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Hi everybody,
I’ve been tinkering with Sid games for a while now, trying to find a compromise between actually winning the game, enjoying a real challenge and having fun. However, Sid level is so extreme that creating a winnable game without twisting too much the parameters seems to be a game in itself! After many deceptions and quite a few wins, please find below my ‘recipe’, straight from hours of fun and frustration…
Pangea Maps:
The inherent advantage of the AI in terms of settlers and military units from 4000BC makes a pangea map very risky, if not suicidal. Even when you’re desperately trying to complete your 1st settler, you’ll get swamped by hordes of AI’s scouts, settlers and assorted bipedals. Later on in the game, you’ll come to appreciate those 50+ SoD heading towards your 6-7 cities, well, empire.
Continents Maps:
A continent map is probably as bad as a pangea map. Well, instead of having 6-7 civs competing for your terrain, resources and luxuries, you’ll have only 2 or 3, but the ‘peaceful’ invasion by 2500BC will still occur. Even if you manage to block a chokepoint, you can be sure that some AI will research Map Making fairly soon and will bypass it.
Archipelago Maps:
Put your civ on a nice island, make sure that there are at least 4 squares of sea and ocean around it and… enjoy the peace and tranquillity? Well, in a sense yes. If you create your world carefully, you can be sure that until Navigation no civ can land on your shores, even with the Great Lighthouse. This should give you time enough to settle your island properly and forget about building a strong military straight away.
Unfortunately for you, being safe means also being isolated. Even with a seafaring civ, be ready to invest in lots of curraghs and galleys, as most of them will feed the fish before making contact.
The Military:
Once you get to Navigation, you can build a not-too-strong military as self-defence force. I have never seen more than 3 galleons landing troops in the same turn, so 12 invading military units should give you a nice challenge without overtaxing your military. Of course, some civs will want to land 12 units every 2 turns, so be prepared for some real fighting…
Some players won some conquests and domination games. It’s an interesting challenge if you like to move 200+ units every turn, and watch the AI move their 500+ units. Personally, it just takes too long and I am notoriously no good at it.
I still remember my 80+ SoD of muskets and cavalry, fortified on a mountain, being wiped out by the Egyptians in 4 turns flat , and they had only 6 cities…
The Tech Race (the bad option):
So, you have settled your nice island, stockpiled it with all possible resources and luxuries, kept the other civs at bay by posting ‘here be monsters’ signs all around it and make contact s with all civs thanks to your suicide curraghs. You are now no. 1 in techs (we are still in the Ancient Times) thanks to your trading skills and as all other civs have to research all the techs individually, you look forward to an easy game. Correct?
Well, not really. Unless you twist the map as to have a really BIG island and confine all other civs to small rocks in the middle of the ocean, you won’t have too many cities, even if cramming them in a CxxC grid. That means not many scientists and that means a fairly low scientific output.
By the Medieval Ages you’ll research a tech in 20-25 turns, with no help from the backwards civs. And there are lots of techs to research… then comes the Industrial Age with a 25-30 turn pace. By then, even if (or better, when) some AIs have caught up, the tech race will still be slow, as each civ has few cities.
The moral of the story is that you are likely, as it happened to me a few times, to run out of time before the earliest victory is available.
The Tech Race (the slightly better option):
Ok, if isolating all civs is not really an option, then lets de-isolate them from the very beginning. Let’s put them on islands, but don’t put those islands too far apart (except our, of course). They can trade from the very beginning when their borders touch and can then embark on ‘discovery tours’ when they get Map Making.
Is that workable? Well, yes, it’s workable. The tech pace is much faster and can give you a nice challenge, especially when you planned to give them a nice chunk of land to settle. A civ with 8-12 cities have the potential of becoming good tech workhorses. Of course, if you make it too big, it also has the capability to out-research you…
The KAI:
Your worst nightmare is certainly the emergence of a KAI. On pangea and continents maps, you can be (almost) assured that a civ will grow through conquests. Then you’re toast. Period. You will never be able to keep pace with a civ having 2-3 times your number of cities and building (all) the wonders. Coming out no. 2 in the tech race when the AI is ahead of you by almost an Age is NOT the best way of winning.
