Howdy all, I just wanted to take a moment and see how many other people out there approach this game (and its predecessors) in the way that I do. Perhaps we can form a club. 
I am not what you would call a "good" player of Civ games, if by "good" one means "able to defeat the opponent on the upper difficulty levels and in a myriad of circumstances," "able to play competitively against other human players," etc. When I play Civ, I do so with a very specific "fun agenda" in mind. I don't particularly care about having a challenge (beyond a certain point -- I play on Prince or King), I don't care about learning to play different styles or UAs, I don't care about mastering various scenarios; what I like is to treat the game like an art project, "painting" as complete and comprehensive a picture as possible.
Mixed with a health dose of OCD, a tiny bit of a hoarder's personality, and a preference for immersive game experiences, this results in me playing the exact same kind of game, over and over, each time I play:
Egypt (Wonders -- gotta catch 'em all!)
Huge map, continents (for both land and sea campaigns)
Marathon speed (so as to experience each era as fully as possible)
All victory conditions enabled except Time
Default number of AI opponents
Normal settings for barbs, goody huts, etc.
I basically set out to dominate every aspect of gameplay at once: science, culture, economy, and military. I'm a peaceful builder/developer, so I typically don't engage in warfare until late; my early-/mid-game efforts are directed toward securing as many Wonders as possible while building up infrastructure.
Obviously, playing on Prince or King, there isn't much challenge in terms of AI competition. I prefer to challenge myself in a different way, which is why I enable all victory settings: my overall goal is to dominate all possible victory paths to such an extent that I could, if I were to choose to do so, extend the game infinitely without allowing anyone else to win. (Disabling a particular victory condition would thus qualify as "cheating," with this concept of "challenge" in mind.) Since I'm a peaceful player, and I never go on the warpath until I've totally perfected my slice of the map, the challenge eventually becomes to "win" in every way possible (without actually winning) and then to build a military large and powerful enough to sweep the map and prevent anyone else from securing a win.
For instance, in my current game, which is at around turn 1360 or so (which, on Marathon/Huge with a slow laptop, takes some time), I am one turn away from building the Utopia Project, one turn away from building the UN, and one turn away from building the Alpha Centauri ship, the final piece of which is sitting fortified in my capital. I have basically won those three victories--and, indeed, I went ahead and did so to log the win before reloading an earlier save--but I don't consider the game over until I have terraformed the entire map. Without anyone else winning, of course. (The "just one more turn" option holds no attraction for me, since I derive the challenge in the way previously described.)
I also consider it part of the goal to dominate--"collect," if you like--all the various unique elements of the gameworld. In my current game, I "own" all of the City-States, and I have built every Great Wonder except for four, three of which are now in my possession. Each of my cities contains every single building possible, except for the Spaceship Factory and Nuclear Plant (and I would get the latter if the resources permitted it). Current goals include collecting all of the Social Policy branches and wiping out the other civs who are threatening to win -- Hiawatha gave me quite a scare, out on the other continent; he built all of the spaceship parts except two before my fleet of souped-up GDRs arrived to begin dismantling his empire. Rome and Persia have also begun building the spaceship parts, so it'll be interesting to manage a global war. Persia finished the Manhattan Project some time ago, too, so that'll be interesting as well.
It is also my intent to gather all of the Natural Wonders within my cities' borders, as workable tiles, for the sheer fun of it. I quite enjoyed stealing (via a Culture Bomb) El Dorado from a City-State earlier in the game, heh. Krakatoa always chaps my rear, though...wtf is up with that? It is never accessible from any land tile, in any game I've played. Why bother giving it production output?
As I said initially, I in no way style myself a good player. I would get my hat handed to me, handily, were I to compete with skilled players, and likely the same thing would occur were I to try this approach on any level above King. But I just don't seem to care, because I derive so much joy and satisfaction from this style of gameplay. Would I be able to beat a game on higher levels? Would I be able to adjust to the style of the other civs, and take advantage of their unique abilities? Who knows, and who cares? I'm not interested in that kind of challenge, or in "learning" how to play the game "well," or even in playing any other civ than Egypt (or, in Civ IV, an Industrious leader) due to my love of Wonders...though I enjoy a variety of opponents, so I like to keep up with all the content packs with the other leaders. I just had a fun time trouncing Harald; he started messing with some of my City-States and wouldn't let up...
I should say, though, that despite the lack of conventional challenge, I don't indulge in any cheese while playing. I rarely reroll starts, although I do have a preference for Marble, and I take whatever combination of AI opponents / geography / goody-hut pops is thrown my way. I just don't much care to test the waters above King, for the reasons mentioned. I do enable random seed resetting, which is of course super-cheese, but I don't really know why I do it; I haven't yet reloaded a battle result--I prefer to plan things so that defeat in any particular battle is not an option--and I wouldn't be able to do so anyway, on a practical level, given the age and slowness of my laptop. (Loading a game takes 5-10 minutes.)
