How do you play Civ?

[Lord Parkin]

For me it's usually:

- Huge size
- Big and Small, Fractal, or Hemispheres map
- 18 players
- Low sea level, most other settings standard
- Marathon speed preferred, though sometimes have to stick with Normal/Epic when I don't have the time (can't stand Quick speed though)
- Monarch-Immortal level (depending on how much of a challenge I'm looking for... e.g. laid-back cultural game or all-out war)
- Usually pick my own leader and leave the AI's random (occasionally have unrestricted leaders for a bit of spice)
- Almost always have vassal states off (I dislike the way they interfere with wars, dislike the colonial maintenance on island-style maps, and am not really a fan of colonies popping up mid-game either)

Those are my preferences for single player games anyway. I see quite a few people here share a similar love of huge, long games.

 

[Matty R]

I always play Custom Games with Huge maps at Marathon speed and 10 civs in total, and I've really taken a shine to Planet_Generator_068, or whatever it's called, mainly because I can remove mountains.

Random Personalities and No Random Events, sometime No Barbarians. The victories I tend to use are Conquest, Domination and Cultural, but most of my wins have been from the Cultural victory. I sometimes use Space Race, with my modified research rates on the ship components.

I'm really getting into XML changes, and I don't think I could play an unchanged version again. Some of the changes I always use are nothing becoming obsolete, all resources visible from the start (after one particularly "unlucky" game ), all improvements can be built on any terrain (Cottages on Desert Tiles, Farms on Snow Tiles etc), no Global Warming, infinite National Wonders in cities, a few minor changes to Great Wonders and terrain features, and a decreased research rate (so techs take more turns to research).

My games are highly customised to remove most of the stuff I find annoying.

As for my playstyle, I'm generally peaceful, but if someone declares war on me I tend to refocus my entire empire into my army and wipe that civ out.

I'm in training now though, at Settler difficulty, after a long break from the game. Just before I quit (due to barely manageable PC specs), I got wiped out before 2000bc after being penned in by three civs. My playstyle has since changed. I'm starting to expand much more and much sooner, and I'm getting better at maintaining a military force that prevents being declared on.

My eventual aim is to be competitive at Noble difficulty. I'm not really playing for a challenge, just for fun.

I still wish combat was more complex though.

 

[Woodreaux]

My last few dozen games have been a mix of Noble and Prince, standard sized, marathon speed, raging barbs with "No tech brokering" on. I usually run "Continents" script, but my current game is my first "Big & Small". Also, I run BUG.

 

[0range]

Custom Game
Map: Hemispheres
Size: Standard
Climate: Temperate
Massive Continents
Quick Speed
Options: Choose Religions, No Barbarians
12 Civs
Noble Difficulty

 

[jauggy]

Difficulty: Prince
Map: Large, Pangea or PerfectWorld2
Options: No vassals, no permanent alliances, aggressive AI
Speed: Marathon
AIs: about 8
Mods: BUG
Personal changes I made to XML: AIs will form defensive pacts at any attitude level; no diplo penalty for refusing to join in a war; no global warming; peace treaty lasts 30 turns instead of 10

 

[The Snug]

Up until now, mostly standard maps with no or minimal modding.

However, as of this post I'm online on my new machine, with a 3.0 ghz processor (2k bus IIRC), 1 gig graphics card, 4 gigs of RAM, and (somewhat sadly) Vista instead of windows 2k (wanted XP, but oh well).

So there's going to be a little more variety now.

If you bought it from a retailer, you should be able to get a free upgrade to W7 today.

I went from a 4200 x2 with 4g RAM and XP to 9750 x4 with 8g RAM and Vista.

I just went up too Vista too. I actually find Vista to work so much better for Civ than XP ever did. With XP, I kept getting memory errors that would crash the game, with Vista the game is crash proof. If it exceeds the memory, it simply blacks out for a moment, and then returns later when it's finished thinking. Now I can play those extra giga maps with no oceans and 50 civs and actually complete the game in the modern era. Vista is a revolution for civ playing. I can't wait to see how it goes once I upgrade to W7.

Difficulty: Emperor to Deity depending upon mood
Map Size: Large to 2 sizes above huge (now that I've got Vista, might try some even larger maps).
Map Type: Switch between pangaea (no oceans, but with great lakes) and New World/Islands maps
Options: Vassals, PAs, Raging Barbs
Speed: Marathon
AIs: between 25 and 50
Mods: BUG, Civ Gold, and my own tinkerings
Personal changes I made to XML: Can found cities 1 square away instead of 2 (for twin cities). Altered promotion tree. Altered monasteries. No xp limit against barbs, no xp loss for upgrading.