The advantage of an archipelago map is that the AI is bad at marine invasions. On Sid, it’s still pathetic. You see a lone galley putting ashore a spearman and a swordsman one tile by an enemy capital hosting 10-15 units. So, build your world well…
Wonders:
My definition of it: ‘A Wonder is an abstract concept. Your Foreign Affairs Guru informs you regularly that a certain civ started building it and then tells you ten turns later that it has completed it. Since you never saw one, it becomes an article of faith.’
Unfortunately for you, you still need to build at least two of them. My favourite ones are Smith Trading Co. for its free cash to be invested in accelerated research and of course Theory of Evolution.
Smith is in fact manageable with a clever pre-built and if you refuse to trade Banking (researched at 100% of course, as with Economics) away. The AI often goes the ‘south branch’ and leaves you the first to research them. It is often waylaid by techs like Music Theory, Printing Press and Democracy.
ToE is also achievable (even after Steam Power and Industrialization) as the AI concentrates on useful techs like Communism and Fascism.
I managed to achieve the Sistine only once on a tight game. As for the ‘Tech-Boosting Wonders’ I never got them, also because I concentrate on Smith.
5CC Challenge:
After I finished my last game, I realized that I had only 7 cities, so I told myself ‘why not try a 5CC game next time?’. So I set up a new world as follows:
Stock rules, small map, climate and age random, 12 civs (selected), we as the Greeks, archipelago where most civs and contacts with at least 2 others.
I also gave myself two specific rules, to offset the ‘easy’ Ancient Times part. First of all, no ‘phoney wars’ as to extort techs or gold when renewing peace. The second rule was that I would gift techs to any civ being 3 or more techs behind me. In fact, I did it massively 2 times, at the end of the Ancient and Medieval eras.
As things happened, Apolyton fickle gods had a hand in this game. The ‘unthinkable’ happened and one civ actually destroyed another one. So I found myself with a civ with 15+ cities, lots of scientists, culture and almost all wonders. Exactly the KAI I took pains to avoid creating.
To make a long story short, and keep some suspense, I won in 1900AD with a diplomatic win and I had about 32’000 culture. The KAI had 98’500…
But I had the most challenging and interested game so far with Civ III
I’ve been tinkering with Sid games for a while now, trying to find a compromise between actually winning the game, enjoying a real challenge and having fun. However, Sid level is so extreme that creating a winnable game without twisting too much the parameters seems to be a game in itself! After many deceptions and quite a few wins, please find below my ‘recipe’, straight from hours of fun and frustration…
Pangea Maps:
The inherent advantage of the AI in terms of settlers and military units from 4000BC makes a pangea map very risky, if not suicidal. Even when you’re desperately trying to complete your 1st settler, you’ll get swamped by hordes of AI’s scouts, settlers and assorted bipedals. Later on in the game, you’ll come to appreciate those 50+ SoD heading towards your 6-7 cities, well, empire.
Continents Maps:
A continent map is probably as bad as a pangea map. Well, instead of having 6-7 civs competing for your terrain, resources and luxuries, you’ll have only 2 or 3, but the ‘peaceful’ invasion by 2500BC will still occur. Even if you manage to block a chokepoint, you can be sure that some AI will research Map Making fairly soon and will bypass it.
Archipelago Maps:
Put your civ on a nice island, make sure that there are at least 4 squares of sea and ocean around it and… enjoy the peace and tranquillity? Well, in a sense yes. If you create your world carefully, you can be sure that until Navigation no civ can land on your shores, even with the Great Lighthouse. This should give you time enough to settle your island properly and forget about building a strong military straight away.
Unfortunately for you, being safe means also being isolated. Even with a seafaring civ, be ready to invest in lots of curraghs and galleys, as most of them will feed the fish before making contact.
The Military:
Once you get to Navigation, you can build a not-too-strong military as self-defence force. I have never seen more than 3 galleons landing troops in the same turn, so 12 invading military units should give you a nice challenge without overtaxing your military. Of course, some civs will want to land 12 units every 2 turns, so be prepared for some real fighting…
Some players won some conquests and domination games. It’s an interesting challenge if you like to move 200+ units every turn, and watch the AI move their 500+ units. Personally, it just takes too long and I am notoriously no good at it.
