Can you believe this?

[MrMestopheles]

Hi, I introduced my flatmate into Civ4 3 months ago. Since then he used to play about... 20 games I guess.
But all on Settler difficulty and all as America! Now the second condition shouldn't be that troublesome as I'm not much of an "Antiamerican". ^^
But: Occasionally I suggest him to take the next difficulty level as he is winning every game easily. He tells me then; he first is going to have played every civilization before changing difficulty. And still he's at America after 20 games!
He's playing ridiculously bad (in my eyes as an emperor player); f. e. around his capital are swine and corn at the start turn and he chooses to research hunting. o_O
Non-sense!
His basic strategy (he told me) is to wait for cavallery and then to conquer the world. Having not enough workers (ratio like 1 for 4 towns) his towns often lay in deep jungle and on barren lands...
How should he ever learn the game playing like that?

What could I do?

 

[pob]

Let him play it how he wants. Unless you want to play against him in MP, why does it matter to you how he plays as long as he is having fun? (Even then, you can play on multiplayer with him on a lower difficulty.)

At least he hasn't found out the joys of worldbuilding yourself a tank at the start of the game

 

[MrMestopheles]

We had a multiplayer game, which I put on warlord. He lost his border cities territory quickly to the culture of the neighbors, because he doesn't care for culture at all. I told to watch out for the neighbors because they were of another religion.
Isabella declared war on him, I helped him out. As he's a smart player he didn't pay tribute to the these neighbors and got into war with 2 others, quickly lost his cities. He hadn't built much units because he was still waiting for the cavallery...
So I fought the 2 others back and invaded their territories.

Oh yeah I told him, open borders generates trade, but he doesn't care and NEVER signs open border treaties in his single player games.

Yes I wanted him to get better for another multiplayer.

 

[revengeofmakno]

Sounds like a lost cause. You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make him drink. I have a nephew with similar problems. I just stay out of it.

 

[theratman]

Let him play how he wants too,I used to play like him,kinda.For years I enjoyed civ2 +3 until I realised there was more to auto workers and building every possible building,cus that has to be good,right?

 

[*Svart*]

We had a multiplayer game, which I put on warlord. He lost his border cities territory quickly to the culture of the neighbors, because he doesn't care for culture at all. I told to watch out for the neighbors because they were of another religion.
Isabella declared war on him, I helped him out. As he's a smart player he didn't pay tribute to the these neighbors and got into war with 2 others, quickly lost his cities. He hadn't built much units because he was still waiting for the cavallery...
So I fought the 2 others back and invaded their territories.

Oh yeah I told him, open borders generates trade, but he doesn't care and NEVER signs open border treaties in his single player games.

Yes I wanted him to get better for another multiplayer.

surprise him in a multiplayer game, just invade him with tanks when he has only longbow.

 

[theratman]

surprise him in a multiplayer game, just invade him with tanks when he has only longbow.

I think he does not want to get kicked out of the flat

How about suprising him by drafting the weakest units you have in all your cities and invading him with that,should be fun and interesting!

must be a way to draft warriors mid game

 

[Rhymes]

There's a thread called "random rants" in OT... try that.

 

[Ataxerxes]

Let him play how he wants too,I used to play like him,kinda.For years I enjoyed civ2 +3 until I realised there was more to auto workers and building every possible building,cus that has to be good,right?

This^^^. We know he's playing badly but he just wants to enjoy the game at a low level without thinking about it much. Possibly taking America because it's his country and he wants them to win. If he gets tired of this he can try different leaders or levels. But some aren't interested in getting better at the game, just at having fun on their terms.

 

[MrMestopheles]

He has been playing America ever since because it's the first civilization in the list.

I think he does not want to get kicked out of the flat

How about suprising him by drafting the weakest units you have in all your cities and invading him with that,should be fun and interesting!

must be a way to draft warriors mid game

I'm the owner of the flat so he should be improving. I could tell him I'm going to set up a civ test for him and if he fails he got to leave the flat. *jk*

He knows that I'm playing much better than him. So how to lure him into a hostile game?

Sounds like a lost cause. You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make him drink. I have a nephew with similar problems. I just stay out of it

Oh I had to think of a similar saying concerning him. Just like throwing gems into the front of swines. Not only about Civ4 but also about f.e. music. I have so much nice music on my harddrive which he's connected to but he won't stop listening to his tiny metal collection.

One could say: there's no learning behavior at him.

Yes I have to kick his ass in CIV!!! *grr*

 

[Ghpstage]

His basic strategy (he told me) is to wait for cavallery and then to conquer the world.

...What could I do?

Show him what a real Cavalry force looks like

 

[Troythepathetic]

At least he hasn't found out the joys of worldbuilding yourself a tank at the start of the game [/QUOTE]

I can't believe that I haven't done this. That is why I haunt these forums. There are so many cool things that I just haven't thought of. I am in your debt!

