What settings can you win on regularly?

[damarcus]

Okay, so this is a poll about how many people can win in different settings. The query is based on games played on Vanilla Civ, with the latest official patch ONLY.

As for me, I can win on Prince and under easily. I'm very close to winning games on Monarch, but I need a good start.

Comments are welcome!

[Quillan]

Me, right now I can win about 2/3 on Prince. If I have a bad start or screw something up I lose, but it's improving. My hat's off to those of you who can win on Emperor and above.

[UnOrthOdOx]

I win on Monarch, but not without either a decent start (not neccessarily paradise, but not stuck in a desert) or one of the economic traits (fin/org). I lack both of those, and I have a rough time of it.

I also don't really play my 'best' on single player though. I use stack attack, cruise through turns without checking everything, forget/don't want to micromanage this or that, forget to trade around that new tech I was so worried about beating the AI to so I could trade it , things of that nature . I'ld rather rattle off 20 turns than spend 20 min on a single turn.

PBEMs are a different story.

[damarcus]

Hmm it seems most players don't beat Monarch on a regular basis?

[Mr Justice]

beatin emperor (and upwards) is a matter of maximising your potential, and for most that involves war, more war and more war.

and i think that that goes against the grain for a significant number of civ players, i dont see it as particularly skillfull for me to win at emperor becuse i know how the ai thinks and thus i can take advantage of that .

this is coming from somone who used find monarch difficult until i was enlightened by even better folks here. plus im a compulsive micromanager.

[zeace]

On Warlords with Blake's AI I'm usually winning at Prince so I'm pretty sure straight-vanilla I'd be there. I think Prince is the last level you can win at before you have to start making use of holes in the AI. At Monarch it's not enough to do your best at building cities, armies and diplomacy.

You have to intentionally attack AIs in ways they react badly to. You have to manipuate diplomacy to keep strong AIs entangled in wars they can't effectively win. You have to abuse the AI's rather predictable research paths.

Some may call it "advanced tactics", others "abusing the gamey parts of the game". I'm not here to judge, but if you like civ as a "simulation" then there's little appeal in playing it at the really high levels. I think that's the reason there are few people who have dedicated the time and effort to be solid high-level players.

[damarcus]

Well, I think Prince level is really easy to beat. The AI just isn't aggressive enough in expansion or in the warring at that level to make it a challenge.

Until recently, I had a frustratingly difficult time beating Monarch, but I think I finally got this figured out. In my last game, I was winning decidedly until the end game, and in my current game, I am winning decidedly and I actually expect to beat the game at that setting.

I don't think I abused the AI's warring weaknesses in particular -- I mean, it's just a given fact that the AI can't beat a human player in one-to-one warring. Even if it came down to teching away, I managed to tech away well beyond the AI's reach until now. It'll be extremely satisfying for me to win at the monarch level particularly b/c I had so much difficult at this level in the past. It just made me frustratingly angry that I couldn't beat the game at this level. But after this evening, I may be able to put that behind me!

I think monarch level can be really enjoyable. After monarch, I'll try emperor!

[damarcus]

Woot!!! I just won my first Monarch game! That was just a dominating win for me, I'm voting again!

[Sabre2th]

I typically don't play above Noble...I just find it to be more fun. It's play time, not work

That said, I could fairly easily beat up to Prince. Above that, I'm not sure

[damarcus]

I hear you about it being some degree of "work." For me, I really wanted to win at Monarch for some reason. Partly, it was because I was an expert, expert Civ 2 player before I left the game for years. In Civ 2, I could win in just about any setting, and not being able to win at Monarch was a huge blow to my Civ ego.

Also, it was a "labour of love" as I experimented and finally overcame the setting. It took me long, laboured sessions, and I think it was fun.

[Nials]

I always win on Noble and I have played at that difficulty for ages now.

Prince is probably where I should be playing to face a bit more of a challenge. I think I could win most of the time.

But I just can't stop experimenting with new leaders instead of moving up

[dowski]

Originally posted by Nials
I always win on Noble and I have played at that difficulty for ages now.

Prince is probably where I should be playing to face a bit more of a challenge. I think I could win most of the time.

But I just can't stop experimenting with new leaders instead of moving up

Same here. Plus, I like the fact that there isn't AI cheating on the Noble level. That way if I screw up, I only have myself to blame

Actually, in all of the years I have been playing Civ, (since Civ I) I don't think I have won a high level game. I really just enjoy the whole experience of playing the game, not so much the score or the win/loss outcome.

[Lord_Davinator]

I've been trying to crack monarch for a while now.... but my major problems are two folds... my costs sky rocket and my tech lags... directly related of course... I tried first with the japanese but that didn't help so I switched to augustus and am doing slightly better, but still finding it hard to keep myself from going broke... any suggestions for those who have conqured monarch?

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

Define "regularly". I've only played about 10 games total. How big a statistical sample are we talking here?

[damarcus]

I've been MP'ing for about a month now, and I bet I can crack emperor or immortal levels now. Winning via war is pretty easy, especially against stupid AI's. Catapults + combination of troops = game over for AI's, especially in maps smaller than standard settings.