What are some challenges/alternate ways to play the game that you enjoy?

[NukeAJS]

Someone mentioned hotseat with just you playing multiple civs; that's definitely fun.

If you really wanna up your game, do a duel or tiny map with you controlling all the civs. Like playing both sides in chess, it pushes you to improve your game.

 

[Futumch]

Single city challenge is an old Civ standard that can be fun.

I must investigate the hotseat thing, that sounds interesting, if a tad schizophrenic.

 

[reddishrecue]

This is what I do. I let the game choose who I am going to be and then I try to play to the strengths of whoever I get. I enjoy this because there are SO many choices -- if I have to pick for myself I either get choice paralysis or fall into a rut of always playing the same three or four ones.

Lately I've started messing about with mods (using other people's mods, not making my own). I'm not looking for gigantic changes to gameplay but I'm excited to try the Steel & Thunder mods that add more units, and the Real Tech Tree mod that adds more dependencies to the tech and civic trees. I also added a couple of Sukritact's civs/leaders -- they are incredibly well polished and look just like official Firaxis DLC.

I agree with what you just said and the only downside to random is that the generator gives you the same civilization that you have played with before sometimes.

 

[Deadly Dog]

Been checking out Terra map with Suleiman, large size. Not interested in colonizing the New World so much as dominating the Old. So I picked other land based civs, some easy some hard. Its a very stripped-down game at the start, no envoys and land is settled fast. I've yet to get so far that me or an AI Civ can cross oceans. Not going well. Many restarts. Playing above my level.

So I took a break and loaded up Kupe on the same map settings, large Terra. Haha suddenly it's not a game at all anymore just a peaceful builders Utopia. Just building Harbors and TS everywhere and ignoring most other districts, almost all science and faith coming from tiles, huge culture wihtout GWAM's so now I'm exploring the old world with all their wars and lost cities just making sure they don't bring their sickness over to Moari lands or bother any of our friends Kumasi, Auckland, Zanzibar, Rapa Nui, Grenada, Valleta....

Now I have a game I can load up and mess with for a few turns when I'm tired or just want to watch AI warring itself, always cheering for the barbarians.