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**ayronis** · July 12, 2007, 14:00

Game 1:
Monarch, Continents, Small, Quck
Isabella - Spain (pink)

This was my first warm-up game whilst I waited for Warlords to arrive. I consider myself a Prince to Monarch player, so I decided to see if I had lost anything after not playing for so many months.

My initial expansion was normal but I was quickly cut off in the south by a swiftly expanding Louis XIV. A long, slow cold and culture war took place where I struggled to establish a strong economy. He launched an initial attack that resulted in a long history of wars between us. I advanced little but continued to hold out as long as I could until the Russians, an overseas powerhouse, invaded me. I did not last long and they sacked my shore then took my capital.

Highpoint: Seeing the AI successfully invade me across an ocean.

**ayronis** · July 12, 2007, 14:01

Game 2:
Noble, Continents, Small, Quick, Aggressive AI
Peter - Russia (orange)

(My weak computer occasionally causes graphics glitches in the creation of replays, this screenie is the only one I could take showing the whole world.)

I have never seen an interesting AI vs. AI war so I decided to drop down to Noble and see if the Aggressive AI setting would cause one. My start was not bad and I found myself on a continent with two other civs. An eastern border with an aggressive Rome proved too challenging to advance on, but I slowly built up and eventually exploded outwards taking Rome and then the rest of the continent. The late game was peaceful because I had won the favour of my overseas neighbours in order to block my enemies from using them. Diplo win in 2040 AD.

Highpoint: The aggressive diplomacy I used to block my enemies from pulling the other continent into our struggles was entertaining, but the lack of AI-AI wars was disappointing. Even with aggressive AI on, there were hardly any real changes to the political map.

**ayronis** · July 12, 2007, 14:02

Game 3:
Noble, Terra, Normal Size, Normal Speed
Hannibal - Carthage (orange)

This was my first Warlords game. My starting location was adequate but I quickly discovered that Ragnar and Shaka were my nearest neighbours. When Isabella revealed herself as my third and final neighbour, I knew that war was inevitable. I chose the most defensible position and planned to take to the seas as quickly as possible - I was Carthage after all!

As I expanded outward I found a chain of islands and settled one. Further exploration introduced me to Roosevelt, the far-western civ, and Qin, a central civ which would also begin colonizing the islands. As tensions grew amongst my neighbours and me, in the east, I fostered strong relations with America and China, in the west.

In 1420 AD, America declared war on China dividing my bloc of allies in a way that was not going to aid me at all. I sided with America, the stronger of the two, but the Sino-American war would have long-term repercussions for the rest of the game. Disillusionment with the Old World pushed me towards Astronomy even faster. By 1500 I had circumnavigated the globe, and by 1740 I had conquered a native city and founded two additional cities in the New World.

The rest of the game my attention was focused in the New World. With minimal units I needed to patrol and explore the expansive land and some of the conflicts between my knights and their longbowmen were more exciting than I'd expected. By 1832 I conquered and colonized the main section of the northern continent, but the Old World continued to see old conflicts. By 1898 I finished colonizing the main section of the southern continent - the valuable land in the New World was all securely Carthaginian.

In 1918 Korea, the dominant power of the Old World, and Spain, the religious heartland, declared war on China. This war, the first industrial war, would surely bring an end to China. I sent a peacekeeping galleon loaded with infantry units as gifts, but I would not threaten my position with a needless war that could not be won. This merely delayed the inevitable and China was effectively eliminated leaving me with only one ally, America. The stability of this position did not last very long and in 1970 a World War finally broke out - Isabella and Ragnar, her vassal, declared war on me so I enlisted the aid of Roosevelt. Throughout the 1980's several nearby colonies changed hands; one of Ragnar's cities changed owners three times! The World War ended in 1991 with Isabella capitulating to Roosevelt as I carved up the Viking heartland.

The last fifty years saw a variety of American imperialistic wars in which Roosevelt managed to make vassals out of Qin and Shaka. Even with all my possessions in the New World, Roosevelt's score was only slightly behind my own. I won a time victory in 2050.

Highpoint: This game had many fun eras, and the Old World diplomacy was frustrating, but in an entertaining way. I really wish the AI was intelligent enough to realize how important the New World was, because the complex diplomacy would have been better if colonies had been involved. Unquestionably, the highpoint of this game was the conquest and colonization of the New World with limited resources. Because of the threats to me in the Old World, I could not remove too much military and for several generations the colonies were expected to fend for themselves. Riding through the plains and jungles with a band of high-level knights was dramatic and fun.

