Civ 5 Multiplayer 5: Empire Strikes Back (Giant Multiplayer Robot, G&K+BNW)

[Illven]

1. You should not be boned from AI. Japan has only had a couple of turns of AI, and Poland has actually had more AI than Japan. I actually suspect that the bigger handicap might be having to work from Orcus' strategy, which might not be how you would choose to play.

2. According to GMR, we are about the complete the 40th turn. Not sure if accurate.

3. I think I saw Orcus and Magentawolf send eachother spoilered messages, so at least Rome?

On a tactical basis, I should probably pm Orcus and ask him how he planned to go about things.

[OrcusMcP]

The spectator has become Japan. (In a couple of hours, once I got on the home computer.)

A couple of questions.

1 How boned has the turns of AI made me?

2 What turn are we on?

3 Who has contact with Japan?

I'll give you what I know of from before the save borked on me:

Spoiler: Handing over of Power!

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Rome is to your south across a desert and a river, not much land between you.

There's a barbarian camp to your west nestled in some jungle, but should be a good 2nd city spot.

THere's a big mountain range to your east I was trying to get through, not sure what is beyond it.

As far as general strategy, things hadn't really progressed to the point where a big strategy would come through. I went Tradition, and was trying to pacify my immediate surroundings to start getting a 2nd and 3rd city up. Japan does best when they get in a position to crank out Samurai after Samurai and then expand, so go nuts.

I was giving public updates in the form of Limericks, and if you want to keep that tradition alive it would definitely tickle my fancy. :)

[Illven]

Thank you Orcus.

[Illven]

So, it's giving me the same issue that Orcus was having?

Also it told me when the save was clicked, that it was turn 36, and that I was Indonesia I think? That's not normal right?

Fixed. Sorry for the delay.

[Frog Dragon]

Yeah, that's normal. GMR games always list the host of the game as the civilization in the save, even if it's someone else's turn. This doesn't affect anything.

Edit: Wow, I think that's the fastest turn sequence I've seen so far. I play my turn and go to sleep, and when I wake up, it's only 1 turn away from me again.

[Illven]

Spoiler: For spectators

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So this is Kyoto. Producing a settler, and I'm not really sure where to settle. I also have a bit of a barbarian problem.



This is about where I want to settle if I can't get anything better. It has cattle, bananas, will be defendable, and has fish.



And here's my tech tree.

Spoiler: For Rome

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Have you lost a worker to barbarians? I ask because stumbling among a barbarian camp they have captured a worker.

[Magentawolf]

Spoiler: To Japan

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We have not. All of our citizens are safe and secure within our borders.

[Frog Dragon]

Spoiler: For Spectators

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The great Mahapatih has a slight barbarian problem



I wish I had actually gotten this unit within Jakartan territory. Then I could just embark. Now it seems unlikely that I can keep my warriors.

[Illven]

So I think I heard Rome's next technology. Should I take my headphones out when ending turn?

[Driderman]

It's a limitation of the system, unfortunately. I never use my headphones for Civ so I tend to forget it can be an issue.

[Illven]

Spoiler: For Rome

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So, Japan is looking for areas to settle, but we would prefer not to infringe upon our neighbors.

Would either of these two areas be acceptable to you?

Spoiler

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[Illven]

Spoiler: For spectators

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So Good news. Got my second city!

Bad news. Probably pissed Rome off. They didn't say I couldn't settle, and in transit they settled a city on one of the areas I was planning to settle.

So Tour time.



This is my capital. I switched to production for a turn, to finish the work boat I'm making, then I'll have connected whales to my empire. (Aqua man would be proud.) Once the workboat is done, I'll build a scout and send it straight north.



This is my second city. It has cotton. The gold difference between the two pictures is me buying a worker in-between.



This is my tech tree, yay!

[Frog Dragon]

Spoiler: For Spectators

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Scarchers! I got a unit promotion ruin with a scout. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to do much real scouting because the barbarians seem to be everywhere.


Also need another city. I have liberty and I'm still on one. I'm pretty slow to settle in the start, since I hate pausing growth in my capital, so I always buy settlers with gold or social policies. I seem to have been wrong about that plot of land there, so no Spice Islanders for me yet. However, I'll still settle here. I have enough happiness to take it, and it's a pretty good spot anyway. It has whales, and I can use it to command the isthmus while getting my own little private channel. I would settle it at some point anyway, and frankly at this point I need to plop down at least one city. Spice Islands will have to wait.

[Luzahn]

Er...is anybody else getting +12 happiness from difficulty? I think I might have inherited a boost from AI difficulty or something.

[Illven]

Er...is anybody else getting +12 happiness from difficulty? I think I might have inherited a boost from AI difficulty or something.

I can check when I get back on. (I just took my turn before seeing this post, so give like 2 days.)

[Magentawolf]

I have a +9 boost from the difficulty level...

[The_Snark]

+9 Happiness for me as well.

Spoiler: To spectators

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High time I started spectator updates. Behold, the glorious lands of the Mexica!



