Post by Mo D on Jan 12, 2004 10:21:16 GMT -5
As many of you know, I've become addicted to epics. ;D The standard 2 hr or 100 turn shoot-em-up style game has started to get boring. I prefer the FULL Civ experience and playing against intelligent humans is much more fun than beating up on the stupid AI.
I've been involved in quite a few epics over the last month or two and here are some things I've learned and some suggestions that others may find helpful:
1) Number of players - I would suggest limiting the number of players to no more than 6. Any more than this will cause unbearable lag later in the game.
2) Map size - I would suggest going no bigger than a standard map. Yes, this leaves everyone less room to expand. Yes, people will whine about it. Yes, people want a bigger map. Trust me on this one. Maybe you can get away with a Large 80 map if you have fewer than 6 players. In general though, you'll be glad you stuck with the standard size map later in the game when everyone has tons and tons of units duking it out. All the units and cities cause lag. Even on a standard size map, the lag gets to be slightly annoying. On a larger map, it gets to be simply unplayable and you'll probably have to scrap the game. This is very unsatisfying after you've invested so much time. Go smaller - you'll be glad you did.
3) "No War Rule" - This one is a little more open for debate. I've played epics where no war was allowed until 500ad. This is way too long without war, IMO. By this time, with Accelerated Production on, I usually have infantry or at least riflemen. This leaves a lot of fun units out of the game. Knights? Useless. Cavalry? Useless. Musketmen? Useless. Waiting till 500ad essentially turns the epic into a "Modern Units Fight". That's fine if that's what you want, but people should be aware of this up front. If you want to use a "No War Rule" then my suggestion would be to use 500bc as the time when war is now allowed. This is usually around the time of knights, medieval infantry, and pikemen - fun units to fight with.
4) Screening of players - Unfortunately, when many people sign up for an epic for the first time, they are not aware of what they've gotten themselves into. An epic game requires commitment. All the players must be committed to playing the epic at the scheduled times. I've seen too many epics ruined because players lose interest or blow off the sessions. In this case, we've used the AI to take over for that player. This is unsatisfying for the rest of the players, to say the least. The other players who are near the AI usually gain a big advantage as the AI is easy to kill. My suggestion is to screen your players when starting a new epic. Only pick people with a proven track record of finishing epics or players that you are sure understand the commitment involved and are prepared to make that commitment. Yes, this leaves "Joe Noob" out of the mix, but unfortunately, this is what must be done to ensure a good epic where all players play the full game. I've heard so many players tell me "I've tried a few epics, but they never finish." This turns them off to playing in further epics and that's a shame. Epics are a GREAT way to enhance your Civ experience. Don't let yours be ruined by players who won't show the same level of commitment as you. I personally have decided that I will hand-pick all the players for every epic I play in in the future. If I'm not convinced you will be committed, you won't be playing in my epic.
5) Timer - Use a fast timer, for Heaven's sakes. As the game progresses and people get more cities, the timer will slow down automatically. Anything other than a fast timer will drag on painfully.
6) Alliances - As most epics are played FFA style, alliances are allowed as per Ladder rules. Heed this word of caution though - be very careful about the alliances you make. I have had many times especially in epic games where I've allied with someone only to find out later on that the alliance is no longer to my benefit. I usually am outresearching my opponent, yet they continue to want my tech. Their military is weak compared to mine and they want me to fight their battles. These are just examples. It's best to spell out exactly what the alliance entails and how long it will last for. I've personally gone to a alliance policy where "the fewer, the better". If you make too many alliances, you'll find yourself later in the game with no one to attack! No fun at all.
Well, that's all I can think of at the moment. I'll post more tips as I think of them. Also, if you have any tips to share, please feel free to post them here. I've learned these lessons the hard way; hopefully these tips will save some of you some headaches. I see new people getting involved in epics and that's great. It's a GREAT way to play Civ and I hope it continues to catch on in our Ladder community.
Mo
I've been involved in quite a few epics over the last month or two and here are some things I've learned and some suggestions that others may find helpful:
1) Number of players - I would suggest limiting the number of players to no more than 6. Any more than this will cause unbearable lag later in the game.
2) Map size - I would suggest going no bigger than a standard map. Yes, this leaves everyone less room to expand. Yes, people will whine about it. Yes, people want a bigger map. Trust me on this one. Maybe you can get away with a Large 80 map if you have fewer than 6 players. In general though, you'll be glad you stuck with the standard size map later in the game when everyone has tons and tons of units duking it out. All the units and cities cause lag. Even on a standard size map, the lag gets to be slightly annoying. On a larger map, it gets to be simply unplayable and you'll probably have to scrap the game. This is very unsatisfying after you've invested so much time. Go smaller - you'll be glad you did.
3) "No War Rule" - This one is a little more open for debate. I've played epics where no war was allowed until 500ad. This is way too long without war, IMO. By this time, with Accelerated Production on, I usually have infantry or at least riflemen. This leaves a lot of fun units out of the game. Knights? Useless. Cavalry? Useless. Musketmen? Useless. Waiting till 500ad essentially turns the epic into a "Modern Units Fight". That's fine if that's what you want, but people should be aware of this up front. If you want to use a "No War Rule" then my suggestion would be to use 500bc as the time when war is now allowed. This is usually around the time of knights, medieval infantry, and pikemen - fun units to fight with.
4) Screening of players - Unfortunately, when many people sign up for an epic for the first time, they are not aware of what they've gotten themselves into. An epic game requires commitment. All the players must be committed to playing the epic at the scheduled times. I've seen too many epics ruined because players lose interest or blow off the sessions. In this case, we've used the AI to take over for that player. This is unsatisfying for the rest of the players, to say the least. The other players who are near the AI usually gain a big advantage as the AI is easy to kill. My suggestion is to screen your players when starting a new epic. Only pick people with a proven track record of finishing epics or players that you are sure understand the commitment involved and are prepared to make that commitment. Yes, this leaves "Joe Noob" out of the mix, but unfortunately, this is what must be done to ensure a good epic where all players play the full game. I've heard so many players tell me "I've tried a few epics, but they never finish." This turns them off to playing in further epics and that's a shame. Epics are a GREAT way to enhance your Civ experience. Don't let yours be ruined by players who won't show the same level of commitment as you. I personally have decided that I will hand-pick all the players for every epic I play in in the future. If I'm not convinced you will be committed, you won't be playing in my epic.
5) Timer - Use a fast timer, for Heaven's sakes. As the game progresses and people get more cities, the timer will slow down automatically. Anything other than a fast timer will drag on painfully.
6) Alliances - As most epics are played FFA style, alliances are allowed as per Ladder rules. Heed this word of caution though - be very careful about the alliances you make. I have had many times especially in epic games where I've allied with someone only to find out later on that the alliance is no longer to my benefit. I usually am outresearching my opponent, yet they continue to want my tech. Their military is weak compared to mine and they want me to fight their battles. These are just examples. It's best to spell out exactly what the alliance entails and how long it will last for. I've personally gone to a alliance policy where "the fewer, the better". If you make too many alliances, you'll find yourself later in the game with no one to attack! No fun at all.
Well, that's all I can think of at the moment. I'll post more tips as I think of them. Also, if you have any tips to share, please feel free to post them here. I've learned these lessons the hard way; hopefully these tips will save some of you some headaches. I see new people getting involved in epics and that's great. It's a GREAT way to play Civ and I hope it continues to catch on in our Ladder community.
Mo