**ayronis** · July 12, 2007, 14:03

Game 4:
Noble, Smartmap, Agg.AI, 10 AI
Tokugawa - Japan (red)

(Graphics glitch prevented the land from being viewable in the replay. The cultural borders in this screenie give a general outline of the four main continents. Note that my continent {red/brown center} was not connected to the southern continent.)

I have never enjoyed the continents map script. It produces round blobs with rare strategic variation and few outre-mers to explore. So I looked around and I eventually discovered the Smartmap script by DougM. Wow, what a difference! It has lots of variation and diversity, periodic lakes, and numerous fragments 'out there' to explore. I filled the map up with AI and turned on Aggressive AI, in the desperate hope that an AI might actually dominate another one.

The game opens and my start is straight forward. I discover that, surprisingly, I am alone on a continent with the Mongols, who expands very quickly. The topography is interesting and diverse. A great plain separates our two heartlands and keeps us honest about our intentions. I let him have more of the continent knowing full well that I'd take what I wanted in the middle ages.

In 1150AD I declare war on the Mongols an seize their #2 city, a rich and productive city in the north listed as the #2 city in the world. By 1340 I capture the Mongol capital. 1490 Kublai Khan capitulates, and I discover to my surprise, that the rest of the world likes you less when you are lazy and take a vassal.

1500's and 1600's sees Mali's wars of aggression against his neighbours in the continent immediately east of me. Although there are lots of declarations, few cities actually change hands. I briefly declare war on Mali in the late 1700's as a diplomatic favour to one of my allies but after two waves of naval skirmishes, I was able to get a peace treaty with Mansa.

The late game is mostly a consolidation of my continent and the building up of infrastructure. I had few great leaders and spent much of the early industrial period in a pacifist society trying to get a tech lead. Too late, I realized that the AI was starting towards the space race and I quickly changed gears to focus on production. An army of spies was sent into my "allies" capitals to keep an eye on things but it appears that the economic lead I'd hoped to build was not sufficiently fast enough. Two turns before I launched, Korea, the game's tech leader, won the space race.

I lost the game because I had no focus to my late game strategy. The space race is not a very satisfying victory, so I typically put it off until other options have been eliminated. In this case, this attitude cost me the game because I was not even considering it until I noticed the AI's were well on their way.

Highpoint: The early cold war of expansion and the subsequent medieval conflict with Mongolia was highly enjoyable. The rich tactical options provided by the Smartmap made for more interesting unit movement than ever before.

**ayronis** · July 12, 2007, 14:04

Game 5:
Noble, Smartmap, Agg.AI, 10 AI
Random>Mehmed II - Ottoman (dark green)

This game was the most enjoyable single player game of Civ I have ever played. (The previous one was mentioned here.) I liked the map settings and challenge level of the previous game, so I fired it up again, this time as a random leader to introduce some surprise into what type of strategy and game I would play. I was dealt Mehmed II, who will go on to become one of my favourite civ leaders ever.

My start was good but the surrounding land was long and stringy. The Smartmap placed me on an isthmus between two continents and my initial exploration gave me an early indication that I was going to be the crossroads of the world - fitting for the Ottomans. In 3720 BC, Brennus (Celts) my immediate neighbour to the west, discovered Buddhism. Because there were fewer civs in the western continent, I knew it would be better to plan my advance in this direction, instead of the more crowded south. If I didn't find a way to make the southern continent ally with me, then I ran the real risk of having enemies on both sides of my isthmus and thus would play an entire game defensively, so I crossed my fingers and hoped for Hinduism. Fortunately, it worked, and in 2680 BC I founded Hinduism and began an aggressive program of conversion in the South. Throughout the rest of the game, religion grabbing became a priority in order to facilitate control over who befriended whom.

