Seeking advice (PBEM strategy q's)

[Brizey]

Arrian:

Sounds like a tricky timing proposition. You might want to buy the Greeks off before you upgrade to Riders, just to be sure they are on your side before you go and line up 40 riders on one border.

My orignal thought was that one or two extra cities could tilt the balance in your favor. With MP, everyone is on an even production curve, so every city, every population point, counts. You having 10 cities instead of 8 could make a huge difference long term. But, as you said, the possibility of a two front war is a serious concern.

BTW, I assume you know how important it is to beat Egypt to Chivalry. Your buddy will have a gazillion WC's (aside: I still think water closet when I see 'WC') to upgrade. Five turns or so should be enough with Riders to tilt the balance forever in your favor. Once you get a two to one city lead, the equality of MP production will pretty much seal Eqypt's fate.

Another BTW: sounds like your GF got shafted big time. You two take the two best civs and she gets stuck on some crappy island.

[Theseus]

Arrian,

First, I think it's pretty clear if you get to Chivalry you are gonna kick butt (I have nightmares of playing you as China).

You know me... balls to the wall, keep it simple. All vet Warriors, forget about research, upgrade, take Tom down. Don;t worry about Spearmen, btw...

[Arrian]

Theseus,

Heh, I wish I felt as intimidating as you make me out to be.

I've got 8 cities built now, and because I really do have such a good spot for it, I'm taking a shot at the Colossus. Production isn't my problem for a warrior -> sword upgrade. Money is.

One annoyance: the Ottomans built a 3rd city, inbetween me and their capitol. I was about to build a city right around there (settler 2 turns away). That's the second time the Ottomans have done that to me. I will enjoy their destruction.

I dunno about "don't worry about spearmen." I'd rather he throw war chariots at spears than my swords. I won't go overboard on spears, but I will bring some.

On the upside, I've caught and passed Tom in score (I think it's 124 to 122 at this point). We also made another tech trade (writing & contact w/the Greeks - which he would have gotten anyway - for mathematics) 1225 bc and counting...

-Arrian

[Arrian]

Brizey,

Yeah, my GF isn't that impressed with her location. She said if it was SP, she would have started a new game.

As for civ choice, hers ain't bad: Persia. Grant you, it would be better if she had someone to use Immortals on. OTOH, she's safe from the mean, nasty, warmongering Tom and Rob (for a while).

-Arrian

[Jamski]

I can't believe you've got your GF to play Civ with you. I've been trying to get mine interested since before the game release. Is there some kind of trick to use, or is she just a special kinda girl? Mine just looks at the screen and says,
"Oh that game again"

On a different note, I'm suprised to see you asking for tips

-Jam

[Arrian]

I guess she's a special kinda girl.

I'm asking for tips because I have nearly zero multiplayer experience.

We've already encountered some key differences between SP and MP:

1) Tom moved a warrior into my territory fairly early on, and was genuinely surprised when I reacted angrily (really angrily... it was late and I'd had a few drinks). I informed him that he was to leave immediately, back the way he came, or I would declare war on him. Period. He chose to back off. I'm really glad he did, since the only military I had was a couple of regular warriors and a couple of regular spearmen. I was in no position to stop his warriors from ripping up my improvements.

2) Tom fortified a warrior on a tile I wanted to build a city on (very close to my capitol, quite far away from his) and blocked my settler for 2 turns before finally agreeing to move. Again, to him that seemed to be a perfectly valid thing to do (I told him that sure, technically it was, but if he was going to do that, I would be forced to build an archer and move his warrior for him).

These things do not pop up with the AI. The AI has no respect for your borders, but also is too dumb to do much with the info gained from tramping around inside them. The AI will not use exploring warriors to hamper human expansion (at least not deliberately).

-Arrian

[Charis]

Onlookers

My wife sometimes will ask as she walks by the computer and asks "Who are you conquering tonight dear?" Sometimes she'll sense I'm itching to get back to a game and says "Honey, why don't you go and slay some dragons? Get one for me!"

