Come! Laugh at an SG!

[Scouse Gits]

Turn-at-a-time Comparison Game

We have seen lots of 'interesting' ways of playing this game particularly in the various Succession Games that we have played. Currently there are several regular posters here who have yet to win at Deity - we find this fairly easy (Hides behind very large wall!) and thought that it might just be useful both to those people who have yet to achieve their first Deity victory and to us - who firmly expect that the real experts will tear our game appart! Hence -- we have embarked upon a totally random Deity game and will present it to you our auditors for, as our old exams used to say "Compare and Contrast" with your own style. We are doing this blind - the Barbs might wipe us out in 3900, and we finish with egg on our faces, but so what --- here it comes...

The file attached at the end of this posting is a zip file containing the first 20 turns, 4000BC to 3000BC turn at a time - our log goes a little further - but we shall post another zip with the next 10 or 20 turns after our next session ...
_________________________________________________
How the SGs (try to) play this silly game ...

Deity - Civ 2 v 2.42 - Raging Hordes - Random (Standard Large) Map - 7 Civs - No Restarts

Playing as: Carthaginians (SG1 won the toss)

New Years Eve 4001BC
We start with: Bronze Working; Ceremonial Burial; Horseback Riding & Mysticism - can't be bad!

We start life in the Save Game attached - a whale and a hut in sight ...

Debate:
SG1: There is a second special two SW of the hut therefore we should aim to found our capital to enjoy this second special and the whale!
SG2: Let's see about the hut first ...

3950: Third special (fish) sighted; hut yields Masonry
3900: Second Special revealed as Silk
3850: Carthage founded on three (maybe four) special site
3800: Alphabet selected - 13 turns to go; woodland hut hoves into view

Debate:
SG2: We won't get anything by popping this hut - save it a bit

3750: More ocean sighted - this is a fairly small island!
3650: Whale - Utica founded
3500: Horse & Warrior completed; hut yields 50g
3400: Alphabet discovered; Code of Laws undertaken - 10 turns
3350: hut yields another 50g - damn we were hoping for a unit or an Advanced Tribe
3250: Carthage goes to 2; builds Temple; switches to Wonder (debate starts as to which Wonder!)
3150: hut 50g - AGAIN!
3000: Utica builds Settler; Code of Laws discovered; Monarchy now being sought - 12 turns
2850: Malaca founded research at 9 - this is certainly not going to be ICS - SG1 cries into his red wine
2500: Monarchy! - go for Currency
2450: Monarchy established; Utica builds Settler

__________________________________________
The SGs on a red wine tandem

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

Cool idea, SGs. Personally, I always get the sense that I could win consistently on deity if I learned to micromanage better and not make dumb time-wasting (but often irresistibly fun) mistakes. Besides that, I get so p***ed off at the levels of unhappiness that I almost always find conventional Deity to be too frustrating.

So I'll be reading along, to see how you experts handle unhappiness... and I expect to wind up being inspired to play more on Deity myself.

STYOM

[MBloomIII]

Great idea SG's! So far you are beating the Barb's.

I play purely for relaxation and am very interested in seeing other playing styles. This will be an interesting read.

[Rasputin]

just as an added thought, will you include what squares your citys are working so i can see if my micromanagment ideas are on the right track, that is Shields Versus Food Versus Trade Arrows,,

Thanks guys

Actually jsut realsied i can just open the Save games i guess to see, but i was hoping to sort of play the game along with you and make my moves based on what you are doing !!!

[Carolus Rex]

Entertaining as always!

Sorry for the thread jacking, but how's our Bloodlust OCC succession game progressing?

Carolus

[Marquis de Sodaq]

Laugh at the SGs

We need a thread to do this!?

Actually, excellent idea. Altho I have no time at present to join, I'll be sure to follow along.

[Smash]

So far,so good
I'm waiting for you at 1AD.


I hope this isn't going to be Hall of Fame attempt

[Oldenbarnevelt]

Hi Scouse Gits,

I think this is a very good idea! I am a rather inexperienced player, even struggling to win at King level, and I hope to learn a lot from this step by step approach.
Too late now ... but Civ3 should have some sort of log function, so that entire games can be recorded, and replayed by others. Now we have to load and quit, load and quit -- well, not too much of a problem really.
I'm looking forward to see how you manage on what seems to be a small island.

Greetings from Amsterdam,
Oldenbarnevelt

[Blaupanzer]

SGs, great idea. I can win at bloodlust (or just conquering) at deity, but have yet to get to AC at this level. With all those soldiers doing garrison duty (3 per city by Democracy time), I manage to get distracted from the science quest part of the game. Have you set a strategy yet, or is the exploration phase pre-strategy?

