[Freeciv-Dev] Re: Civ II player puzzled by ICS strategy (long)

[Aliaga <aliaga@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 19:40 10/01/01 -0500, you wrote:

>Fast expansion is a good strategy.  But you can't carry any single
>strategy to its extreme -- you need a somewhat balanced approach.

Of course. This is what I tried to explain. This is what I think is the
best, and most enjoyable. Then, of course I play more Civ than Doom...


>What?  You tried this with Despotism?!?  I always switch to Monarchy ASAP
>in Civ2/Freeciv; the only reason I wouldn't is if I were already running
>Republic.  (But my playing style favors Monarchy over Republic in the early
game.)

Hehehe, sorry for the misunderstanding. I played for strong economy/science
from start to end. This involved the fast expansion, the early switch to
Monarchy, every upgrade and turn of tactics to match the economic needs of
the moment, seeing only to achieve the fastest strongest economic
capability. Fact is, things often ran almost as scripted no matter the map
or the enemies...


>When you start to feel the effects of too many cities, it's time to stop
>making new cities. ;-)  Use those Settlers to build roads, farms and mines
>(and later railroads).  Use your huge city base as the basis for vertical
>growth (make 'em bigger).

Sound advice. I just loved how the game reached that stage. I could even
feel my "mind train" switching ever so smoothly to the warpath...


>"Fundies (barely)"??  You were definitely doing something wrong!
>If you get Fundamentalism, the game is essentially over -- you just won!
The rest is mop-up.

That's why I only bothered with them once. For me, the real challenge lay on
smashing those huge Fundamentalistic Empires while being Democracy myself
(and with a spotless reputation!). I even got to like Gandhi 'cause he
played Democratic often and was harder to defeat.


>All those "very unhappy" citizens are now productive workers; all
>the Elvises go back into the field; all those Temples you built in
>the core of your empire are now *giving* you gold instead of costing
>gold.  (And if you still need more free gold, build a Cathedral... or
>better, Michelangelo.)

I have to admit, I was astonished at what Fundies could do. But I always saw
them as fit only for the AIs. I've been always able to defeat those big
"Evil-Empires", even if they doubled or tripled me, as long as my defenders
were good, and attacking them "the right way" with Diplomats. Ever wonder
what could you do with Leo's and 400+ of those crappy Fundies bought at
bargain price?

Then, things would be far more frightening if the Fundies are led by some
guy who really knows what he's doing...

Then, too, let them be tweaked a little bit and see if they can be allowed
to be played in a Freeciv game against other types of players...


>You get the *full* output of your hordes of cities (minus what you lose
>to corruption, but that's negligible under Fundy).

Hehehe, not in my games. I upped corruption a bit over zero for Communism
and this may just make a little difference.

M.A.

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