 

[Lemon Merchant]

Well, I'm still waiting for my copy of Win 7 to appear, and my retailer tells me that my pre-ordered copy won't even ship until late next week, assuming that they have any stock left over from the big launch. The whole point of the pre-order (according to Microsoft, anyway - and the retailer, too) was to guarantee the buyer that a copy would be reserved for them and delivered on or before the launch date. The IT department at the hospital had pre-ordered copies two weeks ago! Arrrgh! [/Rant]

Sorry, I digress... Back on topic...

I have developed a fondness for small maps lately. So for me, I usually play Prince, small, random, and lately random leaders, with either BAT, or Varietas Delectat.

And, as Binhthuy so eloquently put it, I play badly too.

Oh goodness, I just pictured the two of us in an MP game. Both of us fumbling about, tied for last place in the middle ages, 10 techs behind, and each of us trying to throw the game to end our misery. - After seven weeks of play!

Ok, I'm sure that's not true of him, but that sure describes me.

 

[pesgores]

I play as many scenarios as possible.

 

[binhthuy71]

Oh goodness, I just pictured the two of us in an MP game. Both of us fumbling about, tied for last place in the middle ages, 10 techs behind, and each of us trying to throw the game to end our misery. - After seven weeks of play!

Ok, I'm sure that's not true of him, but that sure describes me.

You would be correct. The luck of the draw gave me Mehmed in the current game. It also gave me a map where only two cities have anything like decent production, and my neighbors are Isabella and Boudica. Adopting Buddhism took care of Isabella which left it up to Boudica to DoW on me. Of course she came through. Luckily, that was two turns after I'd researched Gunpowder so it was Police State, Vassalage and Theocracy to grind out enough Janissaries, Trebs and Cuirassiers to get her to capitulate. It was like counting pennies. When Boudica DoW'd I was actually hoping to see a massive SoD that would sweep away my cities and finish the game.
There are times when I seriously question why I ever left those levels where I could build all of the Wonders I wanted to, found three or four religions, and then win the space race in the 1600's.

 

[bestbrian]

Well, I'm still waiting for my copy of Win 7 to appear, and my retailer tells me that my pre-ordered copy won't even ship until late next week, assuming that they have any stock left over from the big launch. The whole point of the pre-order (according to Microsoft, anyway - and the retailer, too) was to guarantee the buyer that a copy would be reserved for them and delivered on or before the launch date. The IT department at the hospital had pre-ordered copies two weeks ago! Arrrgh! [/Rant]

Just "borrow" a copy from the hospital, and JOILA, problem solved. Jeesh, stop trying to make everything so difficult.

[It's so good to have you back. ]

 

[Lemon Merchant]

Just "borrow" a copy from the hospital, and JOILA, problem solved. Jeesh, stop trying to make everything so difficult.

Oooh! Entrapment, anyone?

[It's so good to have you back. ]

Aw shucks, you're making my dimples show.

There are times when I seriously question why I ever left those levels where I could build all of the Wonders I wanted to, found three or four religions, and then win the space race in the 1600's.

I know! I know! Masochism! Just like me!

 

[LegioCorvus]

(trying to shake things up a bit)

I play obsessively until I feel that my position is "secure" (meaning that I am not under attack by an equally strong AI, and not threatened militarily, within a tech or two of being first in tech, and middle-of-the-pack at least in score). Consequently I play for hours when I start a new game, and then suffer a bit of a letdown when I feel that the path to victory is relatively clear.

I don't play music when I Civ. I occasionally drink while playing. Often I give my girlfriend/wife running commentary, especially when she hears nonstop gunfire from my PC speakers for hours on end.

Well, that describes me pretty well. The girlfriend is not to fond of the commentary, but she pretends.

So... have your girlfriend & wife met each other yet?

 

[cdcuase]

I play with the Bug mod and Better AI. Blue Marble tile set.

