Addicted to openings

[Bleys]

My finish:start ratio is zero since I've moved up to Emperor. I thought I'm lame so I'm glad to hear the same is true for many others. The main reason because I abandon games early is that I still can't progress past mid-game on Emperor with a solid empire.

This is a related problem, but slightly different, one I like to call "Perfectionist Syndrome". I also have some of this, especially at higher levels.

You didnt get that city site you REALLY wanted, and the lame AI built it 1-tile off, or you missed that key Wonder by 4 turns, and even if you reload, its 5 pop to whip and you only have 8 total, or you lost your Woody III Warrior in a 95% battle with a Barb. It can be anything like that, really, but if its not PERFECT, you just dont have any desire to continue.

This is harder to get over than Imcomplete-itis, bro, and I have no good way to combat it. All I can say is "aim lower", especially at Emperor. I am playing an Emp game right now, and I decided very early on a VERY conservative path of progress, with a bunch of "if I get em's" mixed in. I wanted an economy based off the GLH, so that came first, and I said "And I will start the Oracle here, but if I dont get it, no biggie, cash will help too". Missed the Oracle, Mids, Colossus and MoM by a total of less than 10 turns, but it was all good, because that cash kept me REXing like mad and at 100% research for lots of turns, and now I am drafting Rifles and massbuilding Cannons and only 1 AI even has Liberalism, and none have Gunpowder.

My point is that you never really know how your game is going until it actually "goes" there, know what I mean? Hang in there siggy, I know you got skills, I have seen your games. I think most players would be SHOCKED at how winnable some position they think are "weak" actually are.

 

[VoiceOfUnreason]

My post-BTS hall of fame is empty. I still haven't bothered to finish any of the games I've started since I installed the expansion.

I've got a bunch of finished games in my HOF. No wins though. A rather surprising number of "isn't that about 4 turns after the earliest Barbarian Horde event can occur?"

Pangaea/Always War/OCC/Emperor is not a winning scenario in my hands.

 

[Bleys]

I've got a bunch of finished games in my HOF. No wins though. A rather surprising number of "isn't that about 4 turns after the earliest Barbarian Horde event can occur?"

LOL I went "0 and 1" about 10 minutes after I installed BTS and played my first game. Ramesses, and I even had Stone, then . . . "The Greek Empire has been destroyed" which should have been a clue since I saw Alex's scout a few turns earlier, heh. 5 turns later, 4 Barb Axes or Archers (cant remember now) showed up at my doorstep, and that was that, 0-1. I didnt mind, either, I actually did laugh out loud.

 

[Nez477]

I just 'lost' my first game and it was exhilirating actually

I was Hannibal all by my lonesome to start the game and really was efficient in whipping and eventually getting ahead in the tech race.

Kept checking to make sure I was ahead, got 4 spaceship parts done first, was looking great.... then I was like "Hmm... Survayarman sure has been quiet over there...."

Sure enough, I get notification the next turn that one of his cities just became legendary.... sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!

I figure it out that I have about 45 turns until his 3rd city becomes legendary so I start building up nukes, getting spies and units together, get on like 10 transports... but alas, his land is too large, he has too many units which he rails over to me when I get to land, and I don't have enough EP to do any damage

So lesson learned! It was actually fun to see a message of another civ winning!

And funny enough, I've only WON one game, lolz

But I'm going to keep playing random Prince games with large map and 7 AIs until I win five games. I'm well on my way with Julius Ceaser (he's a little easy to play with IMO) and plan on winning via domination for the first time

It's a lot more fun when

A) You think of it as a challenge
B) You can look forward to the enjoyment when you actually get to start a new game!

 

[siggboy]

This is a related problem, but slightly different, one I like to call "Perfectionist Syndrome". I also have some of this, especially at higher levels.

You didnt get that city site you REALLY wanted, and the lame AI built it 1-tile off, or you missed that key Wonder by 4 turns, and even if you reload, its 5 pop to whip and you only have 8 total, or you lost your Woody III Warrior in a 95% battle with a Barb. It can be anything like that, really, but if its not PERFECT, you just dont have any desire to continue.

This is harder to get over than Imcomplete-itis, bro, and I have no good way to combat it. All I can say is "aim lower", especially at Emperor. I am playing an Emp game right now, and I decided very early on a VERY conservative path of progress, with a bunch of "if I get em's" mixed in. I wanted an economy based off the GLH, so that came first, and I said "And I will start the Oracle here, but if I dont get it, no biggie, cash will help too". Missed the Oracle, Mids, Colossus and MoM by a total of less than 10 turns, but it was all good, because that cash kept me REXing like mad and at 100% research for lots of turns, and now I am drafting Rifles and massbuilding Cannons and only 1 AI even has Liberalism, and none have Gunpowder.

My point is that you never really know how your game is going until it actually "goes" there, know what I mean? Hang in there siggy, I know you got skills, I have seen your games. I think most players would be SHOCKED at how winnable some position they think are "weak" actually are.

I'm quoting all of it just to show how scared I am at how well you've read me. I was thinking to myself "I'm just a PERFECTIONIST, that's all" after I re-read my own posting (to spot any spelling errors, talking about perfectionism...) -- and now you've mentioned it in the follow up.

Thank you for your advice, I'll take it to the heart.

I think you're spot on in the last paragraph when you say "you don't know how 'good' you are until you've done it". I've seen it happening in my own games when they turned out to be better than I thought at first. It also cuts down right to the heart of what is being discussed in this very thread.

 

[slobberinbear]

how "perfectionist" is perfectionist?

If your settler + warrior escort get waxed in 2500 BC by a bear, is it perfectionism to restart?

If you settle in place only to discover a host of resources just outside the BFC?

Both of those are dealbreakers for me, unless I'm playing in a posted game.

 

[Bleys]

Try some HoF games slob, and be true the format, no reloads. It will help you learn to take that extra precaution of sending the warrior a step ahead of the settler each time they move, and also tricks like settling next to that bear, because he will leave your culture the next turn, heh. It helped me get over it (to a degree, I wont restart because of stuff I find later, but I will reload the eaten settler thing, heh)