Deity Challenge?

[DingleBirdy]

I'm not a regular poster here, but I used to love playing the Deity Challenges that were posted on this forum. The latest one I can find is from last September. Did the submissions move? Or was there just not enough interest? If they are gone, I was curious if there is any interest reviving them. Thanks

 

[Uzael36]

Look at the Budweiser challenges down the page. They are Immortal, but are interesting none the less.

 

[The Pilgrim]

Yeah, people got lazy. I wanted to post a new challenge, but am fairly busy this week, so it won't happen until next week give or take. In the meanwhile, you can post one yourself. I can only speak for myself and I am very interested in reviving them. I had a long break from Civ and feel the need to shrug off the rust.

 

[DingleBirdy]

Look at the Budweiser challenges down the page. They are Immortal, but are interesting none the less.

That is what I am looking for, but I need it to be on deity and preferably not with a top tier civ. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[DingleBirdy]

Yeah, people got lazy. I wanted to post a new challenge, but am fairly busy this week, so it won't happen until next week give or take. In the meanwhile, you can post one yourself. I can only speak for myself and I am very interested in reviving them. I had a long break from Civ and feel the need to shrug off the rust.

Alright, I think I'll post the game I just started. Do you know what number we are in the series? That last one I found was #35.

 

[The Pilgrim]

No idea. The last I can find is #37 from November, but I think people just lost count afterwards and didn't bother to attach a number. I am also not sure there was #36. I'd go with 38, I guess. Doesn't really matter, it's just easier to remember them this way.

 

[teqofc]

I think a lot of people lost interest after the challenges became too easy. I still remember how tough the Poland one was with Shaka, Monty and Atilla as neighbors where very few people finished. I got pretty far but was swallowed up by a runaway Zulu and still haven't seen that many units invade me to this day.

After that they got a bit too easy, IMHO. The last one I remember was Greece on boreal + raging barbarians. It was a snoozefest and I don't think anybody came close to losing that one.

 

[The Pilgrim]

I got out of the loop much earlier and lost interest basically when BNW came out, so I can't say what went wrong with the challenges. I think some players just got burnt out and some switched to competitive playing i.e. GotM, HoF and MP. It's all good. I see a lot of new blood around.

 

[Acken]

Problem is BNW isnt very challenging on default. Trying to get best win time is interesting but the fear of losing has been completely lost for some people, especially when every VC are allowed. Unless you really go out of your way to skew difficulty, like adding tough warmongers on a hard huge map etc etc.

I personally am also invested more into GOTM or HoF since at least they offer a more tangible reward for investing time in them.

 

[BBMorti]

Diety wasn't a challenge anymore after latest expansion, thats all. =/

 

[DingleBirdy]

Problem is BNW isnt very challenging on default. Trying to get best win time is interesting but the fear of losing has been completely lost for some people, especially when every VC are allowed. Unless you really go out of your way to skew difficulty, like adding tough warmongers on a hard huge map etc etc.

I personally am also invested more into GOTM or HoF since at least they offer a more tangible reward for investing time in them.

What are the tangible awards they offer? I pretty much stopped playing GotM unless it's a deity game. Is there any way the deity players can get together and create a series similar to GotM or HoF? Also, I'm not too familiar with HoF, so I might have to look into that one.

 

[DingleBirdy]

Diety wasn't a challenge anymore after latest expansion, thats all. =/

The civilization subreddit did a CENSUS recently and found that just 3% of people play on deity. Here are the RESULTS.

In the comments section there was one comment by a user that said, "Its nice to see that people seem to be answering the difficulty question honestly, opposed to the 85% deity." I wrote out a long response about how deity in BNW was not a challenge anymore and that more people should give it a try. The I read what I had written and realized I sounded like a jerk, so I deleted the response. But yeah, I completely agree that BNW is too easy.

 

[dragonxxx]

That poll has rather odd results for some questions.
Like - 51% freedom ... But I guess thats related to the most prefered difficulty level, as freedom is usually bad choice even when you play for CV on Immortal/Deity. The tenets are super awesome, I agree, but taking freedom is the easiest way to ruin your relationships with everyone usually, as the AI seem to never pick it

The thing about deity is that its completely different, and you should do things taht are not really needed even at Immortal. Stealing workers for example and skipping pretty much all wonders until modern era. So it is not that hard, but if you enjoy relaxed games deity is not for everyone.

Still, I do not understand ppl who play for years at King ... And I know ppl like that.

 

[The Pilgrim]

What are the tangible awards they offer?

Ehm... worldwide fame? Prize money? Ugh... nvm... They do offer a little amount of local fame within small portion of civ community. I am pretty sure that even most of CFC users don't know who are the top players according to these games. But folks who are a bit more competitive like them regardless. And they are pretty educational too. For the really competitive ones MP is the answer.

I pretty much stopped playing GotM unless it's a deity game. Is there any way the deity players can get together and create a series similar to GotM or HoF?

This was pretty much the initial idea behind these challenges.

Also, I'm not too familiar with HoF, so I might have to look into that one.

My main problem with HoF is its infinite rerolls for that perfect petra sault start. When I hear how many times people are willing to reroll in order to get a high rank, I get speechless. But to each its own.

The civilization subreddit did a CENSUS recently and found that just 3% of people play on deity. Here are the RESULTS.

In the comments section there was one comment by a user that said, "Its nice to see that people seem to be answering the difficulty question honestly, opposed to the 85% deity." I wrote out a long response about how deity in BNW was not a challenge anymore and that more people should give it a try. The I read what I had written and realized I sounded like a jerk, so I deleted the response. But yeah, I completely agree that BNW is too easy.

