1000 Bad Habits in Civ 3

[CommandoBob]

204. Never have the game determine which Civ you will be.

How's 204 bad? I haven't played a not-random game in ages.

(I know, just know, that this is going to kick over an ant-hill, but here goes anyway.)

I think that always selecting your civ is akin to Wonder Addiction.

We each have our preferred civs that we like to play. I'm not talking about that. Nor am I talking about pre-selecting a civ because you have a particular goal in mind (HOF entry, specific VC/Difficulty/Map Size, jumping up a level or two).

What I am talking about is only playing a handful of the civs and ignoring the rest. Staying with just 3 or 4 civs and only playing them. Iroquois, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Iroquois, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Iroquois, Babylon...just rotating through the favorite four.

Its a rut. And in time the game will become stale because it is just Iroquois, Babylon, Persia, Greece in an endless loop.

So, I think that if you are winning games regulary with your preferred civs, you should give your skills a test by letting the game select your civ and then see how well you do.

Live dangerously. Play as the Random Civ of your choice!

Backpedaling
There are some players, and timeover51 comes to mind, who have deliberately chosen how they play the game and with what civs they will play. I am not talking about them. They have done something. They have made a decision on the manner in which they approach the game. They know why they want to play this way and with this civ. They didn't just stumble into it.

I'm talking about the stumblers; the one who think they can only win with Rome because they have Rome all figured out. R0me Rulz and all that. Well, let me tell ya, Smoke-Jaguar and his guys aint too bad either.

 

[darski]

Good one CBob!! I agree.

 

[mythmonster2]

Oh yeah, forgot this was bad habits there for a sec! Yeah, I always do random, I don't really have a favorite civ.

 

[ecuwins]

Lolz @ Rome Rulz

It's true. Not playing as all civs means that you are not getting the most out of the game. It did take me some time to come around to this as I was biased towards certain traits.

 

[Exwing17]

150. Trying to aim your artillery. "Gah, missed again! Maybe if I put the cursor juuuust 1 pixel to the left..."

I honestly believe that if you aim for that infantry's head, your more likely to hurt him. Its riddiculous, but every time I do it, and then blame my troops for poor marksmanship!

208. Every time your Man-O-War stack bombards you shout "FIRE!!!!!!!!" And play out an image of the enemies hull buckling under your broadside, and then hitting play on the Rule Britiainia thats waiting in iTunes.

209. Disorganisation of troops before entering a war you started. (my flat mate does this all the time, drives me mad...."dude...what the f**k is that infantry doing there?! move him with his buddies".

210. Playing like your Civilization has a theme. Like; 'during the 1920's the Mayans; due to an economic crisis changed to a fascist regime, and in doing so started a righteous war. Or: Pirates, Self-Proclaimed King of the World, Converting everyone to our religion even though there isn't religion.

211. Not thinking your Civ has a theme!! love your empires people!

212. Leaving substantial troops to guard your mainland when you have railroads everywhere. And then wondering why the AI launches seaborne invasions of your colonies.

213. Calling island cities 'colonies'.

214. Using Alt-Tab a lot whilst at work to stop my boss from a) seeing im browsing the web, and b) having to answer questions on "what the hell 'civ' is".

215. When I have an artillery + infantry army in neutral ground, I let them practise fire. Yes, that means I click on empty squares with no purpose, then move the infantry forward. Its so they have practise for real war...honestly firing 4 shells a minute compared to 3 makes a difference. *cries*

 

[Optional]

208. Every time your Man-O-War stack bombards you shout "FIRE!!!!!!!!" And play out an image of the enemies hull buckling under your broadside, and then hitting play on the Rule Britiainia thats waiting in iTunes.

Nah, that's not a bad habit, that's just being English!

 

[againsttheflow]

215. When I have an artillery + infantry army in neutral ground, I let them practise fire. Yes, that means I click on empty squares with no purpose, then move the infantry forward. Its so they have practise for real war...honestly firing 4 shells a minute compared to 3 makes a difference. *cries*

guilty!

 

[capnvonbaron]

216. Moving a stack of infantry down a rail through fog of war, expecting it to be clear, and instead have the stack get bounced off the line because some dumb worker that the Aztecs had going to somewhere for some reason was crossing the tracks. And of course they bounce off into jungle, and it'll take two more turns to get them where you are going, and you really, really needed them there this turn.

