Your SID level experiences

[vmxa1]

I just had to cry a bit about how mean the barbs are and the huts on Sid.

Elite warriors getting killed by conscipt warriors, forget regulars winning.

Not one hut had any thing other than barbs. It is enough to make a grown man cry.

Alright I feel better now.

[Paddy]

you have our understanding

[DrSpike]

Hell I don't even pop huts conventionally on Emperor, let alone Sid. I hope this gets changed a little........the early game just isn't the same when you have to go out of your way to avoid GOODIE huts.

[ErikM]

Originally posted by vmxa1
I just had to cry a bit about how mean the barbs are and the huts on Sid.

Elite warriors getting killed by conscipt warriors, forget regulars winning.

Not one hut had any thing other than barbs. It is enough to make a grown man cry.

Alright I feel better now.

Trying a Sid game now... It seems to me (based on a limited sample, of course) that if you found a sity so the hut falls into a city radius, the chance of getting barbs is lower. I've got two maps and (drums, please) a conscript warrior.

Popping a hut with the warrior guarantees barbarians, no doubt about it

Also, it seems to me that it is pretty much a requirement to play a civ that starts with Alphabet. Being the most expensive starting-level tech, Alphabet can be traded around even on Sid and you can remain semi-competitive in tech with a shot to the GreatLib. Without Alphabet, it seems impossible to trade for it and you'll slip hopelessly behind in tech.

[DrSpike]

I have noticed this on all levels. I don't know the exact probabilities by any means, but by experience am willing to state I agree there must be a difference with city popping.

[lethe]

If the hut is in any of the 8 squares immediately surrounding a city it can't contain barbs.

[DrSpike]

I suspected as such, but since I had seen no confirmation on the boards I usually escort settlers founding cities that pop huts just in case. Probably a good habit to get into. Also of course, cultural popping can generate barbs.

So that makes city popping the way to go. You still have to get in quick, since the AI can walk along, pop barbs, then leave you to clean up the mess.

[vmxa1]

Yes it is nasty having to walk past huts, unless you are on a hill for fear of being killed. I have several waiting for me to get a better unit to pop with. I think a horse will be good as it could at least fort up.

[vmxa1]

Originally posted by ErikM

Also, it seems to me that it is pretty much a requirement to play a civ that starts with Alphabet. Being the most expensive starting-level tech, Alphabet can be traded around even on Sid and you can remain semi-competitive in tech with a shot to the GreatLib. Without Alphabet, it seems impossible to trade for it and you'll slip hopelessly behind in tech.

I am not finding trading to be much of an option. I have either had bad luck in that the first civ I run into already has my techs or in this game, I have not run into anyone yet at all.

Since I am hearing of a bunch of great wondrs being completed, I doubt I will be in a position to trade a single tech.

I took a foolish shot at getting Phil, but I was not first (naturally).
This was a big mistake as I do not have the tech for horses or swords or even archers. I go on the basis that I will have time to build up defenses as if I do not have time I am dead anyway.

I have aschewed the shot at the GL. I figure it is not a real chance and I cannot afford to go for it and miss. If I were to go for it I would want Mason to have a palace for a prebuild. It is Masonary right? I could be wrong about the tech.

[vmxa1]

I was reading some of the "beyond sid" game yesterday and that is what made me want to see what the true relationship was to C3C.

IOW I was wondering how much of a difference the settings that Bamspeedy used are vs C3C Sid.

Some of the things that I was unsure of are cost upgrades, research, corruption. You can now have twice as many units in the game. Lethal bombardment.

I am going to have to go to the end of th thread to see if he mentions having played sid on C3C and how it compared.

He does not talk much about the way he ran the empire in the beginning. The new high cost of maint for units makes having massive troop counts very hard for most of the ancient forms of governent.

[ErikM]

Originally posted by vmxa1
I am not finding trading to be much of an option. I have either had bad luck in that the first civ I run into already has my techs or in this game, I have not run into anyone yet at all.

I don't know, honestly, how it will work out. I played one very short game as Sumerians and it was completely hopeless. As you say everyone had all first level techs, I absolutely could not trade anything and Alphabet costs a small fortune. It was obvious that I don't have any hope of getting the Great Lib and I could not compete technologically either.

Buying techs is not an option. I didn't do any precise testing, but it looks like the asking price for any tech is about twice what it would cost you to research on your own. Ceremonial burial at 3 civ prices still costs something like 150 gold.

Sumerians, BTW, initially looked to me like a great civ but they have one devastating flaw: their 1/2/1 warrior replacement upgrades to pikeman, not to swords. They cannot build normal warriors so they cannot do warrior->swordsman gambit at all.

Then I restarted the same map as Iroquis and so far it looks much better. My neigbours are Ottomans, Zulu, Aztecs and Sumerians, so nobody had Alphabet. I've built a currah in my second city ASAP and was able to find everyone probably before they met each other. AI beelines to either Iron working, the Wheel, or Mysticism first. So roughly at turn#30 I traded around Alphabet and brokered things around for all first level techs + Mysticism + Iron Working. My plan is to try a Palace prebuild for a GL but even if I fail things are not hopeless - after all I only need Horseback Riding to start things rolling militarily.

Are you interested in trying it out for comparison? It's standard everything except sedentary barbs, map seed 325084309. I don't know if the map generator randomizes starting spots - it's a nice place with a river, a cow, and tobacco at the starting position. I can post a save if you are interested but I think you'll get the same spot for whatever civ you choose.

[DrSpike]

Post the save..........if I ever get around to a Sid game I may as well share my pain with you lot.

[Dominae]

I can post a save if you are interested but I think you'll get the same spot for whatever civ you choose.

I've seen the game place the human player in different spots even when the same seed was used to generate the world. I believe this occurred even when the AI civs were kept constant.

A screenshot of your starting location would be helpful. You'll also need to tell us which civs you selected as your opponents.


Dominae

[vmxa1]

My experience with the seed is limited, but I have seen it not come out with the same civs. It will have the same topography, I think.

I try to do my own research for the first tier and then is may be best to try to steal some, if you have contacts. I only had one civ at that juncture in my last run and this one I look to be isoloated.
I have gone around my island and I had nothing but ocean that I can see, so I have not decided what to do, but I will likely wait for gallies.

I was able to beat techs out of my neighbor in that game, but not enough to matter.

[vmxa1]

So I should have said it is easier to have a save posted. I just read Doms post and tat is about the way I see it. Seeds are better than nothing, but can be problematic.

You need to know as much about the settings as you can to get it right.