Had some fun and frustration trying to get an MP game going after the European release today. Most of the games we started were very choppy and laggy and inevitably ended up with one or more of us freezing and dropping. It was only when jobe and I decided to play a duel that we were able to play for more than thirty turns.
I'm a long time civ player but haven't played MP since SMAX so I expected that my usual strategy would run into some trouble against human competition. Things started out innocently enough.
My second city was placed with a somewhat longer-term strategy involved. A good place, sure, but the real benefits would come in that second ring of tiles. I guess this is a big mistake for this duel type map. As was building stonehenge... that was probably my biggest mistake.
jobe quickly spread to four cities, and his French culture kept those borders expanding. I struggled to keep my happiness above 0 and finally built a fourth city. I had six military units which I thought was right on pace and was planning to invade once I managed ten.
I barely managed to build a barracks and burial tomb in my capitol. I discovered iron working but had no iron anywhere near my territory. Ugh. My third city had walls and a monument, and was just starting a barracks. My fourth city (where we were staging our armies) was just finishing a wall.
I don't even know how big jobe's army was, but it was big. 12 units? 14? It overwhelmed my defenses and quickly destroyed my front line. In this image, you can see what is left from his initial force... he still had several units behind these.
I had a couple of units hanging around my capitol that jobe came in quickly cleaned up, and I lost the game by about turn 80. Ouch.
I hope jobe sheds some light on how he built up so quick. I had plenty of improvements around my first two cities, a few around my third, and roads connecting everything. Yet somehow he built twice as many troops as me, basically the same number of buildings, and completely outpaced me in science. My hat is off to you, sir... I hope I can learn and some day pose real competition.
What's up, hot dog?
Without making any excuses, it was really tough when we were fighting over my city there. I would try and try to select a unit, and it would never let me. I'd end up using half of the timer having just sat there and watched my units get chewed up while I tried to fight back. Then I'd have to make all my moves in half the time... I'll get used to it over time, but playing simultaneously with lag can be pretty frustrating!
What's up, hot dog?
Thanks for the write up pdx, better luck next timeIm gutted I missed opening night and I hope I didnt vent too much in chat about it but Im sure you can all understand where I was coming from.
They say every cloud has a silver lining, and I can install this morning.
Safer worlds through superior firepower
Glad you can get it going this morning Snotty. It was almost three hours after the event started before we got this actual game running, so it's a good thing you didn't stick around. I thought the venting was pretty funny really, I totally sympathized for you. I don't really mind steam or DRM exactly, but it is frustrating the sort of hangups and delays they can cause.
I hope they can work out some of those MP kinks, even with two high speed connections and decent computers playing heads-up it was choppy and with a few lag issues. I'd love to play a 6-way game or something but if last night was any indication it'd die before 50 turns.
Finally, I posted because I HOPE that jobe will share his side of the story. He wiped the floor with me, and I was all proud of myself for being prepared. I'd like to see how he did it.
What's up, hot dog?
The game was fun, thanks Sean
The duel worked decently enough for a day1 of a civ mp game (judging by what I heard about civ4 mp on day1). There is lots of room for patches and improvement of the connection between players.
As for the game, here an overview from my perspective.
(I really wish the screenshots weren“t saved as .tga, but like in civ4 as .jpg)
Buildup
For more details about this buildup see the Strategy Article about Quick Expansion with France.
The game settings we played:
map: duel sized Inland_Sea
resources: legendary
game speed: quick
Capital
Second City founded
Third City founded
Fourth City founded
Strategic Overview
Front Line with Sentry Unit
Sentry Unit in South
Demographics
War
I had 2 Iron and 4 Horse. My army was composed of archers, a few warriors, some spears to protect against Egypt“s UU Warchariot, a catapult to soften up the city and some Swordsman. Once I launched the attack I produced Horseman and send them quickly after the army using their high mobility with the help of a road to the front line.
Preparing to move in
Combat around first city #1
Combat around first city #2
Combat around first city #3
Combat around first city #4
Captured and razing first city
After the war for that front city, Egypt“s army had been destroyed. Taking the capital, now went very fast.
Moving for the capital
Capital captured
Meanwhile a Golden Age at home
Last edited by jobe; September 24, 2010 at 11:27.
Can't wait to see that build-up article. Maybe I'd have done better if I hadn't focused on so many chariot archers. Their mobility was great, but they really were weak in the fight. I really lucked out having the two gold minds next to my home city, but didn't place my cities strategically with the horse resources revealed. Lots of little lessons learned.
Looking at your taskbar, we had pretty similar productions at similar stages in the game. We both made about the same amount of gold, research, and culture each turn. You made a little more culture but that really was it. Improving those resources ASAP is clearly key...
What's up, hot dog?
Well, I was thinking about playing another MP game today, but I guess I'll be getting me one of them fancy hair straightening irons. Sure, I have straight hair and it's very short, but who can resist?
What's up, hot dog?
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