After telling her in a recent game I was slaughtering Korea, pounding their cities with ruthless bombardment before I razed it. At dinner I had a very blank expression on my face and missed something she said. Snapping her fingers, she says "Hello?? You're not in Korea are you?"

My favorite comment of hers was...
when I was behind in a game and way behind on military. I was allied with another civ who did almost all of the fighting and I was poaching sites after a razing or border collapse. For once she asked what I was doing in this game. When I explained this tactic she replied...

"Well that's kind of being a real wimp, isn't it?"



Charis

[Arrian]

She cuts to the chase, huh?

My gf typically just reminds me that I yell at the pixels a lot.

I've been working on teaching her all about warfare. She's pretty good at expanding & building and such, but has (had) issues with war. This lead to a lot of games that she would abandon somewhere in the middle ages.

I convinced her to play them out, and explained what I meant when I said things like "build Cavalry. Lots of Cavalry." I also had to emphasize speed in her most recent SP game. She was fighting a war, as a republic, and had a large number of knights gathering to take on an already weakened opponent. She was dithering. I took one look at the situation and explained that attacking now, with all she had would 1) break the enemy, 2) actually save casualties by getting to the enemy's iron & horse supplies, 3) save her from greater WW, and 4) allow her to use the leader she had gotten to rush the FP in the right spot sooner.

Essentially, she needs to develop the killer instinct a little more. "Go for the jugular" isn't really her motto... yet.

I may, however, create a monster. Every time she has taken up something that Tom & I do, she ends up as good or better than us. She's smarter than us, I think. I can only counter with obbession.

-Arrian

[Brizey]

I can't get my wife to play either. I think she will when she is doen with grad school. For now the learning curve is too steep and her chances to play too sporadic. She is a good egg, though. Like Charis's wife, she can tell when I am off in Civ-land and says "go play computer games." She does like the fact that I like to play the Chinese, though (she is Chinese).

[Theseus]

My fiance is pretty cool about it, and takes an interest but doesn;t play.

She does like to see some of the impossible situations I get into, with enemy SODs all over the place, and then see the "after" result when I've wiped'em out and am ready for retaliation.

I get a pat on the head and a "good boy" like I'm a dog with a bone.

[Jamski]

Originally posted by Theseus
I get a pat on the head and a "good boy" like I'm a dog with a bone.

I get "Oh, that's interesting dear" said in the most sarcastic manner, but then I'm not a good boy

-Jam

[Robber Baron]

My wife merely rolls her eyes at Civ. But recently my younger daughter (5 years old) has decided she likes to sit beside me while I play. I game on my laptop, while she plays one of her games on our desktop. When battles come up, I crank up the sound and Molly turns to watch.
So my wife is a little reconciled to my playing.
The only problem now is, Molly always wants me to play the pink civs!

(Sorry to extend the thread-jack. But this is too fun to resist.)

[Catt]

Thread-jacking continued . . .

My wife ignores it completely, and will do nothing to encourage me to spend more time in front of the laptop. My 4-year old has learned not to play with the computer, but the toddlers will literally make a mad dash for the laptop the moment I leave it unattended and leave the room. It's actually become a bit of a game -- we leave the room and watch the race for the computer as the 4-year old yells his warnings . . .

Catt

[Arrian]

You bunch of threadjackers! I participated too, so I can't really complain, huh?

[/threadjack]

I hope to get a good number of turns in this weekend. Tom is coming down to visit, so we can play "hotseat" for a while and really get the game moving.

Then what I want to do is provide some screenies, and see what you all think of the situation.

btw, I think I misspoke before: My capitol has SIX bonus grassland, not 5. I think I can get it to 15 shields/turn at size 7. Horsemen or Swordsmen in 2 turns per, baby!

-Arrian

[Theseus]

It's a little unfair, don't you think...

Tom versus Apolyton. :grin: