Bad Starting Positions: Restart or play on?

Dis · October 15, 2002, 21:26

I always play on. It's a challenge to make something out of nothing. Although I was not able to do that today. More often than not I can pull out a victory, but by a very close margin.

miccofl · October 15, 2002, 21:42

I eat a banana because I might trash the game or play on, it depends on the day. Why didn't you vote?

Tuberski · October 15, 2002, 21:42

I restart, mostly because I have moved up in difficulty recently, and a bad start gurantees I won't have a chance.

Carver · October 15, 2002, 21:58

I always play at least 30 turns or so, just to look around. But I'm not afraid to restart when doomed.

asleepathewheel · October 15, 2002, 22:09

I'm not ashamed to say that I restart from pathetic situations. I just don't have the time to waste to play for half an hour before deciding it sucks. Expansionist helps here, those scouts can quiclkly look around. If my start sucks, maybe the 2nd city can be good. or not, then I reset. NO shame.,

vmxa1 · October 15, 2002, 22:31

I do not see any problems with restart or not to restart. I have not done it, but I would if I did not like the looks of things. I want to enjoy my time. I use to for civ2, when I was on a small land mass, even though you could win.

Dis · October 15, 2002, 22:41

I did vote. I play most of the game. I sometimes play all of it. I at least like to complete the REX phase and see where I stand.

Jethro83 · October 15, 2002, 22:55

I don't really have time to be playing games where I won't stand a chance anyway due to a bad start, so therefore, I always restart.

I want to at the very least be a realistic contender for the position as superpower, so it is important to have good places to farm settlers and workers (particularly when I'm an industrious civ).

Perhaps when I have a bit more time on my hands, I might try a crappy start.

Tiberius · October 16, 2002, 01:57

Play on. It is more challenging to win from a bad starting position.

When the conditions are harsh, I like to think that my people are tougher than those banana-eating opponents

The_Aussie_Lurker · October 16, 2002, 02:12

Well, I ALWAYS stick it out to the bitter end becuase I reckon "Hell, if the real-life Egyptians could make a go of a DESERT, then I can't complain!"

.
What surprises me, though, is that no-one has voted for "whines that Civ3 sucks" option, given the number of people who do claim it sucks here on the forum!

.

Yours,
The_Aussie_Lurker.

Mattaba · October 16, 2002, 02:12

Well I look around first and I try to complete the game even with bad start, but I would restart if I had an Aeson-like starting position.

FrustratedPoet · October 16, 2002, 02:27

I will restart if I get something really terrible, but I'm not one of those people who restarts each game 20 times to get the perfect start.
I usually don't finish my games anyway, when I'm bored with it for whatever reason (I'm obviously winning by miles, or obviously losing badly) I'll restart and try something different.

Demerzel · October 16, 2002, 02:37

I'll stick with a position unless it's pretty hopeless, i.e. mountains galore surrounding my position. Playing on Emperor whilst starting in the middle of the Amazonian rain forest does make for a testing game indeed so I'll play it out but having to create civilisation from the top of Everest? No thanks

Laertes · October 16, 2002, 07:15

It's the all-ice starts that get me hitting crl-shift-Q. No food, no shield, cant irrigate and just plain cold!

Adagio · October 16, 2002, 08:00

I always play on...ok, almost always, I only restart when I'm english, the terrain has NO influence wheter I restart or not...

I don't give up, even though the risk to lose is 100%...also when playing against humans (Back in the days as I played Settlers 3 online, I always sticked around after I was destroyed...just to see who won the game...Once I even stayed in the game 1 hour after my destruction...

Messer Niccolò · October 16, 2002, 08:06

Quote:

Originally posted by The_Aussie_Lurker

What surprises me, though, is that no-one has voted for "whines that Civ3 sucks" option, given the number of people who do claim it sucks here on the forum!

.

Yours,
The_Aussie_Lurker.

Here I am... I whine!

