How can you ever finish a game?

[morchuflex]

Hello.

Do you finish games, or abandon them? I personnally almost always abandon them, for one of the following three reasons:

1. I want to try something new. Did happen a lot when I was a beginner. Much rarer now.
2. I'm desperately behind and see no way to recover.
3. (most frequently). I know I'm going to win and I find it boring to drag the game to an inevitable end.

In particular, there's no way I can force myself into continuing when I'm ahead in population, infrastructure and technology: if the stupid AI can't even crush me when I'm half an era behind in tech, have no horses nor iron and they outproduce me 3 to 1, they're obviously not going to manage when I'm the one who's ahead of them. So where's the challenge? Besides, the late game is boring with all this pollution to clean and space parts to build.

The only reason why I don't quit as soon as I'm ahead in pop and tech, is strategic resources. If you lack critical resources, being ahead may not be good enough.
Example: in a recent game, by mid-industrial, we were 5 empires left of comparable power, and I was marginally ahead. I was at war with three and allied with the fourth, Japan. I easily contained their attacks and Japan had been a faithful ally throughout the game. But when I realized I had no oil and I couldn't conquer any except from... Japan, I knew I was up to an interesting challenge.

But other than that, it simply isn't worth continuing. Or is it?

 

[Pentium]

1. It's you choise.
2. Go to Chieftain.
3. Go to Diety.

 

[IbnSina]

I abandon all the time, after it becomes clear that I will win. I'm afraid I only find it tedious to kick AI backside all over the map by the time I have a tech lead and by far the largest empire - especially when each turn is taking 15-20 minutes. I am not allowed to abandon until I have 50% of the land area, and a tech lead. At that point, I quit and record the year, score, and other data, just to have something to compare with other games I've played.

 

[BasketCase]

If I get hopelessly behind in a game, I just back up to a previous save and try again.

If I get hopelessly ahead and get bored kicking AI backside, I stick the save in a subdirectory for some other time. I've got 60 gigs left on the drive.

 

[CrackedCrystal]

My philosophy is simple. I stop playing when I am not having fun. Its a game, not a chore.

 

[North King]

I usually abandon because I forget about them. The ones I continue are because they have a lot of history to them and are interesting. Which is rare.

 

[rysingsun]

of the games i am winning i abandon something like 3/4 of them before i technically "win". and its for the same reasons. the end game is extremely tedious.

 

[Alpha Infantry]

how about trying something new. Try some of the conquests.
Or, try to have games with nothing but war, or nothing but peace.
When Im in a bad mood, like if I cant go outside, I like to put the difficulty on cheiftain, but make the ai aggresive. make it one on one, and become a savage. I might do the same thig with RoN also.
Whichever game, it doesant matter, Im still a MONSTER!

My philosophy is simple. I stop playing when I am not having fun. Its a game, not a chore.

Word to this man right here.

 

[Jaded_Feriluce]

I try to never abandon a game if I can help it. The way I look at it, if Im going to spend so many hours getting to that point where Im absolutely sure Im going to win, then i MUST see it through! (Though on larger maps I tend to get sloppy just tryin to finish off those pesky rivals of mine.) Only exeption to this so far has been with the huge maps...... lol even I have better things to do.

 

[Pentium]

I never abandon. I think that it gets interesting in the late game. I fight-through the AA and MA, and began enjoying in IA.

 

[Pounder]

I think the question should be, "Have you ever not finished a game". I feel compelled to finish a game. I have a very large hall of fame (high scores) file, it is becoming more of a database.

 

[Drakan]

Huh? I finish a game once every week. I start on a Friday and finish sometime midweek. And I still have time for my social life and job. Don't quit games. Play until the end almost always.

If you find the game boring do as Pentium suggests and raise the yardstick. Play on Deity and If you're bored on that level, try Sid, I guarantee you won't get bored, not that I have played it myself.

 

[Moonsinger]

Hello.

Do you finish games, or abandon them? I personnally almost always abandon them, for one of the following three reasons:

1. I want to try something new. Did happen a lot when I was a beginner. Much rarer now.
2. I'm desperately behind and see no way to recover.
3. (most frequently). I know I'm going to win and I find it boring to drag the game to an inevitable end.

In particular, there's no way I can force myself into continuing when I'm ahead in population, infrastructure and technology: if the stupid AI can't even crush me when I'm half an era behind in tech, have no horses nor iron and they outproduce me 3 to 1, they're obviously not going to manage when I'm the one who's ahead of them. So where's the challenge? Besides, the late game is boring with all this pollution to clean and space parts to build.

The only reason why I don't quit as soon as I'm ahead in pop and tech, is strategic resources. If you lack critical resources, being ahead may not be good enough.
Example: in a recent game, by mid-industrial, we were 5 empires left of comparable power, and I was marginally ahead. I was at war with three and allied with the fourth, Japan. I easily contained their attacks and Japan had been a faithful ally throughout the game. But when I realized I had no oil and I couldn't conquer any except from... Japan, I knew I was up to an interesting challenge.

But other than that, it simply isn't worth continuing. Or is it?

You need to focus on different goals/standards. Victory can't really be based on winning or losing but how much you have learned and progressed through time. The finally destination isn't very rewarding but its journey is timeless.

For example, if you have no horse, then just focus on solving that problem. Don't give up! Even if you lose the game in the end, but if you manage to get horse, you have already won becuase you have achieved your goal. On the other hand, if you know for sure that you are going to win the game no matter what, then you should pick another goal. For example, play for simultanously win at the same time or going for the highest possible score or whatever goal that may seem out of reach.

 

[michael4000]

If victory is inevitable, I finish up the game while I'm doing something else -- laundary, paying the bills, whatever. There's a point where you don't really need to pay attention to what the other Civs are doing, and you can just fortify any units that aren't doing mopping up. But I always finish -- after the effort of a winning game, I want to watch the victory parade.