How much do you write down?

[wannabewarlord]

nekom, I actually don't take notes either, but I admire you (and those others who do) for the patience of actually doing so.

I admit I would be better off with some notes, because I tend to forget quickly certain things. For example I almost always forget to change civics when I get the pyramids Also, because I can only play two nights at most, games started on a thursday I can only resume on monday, and by then I have forgotten so much about what I wanted to do and what I already have/did, that I usually end up starting a new one (which then often suffers a similar fate ).

But to be honest, I cannot get myself to actually write down stuff, I simply canot be bothered. Maybe one day when I intend to advance to higher levels (playing prince atm), I will make notes of things to do/look out for. At least on screen.

cheers,
wannabewarlord

 

[JesusOnEez]

I don't take notes but am quite a finicky micro-manager. I've made extensive use of Alt-S to mark where enemy military resources are for Cavalry (or similar) to pillage whilst my stacks take out cities (also using lines to show my planned attack path).

If I'm not sure what to do with a city, I use Alt-S to mark on each tile what I plan to build.

Ironically, I don't use the F1 screen very often at all. In fact the game I'm currently playing is now at about 1730AD, I'm one turn away from Railroads and I've just realised 90% of my Workers are off continent improving my newer cities. I used F1 for the first time this game to set my six biggest production cities to build two Workers each, and that's pretty much all I use F1 for. I would use it more, but it never seems to give accurate figures (I think it shows overflow for hammers etc. where's I'd rather it showed my base + modifiers so I get a true reflection of my best production city etc...)

I play SG every so often, so I take notes for that so I can make a decent turn report, but not in my single player games...I may write down a Civ's UU/UB/Traits if I'm not that familiar with them for quick reference but that's about as far as it goes for paper note taking.

 

[AmazonQueen]

OK I was wrong about this
Having built my first 61 city empire I can now see the usefulness of notes
Fairly basic ones - food surplus so I know how many farms if any are neccessary, also which religions & corps I've spread there and have I got a spy there

 

[Grey Fox]

I only keep a spreadsheet for what victory types I've won with on every civ, and with what difficulty. Eventually I want to have won with every civ on every victory type.

I've also recently started using BUG and it's excellent.

I sometimes make a Sign in the game or draw some lines if there is something I gotta remember to do.

 

[TurboDave]

I started taking notes recently, but they were almost exclusively for diplomatic plans. Pretty much how I'm going to manipulate the AI.

Oh, and this is my first post, so hello everyone.

 

[Gliese 581]

I only make mental notes.

On the flip side, if I've been away from a game for a long time I'll have a look at the map and try to figure out what the hell I was thinking.

 

[Vylinius]

I have to say I don't take notes but I have made detailed strategy layers of provinces fronts forest names and I have made many mental storys I could tell you right off the bat and well I find that the more I play the more writing a story seems a good choice just one problem I don't know how to put pictures in

 

[carl corey]

I started taking notes recently, but they were almost exclusively for diplomatic plans. Pretty much how I'm going to manipulate the AI.

Oh, and this is my first post, so hello everyone.

Hi there, and welcome to civfanatics! I must say, diplomacy is one of my weakest points. I could pay more attention to it, maybe I'll start taking notes about that. I'm often in the situation of refusing a demand for a tech, or to go to war, etc., because I haven't payed attention to what the AIs were doing, and who's whose friend. I still win on Emperor without caring too much about diplomacy, but from what I see on Immortal I'd have to be more careful about it as it takes much longer to get on par with the AI regarding military, production, etc.

 

[Kip Beagle]

I use Alt-S a lot, mainly for reminders of where I want to put future cities, which enemy cities have wonders or are holy cities (or lots of settled great people), and reminders of how much excess food each city is producing so I know how many or few farms I need.

The only paper notes I keep are for my navies. I like to rename all my ships to follow historical ships (like "CVN Enterprise" instead of "Aircraft Carrier") and I write each one down so I don't accidentally use any name twice. Also, I keep little fleets in different locations and I write which ships are grouped together. Maybe it's silly/nerdy, but I like to do it and I don't mind the time it takes and it's fun having the Bismark and the Hood together in the same fleet.

 

[carl corey]

Kip Beagle, I don't care if it's silly/nerdy or not; I've done it before with cities, renaming them to existing names, fantasy names, or "just-for-fun" names. Whatever makes it more enjoyable is ok with me.

 

[Larklight]

In Final Fronteir, notes on starbase positions (with alt-S) are invaluable. Having ships accidentally run into them is both annoying and lethal.

Possibly notes of the home ports of ships, men etc might be useful

 

[Amask]

no one mentioned this, but I sometimes make a chart showing which AI lacks which resources, so if they all want sheep but only some want iron and only some want cows, but I don't have enough sheep to please everyone, I can work out a way to sell as many resources as possible
and it gets much more complicated with more AIs willing to pay more money for more resources
no way I could figure out the best combination in my head

 

[carl corey]

I usually do that in my head, more or less well. But since I try to trade mostly with potential allies there's that too to consider, so it's a bit more complicated than who has what.

 

[Wacky]

Mental notes, somethimes it should be better tho write it down .

But BUG helps a lot.

 

[CHEESE!]

I make small notes on post-its. the usually say Eat Food. Take shower. Visit outside

Survive...

 

[lermfish]

Am I the only one who feels stupid for thinking, "Strategy Layer? What's THAT?"

 

[Ringwraiths]

I take extensive notes when I'm playing multi-player play-by-email games. Then of course, that's mostly because there's nothing else to do between turns.

Basically, my buddy and I chronicle our games so we can read it from each other's perspective when it's over. It adds a level of enjoyment to the game you miss on rushed single-player games. Plus, gives me lots of time to define strategy.

 

[Anomander Rake]

Am I the only one who feels stupid for thinking, "Strategy Layer? What's THAT?"

When in game scroll right back - as if you were a satellite.

The game then gives you new buttons, instead of turn the grid on/off etc. you get strategy layers.
You can see
what culture affects which tile
an overview of religion spread
corporation spread

Notes can be made for tiles by pressing alt+s then clicking a tile and making a note (which can be deleted by pressing alt+s and and clicking the tile again).

 

[Ringwraiths]

Kip Beagle, I don't care if it's silly/nerdy or not; I've done it before with cities, renaming them to existing names, fantasy names, or "just-for-fun" names. Whatever makes it more enjoyable is ok with me.

In multi-player it's a lot of fun to name your cities to smack talk your opponent. Names like "I Own You", "Come Get Some", "All Your Base", etc...

One time while I was winning a war, I captured a lightly defended city called "Plump Berry". Made my day.

 

[lermfish]

When in game scroll right back - as if you were a satellite.

The game then gives you new buttons, instead of turn the grid on/off etc. you get strategy layers.
You can see
what culture affects which tile
an overview of religion spread
corporation spread

Notes can be made for tiles by pressing alt+s then clicking a tile and making a note (which can be deleted by pressing alt+s and and clicking the tile again).

Sounds interesting...