All about war?

[Optional]

Definitely fighting against the AI can get predictable in Civilization. Almost all games will follow an unfortunate curve where the early game is by far the most taut bit, then once you've claimed your first few victories the rest becomes easier and easier.

And with Civ III it's probably just about building up units and whacking others up to Emperor, from Demigod onwards indeed a bit of clever diplomacy and trading becomes essential. At least Civ III has this diplomacy and trade. I'm also playing Civ 5 and that even lacks this, at least in a sufficiently sophistocated form.

I'm not sure which games in general you know of, but of course roleplaying games can also be very nice to play. Following a story and developing characters can be nice break from just churning out generic settlers and units. Games like Dragon Age Origins and the Eschalon series are really good.

 

[tR1cKy]

It's not necessarly an all-out war and no victory condition is "cheap". You can win by conquest at some time before 2050 AD and in this case it's sort of cheap, or you can win by conquest as soon as possible and then it's not cheap at all regardless of the difficulty level. Same story for any other victory condition.

 

[agonistes]

Personally, I like a game where war has a place, but a peaceful civilization can do well also. I want there to be more than 'I have better units than you, I win'

Am I playing the wrong game?

Not at all.

I normally play with 32 civs on huge maps with ALL victory conditions turned OFF. Win for me means protecting the weaker civs from the bullies - ending wars, not winning them. Give it a try.