How Often do you Finish Your FFH Games?

[Sarisin]

I have to say I am very bad at finishing FFH games. There are all kinds of reasons:

1. I have technical difficulties. Whether it is my computer horsepower or the game itself, I find the late game just drags on forever. Yes, it has a lot to do with the size of the map, # of civs, Hell Terrain, game speed, etc., but I find the time in between turns late game to be just too much.

2. An unwinnable or a sure thing winnable game. Why keep playing under these circumstances?

3. A new patch not compatible with your saved game.

4. A game just becomes uninteresting. All the civs have Defensive Pacts, the map is full, etc. etc.

I just love the early-mid game of FFH. Actually, in some games, the late game can be fun too, especially when you start rolling out those Big Boy units to defend/attack. However, I would say I have started at least 20 .32 FFH games and I have only two in my Trophy Room, or whatever that is called, as having been completed.

That's why I said less than 25%.

How many do you finish and I would be curious as to your reasons why you don't finish games.

NOTE: I messed up a little and probably should have had a choice for 1-25%, but couldn't figure out a way to edit a Poll. Sorry,

 

[mahazel]

I have been playing FFH for 1,5 year, and I ended only 3 games ;] One as Sheim, one as Kuriotate, one as Cuali, all on epic speed. Moreover i`m playing about one new game per week, and it is true, that I just love first 200-300 turns. But I'm always playing only with conquest, domination and Tower victory.

 

[snarko]

I stop playing soon after I'm able to go on the offensive. By then even if every AI in the world declare war on me I'll beat them, so there's no challenge left. I'm trying to figure out a good way to give the AI insane bonuses towards the later part of the game so that they will become more difficult even after I start attacking them.

As I'm usually a peaceful builder it takes me some time to get to the point that I can attack them so it's not short games, I just never finish them.

I also stop playing games just because for whatever reason I don't find it enough fun to continue. Perhaps I've decided I want to play some other civ/setting or just don't feel like playing for a few days (I rarely continue saves more than 3-4 days old).

 

[ShadowDrgn]

I've been playing this mod for a long time and I'm pretty sure I've only finished one game, and that was only because I won an altar victory. We turned that victory condition off for future games because it was too easy. We always quit whenever it's obvious who's going to win, and I don't play single player besides to test out a new opening strategy.

I voted never.

 

[wig]

I voted never, although I probably finish 3-5% of my games. The late game is just so predictable, and even on Immortal level once you get over 'The Hump' the outcome is a forgone conclusion. Now I mostly work on fine-tuning my settings to push back the Hump. Raging Barbs, Aggressive AI, AI teammates, anything that forces me away from my steady research and puts me on the defensive.

 

[KingOfLands]

I probably finish close to half the games I don't restart because I dislike my initial position.

Even in games where I'm not likely to pull off a win without serious amounts of grunt-work first, I tend to set myself some sort of goal ("Take over my continent" is a popular one) and then put a game to bed once they're done.

 

[Vitek]

I don't finish most games just because my computer can't handle late game and I can't force myself to play only with few civs.

 

[arcticnightwolf]

1% ... AI is very strong and tech advanced, or I'm too strong and tech advanced ... ):

 

[MagisterCultuum]

Does losing count as finishing? That would bring my percentage up quite a bit. Sometimes my changes make the AI way too powerful. (In the slightly modifed FF I played most recently I found my changes made the AI insanely powerful in advanced start games, but didn't seem at all overpowered without advanced starts. I guess thats what you get when you give them enough points to buy a dozen cities and give all cities a minimum of 4 hammers.)

 

[Nikis-Knight]

I find domination victory to be very doable, especially if you're willing to vassalize or able to get permanent alliances. Anyway, on standard size maps it is, I tend to win on those right before I feel I've got a sure thing.

 

[Pyr0mancer]

I tend to play epic standard maps, with only domination and conquest victories on, so my games tend to last a while. Usually I try to finish off my games, but sometimes it's just too much of a nuisance. Pangaea maps are easy to finish off, since I can just take my stack(s) of doom and burn down the rest of the continent. Maps where I'm on a separate continent tend to be a pain to finish unless I've got the Nexus, and even then are somewhat annoying, so those often go unfinished.

