What is your game play style?

I don't post much here obviously but lurk alot. I wanted to put up for discussion how players approach the game. What style you use to play. I am an avid player but sometimes don't have the patience to study the in depth calculations and nuances of the game. Therefore, I do use the following style. In no way am I saying the style I use is the best or even close to it. I know I miss rather obvious game play moves on a regular basis. Anyway, here is the approach I use to play the game.

Almost always settle my first city without moving my settler. NOW DON'T LAUGH...as far as tech, I choose the tech I am researching by two methods. First, if I need to work anything in one or more of my cities I go after those techs first. Secondly, I pay attention to what and how many of my advisers suggest a certain tech. If more than one adviser suggests a certain tech I go with that. If there are multiple techs suggested each tech having only one adviser suggest it, I go with the one that takes the least amount of turns (always keeping my first method in mind and the victory condition I am shooting for). Once I get several turns in to the game I choose my tech based on what victory condition I am shooting for with some emphasis on what my advisers suggest.

I control my workers manually and always build a road between cities for a trade route. I play where I ask for a random civ and random map and play on the prince setting (I like the idea of having to adjust my game depending on what is randomly generated). I have never played on a higher setting than prince but after recent victories I am starting to consider moving up. 90% of the time I try to play peaceful and go for a science or culture victory. I can't even come close trying a domination victory condition.

This is just a brief summary of how I approach this great game. Again, I realize this is not a very in depth approach and I'm sure I will struggle using this style when moving up in difficulty. I am very jealous of those of you who can do the calculations on the fly as to what move is best next when considering tech, social policies, builds, etc. I also envy those who know what techs give you what when deciding on what victory condition to pursue.

I am anxious to see how others approach the game and what style of game play you use. Thanks in advance for sharing.

Also a huge thanks to all who contribute here. The information provided on this forum is of great value and the time you folks put in doing it is greatly appreciated!

I play mainly at Emperor level (sometimes Immortal - though rarely since the patch).

I too play a pretty peaceful game as I find domination to be tedious - I have won my fair share of them though. I pursue any of the other three victory conditions depending on the map / civ etc. I also normally choose a random civ.

I usually favour a tall approach meaning I don't build more than 4 cities most of the time. If somebody declares war on me then I see that as an opportunity to take their capital away from them whilst avoiding diplomacy problems with other civs.

I generally build enough units for a solid defence and don't wonder whore.

1. I always settle straight away for time. Most start areas are ok.
2. I almost never waste time with scouts, preferring to use the standard warrior.
3. I try to grow peacefully, always.
4. I never start a war unless heavily provoked.
5. I almost never wipe out a defeated Civ (because I feel sorry for them).
6. But I`ll wipe them out if they attack 3 times unprovoked, especially if a deceptive sneak strike suffering the world`s anger if I must.
7. I like my wonders and Religions.

That`s about it.

I play like a modified Fidel Castro: (king difficulty)
I am obsessed with culture, have strong religious ties, and am paranoid as all hell. I like to trade away my luxuries for some quick cash and feel compeled to maintain a happy populace +10 happiness or greater. However my other attributes may cut into that. I prefer smaller, more managable empires and hate when my people have nothing useful to build. However, unlike castro I like to puppet, and I HATE SPYS!!!

Okay I am a Prince Player.
I play large games with max civs and city-states.
I play tall so quality city not quantity unless there is no civs around and the land is has a lot of good resources.
For tech I never go into another era without finishing the current era's tech so no spannning out in tech.
Peaceful 90% of the time unless really good friends ask me to go to war. Or Weakening a super power house civ that conquered other civs not for my own glory just to liberate and cut down the size.
I mirco manage workers to specfic tiles that are being by the city.
I play very Religious spread the good word.

I play Deity exclusively and haven't watched any Madjinn videos or read long strategy guides which is to say I lose a good deal of the time, but have a blast while doing so. I pretty much default to playing tall, simply because on Deity there isn't a lot of room to go wide even if i wanted to, nor would it probably be advisable, as the only way I can often manage to stay at tech parity is running a very small army through the early game. I generally turtle up early game until medieval, when I'll make a push out.. generally I'll have some epic battles, conquer a couple of cities or so, feel I'm making good progress when suddenly I'll realize that the other civs in the game are two eras ahead of me and have decided to bring their great war infantry armies to kill my musketmen. What follows is a slow painful death, fighting off hordes of advanced armies with my weak old units. With favourable geography and some other lucky circumstances it can sometimes conspire that I'll win and those victories are very satisfying, because they are rare and involved a lot of humbling at the Ai's hands on my journey to earning them.

I used to exclusively play Warlord for fun, but now I play Prince.

I am a Domination Continents player.

