Please help me to make this game fun (I am eager and willing)

[Nucleo]

Hi there,

I just got Civilization IV and the two expansions. I have never played a Civ game before but I have done a lot of reading about it and almost everything about it is (on paper) appealing. I am a big fan of RTSs (love CnC, Red Alert, Starcraft, Warcraft, etc) but I am very open to turn based games. I might even prefer a bit more time to really plan my strategies and think.

However, I have a problem. I have played a couple of games of BtS on Chieftain but I am not having fun at all. Turn after turn, I am presented with 1 or 2 recommended options (e.g. build a "Code of Laws" and/or upgrade a unit). I feel like all I do is decide between two choices or so over and over. At one point I got so bored I just kept picking the first recommended one because if they were both recommended I didn't really care.

I got to about 150 turns or so of this on my last game and went crazy with boredom (which I truly hope can be corrected as this game seems really cool on paper).

So please, civfanatics, I genuinely welcome all of your advice on how to have fun with this game . Thank you so much for your time.

 

[Sisiutil]

Well, Sid Meier, its original creator/designer and somewhat god-like figure around here described Civ as "a series of interesting choices". So it is normal to get choices, but they should be more interesting than your experience. A few suggestions:

• As a veteran of RTS, you might be able to jump up above your current difficulty level. TBS games have many things in common with RTS--the big difference, as you noted, is that you have more time to make your decisions.
• Set some goals. I find this is the key concept needed for people new to Civ who are not intimidated by its complexity, but who don't quite "get it" right away. The overall goal is to win the game, but achieving a series of smaller goals is how you get there. Setting and achieving these "mini-goals" will give you focus and will also create conflict (and, thereby, interest) in the game. For example, say you want to build the Great Library, a world wonder--one of the best in the game, in fact. You don't have marble, though, which would help you build it faster. Your neighbour has marble, but he won't trade it to you. Should you go to war to get it, or would that distract you too much from your wonder goal? Should you try to butter him up through diplomacy? Found another city elsewhere to claim marble? Try to use culture to claim the marble if it's close to your borders?
• There are many more choices to make in the game than those presented to you directly by the interface. Here's where reading a few articles in the war academy here on this site can help you. Learn about tactics like city specialization, leveraging slavery, cottage versus specialist economies, early military rushes, and so on. These are all techniques to help you with your in-game goals and the ultimate goal of winning the game.
• Use the custom game option to play on a Pangaea map with raging barbs and select Montezuma, Shaka, Genghis Khan, Alexander, Julius Caesar, Boudica, and Tokugawa as your neighbours. You'll have many exciting choices to make before too long, trust me. (I was tempted to say turn on the "Always War" option, too, but with that crowd it would be wholly unnecessary. But for the added fun of getting backstabbed at the absolute most inconvenient moment, you can throw Catherine into the mix if you want.)

Oh, I almost forgot: Welcome to CFC!

 

[Lemon Merchant]

My advice would be to read the guides that Mr. Humble, above (Sisiutil), has penned, and that he forgot to shamelessly promote.

Good reading, it it will definitely improve your game quickly, so that you can start having fun right away.

 

[Nikolai1]

As a somewhat new player myself, I might echo one thing that was mentioned above--if you feel you're fairly good at these types of games you might want to bump up the difficulty level a bit. At the easier levels where you get a ton of bonuses it can feel like your input doesn't matter because you get such overwhelming help from the system--playing good or playing just sort-of OK lead to the same result. At the higher difficulty levels what you do does absolutely matter, and thus you can learn how your choices actually affect the game and why they're good/bad. I completely ignore the "recommended" options now...in fact I guess I should just turn them off.

FWIW, I have a history of playing games like this and I played my first game on warlord (and won handily), jumped up to noble for a few games, and now play on monarch.

 

[.pakje]

Hi there,

I just got Civilization IV and the two expansions. I have never played a Civ game before but I have done a lot of reading about it and almost everything about it is (on paper) appealing. I am a big fan of RTSs (love CnC, Red Alert, Starcraft, Warcraft, etc) but I am very open to turn based games. I might even prefer a bit more time to really plan my strategies and think.

