PBEM Challenges - Part III

[TheBirdMan]

I am NOT - NOT - going to bread cities close to each other. That is against my "nature". If that it the most important strategy (and I think it is) that makes me loose - well then I loose!

[quinns]

Originally posted by TheBirdMan
I am NOT - NOT - going to breed cities close to each other. That is against my "nature". If that it the most important strategy (and I think it is) that makes me lose - well then I lose!

Ummm.... Blarney and Dublin are two squares apart in our game. Don't give me that crap, Birdman!

But seriously Birdman, why does that bother you? Some of the other "old time CtP'ers" feel the same way about building "far apart". I don't get why that is so important . Just because the a/i builds far apart doesn't mean you have to? The a/i stinks! I have a feeling it is asthetics with you and the others. The map just looks "prettier" when the cities are far apart. Well think of this then my Danish friend, on a gigantic Earth map, the width is 100 squares (I think). The Earth is 40,000 kilometers around, so each square on a gigantic map represents about 400 kilometers!! Can't there be more than 1 city in an 800 kilometer radius?

[TheBirdMan]

Originally posted by quinns

Ummm.... Blarney and Dublin are two squares apart in our game. Don't give me that crap, Birdman!

I do build a few cities (2-3 - maybe even 4) close to each other, when the terrain is suitable for that (or the surrounding terrian isn't suitable for anything).

But seriously Birdman, why does that bother you? Some of the other "old time CtP'ers" feel the same way about building "far apart". I don't get why that is so important .

I have a feeling it is asthetics with you and the others. The map just looks "prettier" when the cities are far apart.

But that is thuth in a nutshell - believe it or not.

I "need" to feel something to a game to give it my best (giving enough time).

Those feelings can haves many different reasons.

I do like to build up a nation. Seeing a "virgin" area just inviting to be settled, that's just .

The nation also have to have a decent look - here comes my aversion to rabbit-settlements. I don't say that the cities should be as far from each other as possible, but I want them placed so tradegoods and other important ressources are used in the most efficient way. See that is pretty. And that also gives me a good feeling towards that game .

Not that I don't like the times of war and find them nessesary too - I do. But more often than I attack, I find myself under attack and with underdeveloped war-skills. It does give a "kick" to be under pressure - but when playing against humans, it also gives a defeat .

So I have to improve the way I am building up my nation - giving more attention to science the first 100 turns or so - but without compromise my favourite way to play too much .

And in games, where both ruins and wonders are nullified, I'll try to find a way to keep the game going well into modern age and preferable into genetic age - then I am sure, that my way of playing will pay off .

[berXpert]

Birdman 90 - I'm preparing for the Mother of all Battles, mounted archers had reach Birdman's land, in 3 turns some Knights will arrive too, and in 5+ turns he will feel the power of my Cavalry

[TheBirdMan]

Originally posted by berXpert
Birdman 90 - I'm preparing for the Mother of all Battles, mounted archers had reach Birdman's land, in 3 turns some Knights will arrive too, and in 5+ turns he will feel the power of my Cavalry

Pls take a number - the cubans came first

[Lung]

Lung is away for a few days, so sorry, BirdBreath

I am up at sunny Port Macquarie on the NSW mid-north coast at my parents (the old folks home ) and cannot beat BirdBrain to a pulp

I'll be playing my next turn on Thursday. See y'all then!

[TheBirdMan]

Originally posted by berXpert
Birdman 90 - I'm preparing for the Mother of all Battles, mounted archers had reach Birdman's land, in 3 turns some Knights will arrive too, and in 5+ turns he will feel the power of my Cavalry

Mounted archers made to Vuture food .

The Big Bird Vulture is waiting for its next meal.

[berXpert]

Just wait them, soon you will have 18 units outside your capital

[quinns]

BerXpert, I await your reply to what settings you would like in our upcoming challenge match dual-duel. Do you want to use the standard challenge settings?

