What is my Problem?

[manooly]

I have been playing Civ3 for quite some time now. I love the game. I have started a ton of games but have never stuck with one and finished it. What is my friggin' problem?! I love finding and loading new MODs too. What type of game should I start so I'll stick with it until the end? I obviously have vanilla Civ3, RaR 1.04, Heart of Destiny, The Balancer Reloaded and many others mods. I just want to get into one game so I'll finish it this time. I do love the idea of long drawn out epic games on HUGE maps. Any ideas or help would be appreciated.

Thanks for your time!

 

[Mao Zendog]

Try playing multiple games at once, that is what I do.

Once you get bored of 1 game, save it and start a new one. Once you get bored of the new game, go back to the old one. I dont know how many other people do that but it shure works for me.

 

[Bartleby]

Do you decide on a victory condition before you start? That might help you keep focus.
I'm like Mao Zedong, I have several games running in parallel, and each one has a specific goal.

 

[Sloaf]

I have started a ton of games but have never stuck with one and finished it....

...I do love the idea of long drawn out epic games on HUGE maps.

Maybe you like the idea of massive games but don't actually enjoy the time/effort it takes to play them out. Large and huge maps can take an hour or more per turn when you're in the thick of things, and maybe that's getting you down.

To get going, you might try a small pangea map, and try to win by conquest (killing everyone). The smaller map takes less time, pangea speeds things up since all civs are in one place, and conquest should keep you interested as you continuously take city after city from the enemy. Peaceful victories can be quicker in terms of hours played, but some players get bored with only research/building. Once you get the first victory under your belt, maybe you'll be a little hungrier to finish off one of the larger maps.

EDIT:

One other thing that may be completely obvious, or maybe not. Civ isn't like RTSs where you can knock out a few games in an afternoon. One Civ game can take days or weeks to finish, and it helps to keep in mind that you're gradually chipping away at a bigger goal. If you're more into action-oriented games, it can take a while to adjust.

Good luck to you!

 

[Optional]

At what point are you usually quitting? And why?

Huge maps take loads and loads of time. Maybe it's not the first thing you want to do, but you can cut down significantly on the playing time needed by playing a large map instead, 12 civs. And 80% water would mean less cities and therefore less of a micromanagement nightmare.
You can probably finish that in less than half the time and it is still quite big, quite epic.
Another suggestion, for what it's worth, is aiming for a Diplomatic victory. Less war means shorter turns, so again you're cutting down significantly on playing time needed.

 

[manooly]

I'm not sure why I always end up quiting. I guess I like the idea of starting fresh.

 

[Optional]

If it makes you feel better: many players don't finish their games. I don't finish most of mine, because at some stage I've become the powerhouse, I know how I can win it and it's not exciting anymore. But look at the games in the Game Of The Month or the Hall Of Fame. The amount of hours played per game is listed there, and some games take hundreds of hours. No wonder a lot of players don't finish their games! Not your fault, still, I would probably try, if I were you, to finish at least one.

 

[CommandoBob]

Could the game be too easy?

Maybe you need to move up a level or two.

Huge maps do take longer to play, no doubt about it. More land, more units, more AI, more trade routes to calculate, more cities to manage....you get the idea.

Not any less fun, just more to do. And what is rather quick to do on a standard map (cycle through the cities checking on the specialist farms. for instance) becomes quite time consuming on a huge map.

Maybe you need to join a Succession Game, where you only play 10 turns at a time. That might help you to focus/finish.

 

[T.A JONES]

I'm not sure why I always end up quiting. I guess I like the idea of starting fresh.

Like you I only played complete mods like the ones you listed. FOra nice break I moed to sceanrios that had the same level of completion and new material (extra stuff, new civs, new pedia all cmoplete)

My suggestion is go to Rood of the Dragon and have fun/ If you like a longer game learn to raise the turns and the techrate . Thats what I did for this mod and it was awesome. Take my word

 

[Mao Zendog]

Could the game be too easy?

Maybe you need to move up a level or two.

Yes I have that problem too; its extreamy boring to play a game that you know that you have won since 2000BC.

On the other hand, it is pointless playing a game that you know you can't win.

I dont know why, but monarch is too easy, and emperour is too hard. What am i to do? :/

 

[TheOverseer714]

I dont know why, but monarch is too easy, and emperour is too hard. What am i to do? :/

Play at Monarch as a variant, such as zero science, always war, 5 City Challenge or on a giant world. Play as weaker civs. There are many ways to impose handicaps on yourself.

 

[iambenben]

I do that sometimes, usually because i havent got a certain resource or i got a bad area (jungle, plains, tundra etc)

 

[FLump]

I used to have the same problem. I found playing semi-pacifistic to be a much more enjoyable game than the constant moving battle front where I had the game wrapped up halfway through. Not only is most of the game just playing out the string, each turn gets longer and longer as I acquire more and more useless cities and massive amounts of units.

So now I play for Spaceship, Diplomatic, or Culture victories. I try and leave as many Civs alive and unscathed as possible, dominate trade and techs and win that way. I usually only declare war once, in order to conquor my nearest neighbor so I get a boost of land early on, then only war on civs that declare on me (which will happen, so don't worry about wasting all those units you build).

Its really pretty interesting to see all the civs squabble and fight while you remain sort of a Puppet Master behind the scenes.

I always play on Monarch, with Regent being too easy and frankly, my job is frustrating enough - I play Civ to relax - so no Emporer+ for me

 

[Spikerocks101]

I'm going to sound all evil too all your guys' logic, but I still have his problem. See, it's not that your not playing a hard enough lvl, it's that your playing too hard a lvl. You still like the game, right? Well, ever since I started meeting people who play on harder lvls, I slowly stopped liking the game. Over time people were always on way harder lvls then me, and when I seen what I accomplished, it was nothing compared to them. So, I started to play harder and harder, got way better, but had more saves, because I messed up here, screwed up there, and just wanted to do it again like this or like that. But, what made the fun come back in when I went on a easy lvl and then I got the empire I was looking for and I had no mistakes and it was really fun to conquer the world. I really suggest not to compare your self to the harder lvl guys, but try to do the same game they you at least had one good run on. Have you ever got a extremely good civ?

P.S. Why did the chicken cross the road? There is no road.