Thread Tools
Old June 10, 2000, 19:53   #1
vee4473
King
 
vee4473's Avatar
 
Local Time: 20:44
Local Date: October 30, 2010
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Illinois
Posts: 1,513
10-15 cities enough?
Am I the only one who thinks that if you have more than around 15 or so cities, that the game gets more tedious than it is fun??

Sometimes even 15 is bit much...

I read about people having upwards of 30 cities, and I wonder how they can actually have fun playing the game at that point...even with governers, it would be tedious just trying to check on the governers to make sure they aren't going astray...

Of course, i guess many people find this kind of heavy management fun. And that's cool if it floats your boat!

vee4473 is offline  
Old June 10, 2000, 23:42   #2
Ned
King
 
Ned's Avatar
 
Local Time: 17:44
Local Date: October 30, 2010
Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: of Aptos, CA
Posts: 2,596
Vee, I have had games with upwards of 200 cities. And yes, it does get tedious. I usually load the queues with a standard sequence of builds, or simply turn the governor on.

What the game really needs is better autoforming. This would make the game quite a bit less tedious.

Some factions cannot pop boom easily. The "borg" strategy is somewhat forced on these factions. Since they cannot pop boom, the only way to stay larger than the competition is to build more cities.

However, I do agree that having fewer, well developed cities, is more fun. I usually play that way with Morgan or Lal.

Ned
Ned is offline  
Old June 11, 2000, 00:42   #3
Paul
Apolytoners Hall of Fame
Emperor
 
Paul's Avatar
 
Local Time: 02:44
Local Date: October 31, 2010
Join Date: Mar 1999
Location: Zwolle, The Netherlands
Posts: 6,737
Vee, I feel the same way. I prefer to play with 10-20 bases. Any more and I get bored with all the micromanagement. By the way, I don't trust the governors, so I don't use them.
Paul is offline  
Old June 11, 2000, 16:38   #4
Provost Harrison
Apolytoners Hall of FameCivilization IV PBEMPolyCast Team
Deity
 
Provost Harrison's Avatar
 
Local Time: 02:44
Local Date: October 31, 2010
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Germans own my soul.
Posts: 14,861
It would be nice if you could define what you would like the autoformer to do. A lot of the stuff could be automated (what squares to farm/forest, strips of echelon mirrors or solar collectors). Some I would have to do myself, deciding thermal boreholes. But I think that I could automate a large proportion of my terraforming functions. If this was possible, I could cope with a lot more bases. Most I've played with is about 100, but this is just too many to maintain interest. But some kind of programmable terraforming routine would be great.
Provost Harrison is offline  
Old June 11, 2000, 22:10   #5
Velociryx
staff
PtWDG Gathering StormApolytoners Hall of FameC4DG Gathering StormThe Courts of Candle'Bre
Moderator
 
Velociryx's Avatar
 
Local Time: 01:44
Local Date: October 31, 2010
Join Date: Apr 1999
Location: of Candle'Bre
Posts: 8,664
Adam makes a very good point, and specifically what he's talking about there is dispersion. It's true that, because of the way the game handles the base square (ie - the base square is not required to be worked by a worker...it's "automatically worked") the player with the most bases will almost invariably have a higher mineral count, and, with more production centers be able to crank out more stuff in general, but, what most players who favor that approach forget is that while they have more production centers total, they also have slower production overall, because those bases are not well-developed. In the end, it is essentially a push. The player with relatively few well-developed bases has a vast concentration of industry and is able to crank out goods efficiently, vs. the player with scads of bases able to build more stuff overall, but at a significantly slower rate. Eventually, if the player with the ton of bases focuses on improving them, he will of course, be in the superior position, but you've got to believe that the player with comparitavely fewer bases is not just sitting on his hands. He's probably either planning for another round of controlled expansion, or building clean troopers in a single turn, with an eye toward acquiring some of those relatively harder to defend mass numbers of bases for himself.

Expansion gives you options, but it's certainly not a requirement to win the game. Several regular posters here have done the OCC challenge. Personally, I like to build 18-20 bases of my own, and acquire the rest...but then, when I go on the offensive against the AI, I almost always give all the bases I conquer back when I get a submission....less for me to fiddle with, and it spikes up my commerce rating quite nicely....

-=Vel=-
Velociryx is offline  
Old June 12, 2000, 00:33   #6
Adam_Smith
Prince
 
Local Time: 01:44
Local Date: October 31, 2010
Join Date: Dec 1999
Location: The Raisin Capital of the World
Posts: 951
I just dominated two strong players with less than 10 bases in multiplayer. One of them had over twenty bases, but they were not developed. Eventually you may go on a whip ass tour, and you will end up with more, but you can win the game fine with less than 10 bases.
Adam_Smith is offline  
Old June 12, 2000, 11:00   #7
Provost Harrison
Apolytoners Hall of FameCivilization IV PBEMPolyCast Team
Deity
 
Provost Harrison's Avatar
 
Local Time: 02:44
Local Date: October 31, 2010
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Germans own my soul.
Posts: 14,861
That's what I do; batter the opponent into submission and give them their bases back. And do hefty amounts of trade! I can usually cope with about 40 without getting too hassled, and build them all up to be massive.
Provost Harrison is offline  
Old June 12, 2000, 13:43   #8
Chowlett
Alpha Centauri PBEM
King
 
Chowlett's Avatar
 
Local Time: 01:44
Local Date: October 31, 2010
Join Date: May 1999
Location: of Candle'Bre
Posts: 1,804
I ususally use only a handful of bases, definitely less than 15, sometimes less than 10. The only exception is my "current" (I'm off SMAC at the moment) game on the Asia map. I was placed in the arid North-west so to compensate I have up to about Eta Sector by now. But I still improve the bases, It's just that every new base builds one defender then one colony pod. The centre bases all keep improving, and the territory keeps expanding. It is becoming a little tedious now, though.
Chowlett is offline  
 

Bookmarks

Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is On

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 21:44.


Design by Vjacheslav Trushkin, color scheme by ColorizeIt!.
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.2
Copyright ©2000 - 2010, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Apolyton Civilization Site | Copyright © The Apolyton Team