Let's Play Civilization 4 (Civ 4 not required)

[President_Allosaurus]

Leapin' Lincolns, What is Civilization 4?

From Wikipedia: Sid Meier's Civilization IV (Civilization 4 or Civ4) is a strategy computer game released in 2005 and developed by lead designer Soren Johnson under the direction of Sid Meier and Meier's studio Firaxis Games.

Sid Sez: "Civilization IV is about building a civilization to stand the test of time!"

From Zoolooman's LP: Fundamentally, Civilization IV is a 4X game. You eXplore the world, eXpand your empire, eXploit resources and technology, and eXterminate anything that stands in your path.

The Story:

An unmentionable world-class armageddon has rendered you, the Heirs and Heir Designates, without Sides. You are alone now, you and your people. You have no allies, for everything you knew is gone. You must take your men and settle upon a new Site. You must build a new Side. You must claim the resources of the land, pop armies anew, and defend yourself from all who will come to demand your fealty. You must build a civilization that can withstand the test of time.

How is this going to work?

I will be playing Civilization 4: Beyond the Sword, Multiplayer, Hotseat, with the Perfect World 2 map script, and the Victory conditions of Conquest, Domination, Cultural, and Time on Marathon speed.

What does that mean?

Beyond the Sword: The second expansion, introduces more 'things' into the game and random events.

Perfect World 2: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=310891

Hotseat: I will be performing the actions of every Side. You will be dictating your actions to me, and I will be performing them to the best I can in the game.

Hotseat games cannot be modified while in progress- so I cannot 'cheat' for any side. The placement, the map, the actions of non-human sides- they cannot be modified.

Victory conditions: You can only 'win' the game if you fulfill any of the following criteria:
Conquest- Eliminate all your rivals by utterly destroying them.
Domination- Control over 70% of the map and more than 25% more population than anyone else.
Cultural- Control 3 cities of Legendary Culture.
Time- Regardless of the
What do you need to know?

While Erfworld flavored, some parts of Civilization 4's normal gameplay are simply impossible to mesh with Erfworld's mechanics and rules. The research of technology is one of the driving forces in Civ 4, and leads to new units and increased power. This is obviously not done in Erfworld. You will have to apply judicious amount of imagination to pretend they are the same units, but more powerful, or accept the break.

That being said, as for the rules of Civilization 4.. it would turn this page into a Wall of Text. I will explain each thing as it comes up. Suffice it to say you tell me what you want to try to do and I will attempt to do it.

The first few updates will come fast and quick as interest is sustained. As turns become more complicated and there becomes more to do each turn, there will be periods of time between updates, up to three days or more. I will state when this is happening.

What do I need from you?

People willing to claim a 'Side!' Please preview the following list: http://www.civfanatics.com/civ4/info/civilizations

You can choose leaders separate from the nations. The leaders determine what traits you get, the nation decides what unique unit and buildings you get, and the visual flavor of your side. Please do your own research in this for further information; for the most part, it balances out.

If you wish to apply, please PM me or post here with an application.

Applications-

Your Leader's Name:

Civ 4's Leader (Determines Traits):

Civ 4's Civilization (Determines Uniques and Visuals):

Civilization Name:

Civilization Adjective:

Example Application:

Your Leader's Name: President Allosaurus

Civ 4's Leader (Determines Traits): George Washington

Civ 4's Civilization (Determines Uniques and Visuals): India

Civilization Name: Dinosaur Land

Civilization Adjective: Dinosaurian


The maximum number of Sides is 18. I doubt we'll reach this limit, however, so don't fret! I will add in AI sides as I deem fit depending on how many join. You can also name any units popped, cities built, that sort of thing. Tell me what you want your capital to be named when it's settled!


What happens if people leave?

It happens sometimes that people will leave a game in progress due to losing interest, or just not posting for a while. It happens. As a result, anyone who is going to do this or believes they might have cause to step out for a while should PM me with a general idea of what they want me to do with their nation, and I shall do my best to comply. I cannot cause nations to suddenly vanish, although I can start wars with them and make very poor decisions.

Good luck to us all!

[quindraco]

Leader Name: QuinDraco Civ Leader: Pacal II Civ: India Civ Name: Pentaherp Civ Adjective: Pentaherpish

[Lord Kasavin]

I'm an enormous Civ4 fan, but just can't bring myself to join your game. I mean, if I want to play civilization 4, why don't I just boot it up and play it myself? Why use an intermediary?

