custon games

[Chief Tonfa]

hey i was wanting to know what kind of custom games people play. i for one only play custom games. on marathon speed. usually 8 AI opponents, sometimes 18. i play with two rules, no tech trading and no vassal states. no tech trading means everything takes longer, all the upgrades and the whole game is more spread out because no one gets free tech. i like that i like having long medievel warfare periods and overall more. and no vassal states because it often gets to the point where early on there's not many options because everyone is vassalized all the land taken. also i used to play no barbarians cause i hate them but now i just always make sure i get the great wall. so what custom games does other people play?

[rah]

No tech trading (just because)

no vassals just because I hate eliminating 90% of a civ cities just for him to become a vassal of someone he hates worse than me. And I think that mid-game to later it creates less wars among the AI because they're all vassals already.

Aggressive AI, only because it can be boring without it.

I always turn off the diplo victory because the AP is broken as far as I'm concerned. Made for an easy win an was damn annoying.

[Jaybe]

No tech brokering (a compromise between no restrictions & no tech trading),

... Ohh, just read my sig!

ADDENDUM: I LIKE the volatility of the vassal states. DOWN with predictability!

[Supr49er]

No Tech Brokering
Aggressive AI
No Vassal States

[Blaupanzer]

I do no tech brokering, no diplo victory, raging barbs, aggressive AI, large low sea maps (fractal, big and small, or tectonics), + 0, 1, or 2 civs from standard, epic speed, Prince, variety of Civs, though favorites are Ethiopia and Rome. Think I will try it with no vassals as I am frustrated by the mechanics of whom ends up as who's vassal and then the fighting stops (like Rah said).

[joncnunn]

I normally use "No Tech Brokering" & "Choose Religions"

[Blaupanzer]

Like "Choose religion" option. Surprised at how well the AIs handle this -- more appropriately than I would have guessed, although the over-abundance of Euro Civs (all Christian, but that's a single choice) and the lack of a pagan alternative are somewhat limiting(multiple civs worshipped a pantheon of Gods or various monstrous constructions not envisioned in the current religion set).

[joncnunn]

The XML defines what each Leader's "favorite religion" is. The AI will choose it if it hasn't been founded. (Which is why so many found Christanity)

Judism though is not on any AIs list in the XML, so you know that their "favorite religion" was already founded when an AI founds it.

For the most part, it's the religion you expect it to be.

[Theben]

Large, epic, fractal or big-n-small (tiny isles spread out), +1 or +2 additional civs, Native American or American 99% of the time (what can I say, I guess I'm more of a patriot than I thought ), Raging Barbs, Agg AI, Choose Religions and Random Personalities.

no vassals just because I hate eliminating 90% of a civ cities just for him to become a vassal of someone he hates worse than me. And I think that mid-game to later it creates less wars among the AI because they're all vassals already.

I've noticed in later ages you get some huge wars as 1 civ with 3 vassals declares war on another with 3 of it's own.

I might be tempted to turn them off if AIs ever used defensive pacts. I don't think I've ever seen one and only had it offered to me once in all my games.

[ZEE]

Unfortunately with the crippling and unreasonable maintenance system, vassalage is imperative to the game as it stands.

[Ming]

Civ 3 was crippling and unreasonable. The Civ 4 system works well as long as you know how to deal with it

[ZEE]

Originally posted by Ming
Civ 3 was crippling and unreasonable. The Civ 4 system works well as long as you know how to deal with it

Seriously Ming. Its still really bad. esp the micromanagement or proven few tactics required that can loophole the insane penalties early on that i don't feel like dealing with every game. this is also why i hate the harder levels. The AI still sucks but the player maintenance penalties make me not want to bother going through the effort of counteracting it every game for the entire time ive played civ 4 since its release. I wish there was an option to turn it off.

In fact its so bad that I am not going to buy Civ 5 when it comes out at first. im going to see the reactions from the reviews/community for a while. If the maintenence is just as bad, they lost me.

[rah]

You're obviously playing a different game than I am.
Either that or you're trying to beat deity level.

[Garth Vader]

Originally posted by Supr49er
No Tech Brokering
Aggressive AI
No Vassal States

Ditto. I play fractal, standard size, with 7 AI's. All the map options are the middle choice.

[Blaupanzer]

I've switched to "no vassals" and standard size maps and voila, I am doing much better and the AI do use defensive pacts. Like Theben, I had not seen these Def pacts used in many hundreds of prior games. Standard maps, especially with an extra civ or two and all else being equal, seem much easier to win. This start set also reduces the power of raging barbs to some degree.