I think the results are pretty accurate (steam stats support them as well) and that's why I keep saying the very hardcore players amongst us do not represent the whole civ community. And that's why game keeps getting dumbed down... You can freely express your negative opinion here in S&T. Some still might troll you, but many of us will agree.

 

[The Pilgrim]

That poll has rather odd results for some questions.
Like - 51% freedom ... But I guess thats related to the most prefered difficulty level, as freedom is usually bad choice even when you play for CV on Immortal/Deity. The tenets are super awesome, I agree, but taking freedom is the easiest way to ruin your relationships with everyone usually, as the AI seem to never pick it

The thing about deity is that its completely different, and you should do things taht are not really needed even at Immortal. Stealing workers for example and skipping pretty much all wonders until modern era. So it is not that hard, but if you enjoy relaxed games deity is not for everyone.

Still, I do not understand ppl who play for years at King ... And I know ppl like that.

[tommynt mode]Of course they like it! They like wonders more than their own mother, like culture, tourism, faith, role-playing, immersion and all that crap, hate military units and wars and more than anything they hate strategy! So obviously they pick prefer stupid Freedom over more useful, efficient and optimal Order.[/tommynt mode]

You are the minority, guys. Suck it up.

 

[DingleBirdy]

That poll has rather odd results for some questions.
Like - 51% freedom ... But I guess thats related to the most prefered difficulty level, as freedom is usually bad choice even when you play for CV on Immortal/Deity. The tenets are super awesome, I agree, but taking freedom is the easiest way to ruin your relationships with everyone usually, as the AI seem to never pick it

Freedom is awesome, and the Statue of Liberty compliments it very well. The ai just loves picking an ideology based on what I'm not picking But really, selecting freedom is an invitation to a DOW.

Still, I do not understand ppl who play for years at King ... And I know ppl like that.

Story Time
My father is nearly 70 and has been fanatically playing Civ since the original release. A few years back I purchased Civ V for him for his birthday...as did my other two brothers. Suddenly my father had two unneeded copies of this game that I had never bothered playing. I always felt I needed an addicting game like I needed a hole in my head, so I avoided civ at all costs. After this birthday gift snafu I was sitting there with a copy of Civ V, but decided to shelf it. Months later on a day with absolutely nothing to do I fired up Civ V for the first time.

Welp...here I am. Three years later and I have a new found love for history and have thousands of hours sunk into this game. I jumped to deity in G&K and have never looked back. Always assuming my father was a Civ grandmaster, I thought he was playing on deity too. One day when I went to visit him I sat in and watched him play for the first time in my life. He was the Americans and he was effing awful!

He didn't micromanage his cities, automated his workers, honor only, wonder chaser, insta great scientist bulber, no tech path direction, domination only, ignored spies altogether...played on KING. He also only played as the Americans and had no idea civs had unique abilities. He always thought Pachacuti was cheating. For some reason he played all those years and never got better. I for the life of me could not understand how he was so bad at this game. Apparently he likes to play at a level where he can still get the Great Library and that is good enough for him. That smug cow still acts like his years of experience trump the fact that I've actually tried to make myself better. To each their own I guess. That's just not my style.

 

[IronfighterXXX]

For players who like challenges I recommend 85GOTM Iroquois deity cultural game - there were 230 downloads with 14 entries for this game and only four people actually won it.
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=525265

Also here is intresting challenge in HOF rules, unfortunatly I haven't found time for it yet
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=521065

 

[The Pilgrim]

DingleBirdy, that's the difference between you and your father - he's happy with the way he's playing and enjoying Civ while you are ranting here.

I used to be like your father. I've also been playing since the very first Civ and for years didn't even think there was any point in difficulty levels, unique abilities, units or anything else. Thought they were there just for kicks. But my priorities changed. Thankfully, I am still not at the point where I can't enjoy the game because it's too easy (I'd like to say that the only reason for that is the long break I took from civ thus I am rusty as hell, but I won't flatter myself that much ). And I still enjoy fooling around. Like taking Honor instead of Rationalism, for example, just to see how far I can push it.

 

[Uzael36]

Still, I do not understand ppl who play for years at King ... And I know ppl like that.

There are definitely different ways to approach a game, and I do feel most people should play the game without any outside assistance for at least a while. This will slow your progress down a lot and for most people, Prince is the logical setting point, as that is the setting with no bonuses or penalties.

I've also noticed a trend with new gamers where losing is not an option. They can't stand to lose, so they always play at a level they can win 99% of the time. Perhaps it is related to how we have raised our kids in the last 20 years. Soccer without scores, everyone gets a trophy, etc. Then again, as I've gotten older, I tend to get frustrated easier at losing, where as a kid, I was head strong and would never back down.

 

[kb27787]

.... Freedom is pretty amazing... (and I suppose you've never built landmarks for someone else/ control the WC?) if picking an ideology leads to DoW then you haven't been doing diplo right. It's just that it doesn't have as much happy as the other trees but the bonuses it gives are pretty amazing, esp. for CS influence.

For people who complain the deity is too easy perhaps they should try culture or domination victories rather than boring science or diplomatic ones. And try not picking Order for once so you have to battle ideology pressure and see how well you do in making a well-rounded empire, rather than one that just has science.

Granted, if the OP wants. he can feel free to post a challenge himself. I'll be waiting...