Why should I continue with this game?

[Void_nul]

I was a fan of the civ series for years. Started with civ2 on the playstation, moved on to civ3, then to civ4. I finally turned civ4 on again for the first time since 2017. In that time, I've figured out what I like and don't. I hate games where you put a huge amount of effort into something only to have it all blow up in your face in the end. I also hate rng. I thought this was a strategy game, but playing it I now realize its mainly an rng game.

Playing several games over the past several days, I start off doing well for the longest time, only for victory to be torn away from me in the end. This game, I was trying for a space race victory. I was doing well, ended up isolated on a continent with two weak civs that posed no threat to me (i was able to isolate them on a tiny peninsula). When I got to building the apollo program though, suddenly out of nowhere a civ from another continent I had barely any interaction with declared war on me and took one of my cities. I had neglected defense for pretty much the entire game, so my cities were still being guarded by archers. I gave up at that point, because at the rate he was moving, there was no way I could get an army up in time to stop him before he overran my entire empire. I was hoping that even if I failed to achieve the space race victory, I would still win from having the highest score.

I admit, that one was my fault, but I wasn't expecting a civ who had NOTHING AGAINST ME suddenly coming to my continent and attacking me. I've had more bs things happen to over the past few days. Isabella's been a major thorn in my side for just about every game. First game, I had the top score, then she out of the blue declared war on me and took my best cities. I got them back, but they were permanently neutered due to the border now preventing them from using half their tiles. I never did recover. Every war with isabella only pushed my score further and further down. Then when I finally manage to turn the tide against her, and was able to deal the final blow and get my revenge, she became a vassal state to some stupid civ. Since I wasn't at war with them, THE THING DECLARED PEACE WITHOUT MY CONSENT AND TELEPORETED MY ARMY TO OVER 20 TILES AWAY DUE TO HER bullfeathers BORDER. The only way to fix my cities was to take out that one city, and now I couldn't do so without provoking an empire over twice my size. That was another game I gave it, and it was my third try btw.

The only good game I've had over the past few days is when I turned the difficulty back down to warlord. The game became a joke, so I set it back to noble. I clearly can't handle noble, and warlord is an utter joke.
This 'game' has been nothing but a source of rage and frustration. I'm not enjoying it, I'm at the mercy of fudging random numbers. Why should I even keep playing this game? I liked it when I suffered the delusion that it was a strategy game, but now I know better and that in reality I have no control over anything. RNG is liking flipping a coin and saying you win on a heads, what's the fun in that? RNG games are just a glorified coin flip, nothing more.
Should I give this game another chance after all I've gone through? I was hoping years ago to work my way up to the highest difficulty, because I got sick of only playing the lowest ones. I clearly can't do it, because my luck is too bullfeathers (I have no idea how I'm even still alive to be honest). Someone like me can't play an rng when your luck is complete garbage. And yes, luck is real, its more obvious than anything in the universe, you're a straight denialist if you think luck isn't real. Tangent aside, clearly this game isn't for unlucky fudgs like me.

 

[Noble Zarkon]

Interesting post as one of the biggest complaints about Civ 6 is how much worse diplomacy is compared to Civ 4!

In Civ it does depend on the leader but generally your friends will stay friends although Isabella is a crazy woman!

Best thing to do is to post a turn 0 save and wait for advice - take it slowly, probably a turn a day. Read all the suggestions thoroughly and think them through. Do this and we'll have you mastering Noble in a few weeks...

 

[konata_LS]

The only good game I've had over the past few days is when I turned the difficulty back down to warlord. The game became a joke,

At least your current situation is much better than mine several years ago . Before I found this forum, I was often destroyed by Warlord AIs Shaka or Julius . Even at Settler level I got DoW by Monty and JC .

I was hoping years ago to work my way up to the highest difficulty, because I got sick of only playing the lowest ones.

As Noble Zarkon suggested at #2, a good way to improve is to start a shadow game, post T0 save, and progress with others' advice. One shadow game might take several days or weeks, but you'll learn many things through it.

Another way to improve is to play Nobles club (people call it "NC") games that you'll find in the Strategy & Tips subforum. NC games' initial goal is to help the players at noble level and below - that's exactly your situation. New players are encouraged to download the NC zip file, play the game, upload some screenshots or saves, and compare & discuss with other players. The latest NC 325 is a great place for you to start. If you feel less confident, then NC 323 is probably for you: strong leader, nice land. My personal experience is, after two or three NC games, the prince level which had been impossible for me suddenly became not difficult at all.