I still remember my 80+ SoD of muskets and cavalry, fortified on a mountain, being wiped out by the Egyptians in 4 turns flat , and they had only 6 cities…
The Tech Race (the bad option):
So, you have settled your nice island, stockpiled it with all possible resources and luxuries, kept the other civs at bay by posting ‘here be monsters’ signs all around it and make contact s with all civs thanks to your suicide curraghs. You are now no. 1 in techs (we are still in the Ancient Times) thanks to your trading skills and as all other civs have to research all the techs individually, you look forward to an easy game. Correct?
Well, not really. Unless you twist the map as to have a really BIG island and confine all other civs to small rocks in the middle of the ocean, you won’t have too many cities, even if cramming them in a CxxC grid. That means not many scientists and that means a fairly low scientific output.
By the Medieval Ages you’ll research a tech in 20-25 turns, with no help from the backwards civs. And there are lots of techs to research… then comes the Industrial Age with a 25-30 turn pace. By then, even if (or better, when) some AIs have caught up, the tech race will still be slow, as each civ has few cities.
The moral of the story is that you are likely, as it happened to me a few times, to run out of time before the earliest victory is available.
The Tech Race (the slightly better option):
Ok, if isolating all civs is not really an option, then lets de-isolate them from the very beginning. Let’s put them on islands, but don’t put those islands too far apart (except our, of course). They can trade from the very beginning when their borders touch and can then embark on ‘discovery tours’ when they get Map Making.
Is that workable? Well, yes, it’s workable. The tech pace is much faster and can give you a nice challenge, especially when you planned to give them a nice chunk of land to settle. A civ with 8-12 cities have the potential of becoming good tech workhorses. Of course, if you make it too big, it also has the capability to out-research you…
The KAI:
Your worst nightmare is certainly the emergence of a KAI. On pangea and continents maps, you can be (almost) assured that a civ will grow through conquests. Then you’re toast. Period. You will never be able to keep pace with a civ having 2-3 times your number of cities and building (all) the wonders. Coming out no. 2 in the tech race when the AI is ahead of you by almost an Age is NOT the best way of winning.
The advantage of an archipelago map is that the AI is bad at marine invasions. On Sid, it’s still pathetic. You see a lone galley putting ashore a spearman and a swordsman one tile by an enemy capital hosting 10-15 units. So, build your world well…
Wonders:
My definition of it: ‘A Wonder is an abstract concept. Your Foreign Affairs Guru informs you regularly that a certain civ started building it and then tells you ten turns later that it has completed it. Since you never saw one, it becomes an article of faith.’
Unfortunately for you, you still need to build at least two of them. My favourite ones are Smith Trading Co. for its free cash to be invested in accelerated research and of course Theory of Evolution.
Smith is in fact manageable with a clever pre-built and if you refuse to trade Banking (researched at 100% of course, as with Economics) away. The AI often goes the ‘south branch’ and leaves you the first to research them. It is often waylaid by techs like Music Theory, Printing Press and Democracy.
ToE is also achievable (even after Steam Power and Industrialization) as the AI concentrates on useful techs like Communism and Fascism.
I managed to achieve the Sistine only once on a tight game. As for the ‘Tech-Boosting Wonders’ I never got them, also because I concentrate on Smith.
5CC Challenge:
After I finished my last game, I realized that I had only 7 cities, so I told myself ‘why not try a 5CC game next time?’. So I set up a new world as follows:
Stock rules, small map, climate and age random, 12 civs (selected), we as the Greeks, archipelago where most civs and contacts with at least 2 others.
I also gave myself two specific rules, to offset the ‘easy’ Ancient Times part. First of all, no ‘phoney wars’ as to extort techs or gold when renewing peace. The second rule was that I would gift techs to any civ being 3 or more techs behind me. In fact, I did it massively 2 times, at the end of the Ancient and Medieval eras.
As things happened, Apolyton fickle gods had a hand in this game. The ‘unthinkable’ happened and one civ actually destroyed another one. So I found myself with a civ with 15+ cities, lots of scientists, culture and almost all wonders. Exactly the KAI I took pains to avoid creating.
To make a long story short, and keep some suspense, I won in 1900AD with a diplomatic win and I had about 32’000 culture. The KAI had 98’500…
But I had the most challenging and interested game so far with Civ III
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