Quote:

Originally posted by The_Aussie_Lurker
Well, I ALWAYS stick it out to the bitter end becuase I reckon "Hell, if the real-life Egyptians could make a go of a DESERT, then I can't complain!"

.

Why not? Are you Egyptian? And look where they are now! Not competitive! Whine again...

Alex · October 16, 2002, 08:17

I play on. Till the bitter end, if necessary. I like to be defeated from time to time, so I can get ready for the devastation that multiplayer games will be.

August Borms · October 16, 2002, 08:36

Play a few turns, then restart if the terrain doesn't get any better

Tiberius · October 16, 2002, 08:52

Quote:

Originally posted by Alexnm
I play on. Till the bitter end, if necessary. I like to be defeated from time to time, so I can get ready for the devastation that multiplayer games will be.

Right on

I'd like to play my first online game against Aeson, Theseus and some other "deity" guys . After such a traumatizing experience, things can only getting better!

SpencerH · October 16, 2002, 09:01

I usually play everything random on monarch and I restart if I judge that the start position immediately requires my going to war. My current game required 5 restarts and my best city made it up to size 10 before running out of food. My opponents are currently averaging 12-16 size cities.

Bella Hella · October 16, 2002, 10:20

Quote:

Originally posted by SpencerH
I usually play everything random on monarch and I restart if I judge that the start position immediately requires my going to war.

exactly my situation. if i have two or more "neighbors" right up my @$$ at the very beginning, i don't hesitate to restart. on the other hand, i'll usually play out starting positions on bad terrain. that's what industrial workers are for!

i'm about to win a game that started in the middle of a HUGE jungle, but i have another game going where i started on mountains/snow, which probably won't turn out as well.

i'm trying to get used to the idea of HAVING to play out crap starting positions, as we'll have to do in MP.

Adagio · October 16, 2002, 12:13

On a side note: Once I have had a such bad starting position, that it simply just needed a restart, though it wasn't in Civ, it was in a game (AoE a-like) released about a year ago I think...Don't remember the name, but in the game you don't have any flying transportation (The game was about building a castle), which made it impossible to play the game, when you were stuck on a rock, there were NO way down to my enemies...And since this was my first game (and playing MP), I didn't try it much afterwards...played one or two games more...

Alex · October 16, 2002, 14:00

Quote:

Originally posted by ADG
Don't remember the name, but in the game you don't have any flying transportation (The game was about building a castle),

Stronghold?

Adagio · October 16, 2002, 14:33

I guess that's the name...

georges bonbon · October 17, 2002, 04:44

I always play on huge pangea maps with 16 civilizations on emperor level.

Playing on isn't an option to win the game. The AI is too agressive.

Alex · October 17, 2002, 08:14

Quote:

Originally posted by georges bonbon
Playing on isn't an option to win the game. Th AI is too agressive.

Sometimes, when I play on despite of a crappy starting position, I don't want exactly to win the game. The challenge for me consists in make my civ goes powerful enough and productive enough to overcome any substantial disadvantage I may suffer in the later stages of the game. That is essentially a victory for me, even when I don't "win" the game.

dojoboy · October 17, 2002, 08:42

Generally, I play the game. However, since I'm new to the emperor level, I'll restart if its a dismal placement.

wilbill · October 17, 2002, 09:31

Some of the games I've enjoyed most began with bad starting positions. When you're dead last after 15 or 20 turns, surviving can be a major accomplishment and if you can finish the game in 2nd or 3rd place, it actually feels as good as winning. I think I've been forced to think about my strategies, try new approaches, and learn the intricacies of the game to a greater degree in these bad starts than I do when I'm in the lead from the beginning.

vmxa1 · October 17, 2002, 12:49

I think Aeson shows that there is no bad start, in the game called So Very Cold. Some are just better than others.

Zero-Tau · October 17, 2002, 15:01

I usually restart, simply because it's more fun for me. Sure, getting a bad start is a challenge, but I prefer to put off the challenges until later in the game, when most civs have met each other.