I get anxious while playing Civ 4

[civ4_mando]

Been playing a lot of Civ 4 these past months due to being at home most of the time. Ive been improving a lot, started playing on higher difficulties (from noble to prince to monarch, and then back to prince).

But lately Ive been feeling anxiety while playing, cause I tend to make mistakes or I am not playing 100%. The first 50 turns are great, not so many choices to make, you have 1 city, you move your scout/warrior and there isn't a lot of micromanagment to do. Around turn 80-100 there are a lot of choices to make that impact your entire game: city placement, tech, expand or rush neighbor, etc. You can always play better, there are always better choices to make, and that makes me anxious/stressed.

My last game I was playing with the greeks on monarch. I was able to get lots of land and conquer 2 civs with rifles/cannons. Maybe the war took so long cause another 2 civs took the lead on the tech race. I managed to keep up, only to get advanced flight stolen from a rival civ on the turn I got it

 

[Louis the XIV]

When I fear I'll make a mistake I just save the game and if I do make a mistake I go back to the save!

 

[sampsa]

The game is burning you out. Take a break. Glad that you are improving!

 

[The Civs 6]

I feel the same way - Civ 4 is legitimately a challenge. I guess it doesn't get to me because I'm totally okay walking away from a game halfway through when I realize that I'm no longer able to win.

 

[PPQ_Purple]

The key thing to remember with any video game is that it's just a game. Nobody is looking at you. Nobody is judging you. If you win, you win. Great. Nobody cares. If you loose you loose. Again, nobody cares. It does not matter how many mistakes you make or how fantastically you pull off every single turn. Nobody cares. The only thing that matters is that you are having fun doing it. Thus any strategy you have to remove stress and introduce fun is fair game. If you enjoy a challenge by all means, challenge your self. If you don't than don't. There is nothing to gain from getting "better" unless it's something you actively enjoy doing. Same goes for save scumming or flat out leaving a game that's no longer entertaining you.

Bottom line is that the moment you start feeling bad stress as opposed to good stress it's time to walk away or change something.

 

[crullerdonut]

Some people think that saving often and re-starting from an earlier save is cheating or "cheesy", but I don't care about that at all. For me, it takes off a lot of the stress this game can cause. It's a game with dice-rolls that can sometimes cause you to lose no matter what you do. I personally don't enjoy having a 10-hour investment suddenly stop due to some 1:500-chance series bad-luck rolls, but it happens sometimes. And I make it un-happen because I don't find that aspect of the game to be fun.

As others have said, it's probably best to take a break from the game and try a different mindset where you have less emotional stake in each game. Win or lose, it's all about having fun.

 

[vorlon_mi]

Others have written about the sound of the war trumpets -- it can make you physically react, when you're surprised with a war declaration.

What I have to keep reminding myself is that it is a turn-based game. I can take as long as I want in a turn. I can save, go into the other room, have a snack, any time I want. The AI will keep waiting for minutes, hours. My wife teases me about how many times I have had an inspiration or new idea just from going to the bathroom to relieve myself.

Saving and restarting really matters when you're trying to compare your results with other players, such as the Hall of Fame. As a single player, as @crullerdonut said, do what is fun for you. I have reloaded from a save when I mis-clicked on a unit or a destination. I have considered reloading when I started a war -- and found out I had under-prepared -- that went very badly. Replaying a few turns is still fun for me.
Restarting from a save 20 or 50 turns ago -- usually I feel a little weird about that. I will have discovered more of the map in those missing turns, so do I take advantage of that knowledge? Learning more about the game, making better decisions ... don't feel pressured to improve your play on some arbitrary timetable.

 

[Lexicus]

Been playing a lot of Civ 4 these past months due to being at home most of the time. Ive been improving a lot, started playing on higher difficulties (from noble to prince to monarch, and then back to prince).

But lately Ive been feeling anxiety while playing, cause I tend to make mistakes or I am not playing 100%. The first 50 turns are great, not so many choices to make, you have 1 city, you move your scout/warrior and there isn't a lot of micromanagment to do. Around turn 80-100 there are a lot of choices to make that impact your entire game: city placement, tech, expand or rush neighbor, etc. You can always play better, there are always better choices to make, and that makes me anxious/stressed.

