I feel kind of left out

[CedricTheAwesom]

I'm not the kind of person that normally says this kind of thing, but I feel this way now especially.
I'm no great shakes at video games in general, but it seems to me that almost every single person on this forum is at at least "Immortal" level. For comparison, I've played several games of Civ4 on Chieftain and won... once. And I got rated Warren Harding in terms of points.
I just quit a game of Civ5 when a civ that controlled the entire continent invaded me with an army at least four times my size. And this was on Prince (admittedly, I'm better at Civ5, or at least the levels are different ). I'm sure like 90% of the people on here could've just pulled a cultural victory or whatever out of that one. I've often come here to get my questions answered, and they're almost always answered well, but sometimes I feel worse because someone goes on about how they colonized a third of the continent before 1000 BC. Or something like that
Is there a place in CivFanatics for someone who loves a good game of Civ but can't even beat Prince?

 

[pholtz]

I suggest you read the "War Academy" stuff and possibly watch some you tube videos.

 

[PreLynMax]

I can BEAT Prince, but I get more fun out it than higher (or lower) levels. I find Prince to be a happy medium between boringly easy and frustratingly hard... and with my extremely limited patience, temperance, and attention span, constantly playing a game too high will just frusterate me, and simply void every enjoyment I get out of it, and it will also burn me out of the game permanently at an alarming rate. And while playing a level too low will not have such a drastic effect on me, I still won't get any enjoyment out of knowing that I can easily do whatever I want and the AI not really trying to stop me.

I have altered the XML files and fixed some of the problems I found on Prince that I found irritating, and I would like to stay on Prince, even though I can beat it. I came to relax and enjoy being in part of the world's stage without having that urge to throw my PC out my window.

 

[Volcanon]

If Cheiftain lets you RP and is fun, then go for it. I find that I play the easy levels a few times to get the hang of the mechanics then end up at the hardest or near-hardest levels on games like these.

If you're a casual player then just play whatever is fun. There's certainly more strategies that are viable on the easier difficulties.

 

[choraltrickster]

I think a lot of players, particularly ones that invest themselves in a community around a game, are drawn to the challenge of playing the game as well as they can, and so with a little time here, they improve. Everyone draws their own line where the threshold of skillful fun play crosses boring min-maxing and exploiting. I only play Immortal and Deity now, but I lose most games and have a tremendous amount of frustration when I'm not able to keep pace with the AI. I could, should, take a page from you, but I really want to be as good as the other players here!

There's nothing wrong with playing the way you do, and I believe players here will be supportive and non-judgemental of your preferences and ability, but you aren't likely to find a lot of players here at the same level and interest.

I hate this game sometimes. If your way of playing keeps it enjoyable for you, all the power to you! Don't feel pressured...

... but check out the War Academy. Many great contributions by skilled players from this community can be found there!

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[danaphanous]

there is actually an enormous gradient in the players here, and "skill" is only part of it. It depends on your comfort level and on how you want to play. Do you want to play for fastest possible time and optimally or do you want to play more relaxed and try some odd strategies? This+skill = level.

1. You have the speedplayers and people who play only Acken's mod which is a level above Deity. In these games you only win if you play extremely well, aka: very optimally. This is the kind of game you can play if you regularly trash the AI at the highest difficulties. To make it even harder you start playing for time or make the AI smarter.

2. Deity Players: From the comments I've seen Deity is not casual for most players. These games are hard and require you to play well but not necessarily optimally in my experience. You have a bit more room for experimentation and trying out suboptimal strats. This is what I typically run for.

3. Immortal Players: A lot of players play at immortal. I've heard a general consensus in the community that the Ai plays a lot better at immortal then emperor but their advantages are not yet overwhelming enough that you are forced to play very well. As a result for many it is the perfect level for casual experimental games.

In general, if you want to be challenged play at the highest level you can manage. If you want to experiment or play casually play one level below. This equilibrium point will change as your skill improves. I tend to usually play a bit more casually meaning I prefer to be able to experiment every game, not necessarily run on optimal strategy form the war academy, but learning the tips from those articles is definitely useful for playing any strategy well. 2 years ago when I had first bought the game my casual equilibrium was emperor. It shifted to immortal a while after I joined this community and absorbed advice and information from other players. I beat my first Deity game pretty quickly after that but only recently has Deity become the level I play more casually at.

