Some problems I have with the game

[snupi]

Greetings to you all,

I have some problems with my AOC and wish for a solution, if possible.

1) By pressing strg + tab or , I do not select all idling cits/units in multiplayer. I only select a few, mostly about 10, which is not desired. In single player this key command works, and I select all idling cits/units.

2) Group speed does not work always, which is not desired. I do the group speed by selecting all units, then klick to some place and then turn the arrow around. It some times works, but mostly like 90% the hole group gets the speed of the slower unit, which is pretty annoying in sets such as mid sh.

3) I can not tribute, which is not desired.

4) The watchman (basic infantry on space age) looks different as before, which is not desired. It looks like some ww2 officer, but black painted, which is not desired.

5) I have the original CD's of EE+AOC, also installed, but since I lost the CD's I play with the Non-CD programm. Since I do not own the original CD's anymore the possibility is not given to reinstall EE and AOC, please mind this fact.

6) Sometimes, when I get attacked, for example from someone with white color or light blue color, I do not receive a message such as "WE ARE UNDER ATTACK", which is not desired, since you can not see those colors good and do not get a message and not even a red cross on the tiny map in the bottom right corner.

7) Sometimes, instead of the sound which comes when you set a flare for your allies the sound of "WE ARE UNDER ATTACK" apears, and vice versa, which is not desired.

8) Apollon, the tiny flying robot can set some circles on the ground. Those circles surround units. What are those circles for?

9) My citizen can not build a wall. They always left some holes in the wall, for certain unknown reasons, which is not desired, since they have to walk back after manual command and waste time instead of building wall segment next to wall segment so they only have to walk once along the wall.

10) By attacking, e.g. with a combat army, my units do not rush in the enemy and attack. They stand behind, then walks a bit back, then turns around, walks some circules, then attacks, which is not desired.

11) My airplanes do not attack enemy units primary. When I send my airplanes into the enemy's base, they will attack the buildings, such as towncenters, and waste fuel and time, which is not desired.

12) When attacking with mixed units, e.g. ballista and swords, my ballista kills my swords, which is not desired.

13) When attacking a gate, 5 combat units will attack the gate, and the rest will be standing around or attacking the wall or running around, which is not desired.

14) When my units are moving, e.g. around an obstacle such as a hill or forest, the will all always first walk to the dead end, then recognize that this is a dead end and then walk the right way, even if the map is revealed, which is not desired.

15) When attacking with archers, e.g. long bows, and I try to kill a hostile prophet, the arrows do not hit the slow prophet, which is not desired.

16) When attacking with combat units, e.g. long swords, and fighting against other units, which are running, my combat units will walk side by side with the units, even if my units are faster, and will not attack properly, which is not desired.

17) After building a settlement or towncenter or capitol next to a gold or stone or iron mine or a food patch, my citizen will not mine or gather on the mine or patch. Instead, they will go to the nearby trees and start cutting wood, which is not desired.

18) When commanding a fleet on water or in space, they will bump into each other and can not swim or fly properly. Instead, they will keep bumbing into each other and by slow and so on, which is not desired.

19) When my citizen are getting attacked by any animal, they will do nothing and get killed, or they will run around and get killed, which is not desired.

20) Non aggressive animals such as elephant or river horse will attack my units at random, even my units are not attacking the animals mentioned above, which is not desired.
I figured out that this happens mostly randomly, but it happens more often if I command some siegeweapons to walk around those animals. But nevertheless this is not desired.

21) In multiplayer games, when the host quits, I have to wait 2*65 seconds untill I win the game, which is not desired.

22) In the lobby, some people are inserting caveman pictures, which is not desired.

23) In the lobby, some people are inserting videos, which is not desired. I do not like videos. Please give the option to deactivate HTML, since my computer is not very good and takes too long to load these undesired videos.

24) In multiplayer, when a player presses alt+f4, he will first lag very much, than drop out of the game, which is not desired. Please make that if one presses alt+f4 he will drop out immediately.

25) My priesttower are less powerfull than before, which is not desired.

26) My SAS are less powerfull than before, which is not desired.

27) My Cyber-Ninja are less powerfull than before, which is not desired.

28) Sometimes for certain unknown reasons some tigers, e.g. 3 or 4 will run into my base and attack me, which is not desired. I remember that tigers are set randomly split up on the map, so I do not understand why they will run into my base and attack me.

29) When I select, e.g. 50 cits, and let them build a building, then they will first all run onto the place where my building should be, and then walk off the place where my building should be, which is not desired. The should go to the borderline of my building immediately and start building, instead of all walking into it and then slowly exit it.

