Publicity Stunt

[Khannalxytys]

I might try going for a monarch, even though it's a sure loss I'm up for it. I would only not play in Sid, since it's more about how your initial land is than your skills with adapting to the enviroment (so I've heard).

[Tassadar500]

Bump

[funked]

I'd like to throw out my opinion as a long term player whose skills never developed past a certain point.

I've played civilization and conquer the world type games since Empire on an old school Digital. I've never won a game on a level beyond regent, although I've competed fairly well yet never finished on several monarch games. I do read AU, and practice a lot, but I can't seem to get out of the builder mentality. As soon as I lose the city, I feel as if the game is lost. Recently, I've decided to make it to the next level, here's how:

- practice the first 40 or 50 moves from the AU scenarios until I am equal with some of the players playing on harder levels. I usually am 2 or 3 cities short almost every time. I've noticed that on the harder levels I'm usually well behind by the middle ages (or maybe it just feels that way)

- Learn to attack effectively

- Learn to use diplomacy better

OK, so here's where it ties in with the discussion. Mini scenarios are much more useful for learning in my case, because finishing a game for me ends up in spacerace or diplomacy every time. Small victories like taking over a city or developing an island are inconsequential when you are thinking of the big picture.

Scenarios where the focus is limited keeps me on track, and I can learn from other's actions. For example, the first 40 turns in the AU scenarios are great because I can compare with what people already have, after that, I am usually behind and end up focusing on something else to keep up with the AI.

After the first 40 turns though, the effectiveness is limited for me, because I get mixed up with the different approaches, and get confused on what to do next. I think it may be more effective to have a dev and a final version for each scenario so that the ideal game for the scenario could be compared to and practiced. This game would have followed the scenario as closely as possible, with voting to determine the "ideal" way. A save from the ideal game at several points would be great so that I could practice that part of the game separately from the beginning, and have an equal start as the next person.

To sum it up, AU is great as it is, and has helped me more than any other tutorial I've ever read. With more restart points along the way, and a definite ideal method (not the most effective, but following the parameters of the scenario), it could be the only way to learn the game.

[alexman]

We actually tried something like what you propose once. It was called "AU succession games" and everyone played 40 turns, and we voted on the best game. Then everyone continued playing from the best save.