So I am playing a nice game last night as Qin (monarch). Get 5 cities online. Build stonehenge/pyramids. Have some cottages going on and a lot of resources. When I finally get alphabet I meet Cyrus. He is literally 10 techs ahead of me (metal casting, iron working, mathematics and literature!! amongst them) and my highest tech is alphabet :cry: :crazyeye:

I was just starting to build up an army to invade Ramsess but this was just madness. Then I also met Hannibal and he was just 8 techs ahead of me and found out they were best buddies. Happy tech traders and way way way ahead of me. I just quit right there and then.

What other moments did you guys experience that made you quit?

Getting dogpiled.

There doesn't seem much fun in defensive wars that leave you behind in development. I think, OK I blew it, and quit out.

Having the bulk of my military on some foreign campaign when some jerkwad like Louis decides to stab me in the back and sends a huge stack right into my backyard.

Getting stuck on my own continent playing a warmonger and finding there wasn't a single happiness resource around. Played for a bit, but even the Barbs were out-teching me.

Bh

When I gathered lots of units and attack Alexander. As soon as I capture his first cities HUGE stacks of phalanx, swords and axes came out and began assaulting my empire left right and centre. I never knew it was even possible to build that many units while keeping the empire running (he was leading in tech too, and all his cities appear to have most improvements in them).

... when a Barbarian Warrior somehow overtakes your Archer and razes your 2nd city.

... when a Barbarian Warrior somehow overtakes your Archer and razes your 2nd city.
I agree. New game.

My favorite (when vanilla first came out), on an island just me and monty. Did not know how crazy he was. Just shooting the breeze, exploring. My warriors sent out to fogbust and see the island, then, Monnty declares war, marches in, takes my city.

The thing that cracks me up (and still does) that my game was over, but so was the AI's.

... when a Barbarian Warrior somehow overtakes your Archer and razes your 2nd city.

This happens to me so many times I wonder who is supposed to have strength bonus against whom? :crazyeye:

when i want to try something particulary on a game (first warlord game: building the great wall) and failing to it (the great wall has been built in a distant land)

happens me three times with the GW as i wanted to see it around my nice little empire....

When I start losing core cities I usually quit.

Falling behind in techs is not enough reason to quit for me :) It is very possible to catch up even if it looks bad. It's important to establish as many contacts early on as possible so you get bonuses to research and can be more selective about whom you trade with.

Getting caught in a war over one city for more than thousand years. AI keeps sending stack after stack to retake the city while I just keep building units to defend that city. And no, AI doesn't accept peace. Not that I've necessarily lost the game but it all seems so pointless.

When I start losing core cities I usually quit.

Falling behind in techs is not enough reason to quit for me :) It is very possible to catch up even if it looks bad. It's important to establish as many contacts early on as possible so you get bonuses to research and can be more selective about whom you trade with.

same for me

I can even go on after losing one core city, but when you see a swarm (!) of cavalry moving your way and all you have is one defender per city and no way to build more than one per turn before you get swallowed by the wave, it's somehow pointless.

I'll try to find the screenshot I took in a WotM7 test game. Immortal level playing Cyrus (a WotM7 test game, using Robertthebruce's test save A, for those who want to try).
I somehow managed to give myself 3 vassals (Romans, Ottomans, Greeks), while Brennus had 2 (Catherine and Elizabeth).
It was in the rifle/cavalry era (=cossacks and redcoats era for my neighbours!).
I built up a nice stack of grenadiers and cannons, with some rare cavalries and riflemen. My units were nicely promoted (starting at 21 Xp ;)), so I make 2 big stacks against 2 "frontier cities" of Brennus.
Attack!
On the first turn, I take one city. The other stack moves to the second city.
On turn 2, I get next to the second, well defended, city.
On turn 3, I take this city without too many losses, but using most of my units.
On turn 4, the first city is back to brennus. I didn't even see the battles, but when I checked none of my troops of the first stack were left. All died:confused: ?
I moved my reinforcement troops towards the city and saw an infinite cavalry stack. hoho.
On turn 5, city 2 is back to brennus. None of my second stack's troops were alive. My reinforcement stack died too
On turn 6, Rome (which I captured) was starving. why?
all the tiles around it had cavalries on them.:eek: It was like 12 tiles, with 4 or 5 cavalries on each...
rome fell of course, then my HE city got surrounded. I could draft one unit and finish another, but 2 rifles and a warrior vs 100 cavalries didn't seem fair...
That's when I quit...

I quit when I see that there are no resources on my continent, which happens all the time. Why does the game generate maps like this??

... when a Barbarian Warrior somehow overtakes your Archer and razes your 2nd city.

