This game is too addictive. I need to make it shorter

[MarcusR123]

Dear Emperors/Empresses, Rulers, Pharaos, Conquistadores and Kings/Queens of the world,

After 20 years without playing it, I bought a copy of Civ3 on Steam and started to play it again.

The problem is that this game is so time-consuming and as addictive as it was when it came out, and for life reasons I simply cannot spend that much time on it. As a teenager I had lots and lots of time to burn on games but not anymore.

Do you have suggestions for settings/maps/ideas on how to do, let´s say, a 2h-4h total game? So for example I could start it on Saturday 8pm, play it through and be done by 10pm or midnight.

Yes, I could play a small map, etc. the obvious things but I am not sure if this retains the fun of a normal game. If anyone has experience with this, please post what works for you, any ideas, either settings, maps, no. of civs, or custom campaigns, whatever. All feedback appreciated.

So many thanks in advance.

M

 

[kaskavel]

I am in an even worse situation because I simply love huge maps and I like micromanaging. And I rarely go for a quick sweep....I have accepted the fact that a game may last 3-4 weeks....
Some of the conquests may be faster if you like trying them.

 

[MarcusR123]

I am in an even worse situation because I simply love huge maps and I like micromanaging. And I rarely go for a quick sweep....I have accepted the fact that a game may last 3-4 weeks....
Some of the conquests may be faster if you like trying them.

Yeah, problem is that it won't last 3-4 weeks but rather 3-4 days because I can't control myself lol. I need something to timebox it.

 

[Fergei]

Dear Emperors/Empresses, Rulers, Pharaos, Conquistadores and Kings/Queens of the world,

After 20 years without playing it, I bought a copy of Civ3 on Steam and started to play it again.

The problem is that this game is so time-consuming and as addictive as it was when it came out, and for life reasons I simply cannot spend that much time on it. As a teenager I had lots and lots of time to burn on games but not anymore.

Do you have suggestions for settings/maps/ideas on how to do, let´s say, a 2h-4h total game? So for example I could start it on Saturday 8pm, play it through and be done by 10pm or midnight.

Yes, I could play a small map, etc. the obvious things but I am not sure if this retains the fun of a normal game. If anyone has experience with this, please post what works for you, any ideas, either settings, maps, no. of civs, or custom campaigns, whatever. All feedback appreciated.

So many thanks in advance.

M

1) Make governors manage your cities, emphasising production.
2) increase number of Civs per map size by around 35-40%
3) enable accelerated production
4) reduce domination victory condition settings to around 30% of both land and population

I have not tested this but you should rattle through a 9 or 10 Civ small map in a few hours whilst experiencing 90% of what the game has to offer.

 

[Fergei]

To reduce difficulty from being a bit unbalanced from the above you could try removing all starting units from the AI but playing ond difficulty level higher than normal. This means you will not be swamped in the expansion phase on a crowded map.

 

[MarcusR123]

1) Make governors manage your cities, emphasising production.
2) increase number of Civs per map size by around 35-40%
3) enable accelerated production
4) reduce domination victory condition settings to around 30% of both land and population

I have not tested this but you should rattle through a 9 or 10 Civ small map in a few hours whilst experiencing 90% of what the game has to offer.

Good take. Noted with thanks.

 

[Fergei]

I do not play the game outside of winter because it is so addictive and time consuming, but I will maybe give the above a shot and see if I can finish a game in one session.

 

[MarcusR123]

I do not play the game outside of winter because it is so addictive and time consuming, but I will maybe give the above a shot and see if I can finish a game in one session.

Please do. Yes, with good weather it is kinda criminal to spend so much hours playing civ3 haha

 

[kaskavel]

There are also two interesting variations. OCC and 5CC (one city challenge and five cities challenge), are you aware of them?

 

[tenny]

Accelerated Production and Automanaging Worker moves are obvious choices, as well as turn Elimination On, but to preserve the fun of the normal game, I think other options are better.

Preferences
Disable all "show x moves" and especially "animate x moves". Enable "Always build previously built unit" and disable "Always ask for orders after unit construction"

Game Setup
Generally play on Pangea map, normal climate/age and barbarians off or on sedentary. Pangea maps means faster contacts, faster tech pace and faster wars. Normal climate means that your cities and those of the AI can grow properly. Barbarians slow down early expansion and divert resources in the early game. The AI also builds too few workers and manages them badly. Barbarians killing workers early can slow them down significantly.
These settings are basically the standard settings, only without much water warfare. So I think it does not change normal game experience.