30) Mortars and artillery can not hit moving units, which is not desired.

31) It is hard to command airplanes. First, when they reach there goal, they will circle around, and then get killed, and if not, they will start attacking buildings, which is not desired.

32) Also, it is hard to command airplanes, because I can not effciently select them. If I try to select my airplanes and send them to somewhere, they are all flying around and hard to select them all. Also, if I somehow manage to select them, they will go back to the airports, and I lose my selection, which is not desired. It is not possible to fight efficiently with airplanes so.

33) The hero, e.g. war combat hero, will not stand behind the army and give moral. Instead, he will run to the front line and get killed fast, which is not desired.

34) In mixed unit fights, for example marines and 120 mm guns versus 120 mm guns and tanks, my 120 mm guns will not shoot on the tanks and my marine will not shoot on the 120 mm guns. Instead, my 120 mm guns will shoot on the 120 mm guns and my marines will shoot on the tanks, which is not desired. It makes my lose the war.

35) It takes too long to select the civilization, which is not desired. I have to klick on the crown, then klick load, then a black small window with my civiliations will apear. My idea: by klicking the yellow crown at game start, the black window should apear, but a little bigger with more civilizations, since everyone has like many civs if he does not only play one set with one strategy. On the black window, e.g. in the bottom right corner there should be a button named "custom civilization", which will open the normal civ builder. This will make civ selecting more easier, which is desired.

36) My towers will not shoot properly. E.g. my towers will shoot enemy buildings, but not shoot there units which are attacking me. My anti air towers will shoot fighters, which can not harm be, and not shoot the bombers, which are harming me, which is not desired.

37) Sometimes I start in a base with no nearby forest, which is not desired.

38) Sometimes I start in a base with no nearby animals to eat, which is not desired.

39) Sometimes I start in a base with no nearby mines, or only 1-2 nearby mines, which is not desired.

40) Sometimes, e.g. at wood cutting, my citizen would cut the wood and then run around the hole forest to deliver the wood, but not deliver the wood at the most nearby settlement, which is not desired.

41) For some certain unknown reasons my units will not stop even i press p, which is not desired. This fact is annoying my camo strategy, which says that my units should be invisible when they are not moving, but the will move when the enemy is attacking, even I press p.

42) Sometimes, e.g. at hunting, my citizen would stop hunting and stand at the settlement instead of going to the next animal and eat it, which is not desired.

43) Sometimes, when I use my citizen to lure an aggressive animal to my capitol, it will run away, even it is getting attacked, which is not desired.

Thanks for reading, please tell me a solution if possible.

[Omega]

1) By pressing strg + tab or , I do not select all idling cits/units in multiplayer. I only select a few, mostly about 10, which is not desired. In single player this key command works, and I select all idling cits/units.

I'm not aware of this bug, and partly because of that and because of the rest of your questions, I doubt it even exists. You need to keep holding shift down.

2) Group speed does not work always, which is not desired. I do the group speed by selecting all units, then klick to some place and then turn the arrow around. It some times works, but mostly like 90% the hole group gets the speed of the slower unit, which is pretty annoying in sets such as mid sh.

Group speed is a bug and not an intended game feature. As such, it doesn't behave exactly as you'd expect an intended feature to behave... It partly depends on the average speed of all units selected, but the order they appear in the selection queue and the proportions also matter. Try adding more cavalry archers.

3) I can not tribute, which is not desired.

There was a vote on this, and as a result tributes were removed to prevent cheating.

4) The watchman (basic infantry on space age) looks different as before, which is not desired. It looks like some ww2 officer, but black painted, which is not desired.

This was done becuase the original model/texture of watchmen was extremely graphics-intensive, and masses of them could bring down even dual, modern top end graphics cards to the point of "holy shit my FPS is in the gutter" levels.

The reason they look like a ww2 officer with a blacker texture is because well... That's what they are lol.

5) I have the original CD's of EE+AOC, also installed, but since I lost the CD's I play with the Non-CD programm. Since I do not own the original CD's anymore the possibility is not given to reinstall EE and AOC, please mind this fact.

I don't see how this is even relevant because 1) it should be entirely expected you can't reinstall with installation media you don't have, and 2) because you can download both games for free quite easily.

6) Sometimes, when I get attacked, for example from someone with white color or light blue color, I do not receive a message such as "WE ARE UNDER ATTACK", which is not desired, since you can not see those colors good and do not get a message and not even a red cross on the tiny map in the bottom right corner.

