years

[Topdawg]

for some reason i seem to finish my games far before it seems like i should..or when my friends do..like it took me about an hour to get to 800 a.d. whereas it took a friend about 6 hours to do it..maybe i just play fast but i think it may be something wrong with my turn length..any ideas?

[DaEezT]

try a harder difficulty setting, more enemies, larger map and/or playing without automated workers/governor.

[Topdawg]

ahh so there is no setting or anything?

[Topdawg]

and it kind of seems to me that the larger the map the less i would get to due since there are so many people..the amount of time wouldnt be nearly enogugh to achieve my goals..and this game i played without automated workers and it took me an hour to get to 800 ad

[Hygro]

play on a harder difficulty is probably the best advice. If you can get that far in one hour (skipping through turns like mad) without losing, its time to step up to the next level.

[farting bob]

and play with more civs. challenge yourself more, you clearly find wateer difficulty your on easy.

[Scrooge]

I've had the same problem - either I play too fast or the game does not give me enough "time space"
besides, I think the timeframe of the game does not give due credit to the ancient times so I've made my Scrooge Rulez! (under construction) scenario - try it!
I like a long and complicated diplomacy game - you can do it all in the editor

first I've edited the timeline (scenario properties) so it goes like this: turns->years
start: 4500BC then 40->25, 100->20, 100->15, 130->10, 100->5, 100->2, 200->1
technology min time is 8 max time 140 and tech rates are double for all map sizes (eg. 800 for huge)
- this makes technology a much more valuable commodity to swap - makes you think twice about your allies
- the eras get a better definition, you get to enjoy the benefits of whatever first you've researched first
- also you don't get to spaceships BC or somewhere about that

I play huge maps with 32 civs and Monarch (fun) or Emperor (fun/challenge) difficulty settings
no AS governors or auto workers
I feel much more satisfied now

[Topdawg]

do you think you could attatch that here? heh for some reason my editor wont let me edit any rules at all..only lets me make maps and add resources

[Hygro]

topdawg, get the lasted civ3 patch, 1.29f

[Scrooge]

Originally posted by Topdawg
do you think you could attatch that here? ...

I'd do it with pleasure, but it is still in such a mess -aah- early development stage
I'll do it as soon as it is playable

[Bamspeedy]

Originally posted by Topdawg
for some reason i seem to finish my games far before it seems like i should..or when my friends do..like it took me about an hour to get to 800 a.d. whereas it took a friend about 6 hours to do it..maybe i just play fast but i think it may be something wrong with my turn length..any ideas?

Factors affecting time it takes to play a game:

1. Map size
2. Number of cities (for both you and the AI, because the computer has to process culture, production, food, etc. for every city in the game every turn).
3. Number of units (workers, and military units when you are in the process of having a war).
4. Wars (having to move units around more often and takes longer if you are using bombardment techniques)
5. How much you are manually controlling things (whether you use governors or automated workers, etc.)
6. How often you go into the diplomacy screen to trade or see what the AI has or what you could trade with them
7. How much you stop to think about what you are doing.
8. Whether you have the latest patches installed.
9. How many of the animations you have turned on.
10. Number of opponents.
11. Number of barbarian camps/barbarians still around.

In last month's GOTM I had 150 workers which I was manually moving and then I realized it took me 5 hours just to play from 250 A.D. to 440 A.D. I then put workers on shift-A.

It depends on if you want to play more games but are slightly less quality, or fewer games but of higher quality. Regardless, I recommend never using automated workers until you are at least out of despotism. IMHO, if each turn is taking over 10 minutes (except in some situations like when you first contact another continent and trying to 'wheel and deal' your way back to tech parity, or you are setting up an invasion force on the biggest rival in the game), then your turns are taking too long and should use some method to reduce the time/turn (use governors in higher corrupt cities, some automation of workers, or turning off some animations-you may want to know what enemies are doing, but you don't need to watch your own units move, as you should know where you sent them).

[Topdawg]

so if i installed the latest patch it would make games longer? or at least seem longer?

[Quandary]

Re-read Bamspeedy's post above