I'm ready to uninstall!!!!

[darski]

I am not in the midst of Civ Blahs but in the midst of Civ Fed-up!

I was playing a game as Carthage (Warlord) and I could not get anything to happen. Stupid Hittites started a war when I had my Num Mercs and set off a GA so early it was just stupid.

it took my cities forever to build anything including settlers so everyone was taking the land and I was twiddling my thumbs hoping for a settler sometime in this millennium. with no cheap builds for anything it seems to take forever to complete something.

At warlord, I couldn't get any useful wonders built. I did manage SoZ with my early ivory but that started at 67 turns but Pyramids was well on the way to 200. Believe me I needed those free AC's to fight that war.

I would blame this on Carthage and their less than sterling traits but I hit the same things yesterday trying to play as Inca, French and Byzantines. I have been having this sort of nothing game all week for the most part.

I seem to get worlds that are 50% jungle and marsh or just flat out desert.

Maybe I should just stick to Teddy Factory after all.

 

[Sashie VII]

Darski,

I've had similar disappointing experiences, albeit about different aspects and at a different difficulty level. Things don't work out the way you want or expect, and you're not sure what to do to fix it so that you can start having fun.

At Warlord, AIs actually get penalized in terms of production and growth i.e. to build the Statue of Zeus, you need 200 shields while they need 240 shields (correct me if I'm wrong, I'm not really sure on the penalty). Similarly, their warrior costs 20% more than yours, etc. So it sounds to me that there's something in your approach/style/play that hinders your civilization's journey to glory.

In my opinion, what you need now is some help. Maybe you can start a new game and start a thread on your progress with pics, saves, logs etc. There's plenty of people around who can and will offer you opinions and advice on how to improve your game. Perhaps then you will start enjoying the game more and get rid of the disappointment. Of course, that is if you want to.

I sincerely hope you don't uninstall Civ

I was going to post this a few hours ago but my connection was disrupted.

 

[CarthageFTW]

I'm in agreement with Sashie, don't just quit! It took me awhile to get the hang of warlord and then regent games before I was sucessful. Also, you have to relize the tatics you used to win in chieftan, won't always work in warlord. The AI is harder and therefore you have to change your thinking a bit and also your approach. I suggest Marla Singer's Senario "A New Vision Of Europe". It's useful in the sense that each civ forces you to play in a different style. Carthage forces you to be seafaring, while France and Spain might cause you to be militaristic/conquesting.

P.S. Don't you dare blame Carthage...

 

[ecuwins]

Try something different. If you haven't done a 20k yet, then go read thawk's(?) article in the War Academy and follow it to the letter. If you haven't done an AW yet, then go read an AW succession game and play your own. The idea is that doing this will teach you new ways to approach problems. IMO - 20k is good for learning worker management and calculating pre-builds. AW is good for learning how to wage early wars(all eras really but most people don't war early) and deal with little to no trading.

The main point is to try new things. You will realize that the game can be won without relying on those de facto "crutches"(Yes, I am looking at you [insert wonder name here] and Republic slingshot).

 

[darski]

I have played every civ in the pile and I was a regent player in Vanilla. Now Regent is too challenging in Complete but I can play it once in a while.

I have tried an AW game ages back but it did not go well. I had one flop at a NOW game and one success with NOW.

In my entire Civ history, I have never managed to get anything near 20 K in one city so I don't try that one. I usually lose the big wonders for culture in the middle to Industrial ages. I did do a cultural victory earlier this week but it sure does take a long time even with all kinds of wonders. i used to be much better at those. (((sigh)))

I tried a game with Rome - they are not a fave Civ so I thought I would try them. It did turn into almost perpetual war so that I could never get out of Despotism until very late. I gave up when Japan started getting in my way and war was declared. I had just been at war with the entire rest of the planet and didn't want to face Samurai.

I'll try again tomorrow with someone else. My keyboard needs a rest.

 

[ecuwins]

In my entire Civ history, I have never managed to get anything near 20 K in one city so I don't try that one. I usually lose the big wonders for culture in the middle to Industrial ages. I did do a cultural victory earlier this week but it sure does take a long time even with all kinds of wonders. i used to be much better at those. (((sigh)))

Print this out -> http://www.civfanatics.com/civ3/strategy/singlecity20k.php and follow it word for word. I got it on my first try sometime in the mid 1800's. It says it is geared for Emperor or higher, ignore that. Try it on Regent or Monarch.

Dude, seriously, do your self a favor.

 

[darski]

Print this out -> http://www.civfanatics.com/civ3/strategy/singlecity20k.php and follow it word for word. I got it on my first try sometime in the mid 1800's. It says it is geared for Emperor or higher, ignore that. Try it on Regent or Monarch.

Dude, seriously, do your self a favor.

I have it downloaded and have the instructions for the Regent version as well.

