Bad games and lessons learned

[bellisaurius]

I realize a lot of the discoveries and optimizations of civ game play have come from experimentation and "code cracking" type stuff embodied in such things as OEDO, and number crunching trade routes, but as a firm believer in "experience is the best teacher", I've always kind of wondered what some of the critical learning experiences people have had from bad games.

 

[TimTheEnchanter]

Here's the biggest one I've learned from my poorer efforts:

The reason they were poor was usually because I overllooked trading.

 

[Old n Slow]

I recall the aspects of a game from a number of years ago -- pre trading, pre a lot of things. I was under pressure from one side (about Prince level, but it still a challenge for me at the time) & I was defending my continent , & otherwise was perfecting the landscape, RR & Farms everywhere. Science every four turns or so -- had maybe a third of the Wonders. No trade routes, no a rifle or two defending every city (all 15 of them) when I get the enemy pouring in from another sector the 20 cities of the Indians open up a new front.

Replayed the entire game with a new awareness -- I need more cities in the NW, before they came over & closed the isthmus. Second time through, I had about 30 cities & built a fine spaceship.

Lesson learned -- grow; build more cities -- something the five advisors never offer. actually lesson only semi-learned -- I still don’t get out the door fast enough & don’t shift over to the offensive soon enough.

 

[Smash]

I learned that the Leo's upgrade of ironclads is bad one.Very bad.From total domination of the seas to rusting hulks littering the sea bottom in 1 turn more or less

The Eiffel Tower is useless.That one was learned very early in civ career.

I learned not to railroad everything in sight as these rails can be your worst enemy when visitors come a calling.

 

[geofelt]

A good start is essential to avoid a poor game. My key is to establish 4 cities ASAP. The capitol is very important, and should always be founded on grassland if possible, and have some trade and shield capability withour needing improvement. Whales are wonderful.

 

[ElephantU]

I can remember trying to keep myself on a single hundred-tile continent, domestic trading only (+1 or +2 trade per route), RR everywhere, nice big cities, peaceful relations with all the civs, and then the "anti-American alliances" started and I got invaded from three sides (the other side was the South Pole...).

The first time I launched a spaceship I also got suprised - they headed straight for my capital city, which was on the coast. I thought a Coastal Fortress was enough to keep them out...

 

[Archer 007]

I learned to never start a war if your on equal footing, always wait for an upper hand.

 

[Astroboy]

I've learned that it can be a very good idea to give the AI what it wants in some cases... for example...
I recall a game where i had a respectable empire and i was at least 6 or 7 techs ahead of the closest competitor. When the (Fundamentalist) Mongols came a knocking demanding that I give them mobile warfare I refused, mocking their audacity. They didnt take kindly to that and decided to 'rid the world of my worthless civilization'. Immediately afterwards a horde of fanatics swept into one of my cities and managed to procure 'Mobile Warfare' from the spoils. A few turns hence I was overrun by a mob of armors sent at me by a civ that had initially threatened me with some dragoons and a cannon...

The moral of the story is to bend and not break... I know i could have just said that but I like anecdotes

 

[Prof. Garfield]

Don't go to war in the early game, this will ruin you, keep sci as high as possible and play with six or seven civs. As for a mistake that I made before, there are two that I can remember, one I did everything those chieften advice screens tell you, and I remember looking back on an old game and finding that in the industreal era, I was still in despotism, it would seem that that time I didn't do everything that the "advice" said...

 

[la fayette]

When I started playing civ2, I had the CD but not the manual.
I played my first 15 games or so with the UP, DOWN, LEFT and RIGHT keys, until I discovered by pure chance (pressing the wrong key ) that I was allowed to use the decimal keyboard, hence 8 possibilities instead of 4 (and access to every square, instead of 1/2 ).

 

[la fayette]

Nevertheless, I won all those games

 

[ElephantU]

Originally posted by la fayette
When I started playing civ2, I had the CD but not the manual.
I played my first 15 games or so with the UP, DOWN, LEFT and RIGHT keys, until I discovered by pure chance (pressing the wrong key ) that I was allowed to use the decimal keyboard, hence 8 possibilities instead of 4 (and access to every square, instead of 1/2 ).

So that's where the Silly Game rule came from...

 

[Dark Ascendant]

I learned if they have musketeers already, it's a little late to bombard them all with ironclads.

 

[DvR]

Originally posted by la fayette
When I started playing civ2, I had the CD but not the manual.
I played my first 15 games or so with the UP, DOWN, LEFT and RIGHT keys, until I discovered by pure chance (pressing the wrong key ) that I was allowed to use the decimal keyboard, hence 8 possibilities instead of 4 (and access to every square, instead of 1/2 ).

that's awesome, the best so far!


Although I kind of have the same problem, I always play on a laptop nowadays, and that doesn't have a decent numpad.. So I have to use the 'Go to' all the time (even for one step), but that doesn't allow you to attack an enemy properly: after attacking, your unit moves to the spot the enemy was in...
So that just leaves the extra 'mouse-moving' option (can be enabled in the game options screen), which is really annoying at some times..

 

[Prof. Garfield]

I used to use the go to cursor also to go diagnaly for some time, I wonder what would hapen if you used that and the spaces were on both sides of the date line...it would be very anoying!

 

[ElephantU]

Originally posted by DvR


I always play on a laptop nowadays, and that doesn't have a decent numpad...

Many laptops, like the Toshiba I use, have an extra "Function" key that enables the regular alphabetic keypad to become a numberpad.

 

[DvR]

yea, I tried that aswell.. Didn't seem to work...
The 'i' for example, was to replace the numpad 9 if I'm not mistaking.. But when I turned it on, it didn't make my unit move and also disabled the function to irrigate
Ah well, no big deal though.. Gives me a reason to think a bit longer before I move..

 

[Achinz]

I learnt the most by playing OCC games (eg the comparison games at Apolyton started by Paul). I played badly in the first few games before I learnt the importance of exploring, diplomacy with ai civs (what keeps them "enthusiastic" which brings in the gifts of gold), micromanaging for optimum trade and for the fastest tech research rate.