Normal or Epic (or quick?)

[karmina]

Voted for "I don't mind".

I played several games on both normal and epic, and hardly noticed any difference in real time consumed. Map size is much more important. Duel maps I can conquer in 1-4 hours, but I never finished a normal sized map (with default number of opponents) under 15 hours. Regardless of game speed.

(btw, there was a successful gotm1 submission with 50min playtime?!? How is that even possible technically? 10 seconds times 300 turns = 50 min.)

 

[Hergrom]

I voted to mix it up, because that can certainly add to strategic choices in game. But I would really prefer mostly epic games. I just hate the end game unit - tech pace thing. Really annoying.

Hergrom

 

[hendu]

I use epic almost exclusively in my personal games. The tech pace to unit move ratio in normals is way off. And im not even a conquerer. I didnt take one city in this gotm. I just hate the fact that im going to get 3 techs before i move this unit 12 squares. Doesnt make any sense. Bad balance imo. Not sure why people like it.

I guess im in the flamebait camp of "normal? gah why do you want to get techs before you can move between two cities without roads. It doesnt make any sense!"

I agree 100% epic is definately a little slow in the beginning, but normal is really out of wack in the modern era. I know they patched it to fix, but I don't think they went far enough. Need to have more turns in the modern era and more beakers per tech.

 

[BrandonIT]

I voted to only play if it's normal.

BUT, I know many people prefer epic so I'd understand if it went epic. My problem is I just don't have the time (or really, the attention span ) to play a Civ game that takes more than 5-6 hours.

In this month's GOTM, I went at my usual pace and finished in just under 4 hours, which for me is just right. It's a nice waste of a Saturday afternoon. Any more than that, and I probably wouldn't have time to finish it.

Because of other games, a weekly standing Civ4 game with friends, and real-life, I just don't think I'd be able to spend 10-20 hours on a GOTM every month.

My personal preference is for two games a month (one normal, one epic) or some such that would still allow for a normal game, while giving the epic crowd their desire as well.

 

[colony]

I voted for Epic, but wouldn't mind Normal speed games either. Normally I play Epic, and I like the tech speed much more, even if it could use a bit of tweaking. I think a good option would be a Normal speed game and an Epic one, but that could mean a lot more work for the mods/staff.

I just wish I'd played the GOTMs when I was still playing Civ3. Maybe then I'd actually have actually been able to beat Demigod regularly, after seeing all the different ways of doing things

 

[Metzen]

One of the things that the Civ 4 GOTM should promote is getting more players to play at a higher level.

Would-be players won't attempt to play long, hard games as the learning curve to compete is to steep. How many would-be GOTM players would invest 15+ hours AND submit a loosing game EVERY month? Not many.

How many "fanatics" would want to play short, easy games EVERY month? Not many.

Make it accessible and competitive by mixing it up. I think it helps the community more in the long run.

 

[Zhahz]

I voted for mix it up.

Somehow I suspect that the game is best balanced for normal speed (whether players feel that way is up for debate but I'd think AIs do best on normal).

I haven't played any epic games yet and I'm usually inclined to war a lot. I'd think that epic speed favors warmongers moreso than any other speed?

 

[HeadBlend]

I voted for normal but I would rather play epic than see a GOTM with all three speeds offered for the same game. I want to be able to compare scores and strategies and different speeds for the same game would make that impossible.

If I were to vote again, I would say mix it up.

 

[horragoth]

I like the idea of mixing game speeds a bit and I voted for it. I would include only normal and epic speeds though, as the quick seems little 'too quick' to me.

 

[Bloghairy]

I voted for 'mix it up'. The only way I'm going to get better is to try different game speeds/styles. The more the better.

 

[Seraphinus]

I voted for epic, allthough idea of mixing length between epic and normal sounds very interesting.

 

[Ronald]

I voted for epic because I think on normal (never played quick by the way so far) the tech pace is too high in the industrial age. I have played nearly all my early trial games on normal, but just finished RB-CIV4-1 the Honorable French on epic speed and have to say that I enjoyed the epic speed more. Nevertheless mixing gotms up with all speeds is OK for me. It will enforce different game play depending on difficulty and speed.

 

[Colonel Kraken]

I'll probably only play if it's 'Normal' or 'Quick'. I don't have time to goof around with an Epic game.

 

[Tauro]

never played on epic, I like fast play and rapid decisions - maybe couse I'm an ex hardcore leeeet pro old school quaker?
Anyway if you'll decide for epic I'll learn new strategies

 

[Shillen]

There's no such thing as rapid decisions in a turn-based game. You get just as long to make decisions on quick as you do on epic...forever.

 

[ainwood]

One of the things that the Civ 4 GOTM should promote is getting more players to play at a higher level.

We will definitely be playing on a variety of difficulties.

 

[jayeffaar]

Can I ask - how many of you have actually played both epic and normal? Reason I ask is that most of my games have been on normal.

My first game was Normal and I felt it went way too fast. I then switched to Epic for all my other games except, of course, for the GOTM. The speed did feel fine in the GOTM, btw, but it sucks that the next one is weeks away...

 

[TrailblazingScot]

Having played mainly online where it is generally 'quick' I have found it rather hard adapting to normal speed which I assume this GOTM is...

I'll get into the swing of things again, but I don't see me ever clamouring for Epic or some such nonsense.

 

[pindicator]

Oh, please mix it up! I think we have a great potential here to have a grand variety of games. Let's be creative with the IVOTM world and not unnecessarily constrain the types of games we all can compare on.

 

[Shillen]

Based on the poll results so far I would say have 2 out of every 3 games epic speed and the other 1 out of 3 as normal speed.