Has anyone finished a 1.29 game?

[Catt]

Originally posted by Cort Haus


I've had planty of success with the GL on Monarch with early literature and a decent pre-build - set the science to 0% and get rich while the AI researches maybe 10 techs or so for you.

OTOH, if LIteracy is late, the AI does sometimes finish it post-astronomy .

I've done it too (though not had "plenty of success") - but I think it's a pretty risky strategy. Should you be surprised to find you're on a pangea and the tech rate zooms forward more quickly than expected, you can suddenly find yourself completing the GL while the AIs are researching Navigation (at least, on 1.21f ).

[Arrian]

Cort Haus,

Heh, my reputation is truely atrocious, since I blatantly attacked three different civs (Egypt, Japan, Zulu). The result is that I cannot buy anything for GPT, and I cannot sell anything a large lump sum. Clearly, I cannot get a RoP either. I have sold luxuries for GPT and tech for GPT plus some lump sum. I do, in fact, have access to all 8 luxuries (though I think I *may* be importing one), so good relations are a non-issue for me. I can win the game right now, if I was willing to throw all my Cavalry at England (the AI *just* discovered nationalism). Hmm...

Catt,

Your experiences mirror mine. Pangea on 1.21 would NEVER have shaken out the way our games did. That's a guaranteed tech blitz - the GL would be obselete faster than you could say "Education." Not so with 1.29. I like it

-Arrian

[Boris Godunov]

I'm close to finishing a monarch-level 1.29 game as the Germans and am kicking ass thouroughly on a large map with 12 civs. I disabled all victories except the conquest ones, so I will have to strive to take 3/4 of the globe soon and get domination.

I didn't notice any appreciable slowing of the tech race for me, but the AI seemed to advance more slowly. Overall, it's been pretty fun, though.

[Zylka]

[Arrian]

I can finally answer "yes" to the question. Game over. "You have acheived a domination victory!" I bumrushed England with my Cavalry... poor slobs, they never stood a chance. Artillery, Infantry & Cavalry against an assortment of riflemen, muskets, pikes, spears and knights. Final score in the mid-4000s. I'll say this: a large, democratic Rome is a VERY rich Rome. I was rolling in cash ("treasure bath!" - History of the World, Part I).

An interesting sidenote that I forgot to mention about this game: the Iroquois rushed Bach's with a leader. I watched him be created, moved, and immediately there was a popup "the Iroquois have completed JS Bachs." I'm 99% sure they were no where near finishing it by conventional means. Plus, I never saw an Iroquois army, despite them being at war for a while after this. So a good move by the AI there.

-Arrian

[Cookie Monster]

I finished my first game with 1.29f this past weekend with a domination win. Played regent/standard/med continents and got pangaea. Tech race was much easier for me than in 1.27f. It also helped to beat tech out of my neighbors. By the end of the game I had MI and everyone else had only infantry. Wiped all of them out without pity. Didn't matter that I couldn't trade with anyone because I had all the resources and luxuries I needed to wage indefinate war under republic.

I think I'll try moving up to monarch soon. But I've put civ3 down for a while to warm up for the CtP2 tourney here at 'Poly.

[Arrian]

Hmm, that's another "I selected continents and got a pangea" comment. Did Firaxis tweak the map generation and inadvertantly screw it up?

-Arrian

[Killerdaffy]

Originally posted by Arrian
Hmm, that's another "I selected continents and got a pangea" comment. Did Firaxis tweak the map generation and inadvertantly screw it up?

-Arrian

Don't know, but happens all the time. I *especially* like to sit on a small continent all by myself when I selected pangea...

[Arrian]

I hasn't happened to me much. I normally select continents. Maybe once before this had I not gotten continents. *shrug*

-Arrian

[Catt]

Originally posted by Arrian
An interesting sidenote that I forgot to mention about this game: the Iroquois rushed Bach's with a leader. I watched him be created, moved, and immediately there was a popup "the Iroquois have completed JS Bachs." I'm 99% sure they were no where near finishing it by conventional means. Plus, I never saw an Iroquois army, despite them being at war for a while after this. So a good move by the AI there.

Very cool!

[Matt_G]

Originally posted by Arrian
An interesting sidenote that I forgot to mention about this game: the Iroquois rushed Bach's with a leader. I watched him be created, moved, and immediately there was a popup "the Iroquois have completed JS Bachs." I'm 99% sure they were no where near finishing it by conventional means. Plus, I never saw an Iroquois army, despite them being at war for a while after this. So a good move by the AI there.

-Arrian

That's good to hear! The AI does seem to be doing a better job with the new patch. I have investigated a couple of cities in my current game, just to see what's up. They are building factories, more culture etc. It's making for a better game. (on Regent)
Now if Soren had only made the AI workers better at how they improve the city tiles, they would really be competitive.
It really pains me when you look at the map and see bonus grassland irrigated, and 'normal' grassland mined. Wheat tiles mined etc. I am still seeing a lot of size 12 AI cities with only 7 or 8 tiles improved at all. Especially the Non Industrious civs. They aren't building enough workers, at least that what it looks like to me.
Oh well, at least it gives my workers something to do when I capture a city in the late game. They have to rework at least half the tiles.

[Boris Godunov]

Side note:

Isn't it silly to be able to check both domination and conquest victories? I mean, domination would preclude a conquest victory, wouldn't it?

[Grumbold]

I tried several 1.29 games recently and find that I can't play on monarch level any more because I just get annoyed. After all these patches the little irritations still remain e.g. AI still tramps through your country like it doesn't know you exist while foaming at the mouth the second one of your unarmed scouts gets caught by their expanding culture border. I couldn't find a single nation willing to trade gold per turn for any of my items even if they had plenty of gold in their treasury.

[Arrian]

Grumbold,

That's strange (the trading part, not the trespassing). I was able to sell things to the AI for large amounts of GPT despite having a horrible reputation. They wouldn't touch a trade with me where I paid GPT with a 12 foot electrified cattle prod, but I had no problems selling luxuries and technology.

Matt G,

I feel your pain re: the terrain improvements. Actually, there is no difference between mining the normal grassland/irrigating the bonus grassland and the other way around (both ways produce 5 food, 2 shields). It's more that the AI is programmed to just alternate mines and irrigation (when irrigation is possible) no matter what. This harms their productivity. We humans are able to optomize things by getting a city up to size 12 and then mining as much as possible without starvation. The AI's size 12 cities will often have large food surplusses, which until hospitals is a waste. I think perhaps a slight change to the AI's mine/irrigation ratio would help out, but then you may see AI cities get stuck at size 8 or something. It's gotta be a real ***** to program.

-Arrian

[Matt_G]

Originally posted by Arrian
Matt G,

I feel your pain re: the terrain improvements. Actually, there is no difference between mining the normal grassland/irrigating the bonus grassland and the other way around (both ways produce 5 food, 2 shields).

I Should have said shielded grassland. That's what I meant by 'bonus'. They irrigate shielded and mine normal. Of course there are times when mining normal grassland is the way to go. Like if you have some floodplains. Then I will mine everything else depending on how much food I can get out of them.

Originally posted by Arrian
The AI's size 12 cities will often have large food surplusses, which until hospitals is a waste. I think perhaps a slight change to the AI's mine/irrigation ratio would help out, but then you may see AI cities get stuck at size 8 or something. It's gotta be a real ***** to program.

-Arrian

Yep, you're right about the size 12 cities. I have seen them sitting at size 12 with 6 or even 7 extra food but the damn thing is only putting out 15 or 16 shields.

I'm sure it would be a real b**** to program though. That's a shame, because the AI would be more formidable if this could be programmed right.