But I'm not bitter.

 

[del62]

217. Putting that galley with a settler and knight on accidently on an ocean square when you are one turn of navigation (apologies if this one has already been suggested).

 

[Hasdrubal Barca]

218. Killing 2 barbs with a regular warrior in order to get to a barb hut next turn. Your warrior gets redlined and then when you´re healing a swarm of 30 Barbarian Horsemen kill your warrior, rape your towns and make barbacue of every worker unprotected in the vicinity.

 

[capnvonbaron]

218. Killing 2 barbs with a regular warrior in order to get to a barb hut next turn. Your warrior gets redlined and then when you´re healing a swarm of 30 Barbarian Horsemen kill your warrior, rape your towns and make barbacue of every worker unprotected in the vicinity.

extra points for detail. On that thread:

219. Fending off three horsemen barbs ending up with an elite warrior with 1 hp left, then popping a goody hut b/c its right there and an AI scout is somewhere nearby. Out come three barb warriors, who promptly murder the elite, disappear and do who-knows-what for twenty turns (dry hump the corpse for all I know), and show up at your capital wearing his skull as a headpiece while you are in the despotism -> republic anarchy transition.

 

[Hasdrubal Barca]

extra points for detail. On that thread:

219. Fending off three horsemen barbs ending up with an elite warrior with 1 hp left, then popping a goody hut b/c its right there and an AI scout is somewhere nearby. Out come three barb warriors, who promptly murder the elite, disappear and do who-knows-what for twenty turns (dry hump the corpse for all I know), and show up at your capital wearing his skull as a headpiece while you are in the despotism -> republic anarchy transition.

Die cavemans die

 

[CommandoBob]

220. Due to extensive SGing as the Aztecs, you can spell all their city names flawlessly, but have no clue to their proper pronunciation.

 

[capnvonbaron]

221. Playing as the Americans, and when "New Washington" comes around, start filling in the blanks with loser cities like... Omaha, Baton Rouge, Charleston, Jacksonville etc... I don't think I've ever played a game as the americans and had a New Washington

 

[capnvonbaron]

And, for that matter...

222. Playing any civ and naming cities according to their geographical location in relation to the capital... and refusing to name land-locked cities after IRL port cities and viceversa. At least... for the civs you know the locations of the actual cities (a bit hard to do with some, like Persia, or Zulu)

 

[Lord Emsworth]

220. Due to extensive SGing as the Aztecs, you can spell all their city names flawlessly, but have no clue to their proper pronunciation.

Tenochtitlan. Xochicalco. Tlaltelolco. Tlaxcala. Chalco. Isandhlwana. Anyway, let me amend a little.

220. Due to extensive SGing as the Aztecs, you can spell all their city names flawlessly, but have no clue to their proper pronunciation or location on the map.

 

[Midnight-Blue766]

221. Losing Elite Cavalry to Regular Spearmen. (this is the closest I've got to )

222. Having Archers (or Longbowmen) guard your cities.

 

[hsy]

221. Losing Elite Cavalry to Regular Spearmen. (this is the closest I've got to )

it's not a bad habit, it's bad luck

um, wait a sec.....cavs vs. spearmen?

OF COURSE IT'S A BAD HABIT! HOW DARE YOU USE ELITE CAVS TO ATTACK REG SPEARMEN? DON'T YOU KNOW YOUR CAVS WILL BE SLAUGHTERED?

seriously though---

223. Underestimating the power of AI spearmen.

 

[darski]

i

seriously though---

223. Underestimating the power of AI spearmen.

But that is only Reg spearmen. Vets die like flies but a Reg spear takes a 5 to one ratio with cavs. I'm not saying all 5 die but they are redlined.

 

[capnvonbaron]

But that is only Reg spearmen. Vets die like flies but a Reg spear takes a 5 to one ratio with cavs. I'm not saying all 5 die but they are redlined.

Thats simply because they aren't veterens. They don't have the operational experience to know that they're just supposed to lay down and die

My biggest fear is taking on a fortified conscript rifleman with cavalry (or even tanks, for that matter). Oh if I had a quarter for every time I turned one into an elite after a failed turn of trying to take a city.