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**STING** · December 29, 2005, 06:39

I haven't got the time yet to try it out.
What I was readinig in another topic... has the building time also been increased with the same rate a technology gets researched? If so, like someone else said, you would keep the same problem you have on epic and normal (armies getting obsolete)

**Mergle** · December 29, 2005, 07:47

Originally posted by STING
I haven't got the time yet to try it out.
What I was readinig in another topic... has the building time also been increased with the same rate a technology gets researched? If so, like someone else said, you would keep the same problem you have on epic and normal (armies getting obsolete)

I keep seeing people saying this. It's not true! It is true that your initial build times to get your army are increased, but then you have loads of time to go a-conquering.

Consider (made up times for extreme example)

Normal speed: 20 turns to research next unit tech, 15 turns to build current unit. You only have 5 turns to use it before it goes obsolete!

Slow both donwn by factor of 4 (I think): 80 turns to next unit tech, 60 turns to build. You now have 20 turns worth of use - a huge increase as movement is the same speed as before.

**Hengist** · December 29, 2005, 07:49

I thought it had been adjusted, as I seemed to have loads of time to use my troops so far, but I haven't checked any of the xml files to look at the actual stats. It just seemed that I had ample time to plan and didn't feel rushed.

Last night I got to the 13th century and I'm just on the verge of discovering Gunpowder. So after tonight I should be able to give a better reply, as pre-patch the Gunpowder to Modern era was the era that used to go extremely fast for me.

Perhaps I was too hasty with my praise? I was basing it on what I had observed so far, but as I said in the previous paragraph, I guess tonights gameplay will be the real acid test. I'll post again after tonights episode.

One thing I did notice last night, was up until 1000AD I'd only met 4 other civilizations. Pre-patch by this time period, I'd met all in the game and been involved in an armed conflict or two, usually me defending invasions. This may be because I'm now using large maps? What I do know, is that it was a much more pleasent game experience.

It would be good to hear others experience of Gunpowder to Modern age era on Marathon.

**Proteus_MST** · December 29, 2005, 08:33

I mentioned such a thing in another thread:
I made war to the english as soon as I had the tech to build cossacks and had built enough of them to start the war.

The war lasted for 100-150 turns (the english had more cities than myself), without the cossacks getting obsolete. They were still my strongest troops at the end of the war (and for lots of turns thereafter) and the only difference was that at the beginning of the war the english only had knights, long-/crossbowmen and pikemen for defence and at the end of the war they possessed grenadiers.

**Solver** · December 29, 2005, 09:07

Actually, tech costs have also been adjusted in the patch. Which means that even on Epic you should now get more time to use your units. Particularly, the Renaissance has been slowed down significantly.

**Tattila the Hun** · December 29, 2005, 09:18

Isn't that kinda a-historical? Should think the Dark Ages should have longer research time.

They didn't call them the Dark Ages because there wasn't enough light...

(Who said that?

)

Renaissance had people like Leonardo, designing tanks and helicopters.

**Solver** · December 29, 2005, 09:20

Longer research times to make them proportionate to the game. I mean, before this patch, the Renaissance techs were out of proportion. I'd get them in 3-5 turns and just blast through that era.

**Destroyer** · December 29, 2005, 09:24

I think its stupid. All you really get as a result is an increased movement rate.

I prefer to actual decrease build times, so you get uber armies.

**wardhali** · December 29, 2005, 16:24

Originally posted by Destroyer
I think its stupid. All you really get as a result is an increased movement rate.

I prefer to actual decrease build times, so you get uber armies.

what? the movement rate has not changed at all, many other changes have been made, such as increasing the number of turns dramaticaly, slowing reaserch times and ballancing the eras so that you dont blast through eras like the renaisance.

at least know what you are calling stupid.

and if you make a statement, please back it up with a logical argument. even if it is just that it does not fit your playing style

**swat-spas2** · December 29, 2005, 16:47

Decreasing build times is unbalancing for single player. AIs don't preserve units or attack nearly as intelligently as the human player does. You having more and more units to make mistakes with does little to challenge you. Granted they might become obselete slower, but all this means is that you will have more to upgrade with later (provided you have money for this). I still have ridiculous kill ratios (10:1 min), especially attacking the weakest cpus (low tech) to gain experience before you tackle a heavy or equal opponent.

The patch changes seem to have slowed down the rate of obselence to a more reasonable and managed pace. The only difficulty is where two units are close together on the tech tree (ironclads and destroyers for example). I was able to build or upgrade a ton of redcoats (rifleman) and use them to conquer two AIs before infantry became available in a current game on epic speed.

**Hengist** · December 29, 2005, 17:34

I've just surfaced for air

I got home and for the last 5 hours, I've been continuing my game. I'm pleased to say that I stand by my thread title... Marathon mode is excellent! (I'm that impressed, I've even used an exclamation mark this time, lol). It's the 19th century (1810AD) and all's well.

It's so nice not to feel under pressure and be able to take your time, getting your units into good attacking positions, etc, knowing you've got time to plan. I'm really enjoying these game changes.

As someone who bought this game for Singleplayer and wont be going online with it, I'd like to say, thanks Firaxis and all the people involved with these changes.

**Badtz Maru** · December 29, 2005, 17:51

It doesn't feel like build times are increased exactly in proportion with the slowdown of tech - if they were, it would take nearly 3 times as long to build units in Marathon, and I think it's really more like a little under twice as long as in Normal. I don't know this for sure, though, I'm at work and can't check the XML right now.

I'm surprised that other people are reporting that contact with other civs seems to be happening slower in Marathon, because I encountered the same thing and it seems to go against common sense - since movement is the same and exploration seems to go faster, at least at first, you should meet the AIs quicker, relatively. I'm wondering if barbarians are being introduced quicker and that's slowing down the AI explorers. Another thing to check when I get home.

**Enigma_Nova** · December 29, 2005, 19:41

They should keep the build times for Buildings, Wonders and Units the same as on Normal, but increase the time taken to research tech, and the number of turns, by 2 to 3.

**star mouse** · December 29, 2005, 20:01

Originally posted by Enigma_Nova
They should keep the build times for Buildings, Wonders and Units the same as on Normal, but increase the time taken to research tech, and the number of turns, by 2 to 3.

This should not be hard to do in a mod.

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Marathon mode is excellent

Marathon mode is excellent

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