Do you guys ever come back to saves

[Matthew.]

Rarely will I go back to a save. A game's winner is more or less decided by the time I hit Industrial/Modern, so continuing a game would just be clicking "next turn" a hundred times until the game finishes just as I expected it to. And I find the game is most fun in that early exploration/city-settling period.

The rare exceptions are games where the tech difference between the top couple Civs is so close that the game is still undecided. However, I've been running into that situation more often since lately I've been purposely ignoring Rationalism.

 

[blackcatatonic]

I find it interesting that so many CiV players give up on games that they're sure they're going to win and will only continue playing if the game continues to present some sort of obstacle to the win. I will always try to win if I'm in a strong position, partly for satisfaction, partly to see how quickly I can do it.

On the other hand, I will often give up on games where I either don't think I've got any realistic chance of winning or which I began from a strong position which was later lost because of something out of my control (being dog-piled by AIs is the current problem post-patch).

I don't play CiV to be 'challenged'. I get enough of that from my job, and while I enjoy it there, it's not something I particularly want from a game.

 

[Matthew.]

It isn't so much for the challenge, but more of longer turn times and lack of anything "to do" later in the game. The last 80 turns can take as long as the first 250 due to loading the turns and micromanagement. But if there is a challenge, it may give incentive for me to put up with it.

My domination games tend to get played completely through though. Something about leaving part of the map unconquered just doesn't seem right.

 

[civ54lyfe]

Yeah, turn times have to do with it, playing Sci/Cult/Diplo and seeing the outcome (in many games) also has something to do with it. I don't need a new "obstacle" specifically, but a twist of some kind is always welcomed.

 

[blackcatatonic]

Lack of anything to do? I just enjoy the 'world-building' of it all. I only get bored when there's no more room to build cities or all the AIs have been crushed to insignificance.

I can see that the lengthy turn-times would put people off, though. I recently took ages to complete a game (as in, several weeks) because although I could tell I was going to win Domination comfortably, I was absolutely determined to do so by wiping Bismarck off the map completely when I could easily have just captured Berlin and had done with it, and the whole process was taking *ages*.

 

[Matthew.]

Well once all the tiles in your cities are worked, there is no management of workers. At that point all buildings are already built in the cities, and any new ones through techs are easily purchased instantly. The only places left on the map to settle are one-tile islands in middle of nowhere.

At that point the game is either warfare or clicking next turn repeatedly while you wait for policies to tick by or spaceship parts to be built.

It has helped that I started playing larger maps with more Civs. On standard maps, 2-3 of the Civs are guaranteed to get wiped out completely by me and whichever AI is dominating the game. Another will be someone like Babylon or Denmark, and never does anything significant the entire game. By the time I hit the Renaissance, the map just feels dead. But on larger maps with more Civs, there tends to be enough going on to never reach that point. Of course, then the turn times are even longer...

 

[bkn42]

I tend to go back to unfinished saved games when I feel the game is somehow really interesting. Like if my first settler gets plopped onto a uber-fertile area, with gobs of resources, food and hills to mine, I love developing them into mega-cities, and seeing how large/productive they can get. Or if I'm doing a particular thorough and quick conquest, or if an AI civilization really tees me off by settling the turn before I got to an area, I like to see those thru. (literally and figuratively in that case!)

 

[ahawk]

Rarely will I go back to a save. A game's winner is more or less decided by the time I hit Industrial/Modern, so continuing a game would just be clicking "next turn" a hundred times until the game finishes just as I expected it to. And I find the game is most fun in that early exploration/city-settling period.

The rare exceptions are games where the tech difference between the top couple Civs is so close that the game is still undecided. However, I've been running into that situation more often since lately I've been purposely ignoring Rationalism.

I feel like the last 3 posts I wanted to quote were all from you, lol!

This is a quote where I totally understand your point, yet I act the opposite way. Like I said earlier in the thread, I'm the opposite: I'd rather click mindlessly for 100 turns just to see the final score rather than have to move around guys for 40 turns for an equally guarenteed win.

A lot of it, again, is what you are saying: if it's decided, why bother? Yet I'll gladly bother with 30 minutes of mindless clicking so I can see the final score and get some closure, while I'd rather not trudge through moving my mammoth army to the ends of the earth taking capitals.

To sum up: I usually will come back to saves if I know I just have to click through turns and take a little while, ~ 30 to 60 minutes. While I do this, I might put on ESPN, watch a movie, listen to music, whatever, just so I can get some closure, especially if it was a tough game starting out. Yet if I have 2 solid hours of actually having to do stuff (moving and producing units, mostly), I won't bother unless there's at least the slightest doubt about victory.

 

[RedFuneral]

I've actually changed my opinion a lot since I installed the Extended CCTP mod. Before I would have to agree that the game is pretty much decided by Industrial(whomever gets their first.) In all the games I played before I'd usually just give up on the longer victories and just go domination but it really isn't much fun kicking the AI while they're already down.

With the mod it's like a whole new game starts when you hit Industrial. It turns into a cold war scenario with everyone mass rushing factories/hospitals/other new buildings and cranking out massive armies really fast. If you want to win science/cultural you still really have to keep on cranking out the armies because if you fall behind you become easy prey. It becomes a game of balance between the armies and your treasury, and each turn you hope your un-easy alliences with the AI hold. At that point you look at the civs that fell behind as ways to get resources. Think you can get them through tribute or take them by force risking a world war, lol.

I've probably played the game more this past week than all the other times I've played combined, and I bought it on launch.

 

[blackcatatonic]

Well once all the tiles in your cities are worked, there is no management of workers. At that point all buildings are already built in the cities, and any new ones through techs are easily purchased instantly. The only places left on the map to settle are one-tile islands in middle of nowhere.

At that point the game is either warfare or clicking next turn repeatedly while you wait for policies to tick by or spaceship parts to be built.

True, but the way I always look at it is: if I've invested this amount of time in building my empire, I might as well at least stick around for the victory screen...

 

[bkn42]

True, but the way I always look at it is: if I've invested this amount of time in building my empire, I might as well at least stick around for the victory screen...

If there were some reward for finishing a game, like getting levels for your account (like so many other games these days), then I might be more enticed. But for now, seeing the victory screen for a boring round does nothing for me.