However, could you please say at least "dudette"? I think my avatar makes a strong female statement. (Well maybe it makes more of an "old" statement but you know what I mean

 

[Sharwood]

If you're finding Regent too challenging, then you really do need to work on your game. Except for figuring out the interface, I've never played on Chieftain. Where's the fun in playing a game where the AI is at a disadvantage? I usually play Regent now, as I like the game to be reasonably challenging, but lack the time or patience for it to be too challenging.

 

[Sashie VII]

Darski, perhaps a story thread so that we can follow your current game's progress? We may be able to offer some useful help from time to time.

 

[nerovats]

Read the Succession games threads or better join them. You'll learn a lot. Or post a save so people can comment on it.

 

[ecuwins]

However, could you please say at least "dudette"? I think my avatar makes a strong female statement. (Well maybe it makes more of an "old" statement but you know what I mean

Oops, my bad. I don't really pay that much attention to avatars, maybe I should. Now that I think about it, that explains a lot of your stubbornness - old and female. j/k

 

[Sid]

IMHO, this is the best of the Civ series (excluding the futuristic joys of SMAC/X).

It took me ages to get to Regent. The AI was always ganging up on me and cheating and denying resources - or so I thought. Then I started playing the Imperialsim map (from CivContent on the main menu) because there are abundant resources and you have to focus on your homeland and surrounding nations until you get to Astronomy. Also, on other games of Civ3, I tweak the controls so that I use small maps, only the Victory Conditions that I like (Victory Point Scoring is a must), and select opponent civs that I enjoy waging war against.

As you get more experience, allow more randomness into the game.

Good luck ...

 

[drakonius]

Don't uninstall darski.We all have bad starts and bad games.Sometimes we just cannot win.such is the nature of the universe. And its good to have a female person.we need many more on these forums.there is nothing cooler than a woman that you can discuss Lee or Rommel with. i had one of those once-but jealous and destuctive cretins conspired to ruin my happiness. oh well.such is life.

 

[capnvonbaron]

really I'm shocked by how well my game was helped by two things: closer city placement, and managing workers better. I used to lose at warlord on lousy starts up until I hit these forums. The only upside is that with the volume of games I played with the disadvantages I faced, I learned to use my military like a surgeon learns the scalpel. Now, a bit more than a month after visiting here the first time, I have had my first regent, then monarch wins. I seldom even trail in score points now on regent maps (even though many of my starts still feel a bit hairy to me, compared to warlord). With some luck, I will finish an emporer map before the month is out. Can't say I haven't lost or abandoned games in that time, but gotta take the good ones and blow off the bad, and occasionally back down to a comfortable difficulty level to remind yourself that, hey... you can kick the AI's digital backside if you really put your mind to it! And how satisfying it is Also, remember... there is no way you can become as comfortable or regular with higher levels as the low ones, the disadvantages imposed on you are so much worse... so don't beat yourself up.

 

[darski]

I have a 20K game going with Egypt. I just don't enjoy Babylon much any more and they used to be my "only" Civ.

I have Memphis as my 20 K city but it seems to go rather slowly. I think I have around, but less than, 4000 points and it is around 1000-1100 AD. (I didn't play this yesterday so I can't remember for certain where the game is timewise)

It is a bit unnerving waiting to see where the war is going to come from. I have a goodly sized empire to date and have gotten a couple of cities from flips. There was a war early on with Germany, which was nice because it seems they had the city near the horses that I needed. (I now have horses ) I have started building my military with cavs and cannons in an effort to be ready when the war starts. I got a bit busy doing my builder stuff and expanding like mad. Which is good but gets you behind on the military preparedness front.

I am going back to the game today and it should be over by this evening.

Because I have modded my game so much, a save might be harder for you to interpret. Stuff that makes sense here would not be the same on your computer.

 

[Sashie VII]

Because I have modded my game so much

Ah, I forgot about that. That's what happens when one disappears from the forums for some time

Perhaps you might list the modded aspects, to help us?

 

[darski]

I have modded most buildings to reduce corruption so that cities that can build a bulding can reduce corruption and be functioning cities no matter where they are.

I also changed Heroic Epic to be buildable with Literature and it provides a leader every 20 turns. (This was because I just could not get leaders in battles and it was a recommendation from timesaver51. )

 

[Turner]

If you haven't added or deleted anything uploading a save should be okay.

 

[darski]

No I haven't added or deleted... just changed a bunch of stuff.

I am in the middle of a couple of wars just now but if I can get my cursor back when I re=load, I'll try to get a save up.

Memphis is gaining points much more quickly now - nearing 5,000 I think. I lied, checked my CA II and I have over 6,000 points and working on Newton's.

 

[ThinkTank]

I have modded most buildings to reduce corruption so that cities that can build a bulding can reduce corruption and be functioning cities no matter where they are.

Corruption was added to the game to reduce the power of the AI on higher levels, basically by putting a cap on the level at which growth is still productive. Reducing corruption may look like it makes the game more easy for you, but it also does this for the AI. That in itself would make the change neutral. Now consider this: human players can counter the effects of corruption by building science or tax farms, the AI does not know this strategy. So if we add this fact that you deprive yourself of a strategy the AI does not know, I think reducing corruption in fact makes the game harder.