Ways to use critical thinking to help create strategies to win more games?

[Fallout Equestria fanmare]

Hi im seth, im 21 years old and I have ADHD, I feel like my school failed me in teaching me critical thinking and therefore im trying to fix that(Weird start I know) But I figured that perhaps one of the best ways to do so is to learn how to play strategy games and actually Strategize/plan asking questions like "Is this play ideal for now? Will it be in 5 turns?" Stuff like that, so im looking for help to start down a path on how to improve my Critical thinking skills in Civ 6 so I can hopefully someday win on Deity

 

[Krajzen]

Screw critical thinking skills, just have fun, the purpose of strategy games is to have fun. Just experiment (on low difficulty levels) and see what happens, disastrous strategy game playthroughs can be among the most entertaining ones. Also most civ players think Deity difficulty sucks because its not fun. Also there is nothing wrong in not enjoying strategy games, any hobby exists to be fun, not to be a measure of human worth or an instrumental mean to an end. There is nothing worse in my experience than forcing yourself to enjoy something because it will be useful as some point. So, to sum up, only play civ if you actually have fun doing so, and don't feel bad if you will find it boring.

Moderator Action: **SNIP** Please stay on topic - lymond

 

[rocksinmypath]

I don't think the inability to think critically is a symptom of ADHD. Conversely, being prone to addiction to many things that provide instant gratification like, I don't know, gaming, is. If you're saying that you missed the opportunity to learn critical thinking because you weren't able to pay attention in school, I don't think you missed out much based on my experience with school. I don't like to be overly cynical about schools, and I really hate it when I hear people tell others, especially young people, that college is a waste of time, but the single best thing I learned in university was how to do well in school without going to lectures. I don't think the classroom is a good environment for critical thinking because, for me, at least, I need to be put in a somewhat uncomfortable position to force myself to think critically, and you just don't usually encounter situations like that by attending lectures or doing homework. Going to every lecture was an inconvenience to me at the time, mostly because I refused to go to bed before 4am (lol), so I had to explore a creative way to do well in school without going to lectures. I suppose strategy games do put you in situations that are amenable to critical thinking, but there must be many other things in your life currently that can also provide you with the opportunity to practice critical thinking. I believe critical thinking starts with observation. There are probably things in your life you could be doing differently for the better, but you just never considered that possibility because you haven't been observant enough.

 

[lymond]

Moderator Action: Please keep the discussion focused on the topic of critical thinking and Civ 6 strategy. Help the OP learn the game you love instead of trying to play doctor with unsolicited advice.

 

[vorlon_mi]

The Civilization franchise, overall, is a wonderful arena for making these short-term and long-term strategy decisions. Good choice!

Consider other games in the franchise as well, not just Civ6. For example,

• In Civ3, you can decide when to carry out revolutions to change governments. You will have many cities to place (more than Civ6), so deciding to place them close together (for benefits now) or further apart (to allow them to grow very large) is a great one to think about.
• In Civ4, it's possible to damage your empire economy overall if you build cities as quickly as one does while playing Civ3. Do I build a city now, or wait until my current cities are a bit larger and more productive? Civ4 also has lots of interesting decisions about when to chop a forest, to speed up production of a unit or a building.
• In Civ6, layout of the districts that surround a city are important decisions. If I plan for this city to grow large enough to support 3 districts, which districts should they be? Which ones are best to allocate first? If I have two cities along a river, how should I lay out their districts to work together, even though I may not be able to build them right away.

 

[criZp]

Doing better in civ is not about critical thinking, it's about understanding the concept of opportunity costs