More forethought?
In Civ IV when the end turn came up you were still thinking of what you were going to do. Is this city optimized for this turn? Are my Civics correct? Did I check the AI trading screen? (annoying i know but still) How much longer do I need to be on the gold side of my binary research? There were lots of things you needed to check every turn to play well and win at Emperor+.
In CiV I don't even ask questions any more. Do I want to be at war? Yes why not. My science moves along anyway, my people are happy, and why build buildings that are worthless. There is no intense rexing phase where being one turn short of a city means your set back and maybe lost. There is no boom phase where you play nice and develop your infrastucre and science. There are no quick wars where you set an objective and get in and out quick so you don't fall behind.
CiV is boring. I can't wait to hit end turn. Would be nice to have something to think about though in those long wait times. For anyone who has played a war game the strategy is comically easy. Civ IV had numbers to crunch and decisions that mattered. CiV every decision is so set on a grand scale that anyone can follow.
If you are playing on lower levels of CiV and Civ IV then maybe the game is a lot different but I like to play at the hardest levels and CiV offers one clear winning strategy and that is war. There is no reason to be at peace unless you just want to play out the end game faster.
Don't nerf the power of war, but please give me a reason to want to build and expand my empire. CiV isn't a lost cause but for now it isn't fun.
