Civilizations Why?

[Ravena]

I looked around for some time to see if this topic is out there anywhere and I couldn't find it so I decided to post it myself. I am a curious why you like Civilizations as a game. My other half finds it totally unappealing to say the least and yet there are many of us--myself included find it almost irresitable.

For me it is the level of thought that is required. I think all day in my job but this is a different type of thought and I like the fact that the multitude of choices that you are given can result in totally different things depending on a variety of variables.

Eager to hear others reasons....

 

[scloopy]

My husband and I both play but we enjoy not only for different reasons. He plays III because he says it is relaxing. I play II because I find it a challange to win more so than III. I play III at a higher level just to drive my husband nuts.

 

[blackthorn]

I play for the challenge. However many are not up to the tedious task of ruling an empire. My wife cannot understand it either, I play civ like a religion( I say that but some around here are more serious than even that),and I have been hooked for about 11 years now. Other games come and go, the true beauty behind civ for me is no matter what "rules" are in place, the game cannot be predicted , and is never the same...ever.

Well all this civ talk reminds me, the French have another thing comin'.

Happy civving

 

[Ravena]

scloopy

Your honesty is refreshing and if my other half enjoyed the game as well I must confess that I would most likely do the same

 

[Prof. Garfield]

I like civ 2 because you can never play the same game twice, something the AI does could possibly be different and that could offset the whole game. It is the variety. It also requires you to think on all levels of responsibility to your empire, not just militarily. I also like the fact that civ 2 is a turn bassed game, giving me time to think about what I'm going to do, and that I can leave it at a moment's notice and come back to it.

 

[Terrapin]

When I was young, I used to be crazy for those Avalon Hill table-top wargames such as Diplomacy, Panzer Blitz and Atlantic Wall (? might not be the right name). Civ2 is like a hyped up version of one of those games, except with the computer handling all the arduous chip moving, die rolling and unit-damage recording.

But Civ2 is actually far superior to those games in its depth and complexity. Even someone seeking to play it like a pure wargame has to pay attention to things like trade, tax rates and citizen happiness. Similarly, someone (like me) who likes to build a beautiful, rich and Wonder-ous empire full of smiling citizens and hard working scientists, has to pay attention to the military situation. But what really takes this game over the top is the endless array of challenges it presents: Win by spaceship, win by conquest, early conquest, early landing, win with high score or win with self-imposed limitations (limited cities, no bribes, no nukes, stay in despotism or monarchy). And there are even more challenges to be had other than victory conditions such as: Build all wonders, max out the pay out for trade, build a spaceship in one turn, obtain Future Tech #n, conquer a civ with #n cities in one turn. It just never ends...

 

[Specialist290]

I play it for a lot of the same reasons as already mentioned. Plus, once you've played it once, you're pretty much hooked, and you can never leave...

 

[Marla_Singer]

scloopy

Your honesty is refreshing and if my other half enjoyed the game as well I must confess that I would most likely do the same

I think she dislikes it because she has never really had the opportunity to play it.

At the beggining, video games weren't appealing to me at all. But actually, I've decided to move alone out of my parent's house with the stupid idea that a TV wasn't important in my life. As a result, I got bored... it's awful to live alone in a house without TV. Trust me. No matter how many friends you have, they aren't always there.

As a result, I firstly played to minesweeper. It was quite pathetic but I've played it a lot, and I became really good... but you get fastly bored with Minesweeper, so I've looked for other games in my puter... and that's how I've found Civ2, which had been installed by my brother. So I asked him to come in and explain me how it works... and that's how I've discovered Civ, which I enjoyed.

Today, there's the Internet so it's true that I spend a lot MORE time online than playing with a game, but anyway, to answer your question, I play to Civ, my boyfriend plays to Civ, and we make a charming couple (though neither him nor I still really play Civ).

 

[punkbass2000]

As a result, I firstly played to minesweeper. It was quite pathetic but I've played it a lot, and I became really good...

Hey me too.. and it's not pathetic! I still play from time to time, but can never beat my own fastest times anymore. If you don't mind my asking, what were your best times? I've never had anyone to compare to before.

 

[Marla_Singer]

Hey me too.. and it's not pathetic! I still play from time to time, but can never beat my own fastest times anymore. If you don't mind my asking, what were your best times? I've never had anyone to compare to before.

