Random or pre-select?

[Tech Osen]

Just wondering what other people do when creating a new game. Do you take a random leader and/or random map type or do you set pre-select a lot of the settings? I find that if I pre-select stuff I have a tendency to put the odds in my favor just a bit too much, like Indonesia on Island Plates. Selecting a leader usually also puts me on a specific victory route before even starting the game.
I usually take a random leader on a standard continent map with high sea level.

 

[Victoria]

Create game - England continent standard standard. I could not even tell you what advanced settings there are.

I used to play civ V with epic start but realized it really did not make that much difference and also felt wrong to me. Its juts a game though.... its more than the start... its the advanced tricks/exploits/meticulous play that give more benefit IMO

 

[Leyrann]

Occasionally I select my leader, but more often I do random leader, though I do occasionally reroll if I don't like the leader I get. I also play on shuffle frequently, though recently I've more been on achievement hunts.

 

[RockTheCazbah87]

At the moment I'm trying to get a win with each leader in the game so I'll select a few I'm considering playing, throw them in a random list generator and whatever comes out first is the one. Mostly I play on King but if I'm going up to try Emperor then I'm way more likely to play a civ I particularly enjoy/am familiar with.

 

[trashcat]

I used to select leader and Pangaea and more recently fractal maps. I still often select the leader but I try to always chose one I have yet to play and set the map to shuffle.

 

[Siptah]

Always everything set to random that can be set to random (or shuffle)

 

[OmegaDestroyer]

At the moment I'm trying to get a win with each leader in the game so I'll select a few I'm considering playing, throw them in a random list generator and whatever comes out first is the one. Mostly I play on King but if I'm going up to try Emperor then I'm way more likely to play a civ I particularly enjoy/am familiar with.

Pretty much how I play the game. It gets old having to restart games due to randomly getting leaders I have already completed the game with.

 

[DeutschDachs]

Typically I will choose my Civ and play continents just because I want it to be somewhat Earth-like. I don't typically mess with advanced settings too much though. I might turn off barbs every once in a while since they're annoying...

 

[Ozymandias9891]

I'd say that 9 times out of 10, I randomize the civ. For the maps, I'll either go on shuffle or continents. I turn off score victory and leave everything else as is.

 

[Karpius]

I have played only Rome since R&F arrived. Its an addiction at this point! I also play Ludicrous map size, continents but I generally randomize the opponents. Then again, sometimes I make sure to select one or two opponents I haven't played against.

I really should start trying to play some of the other civs but....I'm stuck! I can't escape the glory of Rome! I like my Legions!

I may even change my Civfanatics name to Augustus Karpius Maximus!

 

[Mr. Shadows]

I almost always hand-pick my civ and map type, but I rarely play the same civ twice in a row.

 

[UWHabs]

Depends on my mood. Sometimes I'll be like "I really want to play as Monty and warrior rush" or "I want a boat game, so let's play England/Indonesia/Norway." Other times, I'll go random, and then either play out a few turns to see if the map is interesting, or just regen until I get a civ that I want to play with. I generally try to work my way through each civ, so I haven't played more than 2-3 full games as any civ. Usually I'll go into a game with knowing what I want, whether it be a more religious game, or a war game, and I try to pick my civ accordingly.

 

[eleven11]

The past few dozen games I've been chasing achievements... so I typically pick settings that will facilitate those. Normally, I play legendary start on Pangaea or Continents. I may bump the city states up 1-2 because I like their diplomacy mechanics and adding a couple more usually ensures that there will be more than 3 left after the Classical Age...

 

[King Rad]

I select my leader so I can play each one. I have played all the original civs and recently finished the dlc's. I'm now on my first R&F leader. Once I go through them all, then I'll probably go with random choice of the leader. I play standard or large continents - primarily because I feel that is what the game is basically balanced for. I never re-roll, always playing the start I'm dealt [even when like in my current game, I'm close to the lakes for those fantastic polders ... but they're all in other civ or city state areas!]. Once I've finished playing through all the new civs, I might also start playing either a random or fractal map just to add variety. Even with each selected leader, I never know what victory condition I'm going for until well into the game. I basically develop my civ and see where it's headed. I don't try to minimize the turns, etc., enjoying playing the game 'through the ages.' I play peacefully and usually end up with a culture or science victory, often in the 400+ turn range [and in one game lost a science victory when one other civ gained a culture victory the turn before I launched for Mars; I don't attack a civ just to keep it from winning]. I actually tend to play an economic game of sorts, so I'm looking forward to future expansions with corporations and an economic victory condition.

 

[Archon_Wing]

Shuffle or Fractal/Random leaders. It gives more variety where some games can be far away from others and some can be close so thr opening isn't autopilot.

Sometimes I do continents for a more typical game.

 

[iammaxhailme]

I usually play with a chosen leader, on continents.

 

[Eliminator_Sr]

More often than not it's random civ with fractal map. I'll restart if I get Georgia.

 

[earlc]

I always select my leader, typically one I haven't won with or haven't made some achievement with. I don't care much about the achievements, but they're kind of an organizing thing for me. Don't think I'd ever do random leader, and I don't understand the appeal there!

I usually pick continents on one of the larger sizes, and leave the rest of the settings random or default.

 

[nzcamel]

Random Civ (though out of ones I haven't played mostly, so I do that draw manually). I do play the odd game with Scotland deliberately, cos so far they suit my play style the best.
Huge map
Marathon
Low seas.
I generally go with continents as I like having 2-4 large landmasses with a few others (as close as you'll get to our Earth); but every now and then I'll choose one of the other map types.

 

[WillowBrook]

I'm still working on a win with each leader, and I usually have an idea of what victory condition I'm going for, especially if it intersects with an achievement for that leader (e.g, I just finished a culture win as Genghis and started a game as Tamar going for a religious victory). But usually the opponents are random.

I most commonly play king. But if I really want the AI to be a pushover, I play prince, and sometimes I go for a bit of challenge at emperor or more of a challenge at immoral.

Map size can be anything from small to huge, depending in part on how long I want the game to last. I usually leave the number of opponents the default number for the map size, but I sometimes increase the number of city states from the default.

Sometimes I pick the map type, but more recently I've mostly set it to shuffle.

Once I have all the leader-specific achievements, I'll probably play random leader. But that could be a while - I wouldn't be surprised if the next expansion comes out before I finish the current ones.