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THE COLUMN
VARIANCES IN GAME PLAY SETUPS
By Troll
April 21, 2001

NOTE: This is The Column, a regular feature on Apolyton where anyone can write about anything to do with Civilization or the gaming industry as a whole. If you feel like writing, please visit the article submission page.

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COLUMN ARCHIVE


I am Troll and I bring you greetings as the most high and exalted leader of the new American colonization of the World.

I would like to offer a positive spin on how you can find unlimited single player fun and if you will just place your hand on the Bible like in a court of law and swear to have an honor system, then you to will hopefully enjoy the following setups I bring forth for your enjoyment!

First off, I haven't learned how to do a scenario as of yet, so the parameters I discuss were done to actual game files, so you would have to reset if I acknowledge such at beginning of each description!

Ok, starting off with a simple one, start in Multiplayer, but instead of going to an online lobby, use the function marked either IPX or TCP/IP. Then click to start a game and pick the setup you like, but the most important item to remember is use DYNAMIC JOIN FEATURE! This will allow you to launch a game with just 1 human player. Now we start with my setup suggestions:

     A: Set starting gold to $1 Million.
     B: Set number settlers to 9.
     C: Go to exclusion, this is where I have many variances. Pick one or more of the following:

#1. Exclude Settlers, Urban Planners and Sea Engineers.
This makes for all civilizations to have a set number of potential cities and only way to acquire any others is to either find in a ruin or by attacking another civilization. This makes it much more important to defend the cities you have.

#2. The next option is where the honor system comes in. As a challenge, you the Human player agree to NEVER BUILD WONDERS! You have the $1 Million same as the other 7 AI?s but let them build wonders! You strictly go it on your own. My suggestions would be to build a few mobile units to explore for ruins, gathering cities, units, technological advances as well as any gold available.

#3. The starting age, I enjoy the Modern Age when playing with the above two options. The upside is purchasing a few tanks to explore. You can acquire many ruins quickly. The most obvious downside is you start at Modern Age and you have lots of city improvements, thus creating a need for more cash flow generation. Build a few caravans/freight transports as soon as possible to allow gold to flow. Build tile improvements to do the same, such as Trading Post (+10 commerce) Outlet Mall (+20 commerce) and Nature Preserve (+ 30 commerce).
My favorite setup is to do an all land battle on a gigantic map. I also do enjoy a large-scale naval battle. You just have to make that call back in setup of game.


Now lets look at Single Player Offline setups!

You will have to reset these files if you play MP.

My first game is the one I am currently playing and having tons of fun at!

I call this setup 25 city challenge. Below is what I set files to. I also listed the file to follow. ?D? is my Hard Drive where I have installed Call To Power 2.
D:\Activision\ctp2_data\default\gamedata

First) I set the map at gigantic settings in Const.txt to 250 X 500(Located near bottom of file)

Second) I go to Risks.txt and alter what the ruins have to offer. I change the following lines that need to add up to a total of 100%: (Where I placed the '<' sign)

RISK_VILLAGES_ONLY {
     BARBARIAN_HUT_CHANCE 0.00
     MAX_HUT_BARBARIANS 0
     GOLD_HUT_CHANCE 0.60 <<<<
MAX_HUT_GOLD 25000
     ADVANCE_HUT_CHANCE 0.15 <<<<
MAX_HUT_ADVANCE_PREREQUISITES 1
     UNIT_HUT_CHANCE 0.25 <<<<
MAX_UNIT_PREREQUISITES 2
     CITY_HUT_CHANCE 0.00 <<<<
SETTLER_HUT_CHANCE 0.00 <<<<
MIN_HUT_GOLD 18000

I made it so there was 0 percent chance to find either settlers or cities in ruins. You will notice I gave the ruins a little boost in gold. You can of course set this to whatever you care to! I also set low chance of finding an advance and finding a unit.

Third) I would strongly urge you go to Govern.txt and find your government form you most enjoy. Look for a line called TooManyCitiesThreshold. Set this to something around 200 if you want to avoid unhappiness associated with adding cities through conquering another civilization.

Fourth) The next item I found extremely important is found in DiffDB.txt. It controls the number of years per turn. I have copied the file I use all the time from the impossible level. What I achieve is allowing all civilizations as well as me to achieve maximum science and then let the fun begin with having an all out war for a long time.

TIME_SCALE{
     START_YEAR     -4000
     NUM_PERIODS     6
     PERIOD {
          START_TURN     0
          YEARS_PER_TURN     1
     }
     PERIOD {
          START_TURN     160
          YEARS_PER_TURN     1
     }
     PERIOD {
          START_TURN     200
          YEARS_PER_TURN     1
     }
     PERIOD {
          START_TURN     250
          YEARS_PER_TURN     1
     }
     PERIOD {
          START_TURN     350
          YEARS_PER_TURN     1
     }
     PERIOD {
          START_TURN     400
          YEARS_PER_TURN     1

Fifth) The next thing to do that is very important is to go to launch editor after you have picked setup for game and EXCLUDE the following three units, Settlers, Urban Planners and Sea Engineers.

Sixth) I then go to each Empire and manually add 23 settlers (By default the computer gets two settlers to your one at impossible level) to each civilization. I give myself 25 total settlers.

Seventh) I add $2 Million gold and 500,000 PW to each civilization?s coffer (Bank).
      I return to bless each civilization after 100 turns also! This time each civilization receives $1 Million gold 100K PW. I give myself no gold and no pw.

I NEVER ACCEPT AN ALLIANCE!

I NEVER ACCEPT TREATIES!

In this you will find a bunch of ticked off civilizations.

Eight) Manually add huts by depressing HUT in World screen of launch editor and just go over map randomly placing huts as much as your heart desires!

This again is an Honor System!

You don't peek at other civilizations. You never accept maps, advances, gold or any such agreements! You are a warmonger!

Ninth) Set game to BLOODLUST. I think pollution on is a neat twist as it spins all sorts of tangled webs over the world!

I personally don't care for special units. I often exclude most special units, but you are your own judge as to wanting or not wanting to fight those units!

Want a real tough go at it? Do not research Wonders.

I hope you will find plenty of fun in these setups I have mentioned. There are so many variations to the setups. I play land battles then I play Big Naval Battles!

I hope you enjoy these and again, Happy Civin from yours truly, Troll!


---------
About the author: I am a Christian,Love my wife and 2 grown children,an Area Manager in the Ready Mix Concrete Industry in Southeastern North Carolina.

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