zerksees
in remission
This is a great thread!
In the beginning:
My folks never bought us any strategy games, other than chess and maybe Battleship. But that all changed in 7th grade when my friend Steve and his friend introduced me to Risk. It was the board game but it was quite interesting to play strategy on Risk.
Fast forward to college:
My buddies played Risk. Soon we had too many players so we started double board Risk. We would take two versions of the game (one with wood pieces and one with plastic), and line them up end to end. I recall several games in the lounge with 11 players.
Soon they got me started on Axis and Allies board game. Yikes I got hooked on that game. At first I was getting crushed but then advanced to the point where my enemies old strategies no longer worked. I rather enjoyed putting an end to the German tank blitz from my friend John. At this point he is responsible for getting me started on A&A.
John also got me started on paintball which was a blast. I also played an AirForce board game, Flat Top, and a few others. Then he gave me a copy of Civ II gold edition. I couldn’t see the value of a game called “Civilization”. I put it away. I probably sat on it for a couple years until he told me there was a way to play be email in the new version of Civ (Civ III). Right away I knew I needed to learn the game, so I started with Civ II. I could see the potential for the game right away! I played a couple games before I was able to get Civ 3.
I knew John could beat Civ 3 on monarch “sometimes”, so I was committed to achieving that level of success. I laugh now when I think about how much I struggled on my first chieftain game. I won a histographic victory – barely.
The golden age begins:
Then I found this forum. I think I was looking for the patches as well. Well I learned about the Persians and beat the game on Warlord, Regent, and Monarch – each time on the first try! Now you know how I became zerksees. Emperor was too much for me and I was defeated. Too arrogant I guess. Then I came back to CFC and learned how to beat emperor (with the Zulu), then deity (with Americans).
You may be wondering about the reason I started playing Civ. It turns out John was lousy at playing by email so he dropped out of the games we started and left me with this addiction!
Somewhere along the line I jumped to PTW and now Conquests. I rarely lose to the AI, but now that I am playing games for the high score HOF I have to admit I sometimes abandon games. I try to play in areas where I don’t have to score that well for the game to get into the top 10 of some category, but that does not always work out. I beat C3C deity on the first try though I think I used mapfinder to get a good starting map, and it was quite a job to achieve that feat.
In addition to HOF and PBEM games, I have also had a lot of fun playing some challenge games – those many deemed lost or hopeless, in an attempt to save them. This phase of Civ along with my desire to share what I have learned has gotten a couple of my threads into the war academy.
In the present:
I bought a 75 Corvette (needs TLC) in July and it definitely reduced my addiction to Civ, which had lasted over 3 years. Didn’t the video on vanilla Civ say 6 months of addiction? I would say this ended my golden age of Civ. At that time I was working on a HOF game to take a 100K top spot. I am slowly returning to the game but it is no longer forcing the chronic sleep deprivation it once did.
Except for HOF games, I don’t think I would play below emperor level – that level fits my relaxing level for Civ. I go to harder levels if I want the adrenalin to get going.
In the future:
I still want to play Sid level on Conquests.
I am staying away from Civ 4.
In the beginning:
My folks never bought us any strategy games, other than chess and maybe Battleship. But that all changed in 7th grade when my friend Steve and his friend introduced me to Risk. It was the board game but it was quite interesting to play strategy on Risk.
Fast forward to college:
My buddies played Risk. Soon we had too many players so we started double board Risk. We would take two versions of the game (one with wood pieces and one with plastic), and line them up end to end. I recall several games in the lounge with 11 players.
Soon they got me started on Axis and Allies board game. Yikes I got hooked on that game. At first I was getting crushed but then advanced to the point where my enemies old strategies no longer worked. I rather enjoyed putting an end to the German tank blitz from my friend John. At this point he is responsible for getting me started on A&A.
John also got me started on paintball which was a blast. I also played an AirForce board game, Flat Top, and a few others. Then he gave me a copy of Civ II gold edition. I couldn’t see the value of a game called “Civilization”. I put it away. I probably sat on it for a couple years until he told me there was a way to play be email in the new version of Civ (Civ III). Right away I knew I needed to learn the game, so I started with Civ II. I could see the potential for the game right away! I played a couple games before I was able to get Civ 3.
I knew John could beat Civ 3 on monarch “sometimes”, so I was committed to achieving that level of success. I laugh now when I think about how much I struggled on my first chieftain game. I won a histographic victory – barely.
The golden age begins:
Then I found this forum. I think I was looking for the patches as well. Well I learned about the Persians and beat the game on Warlord, Regent, and Monarch – each time on the first try! Now you know how I became zerksees. Emperor was too much for me and I was defeated. Too arrogant I guess. Then I came back to CFC and learned how to beat emperor (with the Zulu), then deity (with Americans).
You may be wondering about the reason I started playing Civ. It turns out John was lousy at playing by email so he dropped out of the games we started and left me with this addiction!
Somewhere along the line I jumped to PTW and now Conquests. I rarely lose to the AI, but now that I am playing games for the high score HOF I have to admit I sometimes abandon games. I try to play in areas where I don’t have to score that well for the game to get into the top 10 of some category, but that does not always work out. I beat C3C deity on the first try though I think I used mapfinder to get a good starting map, and it was quite a job to achieve that feat.
In addition to HOF and PBEM games, I have also had a lot of fun playing some challenge games – those many deemed lost or hopeless, in an attempt to save them. This phase of Civ along with my desire to share what I have learned has gotten a couple of my threads into the war academy.
In the present:
I bought a 75 Corvette (needs TLC) in July and it definitely reduced my addiction to Civ, which had lasted over 3 years. Didn’t the video on vanilla Civ say 6 months of addiction? I would say this ended my golden age of Civ. At that time I was working on a HOF game to take a 100K top spot. I am slowly returning to the game but it is no longer forcing the chronic sleep deprivation it once did.
Except for HOF games, I don’t think I would play below emperor level – that level fits my relaxing level for Civ. I go to harder levels if I want the adrenalin to get going.
In the future:
I still want to play Sid level on Conquests.
I am staying away from Civ 4.
.
Once I'd got fed up with the ripped-off copy not having any Secret Project movies, or not having a proper manual, I bought a legit copy of the game. And the expansion pack, "Alien Crossfire". This was of course my first Firaxis experience, and it hooked me.
![[civ3]](/images/smilies/civ3.gif "Civ3 Icon [civ3]")
for Christmas, and oddly enough, if it had been up to me I would not have ever considered buying it, as I did not think it would be the sort of game I would like. Well, I saw the error of my ways and now I am hooked, and bought both ![[ptw]](/images/smilies/ptw.gif "PTW Icon [ptw]")
and ![[c3c]](/images/smilies/c3c.gif "Civ3 Conquests [c3c]")
when they came out.
So I could play all day, but so, I just ended up getting a laptop, and its better than ever.