By 325 AD it appeared to me that Brennus did not possess any metal. When he settled Durnovia beside a copper source, I could no longer delay my invasion and I rushed the city as soon as possible. After capturing the target I settled for peace that, I assumed, he would be content with. This assumption, like the assumption that he didn't have metal, turned out to be completely wrong. In 500 AD he surged on Durnovia taking the city back and proceeded to advance on my chokepoint. My western wall was situated at the sole entrance to my isthmus, at the edge of both a freshwater lake and the great northern sea. When I discovered Christianity it became a holy city and to attack it the enemy would have to advance across three or more tiles of plains or desert. War raged at this front for generations but in 680 I retook Durnovia and finally settled for peace in 920 under the weight of crippling war weariness. With so much hostility between our civilizations, I knew that this was going to be temporary.

The Great War
A couple of small wars between Stalin, Brennus closest ally and nearest neighbour, and Victoria, one of my best allies, was an anticipation of wars to come. The Great War finally began in 1535 when the Celts launch a surprise attack on Dunovia and raze it to the ground. His hoard of units turns south towards my Fortress City and so I call for reinforcements: American, India, and England all join the war against the Celts and the world is plunged into a great holy war between the Celts, Russians, and Arabian Buddhists and we Hindus. Over the next hundred years, wave after wave of AI units surge through my fortress city to defend Hindu-land, only to be defeated by the pernicious (and closer) Buddhists. A whole series of vassal agreements, peace treaties, and re-declarations of war take place over the next 400 years. Finally, in 1922 Brennus capitulates to me as Vienne, his religious capital and 2nd city, is captured. His allies are not forgotten and in 1943 Moscow is captured and in 1947 Mecca. Learning from Game 4, I refused to vassalize these insignificant powers and chose to erase them forever.

The late game saw the hegemony of Hindu-land rule unstoppably. Each of my allies and I were pleased or friendly with one another, we enjoyed a significant tech lead over the world, and had the best economies anyone could ask for. Drawing on my vastly superior tech and military, a quick conquest of the eastern continent was easy. I won a Domination victory in 2017.

Highpoint: The diplomacy of the Great War: vassal agreements, defensive pacts, jointly declared wars against common enemies and the commitment of real troops by my allies, combined to make this one of the most entertaining games to watch that I have ever seen. There were several moments during the conflict that I had no idea who was going to emerge victorious. Naturally the AI moved foolishly on both sides and scores of units died meaningless, wasteful deaths, but the standoff at my Fortress City-chokepoint was highly engaging. Bringing Brennus to his knees in a capitulation was more satisfying than a total annihilation because it meant that I could immediately use him against his former allies - priceless.

**ayronis** · July 12, 2007, 14:05

Game 6:
Noble, Smartmap, Agg.AI, RagingBarb, BetterAI
Random>Cyrus - Persia (blue)

I was disillusioned with the AI. Although my previous game was a lot of fun, there were numerous moments where the poor tactics of the AI led to disappointing conflicts. Since I have been following the news releases of BtS, I'd heard that some bloke called Blake was working on the AI for it, and that this was good because he'd made a mod called BetterAI, with Iustus, that everyone seemed to enjoy. It took a little while to find it and figure out what it was but I downloaded it and tried it out. This was the result.

My starting region was mediocre. It was long and spindly and would make it difficult to build an early settler pump. I chose a defensible spot and holed up behind it, backfilled, and tried to work the land to bring the pieces all together. It took a long time.

In 470 AD my closest neighbour, Catherine, the only civ with whom I shared this continent, declared war on me. It was time to see if the BetterAI was truly better. Two stacks of doom advanced against me and punished my furthest city with catapults and a variety of units. What's more, there were archery units defending the stack and attacking! Well this was different! In the end, my defences held and their stack was defeated, but there was no way I was in a position for a counter attack after that. From 860 to 1790 Catherine declares war on me three more times in a dedicated effort to expand. The BetterAI performs much better against my defences and, in general, I am prevented from any kind of serious counter-attack until the industrial era when my tech lead becomes substantial enough to really turn the tide of battle. Sensing the inevitable, Catherine becomes a Celtic vassal. The Celts are a militant power on the eastern continent. Although we exchange naval forays against one another, nothing serious results from this conflict and as I continue to carve up the remains of Russia, Catherine eventually quits the agreement and Brennus gladly gives me peace. In 1912 I conquer Moscow.