[DaveV]

Not really a fair comparison, since I popped a horse in the initial hut. But, here's my first 1000 years:

4000 The coastal square by the whale looks perfect for a first city: whales and forest to work.
3950 Horsemen in hut! Hooray! Carthage established.
3900 Researching Alphabet. 6 turns/tech.
3850 Utica established.
3700 Alphabet discovered, Code of Laws next. 9 turns/tech.
3600 Horsemen completed in Carthage, warriors completed in Utica. Both cities switched to settlers.
3450 Carthage: change production to warriors. Rushbuy one shield, then change production back to settlers. Now we'll build a settler in 6 more turns. Move worker to forest; the new worker will be put on whales and we'll have 5 shields next turn.
3350 Utica: move worker onto silk.
3250 Code of Laws discovered. Currency next (Monarchy not available ), 10 turns/tech. Utica: switch to horsemen, buy two shields, switch back to settlers.
3150 Carthage builds settlers.
3000 Utica builds settlers.

Or, is this not what you're looking for, Gits? Are you just soliciting kibitzers for your saves?

Edit: changed the save file names, per suggestion.

[Oldenbarnevelt]

I, for one, like to see how others tackle the same map.

There is a problem, though. You should not give away information that the others do not possess yet, OR players should not read each others logs. A simple spoiler warning should be enough.

It would be nice if you changed the name of the leader (Rabid Rodent), so that kibitzers can save all files to one directory.

Oldenbarnevelt

[geofelt]

I also started this game, and actually got it to the point where it would be tedious to proceed. I did not keep as good a log, or as many saves, but here are a few observations of the progress, so far.
I also founded the same place as sg, liking the trade and production specials. I founded utica 3 squares south. My reasoning is that I like to have a second city within 3 squares of the capitol so that caravans stored in either city can be used to build wonders in either, and sometimes both.
It looks like sg started a wonder early, but I built a settler first. I think you need to get the first four cities started asap.
I see that davev used some gold to micromanage the settler production early. I have not used this technique in my games, but I think I will do this in my next game. The start is very important, and a little extra time to do this is not very hard.
I also built a horseman early on, but instead of using him for exploration, I used him as a defender, freeing up a warrior to explore. It takes longer to explore, but a warrior can easily uncover the terrain before you expand into it. The horseman will defend(by attacking) against barbs, while a warrior is useless.
I have zipped the random saves, and will e-mail it to anyone who wants it. If someone can tell me how to get the file into a link on this post, I will try to do that.

[geofelt]

I see a file attachment box at the end, but my file is too big, and I don't have any saves until a450.

[geofelt]

I also started this game, and actually got it to the point where it would be tedious to proceed. I did not keep as good a log, or as many saves, but here are a few observations of the progress, so far.
I also founded the same place as sg, liking the trade and production specials. I founded utica 3 squares south. My reasoning is that I like to have a second city within 3 squares of the capitol so that caravans stored in either city can be used to build wonders in either, and sometimes both.
It looks like sg started a wonder early, but I built a settler first. I think you need to get the first four cities started asap.
I see that davev used some gold to micromanage the settler production early. I have not used this technique in my games, but I think I will do this in my next game. The start is very important, and a little extra time to do this is not very hard.
I also built a horseman early on, but instead of using him for exploration, I used him as a defender, freeing up a warrior to explore. It takes longer to explore, but a warrior can easily uncover the terrain before you expand into it. The horseman will defend(by attacking) against barbs, while a warrior is useless.
I have zipped the random saves, and will e-mail it to anyone who wants it. If someone can tell me how to get the file into a link on this post, I will try to do that.

[Scouse Gits]

It's great to have so much interest! Thanks all, particularly DaveV for giving us a comparison - we would have killed for that initial Horseman, but I think the redundant tech might just let us into Monarchy faster - we still have yet to decide an overall strategy, several are under discussion - Perfection + Lighthouse initially with a choice of either two continent trade or Vet Crusader/Super Ironclad conquest; Sleaze + Gardens and await the 2nd Wonder to determine longer-term strategy; or, currently marginally ahead on the opinion polls some kind of hybrid with Carthage and a rather fine southern city site being protected and a sleazy mess of support villages - the longer term still very much undecided

Just a couple of quick comments,

• geofelt - you can explore in safety for the first sixteen turns - no barbs (except from huts) in those first few years - by then your second unit (warrior) is in place and your Horse can return for offensive defense purposes.
• although we cursed the 150g from huts - we used it extensively for rushing, both incrementally for settlers and to rush the Temple so as to advance the start of the Wonder.

Glad you all seem to be enjoying it - we certainly are ...