Newbie on Multiplayer

[SpacemanSpiff101]

I've been playing Civ since the first version, but only minimal multiplayer (mp). Is it worth diving into multiplayer or do you get bulldozed by much better players?

 

[Altisma]

Multiplayer goes only two ways, irrel war where you lose the game as some guy sits comfortably boosting his stats with no threat in sight, or sim city fest where nothing happens as you plan out districts and yields for 100 turns.

 

[Naokaukodem]

You have to know every civ traits and some tricks at your expense : war cart rush, scythia horsemen rush, legion rush, but also caravels rush, or other naval UU rush (oh my god, I learned this one the worst possible way : it was an archipelago map, Brazil was next to me in another archipelago, he rushed his civics unique unit I wasn't even aware of, one shoted my entire fleet in one turn, then he probably conquered my cities one by one since they were all coastal, with campuses and library in every of them. I was far ahead of him in science, but firaxis decided to insert some weird social policy unique unit in the tree for Brazil, it looks so silly)

If you want to go multiplayer, you have to beware the hosts that want their little victory the way they planned it. Best is random civs and no barbs. (you still have to protect your settlers though)

You better be able to win Deity in SP though.

Oh, and if your enter a random game, you probably will be kicked without a word, for some reason I never elucidated. I only join games that mention "welcome all", and create only games with that mention too.

 

[Oberinspektor Derrick]

I can warmly recommend playing "coop" with friends.
I have a few mates that I tend to play together with, rather than against each other, and its a lot of fun and the time just flies by.
Usually we set up a game full of deity AIs, and ourselves in a team (alliance with shared vision etc.), and work together from there on out.
It's a lot of fun, especially when we play with certain civ setups that work well together in a way that you cant play in single player.
For instance, triple work ethic civs (one gets the religion, and the players in the team have desert folklore, sacred path and dance of the aurora pantheons ready), or super fast alliance levelling (like Turkey, Egypt and Sumeria that rush Wisselbanken and Democracy with mutual trade to get very fast to level 3 alliances, like economic alliance to share all suzerain bonuses) - just be creative on what you think could be fun.

Also helps a lot that you can save games, hence none of us really mind if we play some long sessions on epic speed as we just pick up from the save point the next time.
Obviously helps out to have some house rules, like calling out in advance which victory type you're aiming for so that key wonders can be reserved for the player that needs it the most (we usually reserve Mausoleum for whoever goes science, Eiffel Tower to whoever goes culture, and share policy card wonders so that everyone gets something).

 

[reddishrecue]

After a few tries, you'll get used to the way people play online. There's all kinds of players online from different difficulties and different levels and some maybe really good while others may even make you go to sleep! IMHO, I have lost to the best and beaten some warmongers that cant stop it, heck I've even been nuked online! Playing civilization online has been a good experience either way but it takes awhile to load on this slow laptop I currently have. If only I had better equipment..lol