Bad start (early game)- keep playing or restart?

[Disgustipated]

So when you have a bad start, do you keep playing or restart? For the purposes of this thread I'm not including having 7 warriors show up on your doorstep at turn 15 when you are unprepared. That's game over, and obviously playing on isn't an option. I'm talking about within the first 50 to 100 turns when things take a turn for a worse. Or perhaps 30 to 75 turns on normal speed (I'm currently on epic).

I've been trying a couple of Spain games, I'm trying to make them work on a Terra map, but having some bad starts. After one bad start I dropped the difficulty level. After getting a holy site/shrine to try to get a religion, I turn my attention towards Russia. As I'm attacking Russia which I had problems with because mountains prevented me from getting adequate troops in their lone city (2 of their settlers were taken by barbarians). Australia who I previously had a declaration of friendship with attacked me. Had to divert troops, which meant I was unable to take St. Petersburg.

I just peaced out. I really don't want to abandon 2 games in a row. I really want to stick this out. If it was deity I would restart in a heartbeat. But I think I can recover from this even though I'm still at 2 cities. I captured one of those above mentioned settlers, built another (had to turn him back because of Australian troops threatening to capture it), and I should eventually be able to get that other former Russian settler from the barbs (currently the barbs outnumber me, but eventually I'll get reinforcements over there).

It's just tough when you spend a lot of hammers building a military force, and get nothing out of it. I want to force myself to play this game, almost punishment in a way for my mistake (I attacked Russia a little too early I think, and crowded his borders too early as well causing him to switch to agoge and really pump out troops).

And I want to use this thread to complain about John Curtin. There's something seriously wrong with him. He's a worse backstabber than Catherine. I made a declaration of friendship with him for the sole purpose of not having to worry about him when I went after Russia. But it took a little longer than expected to get my holy site/shrine up and running and get sufficient troops out. At this point I'll turn my troops towards John Curtin, I just hope it's not too late. He can get strong fast.

 

[rastak]

I NEVER EVER EVER restart.......ever......that's the point of the game. You make due with what you got. If winning so important and urgent I'd edit the save to give me 100 battleships and save the time.

 

[Julia97]

I restart if the initial area is bad, e.g. poor tiles, little land to expand to, etc. If I get past the first 10-15 turns or so, I will keep playing.

Sure, I have rage quit sometimes, lets say my start is only viable if I get a specific pantheon, but then I lose it, or lets say I'm playing a certain civ and my abilities are not utilized (e.g. Inland England). But isually I just try playing. As long as the initial start is good, I can take a lot of hits (except from turn 15 warrior wave, that is almost always impossible...)

I play on emperor btw

 

[AmazonQueen]

I usually play on with bad starts (although there are limits, Cree with inland tundra, no non-Tundra in sight, capital not able to go above size 2 w/o a granary, that I restarted) but like Julia I will restart if the start just seems wrong for my civ. Doesn't even need to be bad. Jungle Russia, Netherlands with hardly any rivers, Sumeria w/o riverside plains or grassland for Ziggurats, those I'll restart.

 

[ChocolateShake]

I usually play on with bad starts (although there are limits, Cree with inland tundra, no non-Tundra in sight, capital not able to go above size 2 w/o a granary, that I restarted) but like Julia I will restart if the start just seems wrong for my civ. Doesn't even need to be bad. Jungle Russia, Netherlands with hardly any rivers, Sumeria w/o riverside plains or grassland for Ziggurats, those I'll restart.

Yup I do the same, my starting area has to be relevant to the civ I'm playing, if I play as Germany and start in a desert then I'll restart.

Otherwise I tend not to restart unless things are truly bad. Some of the most fun games for me are when I run into a setback and then start to feel some hope of things turning around.

When Rise and Fall first came out I'd force myself to finish games unless there was no chance of a comeback. This also applied to when I felt I was winning, and it really helped me enjoy the games more when I'd committed to finishing them. I'll be doing the same with Gathering Storm, I think the new features will be very helpful in maintaining excitement throughout all the eras.

 

[doolar]

Never a restart for me. Some of the very best games I’ve had in Civ6 was with a bad/tough start. Especially with a civ that is playstyle specific, and you have to change your goals/victory.

It also depends on difficulty level. On emperor and lower, I always know I can win no matter what, if I just get my nearest opponent quickly.

Since Civ6 is a fairly easy game, at least for most of us here with thousands of Civ-hours play time, it is fun to lose sometimes...