Well, I've just checked the game and there aren't my old scores anymore. Guess they've disappeared when I updated my Windows.

Well, as stupid as it sounds, I have no clue ! But anyway, on the expert level I guess it wasn't that good (something in the 300's I guess... but it could be less I don't remember).

EDIT : I think it was less. Maybe more around 250's. Ah gosh !
That's stupid when you think how much time I've wasted trying to beat my scores, and few years later I'm not even able to remember what was that famous score to beat anymore. :shakehead

 

[Andu Indorin]

Well, I've just checked the game and there aren't my old scores anymore. Guess they've disappeared when I updated my Windows.

Well, as stupid as it sounds, I have no clue ! But anyway, on the expert level I guess it wasn't that good (something in the 300's I guess... but it could be less I don't remember).

EDIT : I think it was less. Maybe more around 250's. Ah gosh !
That's stupid when you think how much time I've wasted trying to beat my scores, and few years later I'm not even able to remember what was that famous score to beat anymore. :shakehead

I once thought I was pretty good with a best score of 188. But then I learned that my niece once achieved a mind-boggling 142 (She also achieved a mind-boggling 200+ lines in Tetris!)

As for Civ II, I started out playing it as a basic wargame (i.e., conquer the world). But over the years, I've become less expansionist and more perfectionist. Indeed, I play the end game more like "SimCiv", taking the time to create "finished" worlds, mainly by planting lots of trees and articulating a history of expansion via Food Freight.

 

[punkbass2000]

142! That's imoressive.

 

[Ravena]

It is great to see how many people have responded to this thread. Just curious, Do you play the same civilization all the time or several depending on your mood?

 

[scloopy]

I play II most, but also Conquest and occasionally Play the World. I have tried Call to Power but it keeps hanging up on me. Civ is very addictive.

BTW I don't know how good a high score is suppose to be in most of the games. Mine seem to be really squirrely.

 

[Ali Ardavan]

Marla_Singer, punkbass2000, Andu Indorin, and other Minesweeper enthusiatsts: I have a challenge for you all!

I too love Minesweeper and still play when I get a chance. I started playing its precursor on Macintosh (called Bombs) before the MS windows version was created.

Like most, after a while I was unable to improve my fastest times and it was getting boring. Then a thougt occurred to me: rather than challenge for time let's play for a challange on difficulty by increasing the number of mines.

Go to the Game menu and click Custom. Type in 16 for height and width, this gives you the same size land as you get when playing intermediate. The number of mines you get in intermediate is 40. Change that to 60. Try to finish the game successfully with no attention to time. Once you succeed change the number of mines to 61 and continue. Be warned, you will be hooked forever!

If you manage to reach 80 consider yourself a master. I solved an 83 a few years ago and was so overjoyed I took a picture of my computer screen with a camera!

I have been unsuccessfully trying 84 since.

 

[Terrapin]

Question from Ravena:

Do you play the same civilization all the time or several depending on your mood?

I pretty much play one game at a time. However, I usually do not finish my games. There are two basic reasons why I abandon a game: It is going too well or too poorly. If I feel like I have terminally screwed up a game, I will abandon it and try again. That does not happen very often since I have been visiting CFC, however! However, I frequently abandon games when I decide that my lead in size, tech and power cannot be overcome which frequently correlates with the point in the game when I have a whole lot of cities to manage and the turns are really bogging down. I have a number of game saves where I have launched a spaceship but have not waited for it to land because really, there just is no point...

 

[Specialist290]

I pretty much play one game at a time. However, I usually do not finish my games. There are two basic reasons why I abandon a game: It is going too well or too poorly. If I feel like I have terminally screwed up a game, I will abandon it and try again. That does not happen very often since I have been visiting CFC, however! However, I frequently abandon games when I decide that my lead in size, tech and power cannot be overcome which frequently correlates with the point in the game when I have a whole lot of cities to manage and the turns are really bogging down. I have a number of game saves where I have launched a spaceship but have not waited for it to land because really, there just is no point...

Sounds a lot like me. I've only finished about 10-20% of the games I've played, and am only barely resisting the temptation to do so with my record-shattering Warlord France Game (which has been going on for about a year now).