Color has nothing to do with it. It's a bug in the triggering of the message, and nothing can be done about it. Watch your minimap better, and get better at predicting what your opponents will probably be doing.

7) Sometimes, instead of the sound which comes when you set a flare for your allies the sound of "WE ARE UNDER ATTACK" apears, and vice versa, which is not desired.

Never noticed this, although I guess it's possible it's a bug for non-english versions or something.

Apollon, the tiny flying robot can set some circles on the ground. Those circles surround units. What are those circles for?

It depends if you're talking about diffraction shield or if you're talking about the ion pulse (?) ability. The former makes your stuff live longer, and the later makes their stuff die faster. Particulates of both can be found out via simple testing against a medium-difficulty computer in the scenario editor.

9) My citizen can not build a wall. They always left some holes in the wall, for certain unknown reasons, which is not desired, since they have to walk back after manual command and waste time instead of building wall segment next to wall segment so they only have to walk once along the wall.

Cit AI is imperfect. Micromanage them.

10) By attacking, e.g. with a combat army, my units do not rush in the enemy and attack. They stand behind, then walks a bit back, then turns around, walks some circules, then attacks, which is not desired.

I'm not entirely sure what you're even describing.

11) My airplanes do not attack enemy units primary. When I send my airplanes into the enemy's base, they will attack the buildings, such as towncenters, and waste fuel and time, which is not desired.

Micromanage them.

12) When attacking with mixed units, e.g. ballista and swords, my ballista kills my swords, which is not desired.

It's called area damage. Deal with it, make hospitals, or make Temple of Zeus.

13) When attacking a gate, 5 combat units will attack the gate, and the rest will be standing around or attacking the wall or running around, which is not desired.

Only melee units have this issue, and it's becuase they're melee units and have to be next to the thing they're attacking... You can get more attacking the gate via micromanagement.

14) When my units are moving, e.g. around an obstacle such as a hill or forest, the will all always first walk to the dead end, then recognize that this is a dead end and then walk the right way, even if the map is revealed, which is not desired.

Shift-move or shift-attack move is good to avoid such AI blunders.

15) When attacking with archers, e.g. long bows, and I try to kill a hostile prophet, the arrows do not hit the slow prophet, which is not desired.

Arrows don't always hit their target if the target has moved out of the flight path of the arrow. It depends how their prophet is moving and where the arrow was fired from. Control your units better and you can help to avoid this. Crossbow bolts alternatively have a short flight time, so you could try having a crossbow manually select the prophet.

16) When attacking with combat units, e.g. long swords, and fighting against other units, which are running, my combat units will walk side by side with the units, even if my units are faster, and will not attack properly, which is not desired.

It happens because there's very little difference over the short term between unit speeds, and once you land a single blow your unit has stopped for the time the attack requires, meaning that it has to catch the opposing units again, thus greatly reducing the damage-per-second of your army. This is obviously an intended game feature.

17) After building a settlement or towncenter or capitol next to a gold or stone or iron mine or a food patch, my citizen will not mine or gather on the mine or patch. Instead, they will go to the nearby trees and start cutting wood, which is not desired.

It depends where the citizens are when building, where the settlement is placed, and how close the wood/other mines are to the location of the citizens. With practice, you'll learn to get them on the mine you want and when that's not possible you can just hotkey them to something you never regularly use (or just return to that area shortly after the settlement is built) and put them where you want them.

18) When commanding a fleet on water or in space, they will bump into each other and can not swim or fly properly. Instead, they will keep bumbing into each other and by slow and so on, which is not desired.

The AI for space ships is terrible, and their size is too big. It happens but can be mostly avoided with good unit management.

19) When my citizen are getting attacked by any animal, they will do nothing and get killed, or they will run around and get killed, which is not desired.

This is how the game works. Watch your citizens more closely...

20) Non aggressive animals such as elephant or river horse will attack my units at random, even my units are not attacking the animals mentioned above, which is not desired.
I figured out that this happens mostly randomly, but it happens more often if I command some siegeweapons to walk around those animals. But nevertheless this is not desired.

Any animal you can lure is not non-aggressive. They may not attack immediately like Tigers or Wolves, but they are aggressive. Certain units in EE do "trample" damage, such as siege weapons and elephants. If you're moving such units around these animals, you'll damage them and thus are effectively attacking them.

Just kill said animals that are going to be in the path of your sieges/other units that have the trample damage effect.