My favorite was a barb archer who killed my (fortified) axeman protecting copper, pillaged the mine, and then for good measure, killed the only other axeman I had produced.

The last time I quit though, I started on an island that was all ice, except for the fat cross of my starting city. Great stuff.

Just as a side note to OP - expanding to 5 cities prior to Alphabet is a bad idea. Your science slider was probably at 30-40% to support all those new cities.

I know 5 cities is pushing it but I was still doing 60-70% with gold mines and cottages and I popped quite a lot of gold from huts and missed two wonders so it was affordable. I don't mind being behind a little in techs but 10 (including 4 big ones) is just too much.

I also hate it when I send my settlers out to my second city site with a warrior to accompany them. Then when you get to the site a barb warrior comes out of the FOW and beats your warrior and settler. Just plain annoying and sets you back too much.

When my economy/science is down to zero (overexpanding/too many units),
I quit the game. I'm playing too many catch up games lately.

the only time i really give up is when my initial scout or warrior gets eaten by a bear or something cause it's really early so i just start a new game. often times i don't even finish the game if i'm way ahead of the AI or i know for sure that i'm going to win...

My fav: (Don't restart but it drives me insane)

Early on - youve improved a lot of tiles but are far from "in control" of the surrounding area - the barbs are leaking in every once in a while but you have a free defender the outside cities, mopping them up.

A barb appears and you finally decide to drag your last uninjured archer that has been protecting your copper mine down and move him 2 turns out to take care of this latest threat - afterall he hasnt moved in 20 turns... very next turn another barb appears out of thin air on a beeline to the mine. It's like the computer was just waiting for you to move that unit.:cry:

I had a game little while ago where I had a marginal presence on a little peninsula, hemmed in by three other powers, and only ONE river tile in the whole area (not at my capital). I was going to stick it out, but then I somehow accidentally told an archer to go to some location way to the southwest instead of to the city I wanted him to defend. Twenty turns later, after I had casually wondered once or twice where that darn archer had gotten to, he stopped moving and asked for new instructions, and I noticed what he had discovered: the continent I was on turned out to be about twice as big as I had thought, and there was NO ONE there. My archer had discovered vast tracts of unsettled land--land MUCH better than the land I had started on--and there was no way for me to get to it without going through three enemy empires and cutting my territory drastically in half. Endless expansion opportunities for everyone but me. Woohoo!

Up 'til that point, I'd felt I could pull it out, but when I saw that, it was time to start over.

The best time to give up is when it stops being fun and starts being frustrating/aggravating.

oh oh oh - I got another one -Ive noticed these three things tend to happen simultaneously to me:

When I lose 3 or 4 80%+ battles in a row -just as-
Another AI declares war on me -just as-
my wife and 1 or more children pile into my computer room and start talking/arguing about the most inane topic -just as-
my head explodes and I quit to desktop.

An archipelago map where my island is by far the smallest and without essential resources.

When im aiming at cultural victory with just couple of archers defending cities, and i see stack of 7 Jaguars 3 Axemen and 3 catapults near border.

I rarely quit from falling behind in tech. I was playing a game (Noble, I think, and Vanilla). Stuck on an isolated continent and way behind in tech. I did have a ten city empire, though. Once I got Caravels and made contact with the other civs, I started tech-trading like mad. Caught up and passed everyone on my way to a Space Race victory. That was one of my sweetest wins -- thought I was dead but kept after it and pulled it out in the end.
I did quit one time when the Barbarian city on my continent upgraded their Longbows to Riflemen. I was just going to attack with Cats and Macemen, too. That really stunk. Without that nice Barb city, there was no way I could win. I was getting crushed. When even the Barbs are out-teching you, it's time to throw in the towel...

This belongs with FfHII...but, snakey archipelago, two cities, one defender each, access points defended(entenched on hills), very early in game.....Barbarian Galleon(!?) rocks up to 1st city carrying 3 barbarians!? Evil....game over.

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http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?p=5343368#post5343368

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I pretty much hate war-mongering, but do it as necessary.

I'll often quit when I can see 100 turns of moving units and bombarding cities in my future. I prefer peaceful victories, and only war when required. (I've resigned myself to some war being that I play on Monarch.)

snakey archipelago, two cities, one defender each, access points defended(entenched on hills), very early in game.....Barbarian Galleon(!?) rocks up to 1st city carrying 3 barbarians!? Evil....game over.

ROFL IRL

Sometimes instead of quitting, I'll go into worldbuilder and give myself a few nukes, a couple modern armor, a gunship or 2, and some seals (cause they look so cool) - around 1000ad (a carrier group and some stealth bombers can also add to the fun). Pathetically enough, I once did this twice (after an AI burned my city with 10 stealth bombers in it via macemen), and conquest victory was still in question, so then I quit. It was satifsying to nuke and mow down all those cheating AIs though.

