AU 202: Scout and Expand

[alexman]

Don't worry about not knowing the AU mod rules inside out. One of the main goals of the mod is to preserve the feel of stock Civ3, so there are very few strategies that work in one version and not the other. (There are some, however, that might work better in one version than the other).

As for the 1-2 killer AIs, I agree that it would be nice. We'll see what we can do. Perhaps there is a way, but the nature of Civ3 (compared to Civ2, for example) makes it easy to catch up if you fall behind, so it might be difficult.

Anyway, no pressure about playing the mod, really. I was just giving you a hard time.

[Catt]

Yup - I don't expect big differences. I just need to refresh my memory of the mod -- for instance, playing the mod it may actually make sense to build ironclads (something I usually avoid like the plague in stock Civ III).

Conversation continued in the AU Mod thread!

Catt

[BRC]

But several of us have got to play a standard version (just to compare AI development, particularly on the "non-human" continent, to continue our exploration on whether the Mod seems to generate "Killer AI's" more frequently than standard rules).

This is me. Monarch with the Mongols. Gonna try some new things out thanks to Dominae. Jawa and I can compare our games, unless he gives it a go at Emperor. First game ever with Expansionist trait. If I don't post results, you know what happened.

[Catt]

Originally posted by BRC


This is me. Monarch with the Mongols. Gonna try some new things out thanks to Dominae. Jawa and I can compare our games, unless he gives it a go at Emperor. First game ever with Expansionist trait. If I don't post results, you know what happened.

[personal plea]

No -- you must share your game with us (even if it seems embarassing). Part of AU is learning what works and what doesn't, and also learning how AI civs develop under standard rules versus AU Mod rules -- unless we are all willing to share what didn't work, no one learns!

If you look back through all the AU games (and the few mini-tourney or "MT" games that we played) I think you'll find everyone posting a loss or at least highlighting some serious mistakes made or well-conceived, well-executed but nonetheless unproductive strategies / tactics. If I'm not mistaken, the greats such as Arrian, Sir Ralph and Theseus (in alphabetical order) have all posted and dissected failed approachs or strategic errors. And we all learn from it.

So please put ego aside and share -- there's no ranking and no score competition (which is part of the reason why the move to offer AU as a scenario -- and therefore playable at any difficulty level -- was such a great idea!) -- we can all play at the level we consider most entertaining and we can all contribute to the knowledge base! Even if I like to play at Monarch or Emperor, I can still learn from someone who likes to play at Warlord (and vice-versa) -- but only so long as others share their games!

[/personal plea]

Catt

[BRC]

Hey guys, sorry to post this request in this thread, but I would appreciate if someone could tell me how to post a screenshot on Poly. I already have it saved in Paint. Thanks.

[BRC]

Well Catt, you talked me into it.

I'm feeling good about this game, and it's still before 1500 B.C.

[Catt]

Screenshots can be a bit of a pain, largely because I refuse to actually pay for any real photo editing software, so I use what was preinstalled on my laptop - one program does one needed task; a second does a second needed task .

I hit alt-printscreen to capture the image. I then paste it into Microsoft Paint. I then reduce it by using the "Stretch / Skew" command from the dropdown menu "Image." I reduce it to 58%, which, through trial and error, I've figured out gets it down to less than 600 x 450 pixels ('Poly limits). I then save it as a bitmap (because MS paint can't save as a jpeg ). I then open the saved bitmap file in Microsoft Photo Editor and simply resave it as a jpeg. I've found that if I just use Microsoft PhotoEditor, the quality is terrible after shrinking the image size -- only by shrinking a bitmap in MS Paint and then converting to jpeg in MS PhotoEditor can I get a decent quailty image that fits within the 'Poly restrictions, both dimensions and memory size.

Catt

[DaveMcW]

http://www.irfanview.com/

This is an excellent image viewer/converter. And it's free.

[FrustratedPoet]

Yeah, use Irfanview for the screenies, it'll do the job nicely.

I've downloaded the zip, but won't start to play until after the weekend (I'm busy). I plan to play as the English too.

[notyoueither]

When can I use the Korean Strat?

[Harovan]

I'll give it a shot after I finish my current, Egyptian game. Which goes pretty slow, due to other issues, but is great fun. In that game, by the way, the Mongols are together with China and France (no surprise on these) among the big and prosper AI civs. Never seen the Zulus that strong, and they have the same traits. Looks like I'll take the Mongols and will try to win in Genghis' style.

Unless alexman is cruel and locked them up on a 10 tile island... which is what I expect, because I know him.

[BRC]

Looks like I'll take the Mongols and will try to win in Genghis' style.

Excellent choice. I am trying to use them in the same fashion. No one can stop the horde (or at least that's the plan).

[Jawa Jocky]

I'm hoping for some mountains so I can use my UU special trait.

I gave up on mods a while ago. It's not that I didn't like them, but I could never remember the changes.

Speaking of thing I can't remember. How many different types of stack commands does PTW have? J = moves the whole stack now. Is there a stack move only current unit type? Also is there a build unit and move to city command now?

[Dominae]

Originally posted by Jawa Jocky
Speaking of thing I can't remember. How many different types of stack commands does PTW have? J = moves the whole stack now. Is there a stack move only current unit type? Also is there a build unit and move to city command now?

CTRL-J is move all units of only one type in the stack.


Dominae

[Dominae]

Speaking of important changes, the new version of the AU mod has Galleys require 2 movement points to traverse Ocean squares. This is a bigger change than you'd think, so watch out.


Dominae