Do you suffer from Restartitis?

[Iberian]

Restarting on turn 1 or turn 100? The first 100 turns are the most fun and since I know I can win no matter what I just have to decide if playing another 1-100 will be more fun than spending the next 5 hours playing 100-280. Deity takes even longer but if you stick to Emperor you can rush through a game pretty quick and still experience every aspect from religion to war and everything in between.

I don't really see this game as a challenge, I will turn to multiplayer games for that. This is just to have fun building an empire and if after 100 turns it is going to be a boring game I restart.

 

[Pietato]

Oh, two other reasons I restart:

- My continent is the bugged no-barbarians one.
- I start next to someone with horrendous music e.g Straya, Pedro, Canada etc

 

[TomeTraveler]

I restart often. Sometimes I'll serially restart after just a few moves to get the lay of the land, not necessarily to get a "perfect" start (though if one pops up I'm not ungrateful) but rather, looking for something "interesting" in the start position: a cool mountain grouping or volcano formation, an isthmus that can access eastern and western oceans, a massive river network, and so on. Later on if the game gets boring I've no problem starting a new game well past a hundred turns in but if I get to two hundred turns I'm almost certain to finish it.

 

[RealAntithesis]

I restart when:
1. I get a poor start that just isn't working out (e.g hemmed in on all sides with no hope of expanding my 3 cities).
2. I want to use a new mod that affects saved games.
3. Game gets boring because the AI just gave me all their cities in a peace deal when they had the larger empire.
4. Game otherwise gets boring.

 

[King Rad]

No restarts here. Play what you get and dig yourself out of any disadvantages.
So many complain about lack of challenge, but restart until one gets the perfect spot...?

I never restart. And as @Stilgar08 said, it's funny how some people complain about a lack of challenge but then restart to ensure they've got what they need. I find that the whole concept of playing the map is one of the fun things for me. I move my warrior, but unless there's something that really looks appealing in the area of the map I can see, I just settle where I am on the 1st turn (usually) or the 2nd if I'm not next to a river and there's one a turn away. Since I play every civ once before playing any a second time [and my games often take 2-3 weeks, so I've only played 2 civs two times - and one of those was with GS to get a feel for the new mechanics], I often don't even pay attention to specific abilities until after I'm into the game, and my capital is often not my best/strongest city. I'm not a min/maxer and definitely don't play for shortest game times. I play for fun and to see what I can develop. I like to develop sprawling empires, sometimes had 50+ cities with R&F - so far not so much with GS as most of my neighbors have become friends and allies when I'm nice to them! And I role play in the sense that no matter what civ I'm playing, I generally play peacefully and try to be friendly with everyone who is willing to be so with me, building up a high production/high income civ.

 

[Troy Bruckner]

I restart a lot because it seems the game is designed to give you a map that does not fit what you are looking for. Cold dry old world? No problem will start Russia in a mountainous rainforest..... Huge Pangea map with only 4 other Civs? No problem one will settle 8 hexes away from your capital before you can build a settler....

 

[Leucarum]

On a related topic... Do people find themselves restarting more or less since GS came out.

For me the answer is a definute yes. So many of the new civs are map dependant, and the map generator gives Mali with no desert or Canada with no tundra really often in my hands.

 

[Pietato]

Yeah, getting a desert as Mali was incredibly painful.

If you are going to play a civ for 2-3 weeks, why would you not want to actually use their civ bonuses? You like blank civs?

 

[Sagax]

People suffering from Restartitis - look away.

My average no-restart Shuffle map start as the Netherlands:

Spoiler :

My average no-restart Shuffle map start as non-Netherlands:

Spoiler :

 

[Sostratus]

My average no-restart Shuffle map start as non-Netherlands:

Every freaking time.
I swear there's a quantum limitation on the map where you either have polder locations or the Netherlands, but never both.

 

[gunnergoz]

I think I've found a cure for my restartitis. Turns out I like games where I have more room to spread out, so I just cut back on the number of AI civs on the map, leave perhaps 6 on a 10 civ map. That seems to be working to keep me engaged. I don't like being crowded in right away and having to fight a war in the first 30-50 turns. That just galls me no end. I'd rather build up a few cities then start meeting neighbors. City States don't bother me quite as much as I like their bonus features.