You can see how I keep forgetting to post pictures - there hasn't been a whole lot of progress so far. I do not especially care for my starting location; jungle and marsh do not make for a fast-growing city, and my luxury resources are all aimed at boosting gold, which isn't that useful for early growth. (It did let me buy a worker, so I suppose I shouldn't complain too much.)

Anyway. Current plan is to go tall with Tradition, hoping to focus on science - that's one thing the heavy jungle nearby is good for. My capital is poised to grow nicely once I replace the marshes with farmland and grab Civil Service, so I guess that's something. Next city will probably be in the hilly desert to the north - not normally a great location, but I could really use a high-production city, and if I can grab Petra it'll be excellent.

I currently have a couple of jaguar hunters about to mount an attack on a nearby(ish) barbarian camp; my first set was killed, sadly, but not before exploring a fair distance south (and killing a few barbarian units on the way).

[Driderman]

I can check when I get back on. (I just took my turn before seeing this post, so give like 2 days.)

Unless the host has fiddled with settings all GMR games default to Prince difficulty. So unless the host changed the difficulty for some people, that shouldn't really happen as far as I understand. Not that GMR is a perfect program, of course :)

[Illven]

I can confirm that my base happiness from difficulty is 9.

[Illven]

Spoiler: For spectators

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No pictures this time.

However I did make a amusing discovery. Gems.

Gems everywhere. I've found 6 of them. 2 packets being worked by my capital. Another that'll be worked by my capital. One off to the right, and Two more to the north.

What in the abyss. My pantheon belief is Tears of the gods, did I strap them to a torture machine I'm unaware of?

[thirsting]

Spoiler: To Germany

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If you draw a direct line from Berlin to southwards, and another towards West from Melbourne, where these lines meet you can see a spot we find very desirable. We do not wish to tread on Germanic toes however, so the council of elders has decided to ask for your permission before we settle a piece of land this close to German borders.

The council has already prepared a sort of "thank you" -note in advance; a large patch of delicacies we call truffles, which are yours to use for at least three generations and the first patch will be sent immediately, should we get your consent.

-Celtic envoy

[Frog Dragon]

Re: Luzahn's happiness bonuses.

I suspect that when Poland got AI:d, the game reverted to prince AI, with appropriate bonuses, but then never reverted back. I'm pretty sure the difficulty settings are global though, so I don't think I can fix this.

[OrcusMcP]

Spoiler: For spectators

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No pictures this time.

However I did make a amusing discovery. Gems.

Gems everywhere. I've found 6 of them. 2 packets being worked by my capital. Another that'll be worked by my capital. One off to the right, and Two more to the north.

What in the abyss. My pantheon belief is Tears of the gods, did I strap them to a torture machine I'm unaware of?

YOU'RE WELCOME!

[Driderman]

Re: Luzahn's happiness bonuses.

I suspect that when Poland got AI:d, the game reverted to prince AI, with appropriate bonuses, but then never reverted back. I'm pretty sure the difficulty settings are global though, so I don't think I can fix this.

But unless you changed it (for whatever reason) we should all have been Prince diff from the beginning.

[Illven]

But unless you changed it (for whatever reason) we should all have been Prince diff from the beginning.

Actually, the AI on prince does get substantial bonuses.

Now granted if that were the explanation in theory I should have the same bonuses.

[Frog Dragon]

Yep. You'd think prince was a level playing field, but you'd be wrong. AFAIK, there's actually no difficulty setting where the AI and the player play by the exact same rules with the same bonuses. If there was, I think it would be between Prince and Warlord.

I have no idea why it didn't happen to Illven though. I'm pretty sure everyone was on prince right from the start.

[Jamin]

Spoiler: To Germany

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If you draw a direct line from Berlin to southwards, and another towards West from Melbourne, where these lines meet you can see a spot we find very desirable. We do not wish to tread on Germanic toes however, so the council of elders has decided to ask for your permission before we settle a piece of land this close to German borders.

The council has already prepared a sort of "thank you" -note in advance; a large patch of delicacies we call truffles, which are yours to use for at least three generations and the first patch will be sent immediately, should we get your consent.

-Celtic envoy

Spoiler: To Celts

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That would be fine I don't think the German people will be moving south for some time.

[Illven]

Spoiler: spectators

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Make that seven gems.

[Illven]

Spoiler: For spectators

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Welcome to tour 2 of the empire!



Here is a shot of the capital city, Kyoto. Right now it's producing a Spearman. I don't trust Rome at the best of times, and Magentawolf has a history of aggression. Ideally, Magentawolf's aggression was due to that GMR's slow pace, if that's the case I should be fine, as I have the fastest average turn time. Take me out, and the game goes slower.



Here is Osaka. It's working on a shrine, which will allow it to work towards my religion. Probably will name it either Pelor the burning hate, or Arceusism. Though I'm open to naming suggestions.



And our warriors saved a unknown city-states worker from barbarians. We will liberate the world.



Here is our tech tree. I think I'm going to aim for a culture victory.



Our policy tree. Going to finish out tradition, then maybe go piety, until Aesthetics opens up.



And the real reason I did this view of the empire. Across the narrow sea lies a medium sized island filled with the bounties of the sea.

[Frog Dragon]

Wow, that was fast. We just made a full turn in less than 12 hours.