 

[rastak]

Yup I do the same, my starting area has to be relevant to the civ I'm playing, if I play as Germany and start in a desert then I'll restart.

Otherwise I tend not to restart unless things are truly bad. Some of the most fun games for me are when I run into a setback and then start to feel some hope of things turning around.

When Rise and Fall first came out I'd force myself to finish games unless there was no chance of a comeback. This also applied to when I felt I was winning, and it really helped me enjoy the games more when I'd committed to finishing them. I'll be doing the same with Gathering Storm, I think the new features will be very helpful in maintaining excitement throughout all the eras.

Hall of Fame will help a bit too.....games recorded so you can look back at finished games.

 

[Sherlock]

I restart if I'm chest deep in barbs.

 

[Archon_Wing]

For the purposes of this thread I'm not including having 7 warriors show up on your doorstep at turn 15 when you are unprepared.

It really isn't. But you would never know until you force yourself to deal with it. This is why one should play bad starts. I do reroll if it looks boring though. If I know I can crawl to some crappy t 300 victory, that is whatever.

But it is okay. A lot of so called experts brag about their best wins on rigged starts but casually take risks that result in early loses. Of course we never hear about it. I gotta roll my eyes when people talk about find a blue cs and get Goddess.

Btw I hate Spain. They suck and are boring. I would rather play 5 games as Georgia. Actually sorta did, which is why I never posted there.

And yea John Cu... yea screw him.

 

[MarigoldRan]

Why are you going for a religion as Spain? It's a waste of time. Let someone else spread the religion to you, then get Conqs, then win.

 

[UWHabs]

Given how much effort I need to put into playing a full civ game, if it doesn't look like I'm going to enjoy the game, then I'll quit the game. Sometimes I'll play through a tough game to see if I can turn it around, but I really don't feel the need to invest hours and hours into something that I'm not going to enjoy playing.

 

[Hans Castorp]

Depends on my mood...

 

[Chefofrats]

This is totally about personal preference. I play to relax and have fun, and I do not have fun when things are going badly, therefore I restart. Obviously it will be different for people who enjoy a challenge.

 

[craney1987]

I don't restart. Couple of reasons for that.
If the it's a bad map, it can essentially up the difficulty by a level and I enjoy that challenge.
If it's my own mistake, like trust john curtin, I play it out and learn from it.

Like, never trust john curtin

 

[comatosedragon]

I NEVER EVER EVER restart.......ever......that's the point of the game. You make due with what you got.

I see this claim quite often, and while I don't necessarily disbelieve the people who post this, it reminds me of a guy I used to work with with who swore he never ate an apple in his entire life....

 

[Disgustipated]

Some of the most fun games for me are when I run into a setback and then start to feel some hope of things turning around.

Yeah my game is starting to turn around and it feels kind of good. But I admit I was pretty ticked about a string of bad luck in this game the other day. I'm pretty good about not getting too mad at this game, but for some reason that day I was pretty ticked off. A few curse words may have been said. I really don't want to become one of those people who rage at video games. I'm supposed to be enjoying this. I think the best course of action is what I did, quit for the day, come back the next day determined more than ever to persevere.

it's not going to be a fast game, or an impressive game, but I will finish.

, it reminds me of a guy I used to work with with who swore he never ate an apple in his entire life.

Lol, what does he have against apples. Is he an anti-apple-ite?

 

[JJOne]

I see this claim quite often, and while I don't necessarily disbelieve the people who post this, it reminds me of a guy I used to work with with who swore he never ate an apple in his entire life....

I can't remember the last time I ate an apple. It was surely more than 20 years ago. Does that count?

 

[Mr Jon of Cheam]

People complain that the game is too easy but I don't find that to be the case, I'm frequently in a position when I have to make do with a bad situation unless I restart. Sometimes it's hard not to restart, and I used to restart a lot, but I've learnt that it really is more fun to avoid it where possible, take the bad times with the good, and - heaven forbid - lose a game or two.

 

[Leathaface]

When I played on King or Emperor I'd never restart however now I play on Immortal so I restart if my start is very bad. Like all flatland in my capital with 4 lumbermills. (with 2 of them not being next to a river)

Plus I watch Deity players stream on twitch/youtube and they always restart if they get a very bad start so I say that influenced me.

 

[leandrombraz]

I never restart because of setbacks, though I have no problem save scumming in Civ if things goes really south or I lose a wonder and I know there's something I can do to change that outcome. I don't like to go back too many turns though, so the further back I have to go, the less I'm willing to do it.