most flaggerent cheating offense. As Izzy's warrior moved east, i declared and sacked her city. Now, i must say, that i don't think that i'd've EVER thought of that move on my own, though now it seems perfectly logical enough (if their first warrior is exploring, of COURSE nobody's home).
I built a scout or two, an archer perhaps, explored, met the others and founded York on the ruins of the Spanish 'empire'. I nabbed Judaism shortly thereafter, and began spreading the faith as well as my English progeny. City 3 went btwn the horse and wine, on the outlying grassland north of London. City 4 nabbed the copper, deer and sheep southwest of it. I built up my cities and my infrastructure, spread Judaism (Frederick and Peter converted; only Asoka remained ~ a Hindu). I built two cities on the northern peninsula that: one in the east to act as a canal and nab the wheat, the other in the west to grab the iron and the fish.
I got both Fred and Pete to declare on the infidel Asoka, and, shortly thereafter, Fred asked for help. I obliged, deciding that instead of having a core of a few, strong cities to settle the new world and win by space, i would move for domination. I quickly took out Asoka, leaving him wiht only one city on the small island lying north (almost, the 'England' of this 'old world'). [ed. note: now, after the fact, i see that i should've used my army to go after fred or peter (prob. Fred=only 4 cities) in order to secure the domination, but "say lavey"
]So, with half of the Old World mine, I set off for the New, not minding the smaller islands to the north. Found a city on the island halfway btwn the continents, sacked one barb (took me several days to realize barb meant was short for barbarian ~ i thought it was the real world 'barb'
) city in the north, two more in the north over the course of my settlement. Once i had 99% of the New World done, I still had only about 61% of the land. D'oh!!
Not wanting to take the time to settle the northern islands, i build the united nations (though now i realize that, for time and scoring purposes, i should've dropped sci to buy the UN faster, but . . .) Got the diplo. victory in 1872, w/Freddie voting for me and Pete being the other candidate (but i didn't need any other votes anyway).
Conclusion: Well, i cheated, so that skews things a bit to say the least. Even still, being that i consider myself a seriously weak and 'thoughtless' player (or at least I was), i was proud of my win ~ a win on warlord is betting than a Time on Noble, at least for last night it was.
So, i'm off to play Epic 1 and Adv 2, even though I know the scenarios inside and out at this point. a)it IS random to some degree, so my game won't be exactly the same as the others, and b)on Noble (and esp. Monarch levels) i need all the help i can get.