The Mid-Game Blues

[Ankh-f-n-Khonsu]

You know what I'm talking about. After tearing two or three of your foes' empires out of the history books, you own 80% of the continent and are willing to let your sole friend enjoy his bit of territory. It's now somewhere around the Renaissance, and you have to decide between busting out a navy worthy of shipping your troops across the ocean in order to secure a domination, or turn inward and upward, and head toward Alpha Centauri.

But, damn it, they're both tedious. I just want to resign and move on to the next game. Maybe I shouldn't play continental anymore; I want to win other than by space, because I'm seeking to break tendencies, yet I can't stand the tedium of sending units across the ocean. Or perhaps I should start in a different era, or play on a bigger or smaller map, or... Or what? How do you get over the mid-game blues?

 

[speedy55]

Try a cultural victory. It'll be completely different from most other types of victory.

 

[Sisiutil]

Change map types, certainly. I actually find Pangaea maps force me to play more diplomatically, since I quickly know all other civs and it's usually impractical to conquer all that territory. Well, unless you're playing as Rome.

Speaking of which: if you have a favourite leader or leaders, try some you've never played before. Try going for a different victory condition, such as diplomatic.

 

[br_casino]

Change map types, certainly. I actually find Pangaea maps force me to play more diplomatically, since I quickly know all other civs and it's usually impractical to conquer all that territory. Well, unless you're playing as Rome.

Speaking of which: if you have a favourite leader or leaders, try some you've never played before. Try going for a different victory condition, such as diplomatic.

I used to always pick random for leaders, but now I'm going to start at the top of the list and work my way down so that I've played as each one. I haven't decided if I should pick the same map type everytime to see how each play differently or let it pick the map randomly still

 

[LucyDuke]

If the win is totally guaranteed, I generally abandon the game if it's too far off. I don't have any fun finishing it off, so there's really no point. This is part of why I've been moving up difficulty levels a bit - if the win isn't certain, it's still interesting to play.

 

[Electryon]

Glad I'm not the only one. I must have 50 saved games that I've never gone back to. I ususally seem to get bored about the time I get riflemen

 

[KMadCandy]

old post but still funny:

game finishing service

 

[Ankh-f-n-Khonsu]

So, yeah, mix the maps. I've already started playing random leaders; taking a cultural victory is a good idea.

I was inspired by this, and so spent the last 3 hours playing Hatshepsut in an OCC on a duel pangaea, winning by conquest against the randomly drawn Ragnar. That was fun. Should have finished much earlier, but forgot myself and built worthless things like the GL. Still, the Mandela was nice.

Will try a larger game on a pangaea. I've gotten more into warmongering of late, but the couple of times I've tried pangaea it seemed it had to be done at once in order to grab some breathing room, which will take some getting used to...

Oh, and probably should move up a level, good point. I haven't really seen much difference between Noble and Prince, which I recently moved up to. Or move back down, and study FE....

 

[Sisiutil]

Will try a larger game on a pangaea. I've gotten more into warmongering of late, but the couple of times I've tried pangaea it seemed it had to be done at once in order to grab some breathing room, which will take some getting used to...

I've started playing large fractal maps recently and drew a couple of pangaeas. I found I had plenty of room at first. Then again, I needed more cities than usual in order to build enough universities for Oxford and so on.

 

[KMadCandy]

I was inspired by this

omg this is the funniest thing i have seen in ages. you were inspired by a post from me of all people that actually begins with the sentence "well, as you already know, i am completely bizarre." i simply cannot stop giggling!! most people would take that as a warning sign i'd think

i am glad that your (way more normal) game based on that inspiration was fun for you. and of course worried about your sanity.