Game Settings/Strategies that teach you

[enderw]

I have found that playing with certain game settings has helped me become a better player. I assume most people have the "cottage spam" strategy down:

Game 1: One city challenge. Play this at prince and you will understand how to run a great person farm.

Game 2: Pangea, military techs, no wonders. Go for your basic infrastructure techs then research military techs, archery, bronze, iron, metalcasting, guilds, construction, engineering. Stop for currency and CoL if you are having maintence problems. Avoid techs like aesthetics that are only good for wonders. The reason I say no wonders is that you will understand that sometimes building a wonder means you let the AI beat you to that city spot or that :Gee I could build my axe/sword army and steal a wonder instead of building one. After you steal it you have a wonder and and Army. Another advantage: the AI can't steal your production by beating you to a wonder.

Game 3 Islands: Especially with the Dutch it is easy to space race or cultural win on Islands. The dikes make the dutch end-game monsters on water-maps.
Especially on these maps, assuming you can get one city with a ridiculous amount of seafood to be a GP farm, it should be easy to crank out those great artists for the cultural victory.
Also on these maps the colossus and lighthouse become monster wonders, whereas on Pangea they are near worthless.

I've found that these three settings help me recognize situations where wonder priorities are different than usual, or where it would be better to abandon wonders for infrastructure and expansion. Also OCC makes you a true believer in the power of GP farm.

Anyone have other settings that they have found to be instructive?

[Jaybe]

If having financial difficulties (Saladin DoW'd me twice, so I decided he needed to be 'rubbed out'), attempt to build wonders! When someone else beats you to it, be thankful for the gold refunds -- works great when you don't have currency yet.

[Croup]

I'm always bad about building up an early army, so I played Raging Barbarians for a while just to force the issue.

It worked for a while, but I always forget about it now. The builder in me takes over.

[Blake]

The Highlands map script .

Especially with raging barbs

[Shrapnel12]

Could someone explain to me the power of a GP farm? I don't doubt that GP are valuable, but what's the proper use that makes people love popping them out so?

[Krill]

GP farms making scientists can add up to 1000BPT to a civ be the end of the game if you tweak it right, also depending on difficulty.

Check this thread if you want to see what you can get from settled great scientists. Best I've managed was about 2400bpt in an OCC game, but you can get higher...

[joncnunn]

Power of Prayer: Play any civ starting with Mystism and found as many religions as possible (bonus points for getting 2 or more to found in the same city). Build Stonehedge and some temples to get some religious GPs, build shrines and spread your religions and watch the cash roll in.
(Also be sure under BTS to grab the wonder that opens up all religious civics early so you can run Free Religion with your 4+ religions.)

[Blake]

Try the diplomatic OCC, it's an interesting and educational gamestyle, especially because it has to be TRUE diplomatic victory, well I suppose you could exterminate everyone else right down to one tiny starved city and vote your city the winner, but I think it's easier to do a true diplomatic victory .

[oholiab]

Try hotseat with any number of civs you play yourself plus a few for the AI. Compare strategies, civs or whatever. You could even play the above strategies in one game.

[Blaupanzer]

If you are a builder, turn off all victories but conquest. If you are a warmonger turn on peace always. Learn a lot quickly on standard map at standard speed. Then go back to Epic or marathon with all victories on.

[Blaupanzer]

DP

[joncnunn]

Other games to try:

1. Try a game in which you only use Great People for Golden Ages

2. Try a game in which you never get a Golden Age at all. (Founding corporations and build Holy Shrines instead)