what is ICS?

[Naj]

well?

[Andz83]

It means Infinite City Strategy. You build as many cities as possible on your land. So close that they overlap each other. They have very little production but you can build up a huge army though. This needs much time but can be effective.

Uneffective for game finishing via Alpha Centauri I think...

[Geography Dan]

I thought it was Infinite City Sleaze.

[Bohlen]

It stands for Infinite City Sleaze and is quite effective for any type of game you are playing. The idea behind it is that by expanding as quickly as possible, you are able to work more city squares, thus giving you the opportunity for more trade arrows.

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Proud Warrior of the O.W.L. Alliance

[SCG]

quote: Uneffective for game finishing via Alpha Centauri I think...

used correctly, you can build your entire spaceship in one turn though - seems like that would be pretty effective (every city builds a couple caravans and sends them to their designated construction site - poof! instant spaceship ) And in any case, on larger worlds, you don't even have to cram them so close together (some true ICSers will fit 4 cities in a 3x3 square) I personally take more of a perfectionist ICS stratagy with no overlap - there's room on large worlds to build 200+ cities with virtually no overlap, and when 200+ cities are all well developed, well, the production potential is impressive Of course you might want to set aside several months if you want to micromanage each and every city not to mention the game is usually well in hand at that point as well.

[DaveV]

Here's how: build only settlers, diplomats, ground units, and the bare minimum number of ships. Keep building cities, and take away the other players' cities. Use Hanging Gardens to keep order in the early game, then use Statue of Liberty to switch to Communism or Fundamentalism.

[Scouse Gits]

ICS is a powerful strategy, with many variants. It is good for early landings on AC, as well as conquest. Dave V has landed in the Sixteenth Century using the philosophy he describes. Follow his advice!
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SG (2)

[Alexander's Horse]

ICS players can be VERY ANNOYING in multiplayer games, particularly if they overlap cities. The overlap strategy requires a LOT of micro management, which means very long turns. Consult our playing partners before embarking on the overlap variant.

[finbar]

Well said, Horse. I think ICS started out life as an acronym for Infinite City Strategy, but the S came to stand for Sleaze, as various people decided it was a less than ... um, worthy strategy.

It's a hard strategy to combat unless you find the player early and strike hard. Early on, the ICS civ will have very little defence as the player concentrates on building settlers. Another tactic is to build the Happy Wonders before the ICSer can, for without the Happys, the ICSer runs into obvious trouble.

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finbar
Mono Rules!
#33984591

[MacUser]

I STILL like "Insane Civ Strategy" for ICS! As Ming said (paraphased or butchered ) awhile back: "when I find an ICS player, I call it TOAST!"

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Different is GOOD!

AOL IM--JacSamDad

[finbar]

Yeah, but first you've got to find the little buggers.

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finbar
Mono Rules!
#33984591

[Ari Rahikkala]

For me, ICS has meant Infinite City Sprawl.

Loved children has many names, or something...

[Naj]

hehe, i get it know. thanks all

[Ming]

finbar... so true, so true! If you don't find an ICSer early, you will understand why the S stands for sleaze when you see how many cities he has.

Raging hordes or early detection is the only real way to combat an ICSer in an MP game.
Oh, and getting all the Happiness wonders can also slow them down some

Nothing better than listening to an ICSer complain about all the barbs they have crawling over them

And yes MacUser, you got the quote right!

[St Leo]

what is ICS?

The reason I do not play random map games.

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St. Leo
http://ziggurat.sidgames.com/
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