Apolyton University

[nbarclay]

Originally posted by 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.

Almost standard???

[alexman]

Originally posted by alexman
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.

Well, number 1 is not relevant for this scenario, since we don't have an AI-contolled Spain.

[Konquest02]

For the next AU game (whatever it is called... 202?) I think we should have tow simultaneous games, one with PTW and one with regular Civ3. This will allow a maximum of people to play the game and compare between the two games. What do you think?

--Kon--

[nbarclay]

Originally posted by Konquest02
For the next AU game (whatever it is called... 202?) I think we should have tow simultaneous games, one with PTW and one with regular Civ3. This will allow a maximum of people to play the game and compare between the two games. What do you think?

Agreed. I've suggested the same thing myself, albeit long enough ago to give people plenty of time to forget. (The only reason we didn't post two versions of AU 205 was that AU 105 was the non-PtW version of AU 205.)

Any thoughts on what we should do for AU 202?

Nathan

[alexman]

With inspiration from Aeson's Scouting thread, how about focusing on the power of expansionist civs this time?

We could play a barb-less standard pangea map, with the Americans or something. The goal would be to use scouts to uncover the map, control communications, get lots of goodies, and advance through the ancient-age tech tree. We could either abandon the game after the Middle Ages (where the expansionist trait is no longer relevant) and compare notes, or play it out to the end.

[Theseus]

Hmmm...

First off, I'm still struggling with 205 (when I have time and am not on 'poly!).

I like the idea of exploring Expansionist, but there's a part of me that wants to play as, oh, Egypt! And maybe we could play against, errrr, Persia, Carthage, China, Ottoman, Arabia, and Spain!

[ducki]

I find communication control easier on Continent Maps when I get the Lighthouse, as I've yet to find a way to keep two sets of civs separate on Pangea... maybe I'm missing something, or maybe I just never get lucky with chokepoints.

[nbarclay]

If you want a game where Expansionist really shines, a huge, sparsely populated (e.g. eight civs) pangea map with sedentary barbarians is the way to go - especially if none of the other civs is expansionist (or Aztec). On standard maps, it's rare to have a situation where the civs don't meet each other fairly quickly, making exchange of contacts inevitable shortly after the discovery of writing. The question is, would a huge map be acceptable in an AU game deliberately intended not necessarily to be played past the beginning of the industrial era? (Well, that and the fact that from a Gathering Storm perspective, I kind of like Theseus's idea.)

Nathan

[Dominae]

Personally I dislike the idea of playing a scenario with specific goals that ends prematurely when those goals are met. This is why I didn't play the UP scenario (apart from an embarrassing OCC attempt...). Proving to ourselves the Aeson's scouting strats work great on Huge maps with no Barbs doesn't seem like all that much fun to me. Knowing Aeson, I'm quite sure that he's dead on without needing to try it out myself.

However, I do like the idea of focusing on Expansionist civs. Maybe we could try a Standard map (maybe Pangea) with little to no Barbs, and the only civ choices would be the Expansionist ones. I think this would force some of us to use some oft-neglected civs, and teach us about the true power of Expansionist. Assuming not everyone defaults to the Iroquois, we could have some interesting games (special kudos for those who choose the English!).

Come to think of it, to make the game even more interesting, we could focus on the Expansionist civs that are most often neglected: English, Russians, Americans. This would hopefully stimulate us to play the game through.


Dominae

[alexman]

But that's what would have value for us to practice in the AU. Playing as expansionists on a less-than-ideal map for the trait. I think people have a misconception about the value of the expansionists, and would be surprised in how effective it can be on even standard maps.

As for communications, you'd be surprised what you can do with scouts guiding AI units around!

Having said that, Egypt with the GS settings sounds good as well.

[Dominae]

alexman, I'm not sure if your post is a response to mine, so I'll assume it is. I thought your original proposal was to mimic Aeson's use of Scouts on Huge Pangea maps with no Barbs, and stop when our Scouts have done their job. If what you were proposing is Expansionist on any given map, I'm all for it (basically because of a new-found love for Expansionist).

The GS clone game wouldn't make much sense for those who aren't involved in the Demo. Game.


Dominae

[Harovan]

Btw, Dominae, check your PM please .

[Dominae]

Originally posted by Sir Ralph
Btw, Dominae, check your PM please .

Sorry about that. I've been reminded to check my PMs before, so you'd think I'd learn from that, no?



Dominae

[Theseus]

An all-Expansionist game is an interesting concept...

Did people not play AU 205? There hasn't been too much commentary.

Let's NOT mimic the PTW game with AU 2XX... bad suggestion on my part. Too much other interesting stuff to check out, especially with PTW 1.14.

[nbarclay]

How about setting things up so the AIs are all not expansionist and the player can choose any expansionist civ to play? (If the AIs are allowed to play expansionists, we can't give the human player the full range of expansionist civs to choose from and still face the same opponents. Besides, the expansionist trait is at its best when you're the only one.) Or we could pick an expansionist AI or two from among the civs human players are least likely to choose.

Nathan