[President_Allosaurus]

Namely, this is for people who don't have Civ 4, and I also thought it might be a kind of fun way to do a play-by-post game of Civ 4 if people got involved in it.

[Telva]

Applications-

Your Leader's Name: Lord Doch

Civ 4's Leader (Determines Traits): Quin Shi Huang

Civ 4's Civilization (Determines Uniques and Visuals): China

Civilization Name: Toch

Civilization Adjective: Tochish

[Namegduf]

Leader Name: Sir Namegduf

Civ 4's Leader (Determines Traits): Victoria

Civ 4's Civilization (Determines Uniques and Visuals): England

Civilization Name: Imperial Empire

Civilization Adjective: Imperial

[Sinrus]

Leader name: Sinrus

Civ4 leader: Boudica

Civ4 civiliation: Celt

Civiliation name: Draviston

Civiliation adjective: Dravistite

[turbler]

Your Leader's Name: turbler

Civ 4's Leader (Determines Traits): Isabella

Civ 4's Civilization (Determines Uniques and Visuals): pretty sure i'm stuck with Spain

Civilization Name: Callia

Civilization Adjective: Callian

[Mal]

Leader name: Mal

Civ4 leader: Joao II

Civ4 civiliation: Incans

Civiliation name: Malaria

Civiliation adjective: Malarian

additionally, the capital city is Malaria

[Arkaim]

Application

Leader's Name: Boxer

Civ 4's Leader (determines traits): Qin Shi Huang (Industrious and Protective)

Civ 4's Civilization (determines uniques and visuals): Korea

Civilization Name: Star League

Civilization Adjective: Stars

[President_Allosaurus]

LET'S PLAY!

Prince QuinDraco and the Discussion of the Rules

Spoiler: show

Say hello to Pentaherp, ruled over by Prince QuinDraco. At the moment Prince QuinDraco doesn't really have much to his name, does he? He's got a stack of Warriors- those three barechested men wielding clubs- and a Settler northeast of them. That's alright, though. Something tells me he'll get quite lucky shortly.

Before we talk about how QuinDraco got lucky, let's talk about rules.



Here's a nice labeled map.

A - Settler. Settlers have no defences whatsoever. If an enemy runs into a settler unit alone, it loses the fight automatically. It's gone forever, wasted. Settlers are the only unit capable of creating new cities- you start with one at the beginning of the game, and can create more with any city you have.

B- Warrior unit. See E.

C- Clams are a water hex improvement. Improvements can be found all over the world, in the form of fish, cows, wheat, corn, stone, oil, the list goes on. If it's not a tree, if it's not a unit, and it's in a hex, it's probably an improvement of some sort. Clams in particular give an additional +2 food when the hex is being fished. I'll explain that in a moment.

D- Tribal Hut. Tribal Huts are barbarians, setting up camp perpetually. If you move a unit over them, they're liable to give you something nice, or occasionally, spawn a group of enemy units and attack the crap out of you for disturbing them. They can give you gold, free technologies, settlers, scouts, and workers.

E- The screen showing your warrior unit's stats. You can see it has a Strength of 2 ARMS, and a movement of 1 FOOT (It's disabled, I guess). Strength determines how it fares in combat- an easy, although not 100% accurate way of gauging who'll win a combat is matching up their Strengths. Whoever has more ARMS wins.

F- This is a score-list of everyone in the game, ranked top to bottom by score. Later in the game, it'll also show you what you know about their religion, if you're trading with them, and if your spying is good enough, even what they're researching. You can initiate trades using their names in the list.

G- Minimap.




This is Pentaherp's settler. When you click on a settler, you can see the resources produced naturally by every hex. You can also turn this viewing on/off permanently via a button over the minimap. The blue circles are the game, telling us that "This is a good place to make a city." The purple outline is the local area the city will have if created where the Settlers are.

Hexes produce three kinds of resources: Food(Bread), Commerce(Coins), and Hammers(Hammers).

Food is required to feed your population- 1 food for every 1 population. Excess food is stored and increases your population. If you're not bringing in enough food, your people will starve, and you'll begin to lose the excess food and eventually, population.

Commerce funds your cities with culture, research, spy points, and can be converted into wealth to fund your empire. The percentage in the upper left corner determines where the commerce goes: 100% Research means all commerce gained goes right into your current technology research. Any leftover percentage goes into Wealth. Wealth doesn't have much use early-game except for upkeep and potentially, trading with other civilizations who actually value money. It's also used to upgrade your units as upgrades become available- it can cost between 100 and 200 gold to make a single warrior into an axemen, for example. Late-game, it can be used to rush building productions, and it can also be used to fund spy activities.