The BetterAI made for a totally different late game. Although I was militarily in a dominant position, I had only a slight tech lead and Hepshetsut, my closest ally, was quickly approaching a cultural victory. In 2000 I initiated a world war on Egypt and by 2006 seized and razed the Christian holy city, Memphis. While I continued advancing against a crippled Egypt, the Celts and Malinese began fighting in their continent for the weakened remains of India - their historical punching bag. In 2027 Mali successfully defeated Gandhi who was, by this point, a Celtic vassal. I was pleased to see the AI finally eliminate an entire civilization, even while fighting the civ's master.

In 2040 Egypt capitulates to me and I roll out the last 10 turns, winning a Time Victory in 2050.

Highpoint: Although not nearly as epic as Game 5, the BetterAI significantly improved the experience of this game. The most exciting part was watching an AI nearly achieve a culture victory such that I had to invade to stop. In addition, the AI wars in the world were much more relevant than in previous games because cities actually changed hands once in awhile and the Indians were even destroyed.

**ayronis** · July 12, 2007, 14:06

Game 7
Noble Smartmap (random 2-6 lands), RagingBarb, BetterAI
Brennus - Celts (orange pink)

After reading that the Aggressive AI setting makes the leaders ignore relationships when declaring war in the BetterAI mod, I decided to turn off the aggression to see if there was a difference. Indeed, there was.

A coastal start confined me to the edge of my continent behind an impassable mountain range. I got a second city up and had room for a third, but after that I would have no choice but to get around the mountains. My first foray into the east was crushed by a barbarian hoard that razed my first expansion.

The second expedition was more successful. I positioned it further south near a chokepoint that would impede the Arabian expansion. It has less food but someday it would be a production monster. Further exploration revealed Monty (Aztec) as my second neighbour. Great. There was a single tile isthmus between a lake and the north sea, so I laid down a city there and called it Threshold - with luck, it will be the closest the Aztecs would come to knowing Celtia.

In 3600 I founded Buddhism. Although I had not intended to have a strong religious economy this game, Hinduism and Judaism were founded by Russia far overseas to the south - my religion was the only early one available to the northern civs.

In 400 BC Monty tried a dagger strategy against Hatshepsut but failed to breach her borders. This early Aztec-Egypt war would have a long-term effect on the game. Because of this war, the two of them grew to hate one another, and so trade failed to penetrate into Egyptian cities, thus Buddhism spread to everyone on our continent except her. For the rest of the game Hatshepsut was the black sheep of the north. By 225 BC everyone except Hat. is Buddhist. In 300 AD she gains Christianity and aggressively converts her cities.

In 25 AD I completed the Great Lighthouse, ushering in a tech lead that will last me the remainder of the game. By 1070 I have the Angor Wat and a Great Leader economy that is making remarkable production.

By the 1500's I had met the three southern civs and began converting Roosevelt, the weakest of the three, to Buddhism since he lacked a religion. He quickly joined our side and was favourable to me the rest of the game, but the spread of Mercantilism prevents me from reaping any benefits from these new southern connections. To keep Monty distracted I send him after Hatshepsut for cheap - he manages to take one of her northern cities before they agree to peace.

I beeline for Emancipation to solidify my lead and achieve it by 1765 but make a serious diplomatic mistake that ruins everything in 1834. I had signed a defensive pact with Catherine, expecting it to hurt Monty or Shaka, the only non-Mercantilist civs in the game, should they declare war on me, but when Monty declares war on Catherine for unknown reasons I find myself declaring war on HIM! This was bad - what a fool I was to think I needed extra protection. The Aztecs grinned and looked at Threshold.

From 1834 to 1994 I fight a series of wars with the Aztecs. Although they accept short term peace treaties, their Arab allies continually switch vassal relationships with the Aztecs and the Zulus, ensuring that I am kept in a perpetual state of war. The increasing militarization of my people finally slows our tech lead and we begin a very slow retributive strike against them. A tank force backed up with machine gun and fighter units can take cities with stacks of 8 riflemen or infantry, but progress is slow. In 1994 the Aztecs are destroyed and I make peace with the Zulu. Next turn I paid Shaka to attack Egypt - I needed to keep him distracted and she was 9000 points away from a culture victory.

In the end, Shaka failed to do more than take a couple Egyptian peripheral cities and when her last city was nearing Legendary I sent in the tanks and marines. They eliminated their target in 2015. In 2049 I finished the space ship and won the Science Victory.