 

[Danelius90]

Just don't get carried away otherwise you'll look very, very silly
its fun when you lose horribly and you think "just wait, there's nukes and tanks coming, and its only 40BC hehehe"
or destroy barbarians on another continent (like terra map) and giving your workers promotions like navigation or the one that increases the operating range of planes. Or place hit singles as a resource on the map! It appears as wheat...
oops am I making myself look a bit silly?? I don't WB all the time honest

regards to the OP, he's making a lot of common newbie errors don't beat him up for that! But get him off settler. Definitely. Or you'll be forced to destroy him

 

[codehappy]

A lot of Civ players are casual gamers, they don't really want (or need) to know the details of the game mechanics to enjoy the game. And that's OK: again, they're the large majority of people who play Civ, and if they have fun playing the way that they do then that's great.

Maybe someday he will be interested in learning how to win a game at higher difficulty levels. Maybe not. It's a game, the important thing is to have fun.

 

[*Svart*]

Not only about Civ4 but also about f.e. music. I have so much nice music on my harddrive which he's connected to but he won't stop listening to his tiny metal collection.

what is it f.e. music?

and btw, metal is fine

 

[ruff_hi]

edit his xml to change America's color to red (or something similar) and see if he notices the difference.

 

[Danelius90]

Or remove cavalry from the game! You could give the ai a free cavalry unit too, but make it so you're unable to build them

 

[Ganthan]

I'm gonna throw in with the "Let him play as he likes" crowd here. I used to be the same way as him. I would always play on the lowest difficulty because I always had more fun (and still do) just building up a nice big wealthy happy empire over time instead of worrying about winning the game. In fact I always end up going for Space Race victories just because it usually takes the longest.

I've been playing Civilization since the very first one and the only ones I haven't played are 2, 5 and Call to Power 2. However, 4 is the first one I actually started playing above the lowest difficulty. I recently finished up my Warlord Ethiopia game (Space Race again) and am now working on a Noble Roman.

 

[MrMestopheles]

Well we had 3 rather short amusing games.

1.)
Put 18 civs on a huge pangea. I was playing on noble and went into early rush, because I started in some tundra area. I don't know exactly what happened. It seems he declared war against Hammurabi (still playing as settler but random civ -> China). He messed it up I guess and started declaring war against all AIs to finish the game for him, gifting all his cities but the capital to Hammurabi... So I just finished him off. He didn't find out how to erase his own units gladly.

2.)
Giant Pangea, forgot about putting AIs into. I went for great wall, so all the barbarian ran to him. He was attacked by a dozen of ravaging archers and started to get pissed off, very short (amusing hehe) game.

3.)
I chose to go for culture, chose Louis. Built all wonders but Colossus, enjoying peaceful relations and breeding great personalities for golden ages. So he started to lose his cities to my culture expansion and got pissed off again, gifting his cities and declaring war...

 

[Dhoomstriker]

I think that you should be trying to support him in your games together, instead of pulling "cute tricks" to try and beat him, such as cultural pressure or forcing the Barbs on him.


Of course, you can certainly use "cute tricks" if they HELP instead of HARM him. For example, beeline The Apostolic Palace. Spread that Religion to him and a couple of AIs. Then, raise the resolution for Open Borders amongst all Members. That'll get him some Foreign Trade Routes.

He didn't find out how to erase his own units gladly.

Well there's a start of an idea: build more units than you normally would and gift them to him. If he isn't giving you Open Borders in order for you to be able to gift the units, then see above for how to get Open Borders with him.


Build a nice City (one with good Resources in its fat cross) close to his empire with several improved squares. Send a lot of Workers to this City and focus on getting it up-and-running quickly: build a couple of nice buildings, like a Granary, a Courthouse, and perhaps a few Cultural buildings like a Theatre or a Temple or something. Then, gift him the City. Don't forget to station 4+ military units in the City itself and then gift him those units after you have gifted him the City.


If you know that he wants to build a certain Wonder or be the first to a certain game element, such as first to Circumnagivate or first to Liberalism, LET HIM DO SO! You're already playing a game below your level--you don't really need to rely on Wonders or Liberalism to do well against the AIs. Let him have these bonuses, which will make the game more exciting for him and may encourage him to learn how to more consistently achieve these goals in his regular games. If you're always grabbing all of the goodies, then how will he be motivated to improve in order to more consistently be the one to get the goodies? You should just be there in the background helping out, so that it is him versus the AIs when it comes to racing for Wonders or getting techs that provide free items, instead of you always being the one to get these free items.


See if you can let him WIN! Build The United Nations (if you can get that far in the game) and vote for HIM to win the game. If your games don't last that long, vote him as the winner of the Apostolic Palace... it should be easy enough to do... build The Apostolic Palace yourself... spread the Apostolic Palace's Religion to all of his Cities, then spread it a little bit to each of the AIs, so that hopefully, it will be you versus him in the vote. Then, vote yourself to be Resident (so that you can choose which voting option to choose) and then choose the Apostolic Palace's Diplo Victory option but pick HIM to be the winner!


Oh yeah, you can also consider gifting him some Worker units, too! In the worst case, he'll automate them, since he hasn't yet figured out how to delete them.