Hard to focus in mid/late game

[skalapunk]

Hi all. I have an admittedly vague question/concern and would appreciate any feedback or tips.

I seem to be very good at micromanaging my initial beginning strategy.

Usually by end of turn 1 I pretty much know what wonders I'm going for, where I'm going to expand, and what technology path to take.

I can plan my route and strategy pretty well up until around the CoL + era, and then I find myself being very sloppy or just hitting "Enter" alot to skip to the next turn to hurry up the game.

Does anyone else feel this way? REALLY focused, strategizing, and planning to start, then it sort of dwindles away?

Maybe it's just a lack of experience and a lack of knowledge about what the mid-late game technologies do, how to utilize their benefits, and how they synergize with with your plan...I dunno.

Long story short, my early game pretty much goes exactly the direction I want it to go in, but mid-late game I find myself playing it by ear. I find myself letting the AI civs direct the flow of the game, rather than ME directing it (politically, military, technologically, etc) the way I do early game.

/end confusing ramble!

 

[Sisiutil]

As the game goes on, I sometimes find I need to take breaks from it,especially if victory is pretty much in the bag and I'm just going through the motions, more or less, of making it happen. If it's a close game it's obviously much more riveting.

As with the early game, I find it helps to set "mini-goals" for myself. In the early game these are things like building an early wonder, REXing to a specific city spot, and so on. In the late game, it's easy to get so focused on the chosen victory condition, and so far ahead, that the usual "mini-goals", such as building wonders, aren't contests anymore. So I'll choose others that are. If I'm going for a domination win, for example, I'll set a goal of not having a single fishing tile pillaged. If I'm going for space race, I'll set a completion date by which I have to launch, no matter how complete the ship is. And so on.

 

[zeeter]

This is my only problem with Civ4. After the intial start up things just get too routine. Technology moves too quickly at times to settle on any one type of army; Longbowmen are quickly replaced by musketmen who are quickly replaced by riflemen who are quickly replaced by infantry. So wars during this period are typically short skirmishes where you get a slight advantage and then exploit that until your neighbor catches up. And overseas battles? Unless I have Cavalry and the other guy is still using archers it is more or less a waste of time. It takes too long moving troops using galleons and what not.

So yes. I agree that typically the mid to late game is boring. Lots of building things. The end-game is kind of cool, though.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

This is my only problem with Civ4. After the intial start up things just get too routine. Technology moves too quickly at times to settle on any one type of army; Longbowmen are quickly replaced by musketmen who are quickly replaced by riflemen who are quickly replaced by infantry. So wars during this period are typically short skirmishes where you get a slight advantage and then exploit that until your neighbor catches up. And overseas battles? Unless I have Cavalry and the other guy is still using archers it is more or less a waste of time. It takes too long moving troops using galleons and what not.

So yes. I agree that typically the mid to late game is boring. Lots of building things. The end-game is kind of cool, though.

If you play on a slower speed, wars can last much longer as unit tech advantages (or just parity) lasts longer. I've managed intercontinental invasions with trebs and muskets before easily (though that was on monarch/epic). Muskets aren't known for their longevity.

Once you get used to hotkeys and shortcuts games can take under 5 hours, so I don't really lose too much focus (although if the game is in hand, I start to micro less).