How many games do you actually finish?

[StrategeryBush]

I have a game going right now where I have 45% of the land area and 45% of the population. I can defeat the last civ on my continent and get up to 50% in each (plus or minus). That would take me about an hour of play, building up for an intercontinental invasion would take another hour, and conducting the invasion would take a third hour. The game is clearly won already, it is just a matter of grinding it out. Do most of you actually go through all that just to see the vid of the guy planting the flag and the world turning red again?

 

[jauggy]

I'm same as you. If I am top of the score board and have tech lead I usually quit. The only games that are close are my cultural victories so I play those to the end.


I think there's a way to change the domination limits in the XML.

 

[codewarrior]

If only there were a way to hand off your civ to an AI and watch it finish the game for you...

 

[Yibbledorf]

Depends. If I'm hopelessly lost I just start a new game. So far I haven't actually won a game on Noble without resorting to perm alliances.

 

[StrategeryBush]

I think there's a way to change the domination limits in the XML.

That would be good to know, not that I have the nerve to mess with the XML

 

[deathturnip]

I have never bothered to win a game come to think of it. I always leave them when there is no conceivable way for me to lose.

 

[Cusanus]

Ah, could someone please delete this post?

I decided too late that there's actually nothing I have to say...

Sorry.

 

[Shurdus]

I'm same as you. If I am top of the score board and have tech lead I usually quit. The only games that are close are my cultural victories so I play those to the end.


I think there's a way to change the domination limits in the XML.

Time to move one or two difficulty levels up. On higher difficulty levels it is very possible to be in the lead and have an AI be closer to victory.

I do not finish those games where I find myself hopelessly behind and in no position to actually do anything about it. When in a winning position I typically do grind it out. You may say that you can win a game, but the warring wtill require skill to win. If you get as much practise as you can at warring, there will be a point where a victory hangs in the balance. If you can use the things that you learned from the wars that you decide to skip and apply them in these on-par-wars, you may drag a victory away from the gates of hell.

In the end, this game is all about sharpening your teeth and becoming better and better. If you decide you have won and quit, you miss a lot of practice.

 

[Nothingontv]

I don't finish a lot of games. Mostly because when i stop for the day i simply don't want to continue the game the next day. Somehow it seems like more fun to start a new one.

 

[lilnev]

Almost never. The game is only interesting when the outcome is in doubt. When I've played for Cultural or Diplomatic, I need to reach the end. I've run a handful of Space victories out (though the endgame goes fast, set a few build instructions and hit End of Turn). Now I play exclusively for domination, and it's damn rare that it comes right down to the wire against an AI's cultural or space bid.

Actually, most of my games don't even make it to the point of decision. I have a bad habit of starting a new game "just because", and never finishing the old one.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

I have a game going right now where I have 45% of the land area and 45% of the population. I can defeat the last civ on my continent and get up to 50% in each (plus or minus). That would take me about an hour of play, building up for an intercontinental invasion would take another hour, and conducting the invasion would take a third hour. The game is clearly won already, it is just a matter of grinding it out. Do most of you actually go through all that just to see the vid of the guy planting the flag and the world turning red again?

If I'm in a controlling position I can prep an intercontinental invasion in about 10 minutes. Executing it will take longer usually, sometimes up to 30 whole minutes, but that's part of the fun of the game.

If you're in such a strong position I can't fathom what could possibly take you that long unless you're trying for earliest finish date or something.

 

[Negator_UK]

Do most of you actually go through all that just to see the vid of the guy planting the flag and the world turning red again?

I do, but then I don't see it very often

Also I've had some very close space-race games that went to the wire, then I just pad through 10 turns in a few minutes for the win (or give up straight away if Joao beat me again....).

But the work associated with then end game is offputting and may have contributed to a few concessions to the AI.

 

[madscientist]

Unless it's a losing situation I finish every game until I get those victory movies.

 

[michmbk]

If you're in that strong a position, it's so easy to just automate workers, production and use waypoints to get all your troops in one place, I always go ahead and finish - once I know the game is in the bag, usually can be done pretty quickly with automation.

