Types of Addictions

[AznWarlord]

What I've done is composed a list of common addictions in Civ people get into as a way for everyone (including myself) to identify if they are addicted to one thing and need to fix themselves to get the most out of Civ (besides Civ addiction, something we can all live with).

I've labeled them in what I've deemed to be the order of most dangerous.

1. Pangaea Addiction - Addiction to playing only Pangaea game because everything is so much easier. Destroys the certain functions of the game (like naval units or seafaring trait). Nothing is wrong with playing Pangaea games, but ONLY playing Pangaea is the problem. This was the last addiction I fixed in myself. What I find is playing in Continents is actually the easiest way to become the lord of Techs. and AI's are separated from each other and don't go around passing out techs.

2. Trait Addiction -Addiction to certain traits deemed "better" (in most cases Agricultural). This doesn't look very dangerous at first glance but what it does is you end up playing the same 5 civs that share that trait, killing the variety. Plus, you don't get to explore other helpful traits, like Industrious or Scientific. As far as I'm concerned, the only trait that is even close to useless is Commercial, which still comes in handy, put with a Scientific trait (Greece?).

3. Government Addiction - Addiction to a certain government (in most cases, Republic or Monarchy). Certain governments make it easier to accomplish certain victories. If you're using the same government, then you are usually winning the game the same exact way every single time. I am still trying to get out of Monarchy Addiction and actually get a Space Race victory, and I have yet to try out Communism or Fascism.

4. Size Addiction - Addiction to a certain map size. Most new players are addicted to Tiny Maps, as it is easier, but some don't get out. Thus, every game they play is against 3 AI's and the game is usually over before the Industrial Age.

5. The famous one - Wonder Addiction - Addiction to building wonders for the hell of it. When an AI builds one Wonder, have to out produce them. Truly, some Wonders are worth as much as dirt, like the Mausoleum, and depending on your government, Universal Suffrage. Since players spend so much time building Wonders, they either get a Cultural Victory or gets outproduced by others and loses.

6. Lastly, for now, Improvement Addiction - Addiction to building a certain Improvement, or all improvements in every city, despite the fact it may be utterly pointless (like Harbor on a Pangaea map or practically any Improvement on a one tile island). I have to ask, why waste the upkeep building something you don't need. I myself fell victim to this once, now you never see me building Cathedrals or Colosseum.

Really, anyone can add whatever Addiction they come across or fall victim to. Maybe this list will help you find out if you have a problem or not. The best way to enjoy Civ is to play it in every way possible. You have to open up your options to more than just Tiny Pangaea maps with an Agricultural civ under Republic working towards a culture victory.

 

[RFHolloway]

what about - spearman addiction - every city must be defended by 2 spearmen - even if no enemy unit could reach it!

 

[Theov]

I'd like to add:
War Addiction - the addiction to always be in (or planning for) war.
Tech Addiction - the addiction to always be the first to have a tech, or at least to never be behind in techs (even when money is more usefull - for a military or happiness for example)
.
When / Why is monarchy better than Republic (or Commie)?
I'm starting to fall in love with communism lately. It's a great late game war government.

 

[AlanH]

now you never see me building Cathedrals or Colosseum

That sounds like an addiction (or aversion?) in itself. You need these if you want a fast 100K culture victory.

Any general rule that you apply to your games needs to be examined as an indicator that you are locked into a particular way of playing ... and I speak as an unreformed "fast units -> conquest-or-domination" addict.

 

[Jokeslayer]

Wait, you think commercial is useless?

 

[MAS]

Most new players are addicted to Tiny Maps, as it is easier,

I wonder if this is true.

The game is most balanced at standard size maps, thats where it is designed around. Larger maps make it easier for the player, because it gives the player more time to expand and set up a nice core. And time is on the player' side, because over time, the player will be able to overcome the AI.
Also, it allows the player to concentrate more resources on a single objective. The AI will also ge more resources on a larger map, but thye will spread it out, just as they always do.

Smaller maps force earlier conquest, cities will be corrupt much sooner, and there is a bigger chance the AI concentrates its forces on a single point by accident. (because there wil be less points to concentrate on)
Smaller maps make fast conquest possible, but it will be intense, and there will be less time to correct mistakes.

 

[Bucephalus]

Army dependency.

I see it a lot in SG's where leader fishing becomes almost obsessional. I think a lot of players have forgotten - or never learned - how to fight a campaign without them.

 

[CommandoBob]

This is something I notice myself doing in solo games: coasting. That is, knowing that I need to do something (declare war, usually) on some pesky AI but I'm not really ready to get prepared for it. I'm content to move my workers around as they make roads and irrigate brown and mine green and maybe I'll build some city improvements and pat myself on the back because I'm not the one building wonders, but I'm not quite ready to focus on what has to be done to get the game moving where it needs to be, based on my selected VC.

For me, this happens once my borders get stable after my initial Ancient Age land grab. I expect a slow down at that point as I have to shift gears and plan the future but it tends to go on too long.

This was really bad for me in Civ2; where I tended to veg-out at Chieftain after a long day at work.

 

[AznWarlord]

what about - spearman addiction - every city must be defended by 2 spearmen - even if no enemy unit could reach it!

You could say Defense Addiction. Personally, I rarely care for defending my cities as I could always recapture them (seeing as how they are in my territory), I keep one man in for the MP. And the AI moves so much slower then I usually do so my armies enter their land before they get to mine and the Unit to City combat is usually from my Units to their cities. If that makes sense.

