Exploiting Restarts in EL Games

Elephant · May 19, 2003, 12:48

When a civ is wiped out but Restarts are On, another civ of the same color will spawn in a relatively empty area of the map. Depending on the number of turns elapsed, the new civ will get several starting techs and a starting city that may have some improvements and irrigated land (sort of like an Advanced Tribe after 1000AD).. If you have Marco Polo you will see the empty slot for the destroyed civ filled in one or two turns, but finding out where they are is more difficult, because they will probably have most of your existing techs, negating tech gifting for map swapping until you have gathered some more.

The advantage worth considering for expoit here is that all of the tech the new civ gets is considered starting techs, that is the new civ may start with 10-20 techs but their first research is only 10 beakers. If you can influence this restarted civ early on you have a very powerful engine for advancing your own research. Check each turn to see what they are working on; if you already have it gift it to them to force them to change to another tech. Do not worry too much if you are gifting them several techs in a row; their research costs will be so low because of the starting techs that they will still research at half or less of your rate. Make sure they have Writing, Currency, Ceremonial Burial and Mysticism, as these will help them grow the city bigger and get a research boost.

The first 3000 years or so of most EL games the AI civs only build 2-3 cities. Depending on their "nature" (Civilized vs Militaristic, Aggressive vs Rational) these cities may not be well defended. If you see a civ weakened by Barb or other civ attack, so they have only one city left, consider a special expedition to knock them out to try to setup a Restarted Civ. In this time frame the only practical way to know this and make contact with the restarted civ is via Marco Polo, but I think we have shown that MPE is practically the first must-have Wonder for EL games, for tech swapping, early contact with varying KeyCivs, map exchanges, and pacification.

In EL#3 the Zulus were knocked out of my game around 1000BC by the Russians, restarting as the Babylonians. I had around 14 techs at the time, which I had spread around fairly liberally. The Babs got 12 as starters. They were researching such things as Engineering, with only 1 city, in 4-6 turns.

The issue this exploit brings up after experimenting with it a bit is that the restarted civ seems to inherit the Civ/Mil nature of the previous civ. In my game the Babs, who are Rational/Perfectionist/Civilized, were researching practically all military techs. They researched Monarchy when they already had Republic, which is something I have only seen Militaristic civs like the Russians, Mongols, and Spanish do. Then they went on to Feudalism, which I was secretly glad for because I wanted a research partner to get to Chivalry or better on their own. So I would add a caveat to the above exploit description, to consider the nature of the civ that is likely to restart when deciding on whether to finish them off. Also, if they are on the continent that your SSC is on, DO NOT wipe them out if they are the only other civ. A RR trade route to an AI civ on your own continent is the most powerful trade route you can set up. If the critical path is too long or obtuse use a Station City near the SSC.

solo · May 20, 2003, 14:56

That's also why you're doomed if your key civ is the one to be eliminated. When it restarts, all those free techs it gets are counted towards the tech penalty!

It's too bad the human player can not choose to be restarted, too, if eliminated by the barbs or AI! All of those free techs coming with the restart would not count. However, city development might be a bit behind schedule.

Elephant · May 20, 2003, 15:40

Another good reason not to eliminate the Mongols if you are replaying ELCG#1...

Straybow · May 24, 2003, 19:49

Eh? Mongols wiped me out in ELCG #1 when I had only 3 cities. Didn't even bother to post a log.

Elephant · May 25, 2003, 21:56

Sorry; context was missing. Mongols are Purple, which is KeyCiv for Supreme. If you had wiped them out they would have restarted somewhere else as Indians or Sioux, (possibly) with the Mongols Civ/Mil "nature", but definitely with a pile of freebie techs that would skew the beaker costs of your research when you hit Supreme.

Straybow · May 26, 2003, 21:14

I know, I just meant I never had the chance to test the effects of a restart Purple empire on ELCG #1.

"Brave, brave, Sir Straybow, he bravely ran away…"

solo · May 27, 2003, 15:20

Elephant,

When I have the time to update my strategy guide, I was hoping to get your permission to include a copy of your initial post from this thread. You will be given full credit, of course. It's an important detail that should have been included in the original, and I think it would be useful for me to keep the guide updated as a central place for info on EL strategy.

Elephant · May 27, 2003, 16:22

No credit necessary; "go ahead - make my day"...