Dan Magaha about playing peacefully in Civ3

[Edward]

Dan Magaha's game scares me. Does he say what level he was playing on? It seems his "cultural strategy" is allowing him to easily appease his AI neighbors and keep the war mongers in the dark ages. A peaceful strategy is now obviously possible, but is it too easy? Please tell me he's playing on Warlord and hasn't mastered the game before it's even released!

[Dan Magaha FIRAXIS]

Originally posted by Edward
Dan Magaha's game scares me. Does he say what level he was playing on? It seems his "cultural strategy" is allowing him to easily appease his AI neighbors and keep the war mongers in the dark ages. A peaceful strategy is now obviously possible, but is it too easy? Please tell me he's playing on Warlord and hasn't mastered the game before it's even released!

I wouldn't be too worried -- as I stated later on in that thread, I'm not the world's best Civ player, I usually play on lower difficulty levels. I was playing on Warlord in that particular game, and even then it wasn't "easy" to appease my neighbors by any stretch of the imagination. It just so happened that everyone else was intent on forcibly removing the Aztecs from the face of the planet, so I took advantage of that fact and went into culture-producing mode while they were geared up for military conquest. Of course my cities were not well defended for some time and I had to pay out a *lot* of tribute to keep the AI from stomping me during that time, but it paid off in the long run.

Further, since I posted that thread, I have had to employ military tactics to get oil (how very American of me) from, oddly enough, the Americans. Abe wouldn't play ball and I needed that oil =)

Dan

[Imran Siddiqui]

Jeez, Dan. You really are a fellow American. One mention of oil and you drop your pacifism and go on the attack .

[The diplomat]

Originally posted by Dan Magaha FIRAXIS


I wouldn't be too worried -- as I stated later on in that thread, I'm not the world's best Civ player, I usually play on lower difficulty levels. I was playing on Warlord in that particular game, and even then it wasn't "easy" to appease my neighbors by any stretch of the imagination. It just so happened that everyone else was intent on forcibly removing the Aztecs from the face of the planet, so I took advantage of that fact and went into culture-producing mode while they were geared up for military conquest. Of course my cities were not well defended for some time and I had to pay out a *lot* of tribute to keep the AI from stomping me during that time, but it paid off in the long run.

Further, since I posted that thread, I have had to employ military tactics to get oil (how very American of me) from, oddly enough, the Americans. Abe wouldn't play ball and I needed that oil =)

Dan

Your description of your games, make civ3 sound so cool. I can't wait to play!

[Provost Harrison]

Well the thing is that I tend to be a peaceful player, but I am quite adaptive. With dangerous and untrustworthy neighbours (or any close neighbours) I can be an unpleasant neighbour who tends to confiscate bases off my enemies until they are no more...I will often try and get early Blitzkrieg campaigns to capture their bases and eliminate a future threat. Leave me on my own, and I am as nice as you could hope someone to be!

[Colonel Kraken]

Originally posted by Provost Harrison
Well the thing is that I tend to be a peaceful player, but I am quite adaptive. With dangerous and untrustworthy neighbours (or any close neighbours) I can be an unpleasant neighbour who tends to confiscate bases off my enemies until they are no more...I will often try and get early Blitzkrieg campaigns to capture their bases and eliminate a future threat. Leave me on my own, and I am as nice as you could hope someone to be!

Wow, you sound just like me and my wife playing Civ.

[Gramphos]

I sometimes play peaceful, and sometimes I just smack some civs while playing civ. I hope that Civ3 will allow all sorts of tactics without big problems.

[Ralf]

Originally posted by Dan Magaha FIRAXIS
I wouldn't be too worried -- as I stated later on in that thread, I'm not the world's best Civ player, I usually play on lower difficulty levels. I was playing on Warlord in that particular game,

Somehow above both reassures me and worries me even further, simultaneously. I feel assured then it comes to Edwards worries, yes.

But if Dan Magaha is a newbie warlord player, what about the rest of the Firaxis-team? Are all Firaxians "happy amateurs" in terms of Civ-playing? No hardnosed old civ-veterans (both warmongers and perfectionists) playing Civ-2 "to death" on emperor- and diety-levels? No hardcore civ-veterans with previous beta-test experience?

[Dan Magaha FIRAXIS]

Originally posted by Ralf


Somehow above both reassures me and worries me even further, simultaneously. I feel assured then it comes to Edwards worries, yes.

But if Dan Magaha is a newbie warlord player, what about the rest of the Firaxis-team? Are all Firaxians "happy amateurs" in terms of Civ-playing? No hardnosed old civ-veterans (both warmongers and perfectionists) playing Civ-2 "to death" on emperor- and diety-levels? No hardcore civ-veterans with previous beta-test experience?

Rest assured Ralf, I'm an anomaly here in the office: I play Civ all the time, I'm just not very good at it I always get razzed in the office for not playing on the higher levels, and now I must publicly air my shame...

Dan

[Mookie]

I will love this game

[tniem]

Dan sounds great! I love that you are making the game so that it is more open and adaptable to how we want to play and still allow us to succeed in the game. Culture, economy, and diplomacy all seem to be becoming more integral. And while you have said this in the past, until this post I wasn't sure if it would work.

[Steve Clark]

Originally posted by Ralf
No hardnosed old civ-veterans (both warmongers and perfectionists) playing Civ-2 "to death" on emperor- and diety-levels? No hardcore civ-veterans with previous beta-test experience?

Reminds me of the story of when Civ2 first came out, the manual (or the readme or something else) quoted Brian Reynolds saying that he (and/or the Microprose) doubt Civ2 can be beaten at the deity level, at least on a regular basis.

It is the tendency for strategy game developers to make it too easy on the hardest level for the hardcore players. That would perhaps require too complex of an AI in order to compete effectively without resorting to obvious AI cheats.

[lockstep]

Originally posted by Dan Magaha FIRAXIS

Of course my cities were not well defended for some time and I had to pay out a *lot* of tribute to keep the AI from stomping me during that time, but it paid off in the long run.

Did the AI civ´s demand a lump sum of gold or a per-turn-tribute, thus effectively making you their vassal?

I really like the idea of a superior AI civ vassalizing me (in the short run ).

[The diplomat]

Originally posted by lockstep


Did the AI civ´s demand a lump sum of gold or a per-turn-tribute, thus effectively making you their vassal?

I really like the idea of a superior AI civ vassalizing me (in the short run ).

Yeah, this would be really cool indeed. With the new bargaining system in diplomacy, we will be able to effectively make another civ a vassal. Just offer the civ an alliance in exchange for them giving you say 1 iron and 10 gold PER turn.
And, I definitely hope that the AI can do this too.

[TechWins]

This all sounds so great. Every way you could possibly play seems to have some sort of benefit while still having a downfall, this is awesome. Will you take the route of getting the great leaders, military small wonders, tributes, gaining resources by force, etc... or will you take the route of getting great people, capturing cities by cultural means, gaining large borders peacefully, having a lot of resource by peaceful means, etc... Of course these options in each route can combined. You could be an aggresive, cultural civ, meaning that you are expanding your culture at great lengths but if anybody decides to mess with you then that civ will be taken off the face of the map. There are so many options in the game that it leads to a plethora of different routes you can take in playing the game.

Dan have you been earning a lot of great people? Have you gained many great leaders? I'm just curious.

It just so happened that everyone else was intent on forcibly removing the Aztecs from the face of the planet

This also encourages me very much.