[NFP] Can marathon be fun?

[Abaxial]

This thread inspired me to try marathon speed for the first time on a large map (also for the first time). It was an odd experience. A bit like running with your boots tied together. It came as a bit of a shock to find I needed 60 iron for a swordsman! Also that instead of 10 turns wait before one can offer peace, it becomes 25. The turns are so long it becomes easy to get a golden age every time; in fact I got impatient at all the wasted era score.

The random map I got was rather weird - mostly irregular islands that were 50% desert, 40% mountain and 10% floodplain. The good land was either in the very north or very south, the start locations being split between these areas. I don't know if marathon speed encourages the AI to go to war, but there seemed to be more wars than usual, and ridiculous wars, where a civ would declare against another civ that it had no hope of reaching, and despite having actually no military. I got to the point where I had so much gold I could buy as many units as I wanted, so speed became irrelevant. Result - CV on turn 640.

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

I generally see very few wars on marathon/huge. Also, it takes so long to move units and so much space to cover and enemies to subdue around that domination victories are rather tedious affairs.

Golden Ages are easier, but it's mostly because barbarians have more space and more time to spawn, so you kill lots of their camps. Don't worry overly much about golden age overflow.

I play continents, and I typically see 2 large and disconnected landmasses, and often one small landmass between them. This accommodates my preferences nicely, since I like to have half the map unexplored until caravels. Sometimes there are more landmasses, too.

 

[Henri Christophe]

I generally see very few wars on marathon/huge.

I need to disagree, Marathon is the best to do wars. Maybe the AI don't do that much war, but that is random. But I as a player do a lot of wars don't metter what time is settled. But Marathon is the best to do war because you don't need to rush to upgrade your units very quickly.

 

[Leucarum]

How weird does Babylon get on Marathon? Had never played that speed but seems like Hammurabi could break that mode too...

 

[Oberinspektor Derrick]

Oh yes!

Try Apocalypse mode.


Or Zombies.

At Marathon it's even more exploitable.

Spiffing Brit did a YouTube of China/Qin in Marathon. You can basically win building Wonders. Add Dramatic Ages and Monopolies.

This is the reason why I don't play with most of the new modes enabled.
They're just too broken to the point where I'm actually having less fun because of how easy the game gets.

 

[Disgustipated]

Funny that all my games of late are on marathon. Originally for Civ6 (and Civ 5) I preferred Epic speed. But lately marathon is my go to setting. And with Civ4 I preferred marathon as well.

I know it's not the most balanced, but I find I have the most time to do things. And if I forget to do something one turn, it's not the end of the world. And lately I just like building up a magnificent empire and building everything up to the extreme. You just have to be cautious at the start, it's going to be a while before you can get some defensive units up.

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

I need to disagree, Marathon is the best to do wars. Maybe the AI don't do that much war, but that is random. But I as a player do a lot of wars don't metter what time is settled. But Marathon is the best to do war because you don't need to rush to upgrade your units very quickly.

It's probably the huge map, with more space, more civs, and more cities, but I find endless cycles of warfare to be utterly tedious. Yes, it's fun to have plenty of turns to use your unit iterations between upgrades, but many of those turns are going to be spent crossing terrain and positioning them.

I'd rather build out my empire and restrict fighting to dealing with barbarians.

Also, I think I tend to see more peace because I am very selective about trading strategic resources to other civs. They can't build as many units as quickly, so they don't fight as much.

 

[Oberinspektor Derrick]

Funny that all my games of late are on marathon. Originally for Civ6 (and Civ 5) I preferred Epic speed. But lately marathon is my go to setting. And with Civ4 I preferred marathon as well.

I know it's not the most balanced, but I find I have the most time to do things. And if I forget to do something one turn, it's not the end of the world. And lately I just like building up a magnificent empire and building everything up to the extreme. You just have to be cautious at the start, it's going to be a while before you can get some defensive units up.