When my initial warrior gets eaten very early in the game (especially when it is against all odds) it is really a moment I want to quit...

When my initial warrior gets eaten very early in the game (especially when it is against all odds) it is really a moment I want to quit...

Just a little while ago I had 2 Warriors and 1 popped Scouts eaten by animals before I finished my first settler. That was quite disheartening :cry:

Current game: Research stuck at 0% with a -12 defeciet... I hate when I overreach myself but those axes are so shiny. :crazyeye: Might be salvagable though if I can get enough cottages online.

Current game: Research stuck at 0% with a -12 defeciet... I hate when I overreach myself but those axes are so shiny. :crazyeye: Might be salvagable though if I can get enough cottages online.

It might be salvaged if you use your axes ;)

It might be salvaged if you use your axes ;)

My mighty army of 5 brave remaining axemen... I'm not used to the balance of the new warlords chariots just yet, just got the expansion, they are scary. Note to self: Include spearmen next time. :lol:

I recall another game I had to give up, my first attempt at emperor a while back. Was playing England as almost always and ended up far out on a jungle heavy peninsula with Catherine beside me and Tokugava also on the continent. A cultural leader as neighbor is hell but I got 3 cities up and lucked with iron. Then she declared war on Toku and I saw my chances. My swords marched through city after citybut oh my was there a lot of them. She had like 12 compared to my 3... I still won the war but with a crippled Toku as only tradepartner and the rest of the AI (who were showing up with caravels) miles ahead in tech it was over. :sad:

When I'm at war with a civ and they are on their last gasps and suddenly a long time friend vassals that empire forcing a war with me and hit me in the back. I seriously considered quiting when mass cavalry took my northern most city and pillaged a bunch of tiles. Lucky for me I just reached infantry and had substantial money so I upgraded my crappy defense of things like maceman into infantry and fortified my border. Now its like 15 turns later and the Chinese are about to learn how I killed my last four victims. :D

On the 4th or 5th "favorable" odds of winning, and attacking knights with my pikemen leaves me without a single pikeman. When it really seems a "98% chance to win" consistenly means "if you win, it'll cost you 98% of your hit points".
When I've depleted my defenders and fallen 8 techs behind, I turn it off.

Lol ya that happens a lot to. I can't tell you how many times I've hit an enemy's capital and have a 50% chance to kill the last defender. I of course lose and my guy does nothing to it and then my second crappier attacker loses. Next turn 6 new defenders reach the capital. :mad:

ditto rabidveggie. I like to think that I plan an attack with minimal excess building, but 6 new defenders requires reinforcements for attack and if I don't have reserves nearby, then war is lost. How often do I have reserves instead of a stream of freshly built troops? Almost never.

I wont quit until their riflemen have killed all my mighty axemen and catapaults

Picture continents with two neighbors on our continent. I researched Theocracy first. The other continent founded the rest of the religions so we were a Christian continent. When we discovered the other continent, it was one happy family under the Bhudda. the other religions never gained traction.

We all had global tech parity. Well, they had the bigger continent, but we were doing fine, right? Nope... That game I discovered the meaning "We fear you are becoming too advanced". My two close AI friends and I were creamed within a hundred turns. It turns out and I had used up my entire tech trade "allowance".

My tech trading stopped, but not the enemy AI. They jumped ahead so fast my eyes spun. I couldn't fight the advanced units they sent before long. I felt the game was winnable so I kept restarting around the discovery of astronomy (the earliest save I had at the time) playing different tactics trying to improve our chances. I didn't give up for two weeks real life time.

I wish I still had that start. The terrain was absolutely phenomenal and I know how to specialize cities now. I even controlled the entire world supply of coal! It should have been a cakewalk. :cry: Why does oil come up so quick?

my first ever deity game. i was trying for a specific type of win, diplomatic, so i wasn't going to go to war at all, was going to be friends with everybody. researched to alphabet, was first to get it. within a few turns of getting it, mansa musa says "this might be of use to you" and gives me bronze working for free!

now, it was deity, and i was playing OCC, so i'd definitely expected to be behind, but not really that far behind that early :lol:. his kindness scared me away!!!

i have tried other deity games since then, and even won (altho of course bizarre kmad-style games). the moment that really made me give up tho, was mansa being a sweetheart.

Hey this is the most enjoyable thread on the entire site. I am amongst my fellow peers.

When the game turns into more of a game of Starcraft then civ. 7 on 1 comp stomp OMG rush!!!1! Only that one side happens to be me...

