get started with FFH/EitB?

[Miguelito]

Well I've never played the mod, but from the PBEM reports it looks like fun, although I don't understand most of what people are talking about

Right now I'm looking more for a single player experience, so I'd like to ask the veterans what would be nice to begin with. FFH2 or a modmod (I guess EitB is more aimed at MP)? Also I fancy a nice scenario (or campaign?), moreso if there's a good story in it.
thanks inadvance

[Kragroth]

Eitb is supposed to help balance which also helps mp.

Vanilla FFH should be fine. When you get more experienced, you could add Tholal's modmod on top of it Or play eitb for some more competent ai.

FFH comes with a set of scenarios. They are ok and will certainly take up a lot of your time if you want to try to beat them.

I would recommend starting up a standard game on a standard or larger map and play multiple games with multiple civs to get a feel.

[Miguelito]

Thanks!
so Tholal's mod is about improved AI, and that is included in EitB as well? I'd rather play against "smart" AI from the start, on lower difficulty

[Kragroth]

Then I'd say avoid a pure vanilla FFH game You should still be able to play the FFH scenarios with a different mod and enjoy that aspect if its your fancy.

[Qgqqqqq]

EitB includes some, but not all of Tholals changes. Basically, everything up until he threw BUG into the mix.

Personally, my recommendation for new players is always the same - take Arendal Phaedra on any normalish map. SPI/CRE allowing you to try new things, focused tech path as elves (early worker stuff->FoL), economy similar to BTS (cottages!) and lack of punishment for not grabbing lots of land (massive late game cities). Basically, a setup that lets you play around a bit and sample everything.


I strongly recommend EitB as well, as I feel a lot of its changes are helpful to newcomers (less prohibitive tech costs, cottage economy actually workable, more civs competitive, and so on), but it's up to you. After all, few of us started on a modmod initially


Standard scenarios are all good fun. Otherwise, there's a few on this forum that you can try and download. Fair warning -most of them were based on older versions of the game, and it can be hard to get them working. PM me (or Bobchillingworth) if you need any help with that (I have most of them saved somewhere).

[Bobchillingworth]

Hmm... that's the second or third person to comment on wanting to play a FFH adventure this month- might be about time to finally run a new one

[Kragroth]

Hmm... that's the second or third person to comment on wanting to play a FFH adventure this month- might be about time to finally run a new one

I'd certainly be up for an up to date challenge

[Miguelito]

So I played my first game yesterday (not finished), and some questions to the vets:
- I think I saw people playing worker first openings in the PBEMs, yet when I tried that I would always get eaten by the barbs, sometimes before the wokrer finished, but certainly before the first warrior came out
- is it smart play to explore barrows/ruins/dungeons with the initial scouts? They seemed often not to survive it, and the bonuses you get are better on real units, otoh if I don't, more barbarians spawn close to my capital...
- why is cottaging in general unviable? With those elves and 3/1/1 base tiles (ancinet forests) it certainly is fun, but how do other civs generate commerce if not by working tiles?

[Mardoc]

So I played my first game yesterday (not finished), and some questions to the vets:
- I think I saw people playing worker first openings in the PBEMs, yet when I tried that I would always get eaten by the barbs, sometimes before the wokrer finished, but certainly before the first warrior came out

What difficulty are you at? In the PBEMs we're often in the Noble or Monarch range. Also we rarely include lairs, which means just animals early. I'd expect more barbs at higher difficulty with lairs on.

- is it smart play to explore barrows/ruins/dungeons with the initial scouts? They seemed often not to survive it, and the bonuses you get are better on real units, otoh if I don't, more barbarians spawn close to my capital...

It depends. You certainly need more scouts than you would in BtS. A compromise is to camp on top of the barrow or ruin; that prevents spawns but offers no rewards.

On the other hand, sometimes exploring these gives you an awesome reward, like a Great Person on T5. Or a great risk, like spawning a barb who will certainly kill you. It's a gamble, really. I wouldn't say 'smart play' either way, more 'what sort of game do you prefer?'. In MP we usually turn them off because exploration results can matter more than player skill.

- why is cottaging in general unviable? With those elves and 3/1/1 base tiles (ancinet forests) it certainly is fun, but how do other civs generate commerce if not by working tiles?

Aristocracy/Agrarianism is usually better - it turns a grass farm into a 3/0/3 tile. Not as good in the long term, but it boosts the snowball so fast that you often don't see the long term. The other thing is that EitB games are usually shorter than BtS games.

That said, EitB cottages are sometimes viable. Especially if you're elves or Kuriotates, or in for a long game due to map settings. If you go that route, you'll want to head to Trade for the Foreign Trade civic instead.

[Qgqqqqq]

Opinion is divided on cottages vs. farms. I would recommend trying both and getting a feel for where each is appropriate.