How much do you write down?

N

nekom

Warlord
Joined
Oct 27, 2005
Messages
189
Location
Pennsylvania
I was just thinking, I know I can't be the only one that takes extensive notes in a game. My wife doesn't get it, she often asks me why in playing a game for fun am I doing homework? I keep several pages of graph paper with charts on:

1. All of my cities, what they are for, how many of which units are protecting them.
2. How many resources I control or trade
3. All other civs, how many times they've begged for a free tech (2 points if they were withholding one when they begged), demanded I stop trading, demanded I go to war, etc. and use that for my own diplomatic idea of how I feel about them.
4. All of my invasion forces and aircraft carrier groups, though not my ships defending the coast, that would be too cumbersome.

So how many others take notes, and on what?
 
Looking back and forth between paper and the screen ain't nothing for me. When do need to take notes (e.g. a quest, or the last known location of a threat to my scout, or a dotmap), I write them on-screen on the strategy layer (Alt+S). Once I get around to it, I'll learn to use the Reminders ability in the BUG mod as well, but I just haven't found it worth the bother yet.
 
Yes once I had a list of city names I wanted to use and I sketched dot-maps in CIV 3 but since CIV 4 I just use the strategy layer to draw them on the map. I sometimes put some notes there too, but not often.

If I'd want to improve my micro I guess I'd just download the BUG mod.
 
Nekom,

I went from taking extensive notes to bulding a spread sheet for my games. I'll also track things like indicating which cities are going to get early theatres and where the globe will go. Repeat for universities and banks for OX/WS. I love espionage but am terrible with spies so I also chronicle which cities have Sec. bur. so I know to get those spies to the front instead of fortifying in a city. I also keep track of big events, what turn peace treaties will expire, and a host of other things. I rarely get the opportunity to sit down for hours on end and my games take forever so without the notes, I would spend so much time each session just reviewing, games would take even longer. I use F4 and F5 for most of the items on your list but I do keep a list of cities and their purpose and will appropriately put long build orders in each city's queue. I also keep track on the various AI civs demands and when they made them. It's probably overkill with additional geek points for keeping a laptop next to my game with a spread sheet but I enjoy it and it has allowed me to keep a detailed history of my games; not that I ever review them.
 
I'm such a surfacy player, I never take notes. That's probably why I only play on Noble. I don't really micromanage either. None of that is fun to me, but if you enjoy it, more power to ya!

@ kaxapp--

LOL
 
I don't take notes while I play, but I am fond of making strategy notes and plans when I'm afk.

I think that taking notes while I played would probably slow me down, which would probably be a good thing. I need to play slower. There are times, though, when I really just want to crush stuff, which is where Julius comes in handy.
 
No, I don't play that seriously.
 
Notes? What are they? I never write anything down. There's a reply at the end to see what happened, and lots of views to see what's going on during the game.

Cheers.
 
If I need to be reminded what a city is for, I just rename the city. But I find I don't usually need to do even that. For most other things, I just use the in-game reports which are usually more informative than anything I would write.
 
No notes, but I draw the dotmap right on the screen, including a minimal code for each cities purpose. 'o' = commerce, 'x' = production, 'G' = GPfarm and/or Globedraft. And sometimes I'll mark tiles that need to be saved for chain irrigation so I don't accidentally work cottages there.
 
I can see I'm in the minority here. Of course I certainly wouldn't criticize anyone for not taking notes, since you all play the game the way that it is fun for you.

I think my major 2 reasons are that I always play huge map size on marathon speed, takes me a week or more of evenings to finish a game, and also because I tend to have a touch of an rp style to playing, especially with diplomacy. When somebody wants something, I want to know what they have asked for in the past, how long ago, etc. It adds a dimension for me that I guess some don't appreciate, or have time for :)
 
nekom said:
I can see I'm in the minority here. Of course I certainly wouldn't criticize anyone for not taking notes, since you all play the game the way that it is fun for you.

I think my major 2 reasons are that I always play huge map size on marathon speed, takes me a week or more of evenings to finish a game, and also because I tend to have a touch of an rp style to playing, especially with diplomacy. When somebody wants something, I want to know what they have asked for in the past, how long ago, etc. It adds a dimension for me that I guess some don't appreciate, or have time for :)
Click to expand...

For me, time is the biggest factor. A game that ends in less than two weeks means I've been playing too much. But I also play really slow. I just don't comprehend how people can finish games in the time they do.
 
I'll occasionaly write down a list of my cities and whether they have proper defence, a spy/security bureau, etc. That's about the extent of it. I know some people really get into naming their cities, but it's not a big deal to me so I'll usually name my cities based on their function. Names like $$$$$$, UNITS, Mo' Money, GP, etc. are common in most of my games. Of course, mid-game a cities name may change if it's function switches.

Once I start gaining cities I don't really need if I'm going for a dom victory, then they get names like WORTHLESS, FOOLS GOLD, BULL****, GeorgeBushville, etc.
 
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