What speed do you play on?

[Jewbat]

Personally, I play on Marathon, mainly because in the later stages of the game it always feels as if whoever is in the lead stays that way with the turn speed. Usually they blow past the other civilizations in technology and win a science victory long before anyone is close enough in tech to fight them on any front. I've found that marathon fixes this.

Mind you, this is based on the first version of Civ 5 that came out (and partly, Civ 4), so I have not tried normal or epic in the most up-to-date version of Civ 5. Came here looking for opinions mainly!

 

[cpm4001]

I play on Epic 99% of the time, and Marathon the remaining 1%. In my opinion, Epic really gives you a much better game experience than Standard (that feels WAY too rushed) but without the almost painfully long opening-game of Marathon (don't get me wrong, though; I love Marathon speed once your cities are up-and-running, especially when it comes to warfare. I just sadly have no patience during the opening part of the game.)

 

[OmniPotent42]

I play on standard speed, partly because I hate waiting 20+ turns for anything to finish and also to bring my games under 4-5 hours. Plus my computer is pretty slow even on standard speed, I just couldn't wait even longer for every single late game turn. Warfare is also more of a challenge on standard because you have to kill the main army and additional reinforcements that spawn 2 turns later. I may try epic, but definitely not marathon.

 

[tomtom5858]

Mostly Standard, with the occasional foray into Epic. If I have a free weekend, I'll use the Iron Man gamespeed mod, which is two times the length of Marathon. I use the version that keeps unit costs reasonable, though

 

[infowarrior]

guess i'm the odd man out here... i'm more on the standard/quick end of things.

definitely when I wanna finish in one sitting, i'm terrible about forgetting exactly what i was doing when I come back in a day on a saved game...

 

[Streams]

I've been playing Marathon lately. It gave me a better taste of each era, but the game are getting quite long now, and after the first few, it starts to get tedious towards the end.

Marathon also underlines the weak AI and makes some things too easy. I never played Epic though, so I might give that a try.

Slower speeds are better in difficulty when there are more opponents, but after a couple of months I feel it becomes a grind at some point.

 

[Securion]

Epic 50% and Standard 50%.
Depends on mood.

 

[Jaybe]

Used to be Epic but switched to Marathon speed several months ago; Large maps.

 

[Ryoga]

guess i'm the odd man out here... i'm more on the standard/quick end of things.

definitely when I wanna finish in one sitting, i'm terrible about forgetting exactly what i was doing when I come back in a day on a saved game...

Here's another one like you. I mostly play on standard speeds and occasionally on quick.

There is indeed the problem that some ages might pass before you can do anything and some units might become obsolete in the time required for them to move from your capital to the enemy's city (especially in ancient times), but let's just say that clicking on the "next" button repeatedly while nothing happens is not quite my idea of fun, and it already happens on standard a lot.

 

[starstx]

I used to exclusively play on Epic speed but I have switched back to standard. I wish I could keep playing Epic because I like to spend more time in each era and have more time with my units as standard feels rushed BUT when it comes to war it is way too easy to steamroll my opponents once I take out their initial force and I can completely wipe out a dominant Civ even at higher levels. At least at standard they can make it more difficult. I also always play Large Maps. I like having 10 Civs in the game and a little bit of a bigger map. I wish the game was balanced for Epic speed as the normal setting.

 

[IkM]

Mostly on Epic. I tried a few games on Marathon. but, still love Epic Speed.

 

[AW Arcaeca]

Standard - which already feels a little slow-paced for me, so I don't think I could stand epic or marathon. But honestly, I don't really pay much attention to game speed.

 

[Titanis Walleri]

I play on quick only.

 

[TheMarshmallowBear]

Same here, Quick, can't even try to play on Standard.

 

[pilot00]

I play on Epic 99% of the time,, Epic really gives you a much better game experience than Standard (that feels WAY too rushed) but without the almost painfully long opening-game of Marathon

What the man said. Standard is too rushed, Marathon IMHO too slow. The best speed for me is epic.

 

[Sir Betti]

Since its named Civilization which sounds epic, I play on marathon with the "giant" continents and up to 22 civs. But by Modern Age things get fairly laggy between turns. I have the most fun at Prince level and play England for the naval stimulation.

 

[bcaiko]

I play exclusively on Standard. Slower speeds disproportionately benefit early game Civs (like the Aztecs) and cripples late game Civs. And because military units don't move any slower, Domination Victory becomes far too easy to accomplish early in the game.

The settings are there so people can use them, and I'm not criticizing that. But people should know that by playing on something slower than Standard - especially when going for Domination - you're effectively crippling the AI. You might as well be playing with random personalities and start bias off.

 

[OmniPotent42]

The settings are there so people can use them, and I'm not criticizing that. But people should know that by playing on something slower than Standard - especially when going for Domination - you're effectively crippling the AI. You might as well be playing with random personalities and start bias off.

I would tend to disagree with random personalities - it doesn't seem to have much of an effect as far as hindering the AI (as the gold, growth and happiness bonuses make up for any differences) and it's unpredictable for the human player so they have to stay on their toes. Sure Alex and Monty might not be as aggressive, but you may get rushed early game by polynesia and not expect it. But I agree with start bias and longer than standard speed.

 

[docbud]

I used to always play epic, but have played standard the last few games.

Since I only play a couple of hours a night, Epic was taking way too long to finish a game. Sometimes over a week.

 

[dopingman]

Mostly standart and sometimes Epic. Tried Marathon and the game took forever and on quick speed I was in the Atomic age after 3 hours. My units became obsolete so quickly, it was easier to build new ones rather than upgrading the old ones...

Also, as already stated, on slower speeds, the AI really shows how lacluster it is sometimes, especially considering warfare.