I'd like to add:
War Addiction - the addiction to always be in (or planning for) war.
Tech Addiction - the addiction to always be the first to have a tech, or at least to never be behind in techs (even when money is more usefull - for a military or happiness for example)

War Addiction - by this I guess you mean keeping more soldiers than upkeep even in times of peace? True, normally I would personally disband my troops to upkeep level during peace time but some people may just be extremely careful of extremely pissed off at the AI.

That sounds like an addiction (or aversion?) in itself. You need these if you want a fast 100K culture victory.

Any general rule that you apply to your games needs to be examined as an indicator that you are locked into a particular way of playing ... and I speak as an unreformed "fast units -> conquest-or-domination" addict.

As I discount Culture Victory as even remotely realistic, I never play it [anymore]. I also came to hate Culture flip, at early levels, it worked in my favor but as I progressed, I quickly discovered just how much the game hated me.

You second paragraph basically sums up the whole point of exploring addictions. By setting up rules and regulations for how you play each game, every game ends up being same-old and boring, and at low levels, one strategy might work every time but higher difficulties forces people to open up their gamebook and really decide how their gonna win as they play the game. o for domination and find you're trapped? Work towards Diplomatic victory, and so on. I myself am trying to get rid of the Alphabet-Writing, trade for Pottery, Philosophy-Map Making, Trade for Bronze and Iron Working, and Warrior Code, Build to Monarchy tech tree I am so used to in starting off games. For once I would like to get a Space Race victory before out expanding my opponents.

 

[Bucephalus]

For once I would like to get a Space Race victory before out expanding my opponents.

Here is a link to a SG that I played in where we did just that without spending a single gold piece on research.

Also you could check out Goz12 (probably in the archives by now), a 5CC Deity Space Race.

 

[AlanH]

As I discount Culture Victory as even remotely realistic, I never play it [anymore]. I also came to hate Culture flip, at early levels, it worked in my favor but as I progressed, I quickly discovered just how much the game hated me.

Check out SGOTM 6. 11 teams all completed 100K culture victories on a mix of vanilla, PtW and C3C. you can find blow-by-blow accounts of these games by clicking the links to the team threads.

 

[Theov]

War Addiction - by this I guess you mean keeping more soldiers than upkeep even in times of peace? True, normally I would personally disband my troops to upkeep level during peace time but some people may just be extremely careful of extremely pissed off at the AI.

I never* disband units. I'd rather throw them at the enemy, use them for scouting purposes, MP or upgrade them. (I'm rarely over the cap)
.
With War Addiction, I mean that sometimes it's better to keep peace, build your empire and concentrate on improvements and tech.
But somehow I find myzelf in moving units around to some fare away island and figure "I'm going to take it anyway, so why wait? If the War Weariness kicks in, I can always go Commie."







*Never

 

[rysingsun]

culture addiction (must ... build ... temples ...)

iron addiction ... that's the one where we must start over because we don't have iron.

cow addiction ... also known as mapfinder addiction ... do you have to start with four cows? if so then you have cow addiction

 

[PaperBeetle]

Micro[management] addiction is a huge one for me; every town gets checked on every turn. I start out a game thinking "I'll just do full micro until my settler factory is running, and then just keep that running smoothly". When I get to that point I think, "well, I might as well micro everything until the Republic slingshot is finished", then it is near 1000bc, so I think "okay, I'll keep up the micro until 1000bc so as to maximise my Quick Start Challenge score". After the QSC I change my mind to "I'll micro through until the end of the ancient age". Often the golden age comes around the start of the medieval, and I definitely want to make the most of that, so the micro goes on. Whether I manage to cut down on micro after the GA usually depends on how well I am doing. If the game is going smoothly, I can often convince myself to only check those cities which CA2 flags up as about to riot, just grown or about to grow.

 

[MAS]

CivFanatics forum addiction: This is where you spend more time on this forum than playing the game this forum is about.

 

[Pyrrhos]

CommandoBob points out the most basic addiction - coasting. How many times have I not been loath to break off REX in order to put a dent in a certain opponent's before it can seriously impede me? How often have I not waited for an opponent to declare instead of smashing him when things are most in my favour just because I want war happiness and am afraid of war weariness or a rep hit? How many times have I not prolonged a war where I've really reached my objectives long ago just because I want to take these towns or finish an AI off, instead of preparing for the next challenge? How many times have I not put off a government change or a declaration of war because I wanted to finish certain other projects such as a certain tech, certain units or a certain wonder/improvement? How many times have I not waited a dozen turns or so just to have cavs instead of my current knights before I declare? Etc, etc, etc.

 

[Theov]

CivFanatics forum addiction: This is where you spend more time on this forum than playing the game this forum is about.

Sounds familiar.

 

[Tasslehoff]

I think, a lot of times, Government addiction isn't as bad as you make out. In C3C, Republic is generally best for a majority of situations, and I find that one is able to get to any victory type more easily with Republic than anything else. There are, of course exceptions.

War addiction- me, all the way.

 

[Exwing17]

Someone said they played a game without spending a single coin on research!?!

I aim to have my research marker at the max it can be without making a loss per turn! Is it really possible to trade all your techs?!

 

[AlanH]

Is it really possible to trade all your techs?!

Sure. Zero research expenditure (and no scientists) is quite a common variant, though it usually involves a combination of trading and extortion at higher levels.

I recall playing a very entertaining zero-research succession game at Emperor level. It was one of three "ScoutX Jumpmaster" SGs sponsored by Scoutsout, and a Space victory was the required objective in at least one of those games.