How do you play Civilization_4 ?

[Harovan]

I didn't play a SP game for several months, but I have 1 PBEM running. Guess that qualifies me for "MP only" voting.

[Generaldoktor]

What an edifying exposition on the do's and don'ts of Multi-player, (among other comments.)

Patch v.161 has set my rather mediocre game back. I was using chopping as a crutch and probably playing the GP card too heavy, after initially ignoring it when I bought the game last fall. I feel I should try some "civilized" version of MP at some point, but don't feel I'm ready. Like what was said about the legendary Ming, I am at home, practicing.

Anytime the SP AI seems to be letting me down, I load up "Raging Barbarians" and drop down a level of difficulty. The barbs keep your war skills somewhat honed even in lieu of effective nation-AI. Thing is, with the experience point cap, you really don't get that warmonger feel. Oh well, when I'm finally in the MP maelstrom, I'll get plenty of that, I'm sure.

One thing some people don't consider is that people playing something for fun can still have a fragile ego; and want some civility, even in defeat. Chess has always been good for this. I've been beaten at the classic game in 20 moves, at times; but it is rare to see the kind of chortling you see in some of these advanced tech games. Of course, with simple "checkmate", there is little opportunity for overkill, such as you get when you are razing people's cities and slaughtering their units with tech/numeric preponderance, all the while breast-beating on the message board.

I think there should a players' association set up with a reward of certification for players who do show maturity and restraint.

[NTJedi]

Originally posted by Generaldoktor
I think there should a players' association set up with a reward of certification for players who do show maturity and restraint.

Yes I made this suggestion on the Dominions_2 forum a few months ago. Gamers need a way to identify the honorable and maturely strong gamers compared with the quitters and cheaters.

I would suggest someone creating a website which hosts a Hall of Glory list. Here it would report each gamer and their email address then a list of how many times they played until the bitter end and how many times they gave up and ran or cheated. Cheaters and quitters can always get a new email address, but honorable gamers would now have a way to find each other.
Thus the truly reliable and honorable multiplayer gamers can complete a full game with other gamers.