And if you've only played a few games I wouldn't feel bad about playing at low levels. It takes some time to learn all the intricacies of the game. How do you typically lose? If you tell us that we may be able to point you to something more specific. Otherwise, as many have said, visit the war academy and don't feel self-conscious about playing where you are comfortable.

 

[phillipwyllie]

I'm "emperor" if that makes you feel any better.

 

[poxpower]

Just watch anyone on youtube play Deity games and you'll understand right away the kinds of fundamental mistakes you're making that are causing you to lose.

Anyone who just tries to figure the game out on their out is not likely to get to Deity very fast.

Tough, disclaimer, I was playing mostly emperor and never losing before I ever watched a single video, so yah maybe I have some magical civV talent but I doubt it lol. I play almost no video games either and I only played CIV for the SNES before.

Here's one of Acken:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jz9N-DDH4Ew

Filthyrobot ( only plays multiplayer/ quick speed usually but he's amazing )
https://www.youtube.com/user/FilthyRobotChannel

I also watched Marbozir at first:
https://www.youtube.com/user/Marbozir

I now realize he's a MUCH worse player than Acken or Filthyrobot, but he's entertaining and still demolishes Deity games anyway.

 

[beetle]

Is there a place in CivFanatics for someone who loves a good game of Civ but can't even beat Prince?

Have you looked at the GotM? The moderators assert that they are newb friendly. (I am not so sure myself, most people seem focused on quick games; and many candidly give up when then cannot win/place/show. But I think you should give it a try.) While games are open, you can expect plenty of feedback, most of it constructive -- if you ask for it. Prince games come up about every six weeks, and there is one open now for the next two weeks.

Plus there are the (new and improved) archives which lists all the games on a page. Find a save file game that looking interesting and play it. Then read about what others did. Maybe play the game again differently, trying something new thing you learned from the discussions. Odds are pretty good that before long, you win every Prince and that gets boring. So move up to King, rinse, repeat.

 

[Socratatus]

I'm not the kind of person that normally says this kind of thing, but I feel this way now especially.
I'm no great shakes at video games in general, but it seems to me that almost every single person on this forum is at at least "Immortal" level. For comparison, I've played several games of Civ4 on Chieftain and won... once. And I got rated Warren Harding in terms of points.
I just quit a game of Civ5 when a civ that controlled the entire continent invaded me with an army at least four times my size. And this was on Prince (admittedly, I'm better at Civ5, or at least the levels are different ). I'm sure like 90% of the people on here could've just pulled a cultural victory or whatever out of that one. I've often come here to get my questions answered, and they're almost always answered well, but sometimes I feel worse because someone goes on about how they colonized a third of the continent before 1000 BC. Or something like that
Is there a place in CivFanatics for someone who loves a good game of Civ but can't even beat Prince?

Don`t feel left out. I played Civ 1 when it was first out (well over 20 years I think). I can only just beat Warlord on this version- sometimes.

A lot of people talk smack and brag when most of them weren`t exactly honest about how they got there on godlike. Some constantly reload if something bad happens until- Win. I don`t reload unless I get a crash.

Don`t feel left out, you`re just normal.

 

[Sussemilch]

I play warlord. I have fun. I could probably use reliable methods to optimally manage my empire to eke out victories at the most difficult settings, but that's not why I play. I just enjoy the journey with its occasional difficulties and treat it like a story. Every time it's different, and there's enough leeway for me to do things that pique my interest without every turn being a fight against extinction.

You're probably better at the game than me, and that doesn't detract from my enjoyment at all.

 

[CedricTheAwesom]

thanks guys.
yeah I wrote this write after I got blitzed and lost after a seven hour game so... yeah.
i might have to check out WA sometime, but I generally try to avoid war. I'm more of a science victory type guy

 

[pholtz]

War Academy is about much more than war. it's about strategies that may help you in all aspects of the game.

 

[Volcanon]

thanks guys.
yeah I wrote this write after I got blitzed and lost after a seven hour game so... yeah.
i might have to check out WA sometime, but I generally try to avoid war. I'm more of a science victory type guy

What you can do at the low difficulties that you can't in the high ones is boost up to the modern age and then spam tanks against a bunch of medieval empires. Curbstomping AI is quite fun and profitable.

Some basic tips are - bee-line the science buildings, except that get the techs that let you improve whatever dirt you start with (so if you start with marble, get quarries, etc).

National College is a very good building to build early. Conversely, it often makes sense to delay Oxford. If you want Great Library you'll have to build it early even on the easy difficulties. It's often better not to bother with it.