Hammers are what your cities use to produce units and buildings. Say a worker costs 40 hammers to make- you need to bring in 40 hammers to pop it. If you only have a 2 hammer tile to work, it's going to take 10 turns to produce that worker.



Hey, look, Pentaherp's scout invaded those barbarians' huts and they gave a Settler! Pentaherp will be able to immediately settle a second city!



Pentaherp's second settler moves down south to take advantage of that second "VERY GOOD SPOT TO PLANT ROOTS" the game is telling us all about.



Capital City Pentaherp popped! QuinDraco's a KING, now. Let's go over some city basics.

A- The purple area around the city is Pentaherp's land. It's land his workers can improve. More importantly, it's land that the city can draw resources from. Since Pentaherp only has a population of 1, it can only work a single hex. Right now, it's working that 2-food, 1-hammer hex in the lower right.

B- This tells us what the city is currently producing. It's not making any money, but producing 9 research points a turn. It's upkeep is .12 gold a turn.

C- Trade Routes. When it gets them, they'll be here. Trade routes improve what a city produces.

D- Buildings in the city. Each building can contribute to (or take away) commerce, food, and hammers. The Palace is part of every Capital Site, and delivers +1 Happiness, +8 Commerce, and +4 Espionage points. It also reduces maintenance in nearby cities.

E- This is the Culture bar. Culture is produced by buildings, civics, and technologies, and is what creates and maintains the purple borders around the city. With more culture, those borders will expand, making more of the land yours. Poor Pentaherp is only producing 2 culture a turn.

F- Unused at the moment, but later in the game, certain civics will allow you to whip your population to death, or spend pure wealth. Either causes the current production in that city to complete immediately.

G- Instead of working hexes, you can turn the population into in-city workers. The option for them opens up as technologies are discovered. Right now, the only thing you can make your population into is a Worker- who gives +1 hammer every turn. As there are available hexes giving both food AND hammer, it's silly to do that. Later options are more viable.



Although the border only extends 1 hex out from the city, the city can, when the border expands, make use of every hex within the red squares, forming The Cross, for a total of 21 possible hexes it can work (the city always automatically works the hex its on.)

What a hex produces is determined by what it is- green plains produce food, moreso if they are near rivers. Hills produce more hammer, as do forests. Yellow grasslands produce commerce. Deserts produce very little of anything at all. The list goes on.



Pentaherp's doing pretty well for itself. Two cities off the bat, some nice, lush forests to chop down, an oceanic view, and it's working on learning how those sticks and strings can catch fish. Let's move away from Pentaherp for now- we haven't had any time to give them character, so caught up in the rules as we've been! We'll have to do something about that next time.

Lord Doch and the Most Useless Map

Spoiler: show

(A small rules thing: Every civilization begins with two free techs, shown by their icons, and has a unique unit and a unique building, which are usually noticeable better than their normal counterparts.)





Ah yes, Lord Doch thought. This would do fine. A nice, reclusive valley, with a crisscrossing stream dividing the hexes. Beaches as far as the eye could see, with clams by the bushels waiting to be fetched out. It would be the perfect spot for his capital site. He could, whenever he wanted, walk out to the sands, place an umbrella, and relax, sip his teas, and play his instruments all day. He'd watch while the woman waded out into the waters, swinging their baskets through the water to the stringy tunes he'd pluck out in the shade.



His warriors, monks pledged to never enjoy the finer luxuries of life, brought him word of a group of barbarians who had given them a map in return for their lives.



It was a most useless map. He brushed them away and went back to pulling at strings. Nothing but empty waters.. it was poetic, almost. He could feel a song coming on.

Sir Namegduf and the Sand Encounter

Spoiler: show

Water! Water, he praised. They were not landlogged after all. That was one thing down. They could make use of the nearby trees- cut them down for lumber. There was plenty of fish in the waters, as well. That was good- food for the men. They'd grown tired of the hard tack they'd been biting into lately. He was sure all of them would be glad for barracks to sleep in, and not cold earth. It wouldn't be the soft swinging of the sea, but it'd be a damn sight more comfortable then stone.



