Apolyton University

[Dominae]

Originally posted by BRC
I think that the Ottomans would be just as effective as the Germans, due to Industrious vs. Militaristic.

Actually, my point is that the Ottomans would perhaps be too effective, too early. Personally, I want to see planes, Radar Towers, Helicopters, Infantry, Artillery and Tanks in this game, not Cavalry. Sipahi are strong enough that I would be tempted to mass produce them, swtich to Communism and to a fair bit of conquering in the early Industrial.


Dominae

[ducki]

I sort of feel that much of the game will be decided before Military is useful, as well, but since I've never played the Germans, I'm willing to have a go at them.

At least I wouldn't have to worry about them rushing me.

Personally, I think with the early game being so important - since we're not acquiring territory via military means - I'd vote for Expansionist, but we did that already.

[ducki]

Just to clarify -
The reason I say Expansionist is, if we cannot invade, conquer or prune our neighbors, we have to out-REX them since we have to be relatively peaceful for 2 full Ages.
Starting with Granaries would be a big boon as would the guarantee of good stuff from the goody huts.

However, since we did Expansionist in the last AU game, it might be better to just ensure the Civ we play has at least one good early-game trait, or make sure that the deck is stacked in our favor as far as available territory goes.

I'm sure 2 (long) Expansionist games in a row would get a bit stale.

[Dominae]

ducki, I want this particular scenario to be difficult. Ideally, I would like to see a "Communism comeback" by the human player. If the human player is already dominant due to some very successful REXing, the purpose of the scenario will be thwarted. Maybe we'll even see a Killer AI or two, which would make for some pretty epic battles.

This said, I have nothing against a Expansionist civ because "abusive" REXing depends chiefly on the map and starting location. Come to think of it, Communist Americans would actually be pretty funny!




Dominae

[BRC]

Dom: Are you suggesting that we have no wars until Communism?? Or just no offensive wars?? This is going to need to be thoroughly explained for me. Sorry. Thanks.

[Dominae]

Originally posted by BRC
Dom: Are you suggesting that we have no wars until Communism?? Or just no offensive wars?? This is going to need to be thoroughly explained for me. Sorry. Thanks.

I would define 'offensive war' as entering or bombarding another civ's territory with military units. So, you could declare war all you want, but you could never capture any cities or do any "conquest-type" damage.


Dominae

[Bluefrog]

I would classify “offensive warfare” as the following: any war initiated by your civ, and any war that spills over into enemy territory. This would cause some problems, as you would nearly need to wait until the opposing civ runs out of offensive units to call for peace…but it would be a welcome challenge, IMHO.

Somebody, please let me know if I’m incorrect.

[ducki]

I'm all for challenging, but if Communism is tough to begin with...

... anyway, I just wanted to make sure we were clear on the plan.

I'll try anything. Even the Center-of-a-Black-Hole Side.

[Dominae]

So I guess we're just waiting on Theseus to finish 202.

alexman, when do you want to start this game, and who should set it up? Is the newest version of the AU mod available yet?


Dominae

[alexman]

AU mod 1.14 is up. Unless anyone has any objections to the recent changes, we should use that version for the next game. If anyone has time to play a test game with 1.14, or at least go over the recent changes in the editor just in case I screwed up, it would be a big help.

As far as setting it up is concerned, I would like to play this next game without knowing the map. It's been a while since I did that! Do we have any volunteers who don't plan to play the game (or who don't care if they know the map)? I usually use the editor to generate a map with our predetermined settings, find one I like for the current scenario, slightly modify it if necessary to make for a better game, and then set the civs' starting locations. If nobody wants to do that, I'll set it up again.

[Dominae]

If no one volunteers in the next two or so days, I'll gladly do it, alexman. I will try to do as you did with 202 and try to forget the map after a couple of weeks.


Dominae

[BRC]

I can give it a shot tomorrow before 2:00. Will you tell me the civ that we are using, and the different forms of mods that we need? Thanks.

[alexman]

Thanks BRC!

Let's go with Germany.
We need three versions: 1.29f, 1.14f, and AU mod.

As for the settings, does anyone have suggestions? I would say that you should pick your own settings without telling us, but keep in mind these random facts: Communism is best for an empire that has no room for a good FP placement, or when other governments would give lots of distance corruption but not very much corruption due to number of cities. Also, killer AI's need some initial room to expand and some weak neighbors to kill.

[BRC]

I'll post any questions tomorrow, if I have them. Just check in periodically if you can. Thanks.

[Dominae]

BRC, you also want to provide a scenario description, describing the exact "rules" of this course. The key points are:

1. No offensive aggression unless the current government is Communism.

2. The only two victory types are Conquest and Domination.

3. Bonus marks/points will be awarded to those who best make use of Communism.

If no one objects, I wouldn't mind posting a more complete description of the game in the AU-203 thread once BRC is done with generating the scenario. Basically this is just to collect all the FAQs that we've discussed in the past few days. BRC you'll probably need to send me the files in this case, so that I can post everything in one neat package.

Oh, and thanks for volunteering (I want to play this game!).


Dominae