Apolyton University

[FrustratedPoet]

Originally posted by alexman
(don't ask me why there...).

Because I just happened to be viewing that thread when I thought about it and posted before thinking if it was entirely appropriate.

[Theseus]

Here's my thinking: Instead of AU 202 being a PBEM, let's get a little familiar with PTW first.

How about a Standard and relatively easy map, with all of the 8 new civs. Everybody plays a *different* civ, and we compare notes on what takes place, civ characteristics and UUs, changes in gameplay, etc. It would be useful to do this as a scenario again, to allow for different difficulty levels.

I think the Realms Beyond guys (Sullla, Sirrian, et al) do it this way.

We can still do PBEMs independently for the moment (although I seem to have fumbled my first attempt ).

[Dominae]

Sounds like a fine idea Theseus. I'm with the Mongols, if no one objects.


Dominae

[nbarclay]

Originally posted by Theseus

How about a Standard and relatively easy map, with all of the 8 new civs. Everybody plays a *different* civ, and we compare notes on what takes place, civ characteristics and UUs, changes in gameplay, etc. It would be useful to do this as a scenario again, to allow for different difficulty levels.

I'd like to put in my bid for the Ottomans. The Scientific/Industrious combination holds a good bit of appeal to me, and there's nothing I like better than a good cavalry blitz - except, I suspect, a good Sipahi blitz! (I've about decided to break down and get PtW sometime this week rather than waiting for a sale; it's just too annoying reading about it but not being able to play it.) Note: I'm assuming the guide I just downloaded from CivFanatics is accurate about the traits and UUs.

Nathan

[ducki]

I'm rather unproven with you guys, but if you come up short on people (less than 8 ) I'd be glad to give it a shot.

I prefer industrious, but I'm trying to break that habit, so if you end up with not enough people to fill out all 8 civs, I can fill a spot.

I put it this way because I don't want to take a spot away from an active AU-er - I'm good with being an Alternate.

[Dominae]

So...how about starting AU-202? I largely skipped 201, so maybe this is a bit preemptive.

As I mentioned in other posts, I think we should do a "PTW" theme for 202. Nothing special, mostly everthing random, but you can only select your civ among the new civs. Hopefully we'll get a good mix so as to be able to get feedback on every new civ.

I also think we should stick with stock PTW for this one.

If none of the "core" AU people want to set up this game, I'll gladly do it.


Dominae

[alexman]

Sounds good! Just in time for the weekend.

I propose two changes to the stock rules though. 1) Fix the Wealth build-never bug for Spain. I cannot believe it was intentional. 2) Increase the attack strength of infantry by 1. Prior to tanks, the AI builds guerillas for offense instead of infantry.

[ducki]

What about reliving an old AU in PtW?

It would give a chance to compare notes, and most especially, to compare the new AI against the old one.

We have all seen differences in AI behavior, but since AU already has some "baseline data" to compare to, a recreation of a previous AU might give a lot of insight.

[Dominae]

alexman, I'm fine with the minor changes you suggest. Come to think of it, might as well increase the Infantry's power to 8 just like in the old version of the mod. This will put Guerillas back where they're supposed to be (as an upgrade, no more), and make Infantry and relatively potent attack force.


Dominae

[FrustratedPoet]

Originally posted by ducki
What about reliving an old AU in PtW?

It would give a chance to compare notes, and most especially, to compare the new AI against the old one.

Excellent plan. The old AU mod was designed to fix holes in the AI of stock Civ3.
Since some 'mnor' tweaks have taken place in PTW it would be a good chance to compare an old game that used the AU mod with a new game that uses PTW's updated AI.

This will tell you where the changes for your new mod will have to be focused.

[nbarclay]

Originally posted by ducki
What about reliving an old AU in PtW?

It would give a chance to compare notes, and most especially, to compare the new AI against the old one.

We have all seen differences in AI behavior, but since AU already has some "baseline data" to compare to, a recreation of a previous AU might give a lot of insight.

Sounds okay if we can get the map from a stock Civ 3 scenario and use it in PtW without risking introducing bugs. AU 105, The Power of Gold, would probably be the most logical candidate since it's the last AU game that didn't have some pretty weird stuff in its set-up. (201 was ridiculously loaded in the player's favor, 107 was almost as badly loaded against the player, and 106 was rigged to prevent contact until the discovery of Navigation or Magnetism.)

Nathan

[nbarclay]

I have a scenario set up if everyone wants to use it: AU 205 - The Power of Gold Revisited. I took the Power of Gold .bic file, loaded it into the PtW editor, and modified it so a choice of the PtW civs is playable. (I'm trying out Carthage this time, since I've already done the Ottomans.) I've played to 1100 BC and things seem to be working fine; I can definitely build my UU. The reason for the 205 course number is that it's customary for successor courses on the same subject to have the same trailing digits in their course numbers.

I'll go ahead and post the file here, and if this is what everyone wants to play, we can start official threads for it. I'll leave it to Alexman to make an AU Mod version if this is what we go with.

Nathan

P.S. It would be nice if we could post .bic and .bix files without the hassle of zipping and unzipping.

[Dominae]

Thanks nbarclay for setting up this game. I never played the first Power of Gold course, so I look forward to this one (hopefully the first course is not a prerequisite for the second one).

However, won't everyone who played this game through the first time not really be interested in doing it again, even with the new PTW civs? I know that much of the excitement of a game (for me) is discovering the world geography...


Dominae

[nbarclay]

Originally posted by Dominae
Thanks nbarclay for setting up this game. I never played the first Power of Gold course, so I look forward to this one (hopefully the first course is not a prerequisite for the second one).

However, won't everyone who played this game through the first time not really be interested in doing it again, even with the new PTW civs? I know that much of the excitement of a game (for me) is discovering the world geography...


Dominae

On one hand, this game loses the thrill of discovering the map. On the other, though, it's interesting playing much the same game and seeing how the PtW changes affect it. I even decided to play on Monarch rather than Emperor so I'd be playing the same level I did the first time through (and I'm starting to be glad I did).

Nathan

[alexman]

Thanks for setting it up, Nathan. I will make a new thread for AU205. Besides the standard rules (well, almost standard), it will include not an AU mod version, but a test killer AI version.

PS. Dominae, check your PMs.