SP vs. MP

[Robert]

Originally posted by rah
I Usually play on Emperor and Very rarely lose a culture war. Not quite ready for immortal yet but thanks for reminding us again that you do.

Didn't start the 'mentioning', just curious.
Like I said: I can't win cultural wars (I can't win on immortal at all). I see big cities' fat crosses being grabbed by AI cities that are even 6 tiles away. And those cities are on 150-250 culture/turn.

[rah]

I'm glad you're not winning routinely on immortal. I feel inadaquate already.

You are playing BTS? The AI seems to focus more on ESP like it used to on culture sometimes. I'll be the first to admit that I've only played a couple of games on immortal, and they didn't last long.

On emp, unless it's a creative civ, I seem to be able to beat their cultural borders back. And yes, when it gets that bad, just go in and take the damn city.

[Robert]

Originally posted by rah
I'm glad you're not winning routinely on immortal. I feel inadaquate already.

You are playing BTS? The AI seems to focus more on ESP like it used to on culture sometimes. I'll be the first to admit that I've only played a couple of games on immortal, and they didn't last long.

On emp, unless it's a creative civ, I seem to be able to beat their cultural borders back. And yes, when it gets that bad, just go in and take the damn city.

Well, to start with, I'm not really good in the "just go in and take the damn city" thing. I'm the anti-warmonger.

[rah]

I do sometimes wish I could adjust the slider for a single city. I guess if you could, too many people would scream about too much micro management.

[Nugog]

Originally posted by rah
I do sometimes wish I could adjust the slider for a single city.

[martin mcmartin]

Ha, Rah! in the first game I even thought you could adjust the slider for each city! too bad though... micromanagement is my middle name. I would be very much in favor, and it would be even like in reality. one city has a temple and people flok there once a year, like 10 million, somewhere in the middle east. adjusting the slider in that city could be compared with handing out pamflets or putting info on the internet. more people will come if they know about it and the whole "range" of the happening is increased, in other words, more people would be "culturally infleunced".

level emperor SP by the way I win cultural wars, just started on immortal with an advanced start to get into it. never done MP yet. not doable with internet speeds up to 70KB p/sec! unlucky me...


Mc

[Ming]

It's too bad you can't play MP. It is a totally different experience.

[martin mcmartin]

well, I've played the board game, and it is truly nerve wrecking sometimes, just like other boardgames (diplomacy even more). the only difference is that you do not see the other players in real life. if someone swears the hell out of you on the other side of the world without you knowing it, the surprise is somewhat bigger. a pale face across the table after a bad turn (good turn for me) tells you immediately what is about to happen... but you are right, it would be very nice to play MP. as with every computerised game, in the end the most interesting players are human players.

Mc

[Arrian]

In MP, you can throw 12 immortals at rah's capital, fail, rip up his infrastructure, and find his ally coming for you with a stack of war elephants.

In MP, the opposition is unpredictable, though assuredly hostile. Building anything is a risk. Building nothing is a ticket to a slow death. MP is freaking hard.

-Arrian

[rah]

Yeah, the balance is a thinner rope to walk.
Map position is HUGE.
Are you pinned in between two known earlier rushers?

Are you off on your own next to a known builder?
(one who will build wonders for you to take later.)

Which UUs are near you? (yeah important in SP also but even more so in MP) In MP if your neighbor is EGYPT, you can count on those war chariots coming at you a lot faster than in an SP game.

Much more aggressive resource claiming in no-mans land.

EVERY game is really different.

Who can you trust?

Defending multiple borders in MP is harder. One neighbor is usually waiting for you to attack the other so he can backdoor you.

[Addled Platypus]

in SP religon is discovered ASAP by AI
in MP religon is not as important

[jkp1187]

Do most of you MP veterans play a MP game with a few AI players, or is it all Humans when you guys play?

[Nugog]

Originally posted by martin mcmartin
not doable with internet speeds up to 70KB p/sec! unlucky me...

Meh - that's super fast!

I am on 31.2 kbs at the moment.




Ming/Rah - would you guys consider running some n00b MP games?

[snoopy369]

We run a n00b MP game every saturday night There is much lower pressure than in normal GameSpy games, and a huge variety in player ability, so come on in It's saturday night our time of course, no idea when that is Aussie time but probably middle of the day or something like that ... midday saturday or sunday, no clue, though...

[snoopy369]

Originally posted by jkp1187
Do most of you MP veterans play a MP game with a few AI players, or is it all Humans when you guys play?

We prefer all humans, but if we can't get >4 humans we will throw in some AIs. 4 player or less is not fun unless it's very balanced in player ability, unfortunately.