As a side note, I tend to play a mostly builder playstyle until the midgame or so, at which point my supercities are ready to start pumping out a unit every 3-4 turns or less. I actually lost by Domination once because I wasn't paying attention and another civ went and vassalized the entire world while I was busy turtling

 

[Glorindel]

At the point where the outcome becomes inevitable I always start a new game. So I've never actually won a game. Though of course I've lost countless times.

 

[MrPopov]

the way this and the other mod mods are updated, I find it hard to keep up and all the exciting new features in the newly released versions are too much to keep me interested in the "old" version

 

[xienwolf]

Thank you for this, I had forgotten that back before I started writing code I proposed an alternative set of Victory Conditions which are MUCH lower, so that you have to struggle quickly to get yours before the AI gets theirs. Having them as an option may be worth testing out now that I can easily convince someone (that would of course be myself) to write the needed code.

 

[Blackmantle]

I picked 50% + since thats about the ratio of real games i play and finish (i sometimes reload maps that are totally scrued though if its only some seconds / minutes into the game. So i left those out of the equation. Which happens rather often since i play marnoks mod and demise at the hand of some treant / elemental or minotaur comes fastly in that modmod at times. So i did ignore part of reason 2. Hope thats not to much of a problem. )

But usually i play long games and like to finish them by a victory condition + playing with the tools i have set up (usually thats Altar, ToM or Cultural since i as well sometimes just like to wrap up a game (i allready have won) and those are the fastest ones timewise in lategame usually for me. I also play creation + large or huge maps + marnoks almost exclusively which further adds to me chosing the builder victories to wrap up a game. Since a military victory whould take forever most of the time on such maps. I don't like to scrap a game i will win. ).

If i wan't to finish them militarily i beeline the nexus as fast as possible (i even try to get it if i don't aim for a military victory. But not all that viciously) and go rolling up the countryside. (with turning up the culture slider + building lots of desciples to end revolts if i aim for domination and building lots of fast units like mounted / fast ships / recon if i go for conquest.)


I have never reached the end of time finish / score victory once (always win earlier if i come into the later stages of the game. Mostly around Turn 400 normal speed) and only got one religious one for seeing the finishing movie for that victory by setting up a 2 player game with grigori beeing the other. So i am not very good at aiming at those.

Whit a mix of maily reason 3, 4 and a bit of 1 (only happens rarely thanks to my comp beeing rather fast but sometimes one minute or 2 to wait each turn just is to much to handle) to indeed scrap about one half to one third of games.

Also i scrap much more games on mapload if i try a new civ / strat i want to explore than those i play purely for the fun of it or with a civ / strat i know and like. (because i don't want to waste unessesary time for bad buildup just to test something. That makes up for most of the games i do scrap sometime during the game.)
Since i do test new things rather often (and still can after playing the mod so long which is really nice) my quota is "just" about 50% otherwise it whould be 75%+

 

[Silica_Pathways]

Rarely, as i'm a perfectionist.

 

[loffenx]

I really wish there were some way you could grant cities on the same continent as your own independence too. usually my empire grows to large for me to keep track of its development and then I loose interest, especially if I am heading for a victory.

Won an altar vicotry once, but i really had to force myself to stay in that game, so I voted never.

 

[marioflag]

I used to play on marathon and i finished games between 1-10% of times.
Now i'm playing on Normal Speed, Standard maps to understand faster all the toys in the game and i'm finishing 50% of the games.So i'm on the 1-50% range.

 

[Nikis-Knight]

usually my empire grows to large for me to keep track of its development and then I loose interest

If this is a micromanagement problem, you can simply tell them to produce gold or research, and automate a worker nearby. That way you don't have to oversee them and they'll probably just pay for themselves, while still giving you territory.

Otherwise, I think you can save build orders. I'm not sure how, but I should figure it out since I always give my captured cities the same 4-5 orders.

 

[westamastaflash]

Otherwise, I think you can save build orders. I'm not sure how, but I should figure it out since I always give my captured cities the same 4-5 orders.

Control-#
Where # is a number, saves the build order to memory

Pressing that number while in the city screen gives you the build queue that was saved (with any invalid items removed).