I finally got around to giving the basic One City Challenge (OCC) a shot. Up to this point I had only attempted and completed one other challenge: the "build all the SPs" one.
My thought was that OCC would be extremely difficult and only suitable for the top notch players. This turned out not to be the case. In fact, the SP challenge was much harder for me. It was easy to build most Secret Projects, difficult to build all but one or two, and extremely difficult to get them all.
I succeeded in the basic OCC challenge on my second attempt. I played Cha Dawn and I was up against: the Gaians, UoP, Morganites, CC, Data Goofs, and UoP. Running Dem, Green, Knowledge I was only in SE conflict with Morgan until near the end of the game when CC got irritable because I ran Eudaimonic.
The lack of frontrunner status for a change was so pleasant. No evil random events, and a huge diplomatic bonus to boot. I had off and on wars with Morgan and the Gaians but for at least half of the game I was treatied or pacted with everyone.
Settings: transcend, random maps, directed research, standard sized map, default everything else. SPs built: only the ME, Supercollider, ToE, Voice and Ascent. The Vats might have been a good one to nab as well, since in the first attempt I lost four or five turns away from building the Ascent. The Gaians kept cranking out carbon copies of themselves and then voted Deirdre in as supreme leader.
UoP and CC really encroached my territory down to next to nothing, so I survived by poaching friends' and pactmates' resources with my crawlers and sea crawlers. My worst moment was when CC downgraded me from pactmate to friend, instantaneously teleporting dozens of sea crawlers home.
Another bad moment was when one of my pactmates (CC) accepted cash for the destruction of another (Gaians). I continued to whine at her to call off her war and, much to my surprise, she eventually did.
My thought (no doubt to be instantly disputed by those who know better
) was that the Cult is as good of faction as any for this type of challenge. I was able to resolve a few early conflicts with my native army that I then put to work combing the fungus of my pactmates' territories for worms for more cash.
In summary, this is an excellent beginner challenge. I was able to transcend at 2316 which is better than I often do with a couple dozen cities and double blind research. If anyone wants a look at my .sav, let me know.
My thought was that OCC would be extremely difficult and only suitable for the top notch players. This turned out not to be the case. In fact, the SP challenge was much harder for me. It was easy to build most Secret Projects, difficult to build all but one or two, and extremely difficult to get them all.
I succeeded in the basic OCC challenge on my second attempt. I played Cha Dawn and I was up against: the Gaians, UoP, Morganites, CC, Data Goofs, and UoP. Running Dem, Green, Knowledge I was only in SE conflict with Morgan until near the end of the game when CC got irritable because I ran Eudaimonic.
The lack of frontrunner status for a change was so pleasant. No evil random events, and a huge diplomatic bonus to boot. I had off and on wars with Morgan and the Gaians but for at least half of the game I was treatied or pacted with everyone.
Settings: transcend, random maps, directed research, standard sized map, default everything else. SPs built: only the ME, Supercollider, ToE, Voice and Ascent. The Vats might have been a good one to nab as well, since in the first attempt I lost four or five turns away from building the Ascent. The Gaians kept cranking out carbon copies of themselves and then voted Deirdre in as supreme leader.
UoP and CC really encroached my territory down to next to nothing, so I survived by poaching friends' and pactmates' resources with my crawlers and sea crawlers. My worst moment was when CC downgraded me from pactmate to friend, instantaneously teleporting dozens of sea crawlers home.
Another bad moment was when one of my pactmates (CC) accepted cash for the destruction of another (Gaians). I continued to whine at her to call off her war and, much to my surprise, she eventually did.
My thought (no doubt to be instantly disputed by those who know better
![](http://apolyton.net/forums/smile.gif)
In summary, this is an excellent beginner challenge. I was able to transcend at 2316 which is better than I often do with a couple dozen cities and double blind research. If anyone wants a look at my .sav, let me know.
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