However, I have a problem. I have played a couple of games of BtS on Chieftain but I am not having fun at all. Turn after turn, I am presented with 1 or 2 recommended options (e.g. build a "Code of Laws" and/or upgrade a unit). I feel like all I do is decide between two choices or so over and over. At one point I got so bored I just kept picking the first recommended one because if they were both recommended I didn't really care.

I got to about 150 turns or so of this on my last game and went crazy with boredom (which I truly hope can be corrected as this game seems really cool on paper).

So please, civfanatics, I genuinely welcome all of your advice on how to have fun with this game . Thank you so much for your time.

I come also from a RTS background (Starcraft FTW) just bump the difficulty level by steps of 2. I went from settler to warlord to monarch (well actually i played a bit of prince but the game went too easy) in two days.

 

[gingerbill]

definetly bump up the difficulty if your an experienced RTS player , its basically an automatic win at lower levels .

Also ignore the recommended choices , dont think ive ever even noticed what they are , i just pick what i need. Build science buildings in your science cities , money buildings in your money cities , production buildings in your building cities that will make your armies or build your wonders. And also build happiness and health buildings in all your cities were needed. Specialise your cities into what they are best suited for according to the terrain around them.

 

[Jarlaxe Baenre]

The recommended choices are terrible. Sometimes, it tells me to get a 10-turn Scientific Method when I am building the Great Library. Sometimes it tells me to build a monastery while I am researching Sci Meth. The recommendations do not work.

 

[Protozoan]

Yeah that's the best advice. Don't use the recommendations.

you should have a grand strategy as it makes the most boring part (choosing between two choices in a list) out of the equation. The actual fun part is planning out the strategy and seeing if you can accomplish it.

 

[DooMeeR]

The recommended choices are terrible. Sometimes, it tells me to get a 10-turn Scientific Method when I am building the Great Library. Sometimes it tells me to build a monastery while I am researching Sci Meth. The recommendations do not work.

If the Great Library is still available when you are able to research Scientific Method, the best course of action would probably be to build and research them both for failure gold

See? Recommendations do work

 

[Jarlaxe Baenre]

If the Great Library is still available when you are able to research Scientific Method, the best course of action would probably be to build and research them both for failure gold

See? Recommendations do work

Ah, but I had 30 gold per turn coming in, and I wanted to build it. (I think I have a bit of OCD - I only build wonders in my capital and I want all of them)

 

[kochman]

Try playing Rhye's and Fall of Civilization or one of the other mods if the original game isn't thrilling you.

 

[awesome]

play the barbarian scenario in warlords.

 

[Sydney Posada]

I'm a bit confused as to your description of why the game is boring. The game prompting you for choices of what to build and what to research is not really a huge part of the game.

First of all, I almost never do what they suggest, so it's not like it's one choice of two, it's one choice of many.

Second of all, do you not engage in warfare? Warring can be quite fun, and gearing your whole civilization towards it is a fun challenge as well.

And finally, having a grand strategic vision of what you want to accomplish is very important, both for succeeding and for having fun. It'll color every action you take, and actually give your micro decisions some context.

Perhaps you're playing at too low a level, and it doesn't matter what you do. I suggest moving up and actually losing a game or two. That'll make the game interesting again, no question!

 

[Pyrodraulis]

Play deity with aggressive AI and raging barbarians.

 

[kochman]

Play deity with aggressive AI and raging barbarians.

Yeah, that should make it a lot of fun for a new player... jeez...

 

[Challs]

Well you can start with not always choosing the recommended option. It´s more fun when you to think for yourself and not let the game do it for you. Read the beginner guides here on the forum. And ask for tips/tricks and strategies how to be a better player. The fun part of Civ lies in the challenge of creating a civilization that can stand the test of time. You must do this by making the right choices and choosing the right friends. If you want even more features in the game, then there are a lot of mods to be downloaded here on the site. It can get boresome if you just choose the recommended option, click a few turns, choose a new recommended option again and so on, without really reading what the different techs/buildings do. Try printing some strategy guides, so you can have them near you as you play, carefully choosing your every action. Ask yourself: Why do this and not this? What benefits me the most in this situation? Try playing around with different leaders, maps and difficulties. Although you probably wanna stay below Noble for your first games.

 

[Scoottr]

Don't overload yourself reading stuff initally. You'll just get overwhelmed and worry about what you are 'supposed' to do.

Formulate a basci strategy and put it in play. could be wipe out the Greeks, could be build a wonder.