Highpoint: The early expansion, by galley, into the frontier was exciting - as frustrating as it was to lose an early city, it was rather dramatic and fun. The persistent fear of Monty was interesting - finally breaking him in the end provided a satisfying conclusion to the history of tension. The need, because of a high-power Zulu force and Egyptian culture, for a powerful Carrier and Transport strike force was fun too. The AI's lack of interest or ability to stop Egypt from winning was slightly annoying - Korea and American did nothing the entire game and it would have been nice to see them at least notice that she was about to win.

**Robert** · July 12, 2007, 14:52

Wow, interesting reports of your game!!!
Glad that you're enjoying the game! Keep the reports and the screenshots coming!

**Brutus66** · July 12, 2007, 18:08

Nice thread and I appreciate your candor about the difficulty and win/loss. By the way some people talk, I sometimes wonder if there isn't something wrong with me that I'm not spanking the AI on Prince and above, because I honestly find noble to be enough challenge. I suppose I might win on prince, at least occasionally, but I think the experience would be more work than play and that's not why I'm here.

**_BuRjaCi_** · July 13, 2007, 03:52

I really enjoyed reading those, please keep posting them.

I don’t seem to enjoy most of my Civ4 games, maybe I should make notes. Does posting stories make you’re games more fulfilling?

The most fun game I ever had was when I conquered all of Europe as Spain and fought a desperate Eurasian nuclear war. Allied with the Theocratic Indians against the unbeatable Asian hordes I built my my last space ship component in Paris just as Chinese Armor was rolling into Germany.

But that was way back in Civ2

**ayronis** · July 13, 2007, 06:30

Originally posted by Brutus66
Nice thread and I appreciate your candor about the difficulty and win/loss. By the way some people talk, I sometimes wonder if there isn't something wrong with me that I'm not spanking the AI on Prince and above, because I honestly find noble to be enough challenge. I suppose I might win on prince, at least occasionally, but I think the experience would be more work than play and that's not why I'm here.

I feel the same way. The feel of the game is different at the higher levels and, to me, it is less fun. I can always win on Prince and occasionally even on Monarch. I find that games at the higher levels are totally different because the AI's bonuses are predictably better. Instead of guiding my Civ in an organic and interesting way, I focus all my attention on stealing the rewards of a neighbouring AI's bonuses: techs, cities, etc.

The most fun way to play Civ is with a group of mature humans who will play all the way to the finish, but since I've had few experiences with this, single player is mostly an approximation of how I wish I could be playing. The more the AI's surprise me, the more human they act, the happier I am with the game, regardless of the victory results.

Originally posted by _BuRjaCi_
I really enjoyed reading those, please keep posting them.

I don’t seem to enjoy most of my Civ4 games, maybe I should make notes. Does posting stories make you’re games more fulfilling?

Thank you. I had so much fun playing them that I felt like I should share them with somebody.

I would advise against taking notes. I have tried it before and found that it was more work than it was worth. These reports were written entirely from memory - the only notes I made were while watching the replays, which are saved in the 'replays' folder and the Hall of Fame.

Periodically discussing the game makes it more fulfilling for me - posting a report is just one way to facilitate such a discussion. This is the secondary reason I enjoy multiplayer with other mature players so much: since you are constantly engaging one another in the context of the game, it helps reinforce the idea that the game is more than just interfacing with a spreadsheet.

**Arrian** · July 13, 2007, 11:56

Good thread!

I really need to download the better AI mod. I've followed its development, but kept waiting until it was "done."

-Arrian

**wodan11** · July 13, 2007, 13:29

Actually they haven't updated BetterAI for 3 months. I think Blake and Iustus got co-opted by Firaxis to work on BtS.

Nevertheless, the most-recent version of BetterAI is quite good, actually. Certainly much better than the default 2.08 AI.

Wodan

**Crossfire** · July 13, 2007, 17:44

I find that the Better AI on Noble is pretty comparable to Prince with the vanilla, but Prince on Better AI isn't nearly as hard as Monarch on vanilla. This has actually provided me with a nice place to play because I was finding Prince a little easy, but Monarch just wasn't fun.

In that I already generally have more war than I can handle when playing with Better AI (see my post about getting my butt kicked) I haven't turned Aggressive AI on. Do you find that it makes the AI's more aggressive toward each other and not necessarily just to you?

Anyway, thanks for taking the time to post this, I really enjoyed reading it.

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