Well, this was one of the hardest times for me to quit (You know, duty to my citizens) but..

I (English, Elizabeth I think) started on a continent, on the eastern coast. Had Catherine as a neighbour to the left, Monty to the North, the Ottoman guy was up above him, the Incas were down to the southwest path Catherine.
On the other continent Ragnar, and Shaka and Frederik were sitting. Isabella was between Monty and the Ottomans.

I make friends with Catherine, and we go on a joint war on Monty. A few turns after I capture one of his city's she vassalizes him. I think nothing of it. Later, I fight the Spanish with the Russians again (As she is getting big) and fight a seesaw war with Isabella. She vassalizes to the ottomans. Just before redcoats, I declare war on the ottomans, and send some troops through Russian territory as we have open borders. I take a couple cities when I get redcoats, which was a frustrating experience. I had to take a city, then withdraw the knight I had captured it with onto the forested hill with my redcoats. I then let them capture it back, and I wore down the longbow and knights they sent in one at a time so I wouldn't be demolished all at once as I had been before. I finally take a couple cities, and the Russians declare war. And then they vassalize the Ottomans when I wanted to! By now I was getting a little ticked off at Catherine for continuingly taking my vassals, but I didn't think I could take her on. She had like 20 cities to my 8 maybe. :rolleyes: Though I did reach rifles before she did but anyways..

I was now about friendly with both her and the Incan fellow, and Spain had been destroyed by Monty in the last war.

I beeline for Fascism to get permanent alliance, to get one with her, and then realize I hadn't turned them on. :cry:
So, I get to oil and find I have none, so I prepare an expedition to capture a small island from the Zulu's to get some. I take it, but have to capture an island on the mainland so there culture wouldn't be overpowering it. Guess what? Then Catherine declares war and vassalizes the Zulus! Boy was I mad. I knew I was behind in tech, but I was preparing a defensive frontier to declare war on them all. Lots of choppers, and marines, infantry, sam, and tanks. But before I could do that Ragnar declares war on me, so I think, great! This way I can get big without fighting her! As she has a defensive pack with the Incas to.

So I build up my fleet, and have lots of fun at it. Ship my whole army almost over there, and take the Vikings island near the old Zulu one It has oil to. For a while Catherine and her satellites even help me fight! And then, guess what? Catherine, along with the Incas, Monty, the Ottomans, Shaka, they all declare war on ME! Fortunately Ragnar made peace willingly, but it was too late. My elite army was half the world away, and they came marching across my borders with MA, and MI, and artillery and lots of choppers (I hate them), to meet a few grenadiers, and infantry.. :mad: The hardest part was She was friendly with me up to the end! Grr. My fleet was a nice size, and distinguished themselves even in the face of jet fighters, but with my half my territory gone, it was over. With a heavy heart I resigned. I MIGHT have had a chanc had

#1 I turned on permanent alliance
#2 Not taken my army to fight Ragnar..

Grr..

Edit: Oh yah, Frederick was a vassal of Ragnar the whole time I knew him. I even had a whole amazing strategy to fight that Ragnar/Freddy war, if it wasn't for Catherine..

oo tough break. When ever I face the computer some a-hole vassalizes the soon to be dead opponents. My last match I just about killed someone who then became a vassal of another, almost killed them and they vassaled to another, almost killed them and guess what? They vassalized to the next opponent. :mad: Lucky for me I was at tanks by this time while they were just hitting gun powder, and very quickly my blitzes overwhelmed them.

It might be salvaged if you use your axes ;)

I thought it might be of interest to see how that game turned out:

http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/9880/12incwinul7.th.jpg (http://img20.imageshack.us/my.php?image=12incwinul7.jpg)

:goodjob:

I experienced first handed how treacherous Genghis Kahn can be. I was up to +6 with him and some others were +3 to +5 with him so I thought I would be save. Sent my main army on some boats to do some conquering when all of a sudden Genghis declares war on me :mad: I look around my country to see where the ships are and couldn't see them so I moved my remaining fleet to the side I was expecting him. Press enter. What is that :confused: Oh crap how I hate it when you don't see or get a warning after the end of your turn. There were 30+ units on one tile. My city, which was even defended by 6 units, fell in the first turn and my second city fell in the second turn while my country was swarmed with knights who pillaged me blind. After loosing my third city I quit.

Never seen such a perfect executed invasion force landed by the AI. He must have had over 15 ships to get all these across. Well back to prince again because monarch Genghis is just too much. And I even gave him a cheap tech to get on his good side. Hmm, maybe it also has something to do with being the scoreboard leader. Damn vile KAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHNNNNN (will get you for that next turn)!