Gameplay
Try to set the research path at the beginning of the era, so you do not have to check after every research. If you go to war, use a large stack of fast offensive units, to shorten the war and the amount of managing the units, as you can command one big stack of units faster than a lot of single units.
You might also engage more in wars that are happening between AI to shorten them and reduce the "damage" to the game speed induced by these wars.

 

[Civinator]

Interesting, that nobody here mentioned the C3C short game options. Are they so bad in your eyes, that nobody even listed them here ?

 

[Fergei]

I think its because the AI do not play to those settings. Might be worth a shot on a higher difficulty though.

 

[MarcusR123]

There are also two interesting variations. OCC and 5CC (one city challenge and five cities challenge), are you aware of them?

No. What are them? Is it custom campaigns that you need to download a mod/map to play?

 

[MarcusR123]

Accelerated Production and Automanaging Worker moves are obvious choices, as well as turn Elimination On, but to preserve the fun of the normal game, I think other options are better.

Preferences
Disable all "show x moves" and especially "animate x moves". Enable "Always build previously built unit" and disable "Always ask for orders after unit construction"

Game Setup
Generally play on Pangea map, normal climate/age and barbarians off or on sedentary. Pangea maps means faster contacts, faster tech pace and faster wars. Normal climate means that your cities and those of the AI can grow properly. Barbarians slow down early expansion and divert resources in the early game. The AI also builds too few workers and manages them badly. Barbarians killing workers early can slow them down significantly.
These settings are basically the standard settings, only without much water warfare. So I think it does not change normal game experience.

Gameplay
Try to set the research path at the beginning of the era, so you do not have to check after every research. If you go to war, use a large stack of fast offensive units, to shorten the war and the amount of managing the units, as you can command one big stack of units faster than a lot of single units.
You might also engage more in wars that are happening between AI to shorten them and reduce the "damage" to the game speed induced by these wars.

Amazing! Thanks.

 

[justanick]

No. What are them? Is it custom campaigns that you need to download a mod/map to play?

One City Challange and 5 City Challenge. You limit yourself to one city. Or five cities, so you can build the small wonders that require say 5 SAMs like SDI.

 

[MarcusR123]

One City Challange and 5 City Challenge. You limit yourself to one city. Or five cities, so you can build the small wonders that require say 5 SAMs like SDI.

So I am supposed to start a new game, default settings, difficulty, map size and climate etc. as default, AIs number, etc. and then try to win the game with just ONE single city?

 

[justanick]

So I am supposed to start a new game, default settings, difficulty, map size and climate etc. as default, AIs number, etc. and then try to win the game with just ONE single city?

Yes. At regent you chances should be OK, especially for 20k culture.

Obviously OCC is harder than a regular game. 5CC is a reasonable compromise, but may be less suited for 20k culture.

 

[kaskavel]

So I am supposed to start a new game, default settings, difficulty, map size and climate etc. as default, AIs number, etc. and then try to win the game with just ONE single city?

Perhaps yes in OCC but 5CC is more difficult. Map size and/or difficulty level may need adjustment. You need the game to be challenging and enjoyable and it makes sense to pick a smaller map and go down in level.
One city challenge is basicaly building as much cultural stuff as you can, including a lot of wonders, while using your early start (you will reach size 12 while the others are still settling around), good diplomacy (so as to avoid wars), a lot of tech trading (so as to delay staying behind as much as possible) in order to stay alive and antagonistic. Great Library, manipulating nations to fight each other and all other relevant dirty tricks by the book are offen applied as well. It is different than a normal campaign, but you may get bored quickly after playing it a few times.
Five cities challenge is more fun. Build four cities around the capital in the best locations grabbing as much space as possible (you do not mind leaving small gaps between them provided the AI will not settle in between) and try to win the game using only those 5 cities. This can be done in a variety of ways and may be more interesting. Since you need to manage only 5 cities, playing time drops significally.

 

[kaskavel]

Perhaps yes in OCC but 5CC is more difficult.

OK, reading this I feel a little stupid. Obviously having 5 cities is easier than having one. What I mean is that with one city, you make no war and try to reach a cultural 20K victory. In 5CC you may go full wartime for conquest victory or fight for a space race victory. Those are more challenging compared to a cultural OCC.

 

[Civinator]

I think its because the AI do not play to those settings. Might be worth a shot on a higher difficulty though.

The Sengoku conquest/scenario, based on mass regicide, plays pretty well by the AI (as far as this can be said for a civ game).