Of course, when you start a shadow game or post your game in a NC thread, other players might point out the areas which can be improved. If you don't understand some constructive criticisms, the best thing to do is to ask politely for an explanation, for example "I want to grab five jungle dyes with my second city, but why do you say I should ignore the dyes at the moment and settle near a grassland copper instead?" Nothing wrong to ask why. When people are new to the game, they often make mistakes because they don't know the game mechanics or even miss some basic concepts (a few years ago I lost my capital to barb axes at chieftain level more than once because I knew nothing about barb spawning and how to fog-bust). Asking question is an efficient way to learn about what one doesn't know.

 

[Void_nul]

I did try that like 10 years ago on here, I got belittled for being such a noob. I avoided this forum for the past decade because of the reaction I got there. And no it wasn't 'criticism', they just started ignoring my game and attacking me personally for being so inept. I learned nothing from that, and from my own testing I've found that in reality they were intentionally giving me bad advice. The only reason I decided to post here again was because I couldn't find a better place anywhere. This community is just so overrun with trolls.

Also, I did post my saves onto another thread (though the second one isn't displaying yet for some reason):

How do you beat Isabella???

 

[Gumbolt]

You have 5 posts on this forum and this is your second thread. No save attached here.

 

[Fippy]

Well you are raging on the game, Izzy, this community (which really helps everyone right now..check some shadow games in S&T).
May i suggest you start with your own attitude and things surely will improve from there.

 

[Void_nul]

You have 5 posts on this forum and this is your second thread. No save attached here.

The second save is on the thread I linked, and its displaying now. That one I was attempting a space race victory. It was going well, before someone I had no history with from another continent randomly decided to attack me. No idea why he placed that city there either. If I could, I would raze it for this. Besides, its a bad spot which is why I never took it myself (I thought about building a city there, but I couldn't find any place to put where its tiles wouldn't be overlapping with the neighboring two).

 

[need my speed]

but I couldn't find any place to put where its tiles wouldn't be overlapping with the neighboring two

This is not a bad thing though! Especially in the early game, are you really expecting every single city of you to reach 21 population to be able to work every tile it could?

 

[Void_nul]

Yes, because that's what this place told me to do, seriously. I needed to make sure each city could produce 36 food so they could work every tile. I was also told to hack down every single forest just to get rid of them and build cottages on everything, unless I needed farms to get to 32 food. And yes, I've been questioning that advice lately, and its also why I haven't posted here in over a decade. I am doing what I was told, despite what everyone seems to be thinking.

Moderator Action: I joined the forum 10 years ago as well and the folks here took me from struggling at Warlord to holding a Hall of Fame record at Deity. People want to help so take a deep breath, calm down and let us help you --Noble Zarkon .

 

[s.bernbaum]

Void_nul,

There used to be a few nasties here who tried to beliitle others but they are now gone. They either got perma-banned or chose to move on to places where there were more folks to insult, as the CIV users numbers dropped. Nearly everyone here now is helpful and not at all nasty. You must understand though that there are a few folks who are rather brief in their comments when they are telling you what you are doing wrong. They are not tryng to insult you. They are trying to help you but are just not very good at communicating, so look at any such remarks that way and don't take offense. I have been here a long time and chose to use only this CIV site because the people as a group are much nicer and more friendly than I found on any other CIV site.

 

[Gumbolt]

Out of interest what was your old name on here Void_nul before?

 

[Elliot_Ness]

My advice is go to the strategy and tips forum, read through the first pinned thread, the basics for beginners by Fippy. It's an interesting read and lays out some really good general advice. That thread alone took me to monarch level.

Also just browse the old shadow games, again they are interesting reads while also very informative.

 

[Elliot_Ness]

Also the civ 4 war academy. Great resource.

 

[Noble Zarkon]

My advice is go to the strategy and tips forum, read through the first pinned thread, the basics for beginners by Fippy. It's an interesting read and lays out some really good general advice. That thread alone took me to monarch level.

I had forgotten how awesome that thread by @Fippy was, great work.