My last game I was playing with the greeks on monarch. I was able to get lots of land and conquer 2 civs with rifles/cannons. Maybe the war took so long cause another 2 civs took the lead on the tech race. I managed to keep up, only to get advanced flight stolen from a rival civ on the turn I got it

Don't feel any pressure to play perfectly. You're not playing on Deity, so it's not like you need to play perfectly to win (not that you always need to play perfectly to win on Deity), and even if you lose, it's no big deal! Learn something, and move on to the next game!

 

[PiR]

If you are trying to achieve your masterpiece game, then know that it will require a lot of practice first and a lot of time for that game, saving and loading. Like the one where I had built ALL the wonders. I enjoyed getting successful doing it, but don't worry about taking time before you get there. It can take years.

 

[elmurcis]

Finding that sweet spot that works for [player] is most important.. I love over-expanding and crawling to recover from that. Or doing something like build Mids for US (though works pretty nice with Slavery). Or settling GM for extra food in city spot that can have only +2 natural food. And other far from optimal play but it kind of gives this "story line of adventure". Also why I prefer Mara and bigger maps - for journey not race (still doing games where I try to do my best for personal HoF - pressure is fun as long as it is not overwhelming and leaves no marks on life outside game - "Be nice to your mother" is best in-game tip )

 

[PPQ_Purple]

As far as using saves to get around failure in my experience there is a definitively a tipping point when save-loading goes from being relaxing and absolutely beneficial to your enjoyment of the game to being annoying and spoiling the game entirely. And that point is definitively something you are going to feel. Like, it's not a feeling that I can describe very well but you'll know it when it happens. Basically you just suddenly realize the game just isn't fun any more.

Where exactly that point is however is going to be different for every player and every game. And not just every video game. It's different from match to match of the same game. And there isn't any rule I can offer to help you with anticipating it beyond saying that if you play enough you'll start to get a feel for it.

But it's definitively a thing worth learning rather than just abandoning save-loading altogether out of fear.

 

[Seraiel]

I' m also anxious when playing CIV, I believe this has to do with perfectionism.

 

[Jivilov]

Can hardly remember a game of Civ4 (Vanilla, Warlords or BTS) when I WASN'T apprehensive or anxious about something most of the time. At least it isn't so much like chess, where a single mistake can have you going from winning to losing in one fell swoop.

 

[floydmcw]

I get very anxious when getting my army ready to attack another civ. I call it "war neariness."

 

[Henry.K]

You clearly have a great deal of self-awareness.
Upon reflection, I think your question has to do with life in general.

When I was a kid/teen playing Civilization, making decisions was a novelty. My day-to-day life was strictly regimented and I had no power to change it - I was essentially just "along for the ride". Playing Civilization was a breath of fresh air because I could actually make my own choices! Armies would move based on my orders, cities would blossom from my wise judgement and other rulers would fall. All this while, outside of the game, I couldn't even choose what I ate for dinner

Games are an escape, and can help balance out an unbalanced life. However - and perhaps this is your situation - they can also unbalance things further. If your daily life features a multitude of complex decisions, a strategy game in which you do nothing but that is the last thing you should be playing! Now that I'm older and have learned how tedious making 'educated' decisions can be, I enjoy games like Civilization much less than I used to... "did I take this into account?", "what if _____ happens?", "_____ is good but is _____ better?". I can see the wisdom in surrendering to life and being choiceless, because the opposite made me weary.

For the most part, I find that people who are experts in and love Civilization 4 have put in the hundreds (if not thousands) of hours necessary to make in-game decisions much more simplified. From a vast amount of experience they can better see the consequences of taking any one of the options presented, greatly reducing the amount of deliberation required. They once racked their brains over minutiae just as you're doing, and by doing it over and over those same decisions became reflex. Some people enjoy activities like that and are happy to do it. If you're not one of those people, there's nothing wrong with that. The world needs all types!