I like choosing each leader and playing an Epic Length/Large Map Continents game. I expand as quickly as possible and then start taking out Civs one by one. I conquer my entire continent and then head over and conquer the other one. I don't worry about Diplomacy, because I'm going to kill them anyway. I love the new Religions feature of G&K and try to get early Religion and spread it around.

Cheers.

Emperor mostly.
Secure > Expand > Secure > Expand. I love my forts, I love my citadels, I love my assaults. I never war against CS directly. I spend most of my money bribing others to war against each other so its easier for me to take them out when weakened. I very very rarely purchase any tiles. I prefer to build wide than tall. I'm bored when at peace for too long. When I'm very strong I start to backstab after defeating a common enemy.

I once played a very peaceful game as egypt. I lost that game. Never again.

I have just recently moved up to king(on vanilla) from prince, and I still mostly play peaceful unless I have a good reason to go to war or someone declares war on me.If they DOW me, then I will sometimes take some of their land, and if they keep coming back, I will take them down to size to make them stop if I can.

I usually don't just decide whether I want a tall or wide empire.I just let the circumstances decide for me.It just depends on whether I have the happiness to expand or not, and sometimes I might not expand just to let the cities I already have grow bigger.But I usually expand some either way.

And I don't make winning my number one priority.I just like making my own history.

I virtually always play George Washington, Prince difficulty, Standard, Pangea. I never calculate, min/max, or employ "internet approved" strategies ... I'm totally instinctual and don't care if I'm elite or not.

I never used the advisors after my first game, and the recommended things aren't always the right solution. I will certainly take a turn or two to relocate my starting settler if there's an advantage, but that's fairly rare, maybe one game in ten.

I generally build three cities, conquer four or five more to expand with, and end up winning on Technology in the early to mid 1900's. Other than that I win on Domination. I buy a lot of tiles, but that's what George is all about. I attempt to have every city on a river, and I often raze capured ones that aren't.

I usually start something like, "Make a scout, make a warrior, make a scout, make a worker" and build the whole Tradition civic first. George scouts can see FAR.

I tech based on my local resources, the need for wheel when my second city goes in, and then a general thrust towards Guilds and maintaining military superiority. After that it just depends on the situation.

I play between prince and emperor (prince for a "sandbox" style game, often built with map editor, or emperor if I want a challenge). I play on large or huge maps often, even though my computer really can't handle them. In the games I play for fun I usually go wide, especially when on a large or huge map. If playing to win, I try to go tall.

I generally play immortal / deity, marathon, random civs, random maps, raging barbs. I declare war as soon as I have 4 archers and 2 mellee. Stay at war until I capture the last capital.

Since G&K nerfed swordsmen, I rarely build a 2nd city - there are now no critical strategic resources- you can win solely with archers and spear / pike. Never build catapults - highly promoted archers / composite / crossbows are much more versatile. Mounted are used rarely and just for barb harvesting and fog busting. Fill out the honour policy as fast as possible. Never accept DoF or RA. only accept embassy if you can't find a capital in the fog. Only accept peace offerings if you are being dog piled.

City build is monument, scout (if map is std or larger), archer X 4, spear (x2 if your first warrior hasn't been upgraded by ruins), walls, library, archers for garrison, after that don't care. First 700 gold buys a worker, next 500 - 700 buys archers / spears. Units are out hitting barbs until 2 promotions each are achieved. Don't start killing barbs until you have opened the honour SP - the extra culture from barb kills is vital.

If you're lucky, a neighbour will DoW early giving your budding army lots of XP, and an easy, near by, undefended, city target once your 6 man army is built and their army is destroyed. Do not attack your first target capital until your archers have the double fire promo - concentrate on smaller cities until you have the right promotions. On deity, you WILL be DoW'd fairly early so don't go too far away hunting barbs.

Tech tree is archery, mining, bronze working, worker enabling, writing, construction, civil service, machinery. Add sailing, optics, navigation if the map is not pangea. No need for much of a navy.

The key is picking the right targets until the core 6 units are highly promoted, then they're unstoppable. Getting the mix of promotions right is also critical - 2 archers, 1 mellee follow open terrain promos, 2 archers, 1 mellee follow cover promos. Always position each unit to utilise the appropriate promotions. Order of attack is designed to maximise xp harvesting. Other units are purchased as finances permit - to be used as garrison or sacrificial lambs in sieges.

This works for all leaders regardless of UU or UA.

I guess this is why I chose the name "warmonger" all those years ago. CiV has magnified this tendency because it's basically a war game - chasing any other victory condition is just hours of watching the AI move and pressing end turn - not much fun IMHO.

@warmonger: Wow. That will be something interesting to try out. I'm only a Prince player, but it sounds like a lot of fun.

Cheers.

Wow... that's an amazingly simple yet complex warmongering strategy. I never do anything as composed and disciplined as that. I might give it a try.