I haven't played normal speed for quite a while now, and usually defaulted to epic speed.
Though my most recent game is on marathon, and I think I know why I enjoy the slower speeds these days.
The main reason is that it paces the game a lot better.

Ever since civ 6 (and especially GS) introduced so much power creep in the late game, the game just whizzes by once I reach the industrial era, and I end up winning a SV/CV probably some 20-30 turns later (on normal speed).
It's ridiculous how long it takes to reach something like 200 science per turn in the early game, but then it suddenly shifts and I'm at 600 science, 1000, 1500 science (or culture) just a couple tens of turns later as yields just start getting crazy.
Civ 5 really had this much better paced, as the late game generally went by a lot slower (even when abusing research agreements and GS bulbing).

 

[reddishrecue]

I played marathon back in civ 4 and it took too long. I haven't tried marathon again ever since then.

 

[Jimdigriz]

I always play Huge/marathon. I enjoy exploring and duking it out with the barbs. It also lets you dedicate more time to expansion and other non-victory things, since there are abundant turns before you really need to hone in on your preferred victory.

And me. I hate Civ any other way. Always played Civ with these settings. Yeah its a long drawn out game but that's fine - in for a penny, in for a pound!

 

[Jimdigriz]

How weird does Babylon get on Marathon? Had never played that speed but seems like Hammurabi could break that mode too...

Oh I'm breaking Hammurabi in my latest Marathon/Huge game. But its not just me. The barbs are crazy in the current game. I can deal with them - the A.I. can't. There are quite a few free cities. Game's already over but its still fun!

 

[Jimdigriz]

This is the reason why I don't play with most of the new modes enabled.
They're just too broken to the point where I'm actually having less fun because of how easy the game gets.

I dont play with any of the new modes - I just don't like the sound of them and if they make the A.I. worse there is no point at all.

 

[Sukayo]

Marathon, huge or giant or so, and yes, *5 all, So 160 or so turns for the 1st research or culture when starting. And each day so 2-5 hours, can lead to a deep immersive game, when the ruler becomes you. And all those so valuable units - here is a mode out making them a bit more expansice in maintenance, other wise a lot of warriors and slingers will fill the map early.

Knowing all this, and still having fun is possible, just trying to get Tomyris through a acolyapse game withou culture victory, and aiming for a scientific victory when time allows it. Turn 639 currently-

 

[reddishrecue]

When the BIG metor hits, the city is GONE! There is an impassable lake there now.
Supposedly best to have 1 govenor in the capital with the right promotions.
Immune to environmental effects. Haven't tried that yet.
Lost 15 cities one game.
ouch.

15 is a lot. What size of map did you have?
Also I lost 3 cities once on standard and quick, they had nice wonders too.. I made it to Mars but losing the cities did hurt IMHO.

 

[Shirotora Kenshin]

I always play on marathon, and find it is definitely fun!
Several reasons why it is fun, a lot of them are mentioned here by other peoples. More time to explore and to enjoy the different eras.
With a mod named „Take your Time“, there are a lot of options to make it even more slow.

Before i played Civ5 (5 was my first Civ) for the first time, i asked at Google which speed is recommended. All people have different opinions as always, but one person said this: „If you want to enjoy Civ fully, then marathon is your choice“.
Today, i can second that sentence, it is by far the most fun experience on marathon for me. For Civ6 it is the same, and i doubt that for Civ7 this will change

 

[Canadian Bluebeer]

That governor that has the "districts immune to ..." well, a Meteor is not an environmental hazard.
Had her in the capital, meteor took it out.

However, instead of the normal 4 holes in the land, was just 1. Where the city was.

Another fun one is the Barb camp mode on marathon.
One of them starts off with Destroyers. (while everyone is building rowboats!)
With no oil, you can't heal it until it gets a promotion. (so save the great admirals)


Getting a ranger really early is fun too.

Oh the 15 cities blasted? Huge or larger map. Continents.
(I owned my continent)