MP vs SP

[East Street Trader]

Any advice on whether a newbie's first MP should be a duel or arena (incidentally what the hell is that?) or some other variant?

Also how do people generally go about lining up a game? I've noticed various boards which look as tho' they run or facilitate MP but have also seen folk issuing casual challenges.

Oh, and I forgot to ask - what kit do I need? I play with an old cd and a 2.42 patch. Pretty up to date pc tho' with an ISDN connection.
[This message has been edited by East Street Trader (edited June 24, 2000).]

[Paul]

I have had similar situations happen to me. In one of my OCC games I started building SETI with the intention of switching to Apollo, but I forgot to switch and was very surprised that the map wasn't revealed and I couldn't build spaceship parts.

[Ming]

No... But after a few beers, you could be right

I'm talking about those situations where you start building it with EVERY intent of switching it over to something better when the technology becomes available to you. And then forgetting to switch it over. (don't laugh, I've seen it happen before to somebody during a MP game)

Or, you are building it because you have mystism and no other wonder building science, and you are working toward some other goal... like masonary or pottery. And before you can get the science, somebody else builds the wonder so you can't switch off it! I've seen this happen too.

[Ely McGreen]

Shoot- I thought I was building Marco Polo. That type of accident?

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Elizer R. McGreen

[Ming]

Against the AI, Oracle isn't all that bad. The AI takes forever to finally research Theology. It is not a high priority for them. Yeah, you might get Theology accidentaly from a hut, but that's the breaks...

In a MP game, you can usually count on Theology being discovered, the turn right before or after you build Oracle.
I never build it, and I very seldom see it built in a MP game, and usually it was an accident, or out of desperation

[Ely McGreen]

Shakes and King Dick are still a powerful combo, as long are you have Dick and Shake in a shield rich city and an enemy in close proximity. But yes, Dick is not that valuable.

Sometimes, for the hell of it, I like to build Oracle, and build it when its useful to me. Usually this just drags me down, but hey, in SP you have to give the computer whatever advantage you can.

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Elizer R. McGreen

[monolith94]

I agree with RAH, I hardly ever build KRC either. I only build it with a city that has 'nothing better to do'. It goes out to quickly!

[rah]

I have never built KRC. SP or MP
There always seems to be something more useful.

RAH

[Paul]

King Richard's Crusade goes obsolete with Industrialization.

[Ely McGreen]

In SP I fart around and dwaldle. Usually I like to get Mono [which is a easy] get the two happy wonders, and then head for democracy and industrialization. By now also I may have won the game, but I usually don't both either conquering all the civs or finishing a SP game. Too boring.

MP, however...

Primary objective is get a sciencetific advantage with enough military tech to get you adaquet defense. Wonders can be useful, but again so what. Let your strategy hinge on two wonders and you'll fail. Let your strat hinge on snabbing up as many as possible and you'll fail. Use a combonation of wonders for some particular aim- such as overseas campaigns, have Magellan and Sun Tzu. For scientific pursuit, Great Lib and Marco Polo [fill in gaps in pursuit of techs]. But never, ever say I need this wonder to defeat so and so. You don't NEED any wonders, save one happy wonder. King Dick with Shakes is a nice combination in a democracy, as you can base a hundred units out of that city [I don't remember when Dick runs out- it may not be forever].

Science- stick with monarchy till you can jump to democracy. From demo aim for [threw indy] flight. This will give adaquet cover from primitives, and give you a powerful chip to play later. Never attack unless victory is assured, then use overwhelming force. Map out your opponent first. Then attack [this works well if you have an enemy and you conspire to turn on your ally- you know his terrain anyhow, and have his trust, thus the perfect victim. This is done to allies you aren't buddy-buddy with. That is, you have a player you regularly team up with, don't double-cross him. Work with him like one civ.

[KhanMan]

Ah, my dear Beaver ally, tis good to see you again!

I've been doing well, thanks to free internet service providers.

I'm normally online (and on ICQ) late at night (after 10 PM Central Time) most days...right now I don't have too much time online (in the normal hours of the day), so mp-gaming has been off, but I'm sure we could arrange a duel sometime.

Ever thy assistant in crushing God's Ponies,
-KhanMan the LLSS

[War4ever]

KhanMan so good to see you again...... hows the mountaineering alliance going :P say we should hook up again for a duel or play some of those "my little ponnies".... icq me 30200920

[KhanMan]

Well, most of my mp experience has either been alliances, where everything is team play, 100% co-operation, as mentioned above, or interesting two or three player games.

Mostly, I try to go horse-bronze-monarchy, followed by whatever wonder techs are handy, and untaken.

Now, there was one game where I was playing with two newbees, and had a little fun with them. For example: I sent one of them on a merry chase to establish contact, all the while secretly building MPE. Then I got the other one with the old Theology/JS Bach trick: I was one turn away from finishing Bach's, so, right after he finished his turn, I traded Theology to him for Gunpowder.

Need I say more?

Also, sometimes, when I'm playing a friend or tribe-mate in a duel, and obviously losing, I'll just do some wacky stuff, just for the heck of it...like the time I built GL and GW in my duel with War4Ever, or the never-ending loop of endlessly bribed and counter-bibed invasionary fleet...MP games can be so much fun when you're losing!

-KhanMan of the Sayen
0-11, and proud of it!

[rah]

An arena alliance is considered a 100% alliance. If you don't, the other team will kick your butt. I will give my ally anything he asks (as long as I have it). I expect the same in return.
The key word in the story above was "DEMAND". The person (who shall remain nameless), I guess had some misconceptions about alliances. I was expecting a 'Hi, glad I've finally met you, let's see what techs we can trade to start the tech leapfrog and go after the other guys'. Instead I got "give me (pick any) tech or I will destroy you".
Needless to say I was a bit surprised. The other team was quite amused.

RAH

[Baron O]

quote: Originally posted by Ming on 06-08-2000 01:04 PM That's why you make a good ally Smash I'll never forget an arena match that rah and I were in. You know, the first person you meet is you ally, unless he has met somebody else... So Rah is the first to meet another player. And the first thing this guy does is demand something (money or science, I forget) Needless to say, rah was a "tad" pissed... and the rest of us laughed for hours

isn't it true you consider rah an easy touch, if so why not ask for some thing