He got the men to work immediately. They needed boats. Lots of boats. A nearby expedition of privates reported that a nearby barbarian tribe had provided them with a map of nearby land. Land! What use did Sir Namegduf have for land? Give him water, give him the salty air. Let him know where he could or could not find the distant tropical islands of his youth.



It was not an empty map, at least. If they ever needed to retreat suddenly, they knew where two oasis were. He could create a city down there for punishment detail, for all the slaves and oathbreakers. He gave orders for the expedition to continue southeast and plunder the tribe in the area.

King Sinrus and the Freudian Penisula

Spoiler: show

King Turbler and the Massive Tracts of Land

Spoiler: show

King Turbler was quite weary of wandering through the jungles with witless minions at her back. They were scared to even speak to her these turns, so irascible her moods, so fractious her words. They would be testy as well, she measured, if they had to walk through who-knows-how many turns of empty land, living off a nearly empty purse, if they were royalty born into the responsibility of taking care of a band of feebleminded sycophants. They couldn't even call her by the right title- a habit that taken root in all Callia, what little of it followed her now.

They waited while she judged the landscape, with eyes made harsh by harsh living. Silently, to standards they could not understand, she appraised the resources, the location, the protection. All Callians appreciated the benefit of massive tracts of land, being popped into such inheritances. This hex would do, she decided. Callia would be reborn here.



Befitting her stature, she reckoned, it was not even a turn later that a nearby barbarian tribe approached with tribute to Callia, and the desire to join her great Side. Though it would take an even harder pull on her coffers, she allowed them to do so, with a heavy sigh. King Turbler was not unkind.

She sent them south, with one of her precious handmaidens, to form another city.

Mal and the Very Brief Introduction

Spoiler: show

(What's that? A Unique Unit!)



(The Quechua replaces the Warrior. It has a +25% to its ARMS when defending a city, and +100% to its ARMS when engaging with archers. This makes it incredibly superior early-game whether defending or attacking (as archers are the unit of choice for defending cities early-game.))



Yesss.. this would do nicely. He had much work to do.. The land was unclean. It was unblemished, untouched, perfect.. this was not right.. it disgusted him. It made him gag and cringe and hiss. All land must be cleaned. All land must be touched. The infection had to be spread to rid it of that repulsive, revolting flawlessness. Yes..



This would do nicely.

King Boxer and the Outsourced Exposition

Spoiler: show

[Telva]

A ocean is but a lake of tears, fallen from the heavens.
For our enemies are their sorrow
For our enemies are their sorrow
A lake of tears is but a puddle, muddied with dirt

From muddied dirt, provided by the Heavens, plants grow.
We will eat the plants and grow strong
We will eat the plants and grow strong
So that the heavens need not cry in sorrow.

[Sinrus]

So what do we do now?

[President_Allosaurus]

I'll continue to update. If you want me to do anything for your side, tell me as such- explore in what direction, try to get X, attack X, whatever. I'll make it happen, or make something happen if you don't give me instructions.

You didn't give me anything in particular to characterize your side as, which is why you don't have anything yet. I do have an idea, though.

[turbler]

if there are no Scouts in my side, then pop one, and have it start exploring when ready. If there is one then he should start exploring, looking for other sides, potential resources, and other such things

[Sinrus]

Okay, well to characterize my side, they believe that they are not human. Normal people grew out of mud, but the Dravistites were born from lightning. Thus, they have a monotheistic religion which involves worship of a storm god who they consider to be the father of all people. They also consider foreigners to be of an inferior race and, with few exceptions, will seek to destroy them utterly. This warmongering was what pushed them back to the Freudian Peninsula.

I want to upgrade my capital as quickly as possible, but my first priority is to make another city to the southeast as close to the base of the peninsula as possible, which will produce my soldiers starting off.

[President_Allosaurus]

Okay, well to characterize my side, they believe that they are not human. Normal people grew out of mud, but the Dravistites were born from lightning. Thus, they have a monotheistic religion which involves worship of a storm god who they consider to be the father of all people. They also consider foreigners to be of an inferior race and, with few exceptions, will seek to destroy them utterly. This warmongering was what pushed them back to the Freudian Peninsula.

I want to upgrade my capital as quickly as possible, but my first priority is to make another city to the southeast as close to the base of the peninsula as possible, which will produce my soldiers starting off.

Will do, sir! Do you have a preference for how you conduct your wars? You can focus on destroying cities, or destroying units and capturing cities, siege warfare, ranged units, that sort of thing. Also, if you do not name your warlords and such, I will give them characterization on my own.