 

[DigitalBoy]

I've recently made a jump to a higher difficulty level, so I'm inclined to see my games through just to make sure that the game is won.

But on easier difficulties, seeing a game through can be painfully tedious if it's not even challenging.

 

[shyuhe]

If I'm in a controlling position I can prep an intercontinental invasion in about 10 minutes. Executing it will take longer usually, sometimes up to 30 whole minutes, but that's part of the fun of the game.

If you're in such a strong position I can't fathom what could possibly take you that long unless you're trying for earliest finish date or something.

+1 *marine or *tank works pretty well at that stage. Just have your minor cities build wealth so that they don't bother you with build requests, and use waypoints.

 

[CivilizedTiger]

I've quit all games at lower levels than noble, and I was winning clearly in all of them before quitting, which I did with clear advantages, because I just thought it was too cheesy + I was reading all of these strategy guides which talked about 2 starting techs, and at lower levels than noble you start with more than 2 techs, so I felt really bad about that.

But I've quit almost all other games, too. I've quit a lot of games because I REXed heavily and neglected my army, I've quit because I failed the early rushes (mainly as a result of having little patience, in many of those failed rushes, I managed to get the rival's capital, then failed obviously lost battles, just cause I wanted to gamble). I also quit a game for losing liberalism, I quit games for being disappointed with what I was teching in 500 CE for instance (researching CS so late seems very disappointing to me), I quit games because of failed diplomacy, although I could have handled it.

I've also quit games for personal reasons: I've quit games in which I had to rush Willem van Oranje or Pericles, who are my favourite leaders, simply because I didn't want to kill my favourite leaders.

And... of course... I've quit games in which I was going for random leaders and drew the likes of stalin or mao. I've been able to sell myself the story that "it's just a game" with things I seriously hate, such as slavery, because not using that civic means little chance of success early on, but I haven't yet been able to sell myself that story for playing leaders whom I despise in real life. And... of course, going for random leaders, I've also quit, on the first turn, games in which I drew leaders I had recently played as.

I think I've finished about 5% of the games I've played. (I'm not counting the random leader games which I quit during first turn, just to get a different leader... those would seriously drop my percentage)

 

[StrategeryBush]

+1 *marine or *tank works pretty well at that stage. Just have your minor cities build wealth so that they don't bother you with build requests, and use waypoints.

If I'm in a controlling position I can prep an intercontinental invasion in about 10 minutes. Executing it will take longer usually, sometimes up to 30 whole minutes, but that's part of the fun of the game.

If you're in such a strong position I can't fathom what could possibly take you that long unless you're trying for earliest finish date or something.

In the case of the game that I made the OP about, I don't even have combustion yet, so it'd take more than 10 minutes to set up an invasion fleet.

I probably ought to learn about using way points &c. I don't usually like to rush (meaning hurry), and I find the endgame more tedious than fun. If you're dominant in both production and tech, then you can overrun the rest of the world in pretty short order, dull but at least it is quick; however, when your opponent is on a tech par with you it is just a matter of producing and shipping more troops than he can and grinding him down, which takes longer.

I'm with the guy who mentioned that by the next day he'd rather have fun playing a new game than slogging through the end of the previous one.

 

[CivMcNut]

Am I the only person who cares about the final score? I play most of my games all the way out to the end. I love seeing my final score get real high from winning the game in a powerful way.

I admit that in Conquest or Domination there is a point where you know you have it in the bag, but I try and see things like, did I actually win the game at an earlier date? How much gold did I pile up before the game was over? Did my final score beat out the other times I played? How did I fare using this particular leader? How big did my army actually get? If you keep your troops in 1 or 2 stacks of doom and command them together and automate your workers some of the tedious parts of the game goes away.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

In the case of the game that I made the OP about, I don't even have combustion yet, so it'd take more than 10 minutes to set up an invasion fleet.

Why? It's no harder to queue up frigate + galleon than it is destroyer + transport.

If you're playing on a difficulty that is actually challenging for you, a late game grind can cost you the game: strategy is very important and so is its execution and timing. Possibly you're playing below your level...making end-game situations that are functional blowouts. Easily controlling your continent on a consistent basis is a good hint toward that too.