21) In multiplayer games, when the host quits, I have to wait 2*65 seconds untill I win the game, which is not desired.

This is an intended game feature, nothing can be done about it, and everyone does in fact hate it.

22) In the lobby, some people are inserting caveman pictures, which is not desired.

Ok...

23) In the lobby, some people are inserting videos, which is not desired. I do not like videos. Please give the option to deactivate HTML, since my computer is not very good and takes too long to load these undesired videos.

Requests for features should go in the request features forum, not here, and not at #23 on a massive list.

24) In multiplayer, when a player presses alt+f4, he will first lag very much, than drop out of the game, which is not desired. Please make that if one presses alt+f4 he will drop out immediately.

Impossible, because alt+f4 is identical from your game's perspective as the other player loosing their internet connection and thus not responding.

25) My priesttower are less powerfull than before, which is not desired.

Priest towers were imbalanced in pre. They got nerfed. These changes were validated by a vote.

26) My SAS are less powerfull than before, which is not desired.

Not really. SAS themselves are more powerful. Plant Explosives energy cost was raised becuase it was sick and fairly spammable.

27) My Cyber-Ninja are less powerfull than before, which is not desired.

See above, basically.

28) Sometimes for certain unknown reasons some tigers, e.g. 3 or 4 will run into my base and attack me, which is not desired. I remember that tigers are set randomly split up on the map, so I do not understand why they will run into my base and attack me.

They run around. There is such a thing as coincidence, and if you really want to prove it just put an easy 1 citizen computer in single player and cheat to kill it without killing tigers. (by 'kill' i mean leave 1 unimportant unit or building alive and walled in such that it can't do anything) Now pick a random area on the map the size of your base with asus drivers on and watch for long enough... Repeat a few times in a few different games.

29) When I select, e.g. 50 cits, and let them build a building, then they will first all run onto the place where my building should be, and then walk off the place where my building should be, which is not desired. The should go to the borderline of my building immediately and start building, instead of all walking into it and then slowly exit it.

First, doing that is stupid becuase there are significant diminishing returns involved. Second, I don't think the AI for citizens building stuff was ever intended to handle that becuase it's generally stupid. Third, you can typically overcome it with micromanagement although it does depend on the size of the building and how many citizens you're using.

30) Mortars and artillery can not hit moving units, which is not desired.

...They can. It's called attack ground + skill. Also, arty have great area damage...

31) It is hard to command airplanes. First, when they reach there goal, they will circle around, and then get killed, and if not, they will start attacking buildings, which is not desired.

Micro them.

32) Also, it is hard to command airplanes, because I can not effciently select them. If I try to select my airplanes and send them to somewhere, they are all flying around and hard to select them all. Also, if I somehow manage to select them, they will go back to the airports, and I lose my selection, which is not desired. It is not possible to fight efficiently with airplanes so.

It really is... Even if you're not fast enough to select them when they're moving, which is only slightly challenging IMO. Just use the hotkey along with shitf with nothing else selected, specifically "D" for AT planes and f/bs, F for fighters, B for Bombers, and A for nukes...

33) The hero, e.g. war combat hero, will not stand behind the army and give moral. Instead, he will run to the front line and get killed fast, which is not desired.

Hero control. Learn it.

34) In mixed unit fights, for example marines and 120 mm guns versus 120 mm guns and tanks, my 120 mm guns will not shoot on the tanks and my marine will not shoot on the 120 mm guns. Instead, my 120 mm guns will shoot on the 120 mm guns and my marines will shoot on the tanks, which is not desired. It makes my lose the war.

Unit control...

35) It takes too long to select the civilization, which is not desired. I have to klick on the crown, then klick load, then a black small window with my civiliations will apear. My idea: by klicking the yellow crown at game start, the black window should apear, but a little bigger with more civilizations, since everyone has like many civs if he does not only play one set with one strategy. On the black window, e.g. in the bottom right corner there should be a button named "custom civilization", which will open the normal civ builder. This will make civ selecting more easier, which is desired.

Nothing can be done on the game level about this.

Double clicking on the civ will save you some time.

Additionally, you can use multiple civilization folders to cut down on how many it displays... I'm sure I've made a post about this before. Although, that's not really to important because it won't take too long to select civilizations once you're accustomed to where they are etc...

36) My towers will not shoot properly. E.g. my towers will shoot enemy buildings, but not shoot there units which are attacking me. My anti air towers will shoot fighters, which can not harm be, and not shoot the bombers, which are harming me, which is not desired.

Control them manually.

