prepping for beginning expansion

I certainly hope so. Free Publicity. You'd better start sandbagging your windows Norfleet.

[Taqwus]

If Shrapnel were to send a free publicity copy to the Rev. Jerry Falwell or his ilk, and some literature emphasizing the prospect of blood sacrifice, that might work too.

[Scott Hebert]

Heh.

Before the thread started to devolve (but a humorous devolvement), there's some really nice information in it.

I currently play on Indep5 most of the time. I don't think I could go back to Indep3... they'd seem like such pushovers.

Basically, the best way to learn how to expand is probably to play on an Indep setting 2 or 3 higher than what you actually intend to play on. Once you get your expansion rate to the point you want it on the higher setting, you shouldn't have any trouble achieving that expansion rate on the lower setting.

Scott

[Gandalf Parker]

I dont know why Indep 3 is the default. I guess because it matches AI-easy.

I think that hurts the game. Indep 5 is more human-setting. The setting of 3 is more in favor of the AI than human players. It leads new people to think they arent doing well because the AI swarms into them early in the game. Im continually telling new players to turn indepts up until they learn the game better.

I play consistantly on Indep 6. Just gard enough that it takes skill and effort to expand, but just easy enough so that a Combat Pretender can be of use with or without an army if you desire.

I would admonish all Newbies to play on at least AI 5+ in order to better learn how the AI functions in the Battlefield.

[HJ]

Originally posted by Gandalf Parker:
The setting of 3 is more in favor of the AI than human players.

Actually, higher settings benefits the AI as well, as the AI shows up with bigger armies that they need to accumulate to conquer indies at 6+. This also means more national troops, and less mad rushes with militia armies who are either insufficient to conquer indie provinces, or get killed in the process. If by "benefit" you meant that they get more provinces more quickly, that's true, but they get to use them better and more thoroughly (as well as their home province) on higher settings. In my experience, in its current state the AI plays best (as in - provides the best opposition) with indies at 6-7, rich world and sites at 50.

[Gandalf Parker]

Wel actually I usually word it the other way. That higher indept settings benefit a human player more than the AI. A human usually does better at avoiding the hard ones and prepping for the others.