I have found myself falling into a bit of a rut lately. I rarely finish games. I just love the early build up of the "perfect" civilization. I love tall, beautiful cities.

I play random leader... usually tiny or small on Prince (although i've moved up to King lately). I Usually play on my laptop which is way too limited for any kind of big game.

My rut is this: Found a city in a perfect spot. Monument, Granary, and I have been going with the Liberty tree lately. So I'll go Liberty>Citizenship to eke out my first worker. Then I'll usually take the first Honor tree to kill barbs more easily. I may build a shrine or archer.

I seem to always go for Pottery>Writing>Great Library... no matter what. I cant' resist the allure of the GL.

If I have any desert anywhere, I find it irresistible to go for Petra. I look for that perfect petra spot, preferably with some kind of a WW on it.

I usually have 2-4 cities before I get attacked or go to war, but I usually try to play a boring, peaceful, perfect civilization for as long as I can.

I end up quitting most of the time before the end, but I will usually go for a science or diplomatic victory because they seem the easiest for me. I am so disappointed by the end games in Civ V that I rarely finish. oooh...look... I'm done. That was... fun.

I have been trying to get Steam Badges for Achievements, so sometimes I'll pick a random one and go for it.

It's good to read what other people do.

Zaimejs said:

Wow... that's an amazingly simple yet complex warmongering strategy. I never do anything as composed and disciplined as that. I might give it a try.

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Heh heh heh! I'm a former PvP person from a number of MMORPG and so I don't find AI combat sufficiently compelling all by itself. As Warmonger described, it always boils down to a pat, linear system as opposed to fighting actual humans where there can never be a reliable systematic approach. But each person seeks his own enjoyment

I like idling away a couple of hours and developing a technologically superior civilization displaying modern attributes. The geography demands some variation in how you go about that. In the endgame, one or more nations are waging war on you, apparently aware that George Washington is going to win if they don't stop that spaceship!

Last night, poor old Genghis has pretty much dominated the entire globe, and we played World War 3 for about 40 turns as I finished my nifty spaceship. Bombers, rocket launchers, machine guns, paratroopers, tanks, destroyers, flaming wreckage tumbling from the sky ... what's not to like?

Like you, I always seek the Great Library, and Petra when I'm in a desert region. I make tons of wonders, for the religion.

I find it fun making more money, science, religion and culture than the rest of the world combined, right before I beat them.

I guess I now know my playstyle. I find myself usually playing standard to large continents or continents plus maps. I'm big on my Mega Cities, There's something highly appealing about a few cities that just explode in sizes that dwarf any other city.
I'm usually peaceful, refusing to go to war with anyone unless I end up noticing a pattern that just irritates me... Austria and Persia in my current game for instance... They keep going to war with pretty much everyone... Think I'll use nukes for the first time in my civ history.

woodshadows said:

I play Deity exclusively ... a lot of humbling at the Ai's hands on my journey to earning them.

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I bet your girlfriend prefers spiked heels and has an assortment of whips and other implements of torture!

Small and defensive. Domination is kind of boring to me but I do enjoy a defensive war, there's something satisfying about watching the remainder of my opponent's army limp back to their territory. I got really excited when I found out about Spirit of Adwa.

Winning quite consistently on immortal, never cracked divinity yet.

I build my city on the spot then a scout. If i see strictly more than 2 good spots I 'll go liberty, else tradition. I focus on early science and build enough troops to survive a potential dogpile.
When I get a significant enough military technology edge I Dow the enemies of my friends block one by one. Then it's science or domination depending on whether I'm allied with the runaway or not (if I am I will have no choice but to destroy everyone).

I find that there are certains units that really make a huge difference in battle if you're the first to wage a significant number of them. The first would be galeasses, then crossbow, frigates, artillery, Gatling gun, GW bomber, stealth and nukes, along with UUs. I always try to make the most of them by planning my gold and improbable troops so that I can maximize the effect as soon as I got the tech.

No wonder before the Towers Trick (GE from Pisa tower building porcelain tower). Religion only If I can use a natural wonder or got many stones/desert.

Oh and I intensely focus on science buildings, so I usually tech the up part of the tree..

Aztec culture victory, beating King, looking to move up. Start building 4 jaguars (have raging barbs on). Farm barbs, get culture, get honor opener, get 16 culture from each barb kill. Station jaguars outside encampments, farm until city state target it, get a ton of early culture/ one or two city state friendships for free. Settle near rivers/ lakes, sell luxuries. For wonders, I go temple of Artemis/ hanging garden and try and get 40+ pop in the capital. From there on I turtle to culture victory. Usually settle 3 cities, and then whoever Dow's me I puppet their empire and take the capital for my 4th. People attack me, I get more culture, lulz