Anyway. I'm writing this because I'm curious as to how many others find this kind of thing enjoyable. Anybody out there?
I am not what you would call a "good" player of Civ games, if by "good" one means "able to defeat the opponent on the upper difficulty levels and in a myriad of circumstances," "able to play competitively against other human players," etc. When I play Civ, I do so with a very specific "fun agenda" in mind. I don't particularly care about having a challenge (beyond a certain point -- I play on Prince or King), I don't care about learning to play different styles or UAs, I don't care about mastering various scenarios; what I like is to treat the game like an art project, "painting" as complete and comprehensive a picture as possible.
Mixed with a health dose of OCD, a tiny bit of a hoarder's personality, and a preference for immersive game experiences, this results in me playing the exact same kind of game, over and over, each time I play:
Egypt (Wonders -- gotta catch 'em all!)
Huge map, continents (for both land and sea campaigns)
Marathon speed (so as to experience each era as fully as possible)
All victory conditions enabled except Time
Default number of AI opponents
Normal settings for barbs, goody huts, etc.
I basically set out to dominate every aspect of gameplay at once: science, culture, economy, and military. I'm a peaceful builder/developer, so I typically don't engage in warfare until late; my early-/mid-game efforts are directed toward securing as many Wonders as possible while building up infrastructure.
Obviously, playing on Prince or King, there isn't much challenge in terms of AI competition. I prefer to challenge myself in a different way, which is why I enable all victory settings: my overall goal is to dominate all possible victory paths to such an extent that I could, if I were to choose to do so, extend the game infinitely without allowing anyone else to win. (Disabling a particular victory condition would thus qualify as "cheating," with this concept of "challenge" in mind.) Since I'm a peaceful player, and I never go on the warpath until I've totally perfected my slice of the map, the challenge eventually becomes to "win" in every way possible (without actually winning) and then to build a military large and powerful enough to sweep the map and prevent anyone else from securing a win.
For instance, in my current game, which is at around turn 1360 or so (which, on Marathon/Huge with a slow laptop, takes some time), I am one turn away from building the Utopia Project, one turn away from building the UN, and one turn away from building the Alpha Centauri ship, the final piece of which is sitting fortified in my capital. I have basically won those three victories--and, indeed, I went ahead and did so to log the win before reloading an earlier save--but I don't consider the game over until I have terraformed the entire map. Without anyone else winning, of course. (The "just one more turn" option holds no attraction for me, since I derive the challenge in the way previously described.)
I also consider it part of the goal to dominate--"collect," if you like--all the various unique elements of the gameworld. In my current game, I "own" all of the City-States, and I have built every Great Wonder except for four, three of which are now in my possession. Each of my cities contains every single building possible, except for the Spaceship Factory and Nuclear Plant (and I would get the latter if the resources permitted it). Current goals include collecting all of the Social Policy branches and wiping out the other civs who are threatening to win -- Hiawatha gave me quite a scare, out on the other continent; he built all of the spaceship parts except two before my fleet of souped-up GDRs arrived to begin dismantling his empire. Rome and Persia have also begun building the spaceship parts, so it'll be interesting to manage a global war. Persia finished the Manhattan Project some time ago, too, so that'll be interesting as well.
It is also my intent to gather all of the Natural Wonders within my cities' borders, as workable tiles, for the sheer fun of it. I quite enjoyed stealing (via a Culture Bomb) El Dorado from a City-State earlier in the game, heh. Krakatoa always chaps my rear, though...wtf is up with that? It is never accessible from any land tile, in any game I've played. Why bother giving it production output?As I said initially, I in no way style myself a good player. I would get my hat handed to me, handily, were I to compete with skilled players, and likely the same thing would occur were I to try this approach on any level above King. But I just don't seem to care, because I derive so much joy and satisfaction from this style of gameplay. Would I be able to beat a game on higher levels? Would I be able to adjust to the style of the other civs, and take advantage of their unique abilities? Who knows, and who cares?
I'm not interested in that kind of challenge, or in "learning" how to play the game "well," or even in playing any other civ than Egypt (or, in Civ IV, an Industrious leader) due to my love of Wonders...though I enjoy a variety of opponents, so I like to keep up with all the content packs with the other leaders. I just had a fun time trouncing Harald; he started messing with some of my City-States and wouldn't let up...I should say, though, that despite the lack of conventional challenge, I don't indulge in any cheese while playing. I rarely reroll starts, although I do have a preference for Marble
, and I take whatever combination of AI opponents / geography / goody-hut pops is thrown my way. I just don't much care to test the waters above King, for the reasons mentioned. I do enable random seed resetting, which is of course super-cheese, but I don't really know why I do it; I haven't yet reloaded a battle result--I prefer to plan things so that defeat in any particular battle is not an option--and I wouldn't be able to do so anyway, on a practical level, given the age and slowness of my laptop. (Loading a game takes 5-10 minutes.)Anyway. I'm writing this because I'm curious as to how many others find this kind of thing enjoyable. Anybody out there?