[quinns]

Originally posted by Lung
Lung will NEVER shut up

The Dual-duel format is the only way to have a truly even match-up. However, if starting positions are too lopsided, the advantage still lies with the player who gets the best location in the first game. Unless of course you start both games at once, which i expect that's what you do

As for my starting location, Quinns, no, it WAS crap. I had a forest start on a 3-tile river surrounded by a swamp the size of Western Australia! You, on the other hand, had a 100-tile river on jungle with endless mountains for the perfect gold/food/production triple-whammy. Being able to build cities a single turn away from the city of origin is an enormous advantage over having to plod across swamp for twenty turns to find a location only good enough for a city or two. Then of course the handicap is increased by huge borders with little production to defend it.

The fault's not with you, Quinns, but with Craptivision for making rivers the be-all-and-end-all of city sites. The whopping 5-gold/5-food/5-production bonus is too huge to overcome. The only reason i survived this far in BC6 is because i was isolated and too far away for BirdBreath to reach me. Even then i had a better starting location and an oppenent too far away to attack me at my most vulnerable. At least Civ3 doesn't rely on rivers to make a player competitive. The terrain mix is far more varied than CTP. At one extreme, you can get entire sections of map exclusively one terrain type in CTP. What was Craptivision thinking?

Civ games shouldn't be like a game of dice where your fate lies totally in your luck of the draw. Civ should be more like a complex game of cards where you have to play with what you get, but can overcome a poor hand with skill and cunning

At least with your challenge concept, more games can be played to show who the better players are, but CTP shows that starting location is the greatest single influence on the final result. I have won every game i have started (with one notable exception . I would have won that if i didn't have scruples, dammit ), and lost every game i didn't with one exception. Even then it took an incompetent opponent to let me into the game

I would like to play you some time in the future, Quinns, but i need to downgrade my already low participation due to imminent study and family commitments. Maybe after i get a faster computer which will save me the 5+ minutes it currently takes me to open a turn. Hopefully later this year we can have a dual-duel showdown

So when do we start our dual-duel match Lung? Or, if you prefer, we can reverse starting positions in our last match and start from there (just to show you that you start position WASN'T CRAP ). It will only take a few minutes a day. BTW -- Good luck in your studies and familly commitments!

[Lung]

Originally posted by quinns


So when do we start our dual-duel match Lung? Or, if you prefer, we can reverse starting positions in our last match and start from there (just to show you that you start position WASN'T CRAP ). It will only take a few minutes a day. BTW -- Good luck in your studies and familly commitments!

That is VERY tempting! If you could beat me with my starting location versus your own, you would be undisputedly better than me. The pre-existing knowledge of terrain would reduce that advantage, but it would be there nonetheless.

Maybe once i finish off BirdBrain, but not until then, at least. Our game doesn't look like finishing any time soon, so i'll keep you posted

Obviously, i am now back. Will play my turns within 12 hours.

[quinns]

Alright Lung! Whenever you're ready

[Frozzy]

Telecom NZ pulls off a stunner!!!

It turns out the problem was with my ISP, and not with my PC as I was previously told by a "friendly" help desk person. So, after a "threatening" e-mail to Xtra (my ISP, owned by Telecom NZ) they manually fixed their system so I can upload .sav again!

Xtra has a monopoly on the NZ ISP market, so how Telecom NZ thought I'd leave is beyond me...

Anyway... so even with a new computer arriving in NZ in May, I can still upload turns from this PC.

So, I'm quarter back, as I'll probably only take on challenge games from now, after I've been replaced in all my other games...

Room for a little one?

[TheBirdMan]

Originally posted by berXpert
Just wait them, soon you will have 18 units outside your capital

Outside a city maybe - but not my capitol.

That is, if my government hurries to pack all their stuff and get their as. out .

turn to you a few minutes ago.

[checkMate]

Heh Frozzy We reeeeely need you back in Superleague land.