What have you learned?

[UnOrthOdOx]

Just wanted to see what each of you have taken from the game so far.

Has it changed your own style?



I joined more to learn than really add in the beginning. And I have learned a great deal. Foremost has been these tech whoring projects. I am not saying I never did such myself, but not as frequently. And mostly because I didn't check in time. Same with the Maps. I never used to trade maps. Last game, though, my map was so valuable, it caught me up in tech, without additional funds, something I never would have thought of before.

Another thing is that I play slower now. I check MUCH more often with my advisors. Indeed, I have learned to use the advisors much better. I am surprised how much info they give if you know where to look.

City placement. I would not have placed those initial cities so close in the past. Now, I have done it to dig out of bad situations.

I look forward to other revelations in the future. Especially in what I know to be my weak areas. This Machiav...(I am going to kill Robber Baron for naming that damn thing) should come up with ideas I would have never tried.

Well, just curious if this game has effected anyone else in a similar manner.

[Spiffor]

I don't play much outside of the DemoGame (it takes almost all my spare time already, and I can barely see my friends). But I've learned the efficiency of early wars, and closer city placement.

I never placed cities close to each other before, because I hate overlapping. Now, I place my cities closer, in order not to waste any single tile of my territory.

I don't play slower in my games. I don't check diplomacy every turn, and I can miss occasions to tech-whore I do this in the DemoGame because the rythm is much slower than what I'd have alone (and because I'm specialized here)

What I learned is the usefulness of entertainment slider : it can be much better than entertainers in cities, because it's much more productive. I used to never give 10% entertainment in Civ3, but I'll consider 10-20% in my future games under Republic / Democracy.

[Kuciwalker]

TECH WHORING

I never knew before this how godbleeped effective this can be. I usually try for a tech lead and don't generally trade techs. I HATE to be behind ANYONE. No more.

EDIT: I also learned to hate polls (see signature ).

[Aro]

I learned about micromanagement and tech whoring, the most important. I think I’ll never automate my cities again…
And the winner is: never give up. Due our start position, we found ourselves as the last civ in the game, only jungle, no perspectives at all… but look where we are now!

"Audentes fortuna iuvat."
Fortune favors the brave.
(Vergilius, Aenis)

[Inverse Icarus]

i have to admit i never techwhored too much before.

it is quite lucrative, but it DOES take a long time.

[GodKing]

Diplomacy. I never paid much attention to this aspect of the game. Now I realize how valuable it can be: tech whoring, giving gifts that don't mean much to keep the peace until you are ready to slit their thro.....

Ya. Being Diplomatic.

[ManicStarSeed]

This game has helped me get over my perfecionist city placement. Overlap is no problem with me any more.

I am also learning that early aggression is key to the early stages of the game.

I always have micromanaged. As of late, I am using the governers to keep the folks happy. I have noticed a differeence between the tiles the computer works vs the ones I would work. Ususlly its no big problem, if it is I micromanage that city.

All in all, I am gaining a better understanding of the way game works, AI tatics and such.

Biggest change in my style was the bee-line for republic rather than monarchy. It takes a little longer, but the benifits are better.

later..
Mss

[Shiber]

Tech whoring was new for me too. Not that I never did such things, just never in such magnitude and with such great success...
I've also learned a few things about using topography to your favor. Moving those swordsmen through the chain of mountains that leads to Paris is an awesome idea... In fact I think I'm gonna use such tactics in the future.
I've also learned much about using workers.
Overall I can say that I've learned much about civ during this game, but a lot about the social relations within a management organization as well and I keep learning as I go.
So far I'm really enjoying the game! I especially like the way people consult with others before they present their plans, and the way that vague ideas are refined into work plans through brainstorming and (mostly) positive team work. Keep it up!

[Vlad Antlerkov]

Techwhoring.

'nuff said.

[Robber Baron]

Jumping on the bandwagon here: the power and effectiveness of tech-whoring in this game has been eye-opening. I guess I always assumed before that if one AI civ got a tech, it immediately sold it to every other civ with which it was in contact. Man-oh-man, seeing us claw to the head of the pack technologically was cool.
Does take a lot of work, though. Hard to put the patience into it, when it's just me and my laptop, buzzing away on a game of my own during lunchtime.

Oh, and 'dOx, Machiavelli wasn't my idea, actually. I preferred the Metternich Institute. (I always saw Machiavelli as more of a domestic politics, chief of state kind of guy, not a statesman or a diplomat.)

I learned the value of sharing and friendship, and I had one wacky adventure getting there! Oh, wait... DEMO GAME? Ah, yes.

Techwhoring I can safely say is NOT one of the new things that I took from this experience. I read about techwhoring on the strategy board before (when I got Civ3), and put it to the test. I was already doing that when I joined this game.
But what DID I learn? Well, the thing that surprised me most was the value of the maps. I never realized how much gold those things can rake in if you strategize correctly and sell to the right people. I also learned that pop-rushing isn't as bad as I once thought. Much to the contrary, it can make an ancient war more fulfilling and rewarding. The "archer rush" strategy is also something I now employ in most of my games. Taking out an entire civ is light-years easier when they have two or three cities rather than two or three dozen.

[Apocalypse]

Pop rushing. I never used it before, now I see its advantage.

[OPD]

Other than the whoring

I expect to learn alot about diplomacy. We have established embassies and there is talk of RoP to improve diplomatic relations.

I never bother with reputation or "friendly civs" as I just see everyone as a threat. But I very much look forward to seeing how the diplomatic relations pan out. Even if the whole concept seems alien to me.

[MrWhereItsAt]

City placement - I always placed cities the Civ2 way - to ensure that all land was used up, with minimal overlap, and if there was a site with minimal growth capacity (eg a grassland on a peninusla of Mts with Iron and one fish), I would NEVER build there. Now I see that the more cities, the better, especially if they are close to your capital.

Checking the other Civs' offers almost EVERY turn - this would (and may still) drive me insane, but there is a helluva lot they can get that you don't have, within a few turns.

Stacking Workers - I have always preferred to have one or two workers per city and have them concentrate on that one city until it is fully improved. I guess now with units being supported by the whole Civ, not one city, it makes sense to quickly improve one square at a time.

[Panag]

hi ,

anyone who would say that he or she did not learn from it , would be a big banana , ......

and if you did not learn from the game itself , then you learned from this site , ....

have a nice day

[Shiber]

Oh yeah, and pop rushing. I never used it before, I was not rather fond of the idea of having to take that 20 turns-long penalty. Now I can see pop rushing has many advantages, even outside emergencies.

[Inverse Icarus]

i'm suprised at the "pop rushing" crew.

i've actually played games going from despotism to communism just because the poprushing is so effective.