Ideas for playing a short game, please

[stwils]

I hate to admit it but I have never won a game or played it to the end. I just can't do the 7 hour thing, and if I save the game and go back to it a few days later, I find I want to start a fresh game.

So are there fun ways to play Civ1 without playing for hours and hours at a time?

I would love any ideas or ways you have played a short game.

stwils

 

[Zwelgje]

A few months ago you suggested yourself to play OCC (one city challenge) and I have played it several times. It will usually not take more than about an hour or an hour and a half to finish a game and certainly in chieftain level you will be able to win by sending the spaceship.
Good luck with it!

 

[stormerne]

One City Challenge is the way I play Civ for just one hour, maybe two hours at the outside. If you can win at OCC at Prince level or upwards, you're doing really well!

 

[stwils]

Yes, you are right. I did suggest that - or rather wondered about it for Civ1. However, some of the replies, I believe Father Beast's, seemed to indicate it was very hard to play OCC with Civ1.

So, unfortunately I never really tried it. (I never tried it for Civ2, either.)

But you say you have had good success with it. So maybe I should try it.

Anything, for me, would be better than trying to manage 6 or 7 cities! I just go bonkers.

Do others win with less cities?

stwils

 

[Arek]

One City Challenge I'm gonna have to try that sometime. 6-7 cities are nothing to Manage I usually have between 25-50 cities by the end of a Civ 1 game with railroads across the continents. (to bad you build bridges across oceans) I usually win by conquest unless I end up not being able to find the last respawned Civ (then I end up Going to Alpha Centauri) Also I kinda use a Democracy with 5 in Luxuries and Taxes after I start building my Spaceship (Cities growing to their Max sizes and a great amout of money coming in so I can rush parts for my spaceship.) I can absolutely destroy the computer on Prince and even King. Emperor is what becomes a struggle for me. I remember when I first got Civ I use to sit around all day and complete a single game in one playing then start another 1. Same happened with me when I got Civ 2. So long gameplay sessions are nothing for me. Chariots were killer in Civ 1 (they are basically only good for exploration in Civ 3.) I remembered when I created 2 chariots and they swept europe for me when I played on Earth. (but if you want to know what's fun is if you run into a respawned Civ before they build their first city and you bribe their settler with a diplomat. (ok I'm going into an old war story again someone better stop me) lol I have no clue how anyone can play with only 6-7 cities I love colonizing every time I find a new continent I must send a settler to it make a city their and then build settlers in that city and the colonization process begins. Of course that's my play style usually.

 

[stormerne]

Originally posted by stwils
However, some of the replies, I believe Father Beast's, seemed to indicate it was very hard to play OCC with Civ1.

It is a challenge to win at OCC on Civ1. But if it was too easy then it wouldn't be as much fun, right?

Try it at Chieftain first, and then Warlord. See if you can land your spaceship before 2000 for an extra challenge. Then try Prince but expect to get smashed!

There are several reasons why Civ2 OCC is easier than Civ1 OCC and it's mostly to do with the different wonders. Civ2 gives you a Shakespeare's Theatre that doesn't expire, whereas it's only temporary in Civ1. This is a very important difference indeed. Also the United Nations in Civ2 is a must because not only do people have to make peace with you but it counts as an embassy with everyone. This latter is important because you need to trade as much as possible or you get seriously behind in technology.

In my experience the difference between Civ1 OCC and Civ2 OCC is about 1½ difficulty levels. In other words if you can cruise home in Civ1 OCC at Warlord, you might just make it at King on Civ2 OCC. But your mileage may vary.

 

[Zwelgje]

I've won OCC in Civ1 at chieftain level (sent a small spaceship) but I got smashed up at prince level, I survived but only to see the others building spaceships.
Yesterday I've played my first game of Civ2 and to not let it take too long I played OCC at chieftain as well. I didn't build the spaceship but I wasn't smashed either. I only managed to build 5 structurals and that was it. The other civs were nowhere near building spaceship. It was good fun but as it was the first time I must be able to do better in the future than the 6% score I had yesterday.

 

[mickx]

This game takes about half an hour (also about three months)and I play it all the time, in between times--or at least I did until my Win98 got reconfigured so I now get the dreaded run-time error (and no mouse when loading from DOS.) Anyway, it goes like this:
1. Emperor level
2. You have to build your first city wherever the computer dumps you down and with your first move.
3. You are not allowed to negotiate with anyone
4. You stop at 1000BC
To win, you must be
a) ahead of everyone else
b) able to build knights and sailing ships
When you do win (it takes me an average of five goes--give up quick if things look grim) you then move on to the next combination of number of players (seven through three), three sizes plus all the twenty-seven weather, terrain and age variations.
Should take you a couple of months unless you've got a life.