Depending on how you play, Tradition and Rationalism are the best for a science victory, with maybe some part of Patronage for Scholasticism. But if you like being able to rush a lot of universities, you should go for the reformation belief that lets you do that (requires a lot of investment into peity though). What you could do is let the AI put all this investment into religion, then conquor that AI and "Steal" its faith. You can even build a grand temple in HIS city.

That said, the AI usually founds really crappy religions.

 

[Big J Money]

There's no way you're alone... when I first played I could only play on Warlord; Prince was too hard.

Now years and hundreds of hours later and I still between Prince and King. I don't think the poeple on this forum represent the population of civ players and their skill. danaphanous probably doesn't even realize he's being condescending by completely ignoring all players below immortal. But that's a bit of the attitude here, I mean it is called CivFanatics

But there are lower difficulties for a reason; because they're just right for some folks. Play where you like. Some basic mistakes lower skilled players make though are:

- Not settling soon enough
- Not improving tiles fast enough
- Not knowing where to settle cities (mostly not knowing where good food or hammer cities are)
- Building wonders instead of civilization infrastructure
- Building wonders that don't help as much as building other things would have
- Not befriending city states, or befriending ones that don't help much
- Not watching the score of AI opponents, and making sure to bring the winner down a peg
- Not engaging in diplomacy to manipulate your opponents

 

[poxpower]

Seriously guys just watch people play on Deity, there's a very straightforward recipe to basically win every game with barely any thinking.

There's no way anyone watching just one deity playthrough would then ever get stuck on king or prince, there's just too many big exploits in the game like worker steals and ressource trading.

Now with Acken's mod.. then it's a different story lol now it becomes quite hard to win on Deity.

 

[z284pwr]

Seriously guys just watch people play on Deity, there's a very straightforward recipe to basically win every game with barely any thinking.

There's no way anyone watching just one deity playthrough would then ever get stuck on king or prince, there's just too many big exploits in the game like worker steals and ressource trading.

Now with Acken's mod.. then it's a different story lol now it becomes quite hard to win on Deity.

Agreed. Too many exploits to make it easy enough. I play immortal
simply because I half attention span it and still win. Emperor is way too easy and i don't have the time to focus on deity games.

 

[Mount Suribachi]

But there are lower difficulties for a reason; because they're just right for some folks. Play where you like.

Exactly this.

And don't feel like you're different somehow - check out the poll below. 67% of Cinfanatics play Prince/King/Emperor. Only 9% play deity.
Me? I can curbstomp the AI on King, so play Emperor, but only win about half the time, and they're all turn 350+, and it frustrates me no end!

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=396278

 

[Disgustipated]

I'm a Prince player and can beat Prince, although my last time it was close with the cultural victory. I would have ran out of time if I hadn't done something about the Dutch (I wiped them out, I wouldn't have had enough time to overtake them culturally before the last turn). The Dutch can be quite good in most of my Civ 5 games. Don't think I'll ever play above the "normal" level, can't stand the thought of the AI player getting bonus' I don't get.

Biggest tip, just keep expanding. Peacefully or through warfare. You'll always win. Just don't do it all at once.

I can BEAT Prince, but I get more fun out it than higher (or lower) levels. I find Prince to be a happy medium between boringly easy and frustratingly hard... and with my extremely limited patience, temperance, and attention span, constantly playing a game too high will just frusterate me, and simply void every enjoyment I get out of it, and it will also burn me out of the game permanently at an alarming rate. And while playing a level too low will not have such a drastic effect on me, I still won't get any enjoyment out of knowing that I can easily do whatever I want and the AI not really trying to stop me.

I have altered the XML files and fixed some of the problems I found on Prince that I found irritating, and I would like to stay on Prince, even though I can beat it. I came to relax and enjoy being in part of the world's stage without having that urge to throw my PC out my window.

My sentiments exactly. I get too stressed and worried about losing at higher levels. I'm a poor loser, and like to win every time.

Seriously guys just watch people play on Deity, there's a very straightforward recipe to basically win every game with barely any thinking.

No desire to do this. While I have watched a Let's Play before, that was more for entertainment rather than learning. He was doing things far too quickly for me to learn anything from it, and the screen was too small to adequately see all the resources of tiles he was working.

 

[poxpower]

My sentiments exactly. I get too stressed and worried about losing at higher levels. I'm a poor loser, and like to win every time.

Oh man but if you watched acken or filthyrobot do an over-explain game, you'd be winning SO MUCH MORE
haha