Out of game, were you thinking this to be an alternative view of Draviston from your fancomic? (for the uninformed, Found here: http://www.erfworld.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=921)

[Sinrus]

Yay, free advertising! And it's supposed to be nothing like it, I just use the name Draviston for everything. Same with Sinrus, Arrekk, and my fascination with lightning. As for names, I don't want the biblical references but other than that you have free reign.

[Arkaim]

Update 1: Exposition

“I can't believe he actually croaked. He was... invincible.” King Tabby stared at the scorched epicenter where Doom's grand tower once stood. Nothing remained.

Ebeneezer Screw put his hand on Tabby's shoulder. “All heroes find their end, Tabby.”

“And what a glorious end it was,” said the Red ruler, peering into the heavens. “Through his hands he delivered the Titans will and purged Erfworld of Doom's blasphemy, their aberrant quest to reject the Titan's designs and mold Erfworld into something more befitting their tastes. He was more than a hero. He was the Titan's instrument. It was the Titan's plan, his Fate, that he be the one that breaks the Impossible Link, and, with his mission completed, ascended to the great City of Heroes. Comrades, we need not mourn our friend. A grand hero's welcoming awaits him. The Titan's Chosen One.”

King Moxy applauded, his long black locks bobbing vigorously. “That was beautiful, Red! Give me a moment, I have a piece of prose that would be just perfect for this occasion.” Moxy pulls out some parchment and begins riffling through them.

“Are you seriously going to read another one of your garbage sonnets?” said Sam.

“Hmph! I suppose only Royals can appreciate the finer things in life.”

“What are you-”

“Is this really the best time to be discussing this?” interjected King Boxer. “Has anyone else notice what a dire predicament we're in? We, with the largest alliance Erfworld has popped witnessed to, were supposed to sail on the largest armada ever rallied on this the world to Doom and return to our kingdoms. What happened instead? Our great Caster Collaboration could only protect the hex it was in. Utilizing the Impossible Link, Doom completely annihilated everything in any hex. Everything! Anywhere! How many sides still stood on the second turn of Doom's onslaught? How many of you still have your Capitals? How many of you even have cities left? And, as if our situation wasn't bad enough, despite sacrificing their lives, our casters could only shield us, rulers, from the backlash that came after the Impossible Link broke. We lost all our units!”

Screw sighed. “Quit being so melodramatic, Boxer. You have this capital now so just conquer new capitals for us.”

“Wha-”

Moxy slapped Boxer's back. “Don't worry, Boxer. If it weren't for you, I would have never been reunited with my sweet, lovely Quartet. You have our trust.”

“Hey! Speak for yourself buddy,” said Sam. “But, to be completely serious, if it weren't for you, I'd never have even founded a Side. I'm sure you can get me back ruling again.”

“Um...”

The Red ruler turned to Boxer. “Boxer, time after time, even though you ruled over only four cities, you managed to push back the Red Army. When you took the throne, not once, not until my Father aligned with those hateful Blues, did our siege touch your outer walls. Even after being routed from your capital, you could not be conquered. From every hex you set foot, from every Side you fought for, you popped grand, glorious tales. Any one of those would have made a hero. By strength, by duty, and, most importantly, by honor did you thrive. Honor... something my Father never learned. No matter. Together, we shall form a peerless, shining empire, a monument upon Erfworld for all to marvel, worthy of the Titan's praise. The Red Army will rise again!”

“Don't you think you're setting the bar a little high?”

Tabby bent down and touched the scorched earth. “He saved my life, you know. It was because of him I didn't croak when I turned against my treacherous Father, and it was from his commitment that I finally put an end to my Father's vile existence.” Tabby stood and walked up to Boxer. “He was my friend. Now he's gone. But, while I still enjoyed his company, he spoke highly of you. He trusted you. So I will too. I may have failed to bring glory to Cats back in my homeland. Not here. I will place my faith in you, Boxer.”

Boxer gaped. “Oh... wow. Thank you. I don't know what to say. I guess we can start with scouting the surrounding hexes. It's a bit morbid, but we should hope that Doom rubbed out the neighboring empires.”

“Wait,” said Sam,”wait, wait. Anybody else notice we don't have any ladies?”

[Sinrus]

by the way, are we allowed to read the spoilers for other people? Because the first one is marked discussion of the rules and I have no idea how to play so...