37) Sometimes I start in a base with no nearby forest, which is not desired.

Maps are random... Sometimes, you start with only 2 or 3 trees and a stone mine.

38) Sometimes I start in a base with no nearby animals to eat, which is not desired.

See above. You can also play on maps with shitloads of mines and animals if you're really concerned.

39) Sometimes I start in a base with no nearby mines, or only 1-2 nearby mines, which is not desired.

See above.

40) Sometimes, e.g. at wood cutting, my citizen would cut the wood and then run around the hole forest to deliver the wood, but not deliver the wood at the most nearby settlement, which is not desired.

Place settlements strategically. Tell your citizens where to mine wood strategically.

41) For some certain unknown reasons my units will not stop even i press p, which is not desired. This fact is annoying my camo strategy, which says that my units should be invisible when they are not moving, but the will move when the enemy is attacking, even I press p.

Scout mode is vital. Also, spamming stop is vital. It's not perfect, but if you're fast at it it's ridiculously abusive.

42) Sometimes, e.g. at hunting, my citizen would stop hunting and stand at the settlement instead of going to the next animal and eat it, which is not desired.

Cit AI sucks. Sometimes, once an animal runs out they'll all go to a pocket's dead animal or worse an opponent's dead animal to go gather some more. Watch them like a hawk.

43) Sometimes, when I use my citizen to lure an aggressive animal to my capitol, it will run away, even it is getting attacked, which is not desired.

Ensure the animal is NOT moving *AT ALL* when you attack it.

[lightnessking.]

Respect for omega he actually wasted time on this rather dumb topic, but still very funny xD.

[LacRimoSa]

17) After building a settlement or towncenter or capitol next to a gold or stone or iron mine or a food patch, my citizen will not mine or gather on the mine or patch. Instead, they will go to the nearby trees and start cutting wood, which is not desired.

Order to built a settlement next to the ressource patch, then send ur cits to gather. After they gathered 15 ressources, they will automatical finish building the settlement and return to the ressource patch.

[snupi]

Ok Omega thank you for helping me, most problems are solved. You are a good man. I have the german version of this game, and it was the platin version, so it may happen that there are some slight difference from your game, and it can not be helped.
Thus all these problems it is possible to play with other players, and I would like to thank you in name of all players for making the save-ee lobby and so on.

I mean the ion pules attack of Apollon, but I forgot the name. I never saw anyone in the game using these special powers of Apollon, so I wonder if those powers are efficient.

Usally I only send my units to the enemy with holden ctrl and then look somewhere else, I think that is the reason why I lose so often. Thank you for your advice, Omega.
Have a nice day, it is now night in Europe.

[Omega]

Ok Omega thank you for helping me, most problems are solved. You are a good man. I have the german version of this game, and it was the platin version, so it may happen that there are some slight difference from your game, and it can not be helped.
Thus all these problems it is possible to play with other players, and I would like to thank you in name of all players for making the save-ee lobby and so on.

I mean the ion pules attack of Apollon, but I forgot the name. I never saw anyone in the game using these special powers of Apollon, so I wonder if those powers are efficient.

Usally I only send my units to the enemy with holden ctrl and then look somewhere else, I think that is the reason why I lose so often. Thank you for your advice, Omega.
Have a nice day, it is now night in Europe.

No problem, glad to help!

The special powers of the Apollo cyber are pretty good, but the issue is that you have to be in a position to make them and take advantage of them, which isn't all that common. For example, if your opponent is massing Zeus cybers (the cyber that pwns other cybers!), you can combine the Resonator power of a Tempest cyber (will 1 hit kill a group of Zeus) along with Diffraction Shield in order to keep the tempest alive to actually use Resonator. Or, if you're in a late game nano game and are making a good amount of cybers that you want to get healed, appolos are a good choice, same for if your opponent keeps trying to "snipe" your hero and you want to give it the extra chance of living so you keep Diffraction Shield on it. You can find similar situations for why Ion Pulse is good, like if you really need to kill certain units fast (or faster!). I will say though that the reason you probably don't see people using these very often, or using cybers very often even, is that a LOT of players don't even know what they do, what counters them//what cybers counter which other cybers, and haven't ever tried out their special abilities either.

As for not looking when you attack, that's definitely something important! You don't need to follow your army the *whole time*, such as when they're moving to where you want them to go, but once they get into battle or are going to get there very soon, it's usually a good idea to pay attention. Knowing what to pay attention to, when to pay attention to it, and how long you need to pay attention is one of things that you'll learn by experience and from your mistakes, and eventually paying attention to your army and several things in your base that are going on (like producing units, building up your economy, etc.) at the same time will be natural to you.

