Civilization: Why Do You Stay?

[CELTICEMPIRE]

As someone who has played most of the games in the series, I think it has to be the variety. There's a variety of Civs and a variety of strategies that keeps me coming back.

 

[x2Madda]

I believe the major advantage of the Civilization series compared to games such as EU is simply... freedom. You build everything by your own, from scratch. From hunting and gathering to the space race.

From that point of view, I wouldn't say Civilization is necessarily a historical simulation like Europa Universalis is. There is a creation/construction aspect in it which makes it maybe closer to games like city builders or transport tycoon games where you actually grow by yourself something complex out of nothing.

I can't talk for others, but at least in my case, that's what I find the most enjoyable.

This pretty much. It sounds simple really yet every company that tries to make a better Civ just seems to forget that one aspect. We know what the Pyramids are and we know they were not built in Liverpool, England.

But when we all started out playing Civ games, we almost always were drawn to the wonders of the world even though a lot of them are just beginner traps; it goes hand in hand with building from scratch in a sandbox style enviroment.

Look at the many wonderful and bizaare things people have made in Minecraft, from mapping out Westeros to building the Sistine chapel. Games like EU allow you to queer* history but they don't allow you to change it completely on a whim, from the dawn of time.
Remember when India was invaded by X-com in 1982? Can't do that in games like EU.

*Word is used in its non slur interation and is not meant to cause offense of any kind.

 

[darkskies]

It's exploring maps and guiding my civ to a win (or to the point where I know I've won). I realized that I liked exploring new maps the most when I tried EU and realized there wasn't much point to the fog since the map was always the same boring map...might as will go play Risk.

Oh also I like swearing at the computer and shaking my head in disgust and thinking..."If I'd written the program it would be 10X better" .

 

[InDubioProReo]

EU IV is pretty fun. I really love playing Teutonic Order/Brandenburg-->Prussia--->Germany path. You get invincible armies to fight epic battles.

 

[TheXMassTeam]

Hi,

I'm playing Civ since the first one (and CTP 1 & 2 and alpha centaury ). I still play a game of civ IV an V from time to time, mostly with mods. Building a civilisation from scratch always give me very fun time, even I still never win a deity game .

But I'm also playing EU IV, Victoria 2 and Heart of Iron 3. The first one for ahistorical reasons. The second one because it's the best economic game on the industrial revolution ever made. And the third one because because I'm very interested in that age and the game is so good and deep. None of these games are perfect, but if you love one it'll give you thousands of play hours.

 

[teewee93]

for me it is the variety there is different civs different maps and different win conditions and there is always a choice like you can make it what you want and change maybe i want a domination win with ghandi or a cultural win with Washington you never know you play it out and have fun or you can just play to your strengths like me i love cultural victories i just feel like its a versatile game

 

[tat501]

I fell out of love with EU games after a while. Whilst technically excellent and very immersive, the lack of a goal just killed me. I have to win. Yes you can dominate the spice trade to Europe as the ottomans, or conquer the New World as Spain, or found Germany from being Mecklenburg or recreate the British Empire - but at the end? You don't get a sense that you're "done" like a victory or defeat in civ. Civ v is more fun for me personally because of that.

Edit : Victoria II is amazing in its own right though. So many different things to do. Creating Grossdeutchland is my favourite as Prussia and overturning Austrian hegemony, or turning Brazil into a superpower.

 

[jayjackson]

Great thread.

I've been a Civ player for decades now, and the fact that I now can speak in decades as I near 40 years of age is a big part of why I stay.

It is a game that I can use my BRAIN to be competitive, and my twitch reflexes don't matter at all. Seeing as how I was born 10-20 years too late for this whole "pro gamer" greatness, I want to stick with games that I don't need the 15-year-old Me's twitch reflexes to be competitive with.

I also love the game because there's always something new. Every map is different and every game presents different challenges.

I don't think there will ever be a day that I don't have the newest version of the game installed on my machine, along with at least the previous game installed as well. (I still have Civ 4 BTS installed!)

 

[Gaskes]

Being an old fart (60) and having played games from the year dot (I cannot find it on the web but it was a BBC line action/strategy space flight game and landing your ship in the space station was a difficult task (other words modded out) You had to buy and sell cargo to upgrade your space ship).

I now find Civ V boring (3650 hours later) but it is the best strategy game I have ever played (Civ 1-4. 100 unit on 1 tile was fun but very predictable). I have just finished 1.75 bottles of red wine before you rip into me.

I now play diety with aiken's mod and ige (England - 3 city start) to make it interesting and can still lose if am not careful.

Looking forward to civ6 - If I live long enough.