Reasons behind your mistakes in game-play:

[dojoboy]

Okay, I'd like to know what causes you to make errors in judgement during game-play. Is it nerves/poor judgement? Is it lack of information/poor judgement? Is it actions taken by the AI? Anything else?

What do you pay least attention to while your playing?

What advice would you offer for eliminating mistakes in specific areas? My idea is not for the newbie but for the 'experienced' player. Of course, a newbie could use it as well.

You may want to share a personal snafu and what you later learned you "should" of done.

Thanks.

 

[bobgote]

I think the main thing with my errors in judgement is lack of information be it an accurate world map, or anticipating what another civ's reaction to me is going to be, and also dealing with unfamiliar situations. Generally I know what i can or can't do militarily, and when i need to be humble and pay for peace. This is not always the situation.

For example; Monarch Difficulty: I was playing as the Persians (as always) and my nearest rival was the zulu (as always). I had played a relatively similar game in Regent Difficulty where I expanded quickly, got the iron and destroyed them without mercy with my Immortals. This game, i got the early expansion, but not the iron. I can tell you it's a lot harder trying to take on the relatively advanced civ with just archers (2.1.1) when you are used to doing it with Immortals (4.2.1).

As you can guess the result was that my invasion faltered miserably and i got belted to within an inch of ultimate destruction before they allowed me peace

 

[Exile_Ian]

I think the root cause for most mistakes is the avoidance of micro-management. Too many times, mistakes could be avoided by carefully checking each city on each turn - making sure they're building appropriately, and that resources are being sensibly handled. It just takes too much time and effort to do that unless there's a real strong incentive (such as when I'm fine-tuning a city to produce a Wonder a.s.a.p).

That's the biggest advantage that the AI has - it can micro-manage (in fact that's the only way it can work).

 

[Sodak]

Micromanagement is also a cause of mistakes! Often I hit the space bar on my last unit, afterwards remembering that I needed to ___ before the end of my turn. Oops, missed wonder! Or town lost to the enemy, forgot to move fortified unit to strategic point, or some such.

 

[Jason Fox]

Too many of my turns occur after midnight when I should be in bed.

 

[dojoboy]

Originally posted by Jason Fox
Too many of my turns occur after midnight when I should be in bed.

Thanks for the MP tidbit Ja-fox!

 

[Alexnm]

I also make mistakes because of the micromanagement. I start the game taking care of all things in my cities, every turn, but as the game flows, it becomes increasingly difficult to do it.

Sometimes, I just "forget" a city that is OK and do not notice how the environment around it changes subtly. Sometimes that portion of your territory becomes the perfect staging point for another civ to invade your empire, and if I'm too busy with something somewhere else, I forget to check it and to take the appropriate actions (build fortifications, carry more units there, patrol the coastal waters with boats etc.)

And sometimes I'm just too tired.

 

[Mad Hab]

That's the problem with micromanagement: too much of it makes the game BORING! But being such a control-freak that I am, I can't help doing it...

Cheers!

Mad Hab

 

[Graeme the mad]

Luck always plays a part - especially in warfare. Even when you think you've covered all bases you may easily have not when your 6 knight invasion force looses out to 2 fortified spearmen (this is not a criticism)
Micromanegemnt isn't really a problem for me - just be careful and dont give any power to city govereners or whatver theey're called now

 

[BillChin]

Bad analysis, mediocre strategy, lack of practice, moving before thinking. Most players can improve their game at least one difficulty level with a little practice and observation. Many players are not willing to change what they have been doing to get a better results. A lot of this is due to ego. (Kinda of like life. Many people rather be RIGHT than get better results and learn in the process.)

 

[Alexnm]

Originally posted by BillChin
Bad analysis, mediocre strategy, lack of practice, moving before thinking. Most players can improve their game at least one difficulty level with a little practice and observation. Many players are not willing to change what they have been doing to get a better results. A lot of this is due to ego. (Kinda of like life. Many people rather be RIGHT than get better results and learn in the process.)

Well, it happened to me. I was a steady builder player, and refused to play anything but the builder game. Until I found out that war is part of the game, and can be effectively used to achieve better and more dominant results. That was quite a discovery for me! Now I'm a better player.

I'm still learning.

 

[bobgote]

Originally posted by Alexnm


Well, it happened to me. I was a steady builder player, and refused to play anything but the builder game. Until I found out that war is part of the game, and can be effectively used to achieve better and more dominant results. That was quite a discovery for me! Now I'm a better player.

I'm still learning.

I found this too, whereas I prefer peace and the steady construction of an empire, it's really important to be militarily stable. It's also a lot of fun to force your views on someone with a huge military. Although i didn't really like it to start with, it's become integral to the game I play.

 

[Sanaz]

My problem is over-thinking and second-guessing. I find that I make a good plan for the next 30 turns. Then, I change my mind or forget, or come up with a "new" plan. This almost always messes me up. While the flexibility is important to meet changing world conditions, I also need to follow through with my plans to achieve the results I want.

 

[dojoboy]

Note-taking is a great way to keep up w/ your empire and really immerse yourself in the game. Often, I'll jot down the locations of wonders near my borders and begin plotting a scheme to secure them. Also, I'll jot down a tech plan --- this is something I don't pay enough attention to, too often I take my advisors recommendation. I need to write down the little things also because that's where I shoot myself in the foot --- changing production from a just-built wonder to something I want, etc., even war-plans to get a strategic resource early in the game.

 

[JoeM]

The NUM-Lock key on my lap-top.

 

[Lt. 'Killer' M.]

micro-managment is No. 1 (178 cities - no time!)

animations and show-move off (time, time, time) is No. 2

taking only a 15% miltary reserve over worst-case scenario (+100% losses over combat calc and reasonable enemy strength) is No. 3

 

[bobgote]

Yeh, I guess micro-management for me too. After the first wonders are built, i generally just hand it over to the governers.

And making my workers Automate. I don't do it at the start, but once it isn't essential, or my empire gets too large, they get automated.

 

[allhailIndia]

I make most mistakes in stupid move decisions where I leave a key part of the attacking force undefended after a combat. They get picked off and I have to end up suing for peace

 

[bobgote]

Originally posted by allhailIndia
I make most mistakes in stupid move decisions where I leave a key part of the attacking force undefended after a combat. They get picked off and I have to end up suing for peace

I've done that in the past. I learned from my mistakes. never leave them unprotected. Move a couple of units in to defend them. That's the worst thing, after a successful battle, your newly made elite units get killed by whatever comes a long. quite demoralizing