 

[Starwars]

Yesterday I did a few "random restarts". I'd pick a random civilization, on Continents map, small size.

1. Canada - mostly flat start with desert. No tundra.
2. Scythia - flat start. No horses close by, there were some that were reeeeeeeeeally far away.
3. Canada again - Jungle start. No tundra.
4. Mongols - No horses and no iron. Also, no civs, just citystates everywhere!
5. Indonesia - Inland start
6. Rome - ended up playing this one.

Now, again, it's not about challenge or anything. But I just find that when you take the series in the direction of V and VI where each leader and civ has such a specific bonus, people will want to take advantage of that. You're creating a situation where the game is more and more geared towards these special playstyles and it's kinda boring when the game just doesn't support it. If I choose to play the Mongols for example, I do so because I want to use cavalry, I want to conquer. So it's boring when you don't get the means to support the playstyle.
In a way, I'm just a fan of the civs that have just a more generic bonus. Rome is a good example. Its free monument is *always* good, no matter what you want to do, free roads are *always* good ,no matter what you do. It always comes into play. Playing Mali but you don't have any desert? Is it playable? Of course. But it's kinda like building a diplomatic character in a RPG and the game never giving you any options to talk your way out of situations. You can still play it fine but it takes away that "my character is special" feel.

 

[orasis]

I never re-roll, no matter how bad the map.

 

[Victoria]

it's funny how some people complain about a lack of challenge but then restart to ensure they've got what they need.

And play as OP civ’s with abundant resources

 

[Pietato]

You are missing the point. Playing without the civ's abilities is not challenging, it is just lame and boring.

 

[ezysquire]

I just cut back on the number of AI civs on the map, leave perhaps 6 on a 10 civ map.

I find this helps with wonder building on Deity owing to less competition which is cool for France players like me. Catherine's spy ability helps keep the mid-game interesting too which gets you over the 100 turn hump others have mentioned here for restarting. Perhaps she is one of the better cure leader choices for restartitis. For mine, I restart for fresh water and a bit of mountain adjacency.

 

[gunnergoz]

And play as OP civ’s with abundant resources

Yeah, I do that too. I play King level and find that most games, by the time I discover the other AI's on other continents, they are way ahead, no matter how hard I've tried to make a good go of it. The local civs keep declaring surprise wars on me, or otherwise tie me down so I can't compete by mid game. I especially hate the religious units that force me to divert resources into building religious infrastructure I really don't care about but hate seeing AI religions taking over my cities. So my solution is to play on Legendary starts with abundant resources and fewer AI opponents. This seems to give me a fighting chance. In my current game I'm ahead on research and culture so this works for me, even though Indonesia whacked me with a surprise war that I had to fend off, disrupting my city buildup. So I want an AI that's a challenge, but not one that has too unfair and advantage. I guess I ask a lot. Prince is too easy and the next level after King is just not what I want either. Call me fussy, just don't call me late for dinner.

 

[Stilgar08]

You are missing the point. Playing without the civ's abilities is not challenging, it is just lame and boring.

Why are you playing without the abilities? You just have to work harder in order to benefit from the advantages you get. Isn't it another layer of "challenge" to get to the juicy spots that suit your civs abilities and occupy or conquer them?

I'm sure I'm exaggerating ; but if you find no coal nearby do you reroll then? No placement possible for wonder x, y, z and you wanted to build it - reroll? Bad luck with barbarians, wrong or no CS - reroll? I'm sure you get my point.

I never play pangea. Because it just diminishes the value of every naval and coast oriented civ IMO - I grant you that.
But to me that's another thing as say Mali starting without desert. Because desert IS there, you just have to find it...

You won't always start in industrial age as Germany because the UU is the submarine? Or would you? Of course not.

 

[Socrates99]

Yep, I restart a good three quarters of my new games. I'll even play out a few dozen turns, sometimes settle a few cities and just get dissatisfied and restart. Can't explain why. They're often perfectly winnable, just not the game I specifically want to play.

Mali and Maori are the worst for this. Sometimes you dont get good desert with Mali and finding a decent capital with Maori can be a PITA.

 

[Canadian Bluebeer]

I'll restart until I see that Auckland is in the game. ( I want their bonus ).

For some games, I'll restart till I see Lysefjord in the game. (when I want stupidly large and overpowered navy)