[Sexacutioner]

when attacking hold the right mouse button down and an arrow will appear, send them in backwards and all units attack, send them in forward and they fall into what ever line formation you have them selected in

of course you have to hold control while doing this or they just run into formation without attacking

[snupi]

Additionally, you can use multiple civilization folders to cut down on how many it displays... I'm sure I've made a post about this before. Although, that's not really to important because it won't take too long to select civilizations once you're accustomed to where they are etc...

This is related to my interests.
Can you please elaborate this more? I have many civs, and they all look similar like
middle age swordman rush
middle age swordman boom
middle age pikeman rush
middle age pikeman boom
middle age long bow rush
middle age long bow boom
middle age horse fighter rush
middle age horse fighter boom
middle age priesttower rush
middle age priesttower boom

and things, so when I try to select my civ fast, sometimes I accidentally pike the wrong civ.
I already tried putting some civs in folders, but somehow the civs I put in the folders just easily do not show up?

[Omega]

Additionally, you can use multiple civilization folders to cut down on how many it displays... I'm sure I've made a post about this before. Although, that's not really to important because it won't take too long to select civilizations once you're accustomed to where they are etc...

This is related to my interests.
Can you please elaborate this more? I have many civs, and they all look similar like
middle age swordman rush
middle age swordman boom
middle age pikeman rush
middle age pikeman boom
middle age long bow rush
middle age long bow boom
middle age horse fighter rush
middle age horse fighter boom
middle age priesttower rush
middle age priesttower boom

and things, so when I try to select my civ fast, sometimes I accidentally pike the wrong civ.
I already tried putting some civs in folders, but somehow the civs I put in the folders just easily do not show up?

First off, naming your civilizations so similar is a good way to pick the wrong one or take way too long to select them. For example, if you want to have a rush and a boom civilization for swords, call one "Sword" or "Mid Sword" (if not using multi-folder) and the other "Sword Boom" or "Mid Sword Boom", or to differentiate them even more call it "Swordsman Boom" or "Mid Swordsman Boom". That at least gives a bigger visual difference between them for quicker identification, and if you follow a similar pattern for all of your civilizations you'll be in even better shape, because anytime you perhaps see the entire name spelled out you KNOW it's a boomciv, but if you see a shortened version of the name you KNOW it's a rush civ.

If you have variants of a similar civilization, such as Cav Archers, one that has cit HP and tower attack, and one that has Ballista range, you might name on CA Bali Range or CA BR and the other CA Survivable or something, just so you get the gist of the differences--the one that says bali range has bali range, and the one that says "survivable" trades the points spend on bali range for points on stuff to make initial defense easier. You might then add a THIRD variant, perhaps one with Ballista range AND attack, and name it CA BRA. From that, you can quickly deduce that it's the same as CA BR in terms of visible bonuses with the exception of adding Bali attack too, but you had to sacrifice SOMETHING like an eco bonus, BTD, or cost reduction on stuff to get it, so that means you'll be a bit more challenged at the start of the game/during the game in terms of massing units. The beauty of such a civilization naming system is that you don't need to remember exactly what you have in everything, becuase you can figure it out pretty quickly if you forget. You could even name your sword civs like that instead of calling one rush and one boom--find the specific, key differences and find a way to make them quickly obvious in the civ name.

As for multiple folders... Let's say you only play two settings (easy to expand this if you understand the example), Indy SH and Middle SH.

So, what you do is you create two folders under C:\Sierra\Empire Earth\Users\default

One you call "Civilizations.IndySH", the other you call "Civilizations.MiddleSH". You then move civs from "Civilizations" folder into the folder they actually belong in, whether they're mid civs or indy civs. Once all the civs are out of the "Civilizations" folder, delete it.

Now, let's say you start up EE and join a Mid SH, simply go to the "default" folder and rename "Civilizations.MiddleSH" to "Civilizations", and you'll only see your middle civs. If you then decide you want to go play Indy SH, rename your "Civilizations" folder to "Civilizations.MiddleSH" because it has your mid civs, and then rename "Civilizations.IndySH" to "Civilizations", and you're again good to go.

Basically, you're just trading some time in-game selecting your civ for some time before game, but it's IMO a good trade because the time before game really doesn't matter at all, whereas the time in-game can matter.

Obviously, you can have as many folders in this way as you desire, just make more folders in the same way as described before, and do the same renaming thing as described before.