 

[cliff]

I tried civ1 OCC yesterday and it was an interesting experience. I agree that t is more difficult than civ2 OCC. The most annoying, or maybe I should say challenging, thing is the way the ai plays. In civ2 it is easy to make peace with them or even ally with them and thus keeping their units away from the squares within your city radius. In civ1 they will ruthlessly walk right up to your city and fortify and, if you ar unlucky, place two units in the same square so that they cannot be bribed.

I tried a strategy where I built several diplomats early in the game and I posted them outside of my city to "defend" the squares I was using. That proved to be effective. I also discovered that it is often cheaper to give in to ai demands, i.e. pay tribute, than to refuse and start a war where you need to rush buy military units. Much much cheaper. Don't give them automobile to early though. Only declare war if some ai not on you continent lands units next to your city.

I managed to land in 1863 in my not so perfect game on emperor level. It was fun playing though and I will definitely try to beat that someday. The game took about two hours to play.

 

[Zwelgje]

"I managed to land in 1863 in my not so perfect game on emperor level."
I'm impressed, good job! I think I'll try in the near future again but to win at emperor level with OCC is just unbelievable and I'm sure I won't be able to do that.

 

[cliff]

I'm sure you will be able to do that!

I just played another game and landed in 1797. I saw that there was a comprehensive guide on how to play civ2 occ. Maybe I should write one for civ1? OK, here is my first attempt at a civ1 occ strategy guide:

* Find a city site close to a river. Grassland, ocean and trade specials are good squares to use. Resources aren't that important.

* The earlier you switch to republic, the better. However, it would be a good idea to have a temple and a marketplace first so that your city can grow to size 7-9 with WLTPD. Build a militia to explore your neighborhood unless you get units from huts. Build one or two military units for martial law while in despotism. Research writing and build a library as fast as possible. Now you have a choice of going straight for republic or getting currency and mysticism first. I'm not sure which is best. If you don't have a non settler, build one when you reach city size 4. Build roads in all city squares and irrigate one or two squares so that you have one surplus food.

* Now you have a temple, marketplace, library, a size 7-8 city, 20% luxuries and republic. Research trade, establish trade routes and build the colossus. Rush caravans to complete the colossus.

* Build some diplomats and place them around your city to prevent ai's from invading your territory, Bribe annoying enemy units and disband them. Give techs and money to the ai's if they are threatening you.

* Get banking, religion and construction, build bank, cathedral, aqueduct and maybe colosseum. Celebrate to maximum city size.

* Build a university and copernicus to speed up the research.

* Newton's college. Research railroad and build railroads in all city squares. Celebrate again.

* Try to research as much as possible in the BC's since the number om lightbulbs needed for an advance is doubled in ad.

* Build caravans while you are researching. Update your army so that you can kill ai units landed on the shore next to you city. A couple of veteran catapults is good.

* Delay the research of electricity. When you do discover it, be sure to have plenty of caravans around. Use them to build Darwin's Voyage, and get electronics and computers as your free advances if possible. Use maximum taxes for a while and rush seti program.

* Research space flight, plastics and robotics. Set science att 0 and sell your university and library. Convert scientists to taxmen.

* Use the "small spaceship trick" which means building a spaceship without life support and solar panels. It will land on AC but all or most of the colonists will die. A spaceship with 1 module (habitation), 2 components and 6 structurals will have a flight time of 15 years.

 

[gonzo_for_civ]

I have one suggestion to you on how to play quickly without OCC. Just get chariots and go out and conquer everyone!! It's the best way to go quickly and is an almost sure-fire way to win every level!

 

[Zwelgje]

Originally posted by gonzo_for_civ
I have one suggestion to you on how to play quickly without OCC. Just get chariots and go out and conquer everyone!! It's the best way to go quickly and is an almost sure-fire way to win every level!

I know that! It's the way I always play. But when you always play like that it sometimes is nice to try something else and OCC is a nice way of playing different.

 

[Marx]

Originally posted by civ1-addict
A few months ago you suggested yourself to play OCC (one city challenge) and I have played it several times. It will usually not take more than about an hour or an hour and a half to finish a game and certainly in chieftain level you will be able to win by sending the spaceship.
Good luck with it!

OCC is good to do in Civ-1. Try playing on the worldmap with the Engilsh.
And start conquering the world in (for example) 1900. It`s exiting (in the lower difficult levels)

OCC in Civ-2 was harder. And OCC in Civ3 is impossible (for me)

 

[gonzo_for_civ]

Ok, just to share a short 1/2 OCC story. I was playing an OCC on civ2 and at about 1850 other civs were passing me in tech because I didn't get copernicus' early on(accidently traded the tech away before I built it) So, I decided that I could still win but I would need to build more cities, so I am currently building more and am planning soon to take over the world. This has really helped me and I am now in the process of building a power democracy to help me get the lead back in tech. The moral of this story: Even if you start OCC you can still turn back later on and save a lot of game time and then come back to win it if the circumstances allow.