On average my map settings are
- standard size, with the occasional Huge game for variety
- Normal speed, Marathon on occasion
- default number of civs
- Noble (I still have trouble beating Prince consistently, I blame Better AI mod )
- no events
- no vassals
- no tech brokering (I stink at managing tech trades with AIs)
- random script map (but I usually regenerate if I get archipelago since I find I can roll over the AIs on this kind of map)

Even though I have a 6600 quad cpu, 8800gt geforce, 4 gigs ram I put the graphics on lowest settings since I'm pretty anal about the life span of my cpu and gpu.
Plus I use a dual monitor setup where I play Civ on one monitor and movies, tv, or vid streams on the other.

 

[karadoc]

I usually play a normal "Play Now" game... normal/large map, sometimes random; random leader; emperor difficulty; normal speed; continents, fractal, or shuffle most of the time.

I don't use any mods. I listen to the normal in-game music most of the time. I rarely declare war - I only do it if I think I really need more land to be competitive, or if there is an open opportunity for me. The thing is, I don't need to declare war to capture land from the AI because they will always declare war on me sooner or later... I often have an underdeveloped military outside of wartime, so I often lose one city when the AI declares war and show up with a huge stack. That city then becomes the main killing ground for the war until I'm ready to roll over their cities.

I frequently take a long time on each turn, because I like to browse around a fair bit looking for tricky micro-management things I can do to get an edge. Not really extreme micro, just stuff like temporarily canceling open-borders so that an enemy great artist can't get to the city that I've engulfed in culture, and interrupting the building of an aqueduct because I really need another cannon, or whatever.

--

But then there are the other kinds of games, when at 2:00 am or so I decide that I'll just have a "quick game before bed"... so I set quick speed and tiny land map. I don't do nearly as much micro then. I never finish those games in the same night, so I don't know why I still sometimes think that I might.

[edit]
One more thing...
Around the time of my first settler, I usually spend _ages_ trying to plan out the best combination of city locations for me to build. I decide on the locations of many cities, and the order I should build them etc. Of course, it's usually a waste of time because the AI ends up building one of their cities in a spot that stuffs up my plan. I guess it's just an obsessive habit that I haven't been able to break.

 

[Kid R]

I like the early game best so I play on several skill levels too high for myself, which means I lose after an hour or so and can restart and discover a whole new world again - woohoo!

 

[3 EMS]

I like to play:

Standard map
Temperate, medium water levels
Continants is my favorite but I play others.
Marathon speed
Normal amount of civs +/-1
Play as Americans
Throw in Cathy or Izzy or some other civ just to make sure one is in. Particularly Civ/Warlords civs
The rest random
Single unit graphics, no tech brokering, no events, no espionage
Noble difficulty- see last sentence of binhthuy71's last post

I try to win space race victories. I want to see my spaceship being built then racing to Alpha. I try to play peacefully but I need 15 cities to build my ship. 25 makes it easier. Often I have to ease off of the conquering or I'll screw up and win domination. Sometimes I'll take a UN victory for an earlier victory to get out of the late game tedium.

 

[mechaerik]

Mods: BUG or WLBO or DarkCiv (custom version with BUG implemented)

Standard Continents/Hemispheres/Planet Generator
Prince Difficulty
Either Epic Speed or a custom one.
No Time Victory
No Tech Brokering
Choose Religions
Permanent Alliances On
Aggressive AI

Occasional scenario, like standard Earth or Tiny Europe.

 

[LiquidSwords]

- Prince (but I'm preparing to switch to Monarch within the next week or so)
- Normal speed (Epic is nice, though)
- Normal size (occasionally Large or Small)
- 2-4 more AIs than usual
- Pangaea/Continent maps (but I'm taking a shine to Fractal)
- I have no preference for leaders, but Mansa Musa's my favourite
- No diplomatic victory
- No tech brokering
- Choose religions

 

[Navarre]

Marathon speed, Noble to Prince, occasionally Warlords when I want to see something on an easy game or if I've stopped playing a long time, Large (I like Huge, but my comp doesn't), Continents/Hemispheres/Archipelago, Choose Religions (fed up with everyone Buddhist or Hinduist) and I play all leaders and all traits, depending on the mood and the kind of game I want to play. I also use BAT mod, mostly for the reskinned units and cities, and the interface.

 

[Rameau's Nephew]

BTS 3.19 w/ current BUG
Monarch difficulty is where I have the most fun
Standard size
Epic speed
Map varies; usually Fractal, Contients, Hemispheres, Pangea, M&S, or B&S.
Other map settings at default, with an occasional Tropical climate
Default number of opponents +1 (sometimes +2)
Barbs on, events on, huts OFF.

And I'm a chronic restarter.