Do you prefer Online or Single Player?

[astrologix]

Originally posted by Traianvs


1 turn a day? Considering civ games last hundreds of turns how are you ever going to play a good long game?

Well, if you have a normal job, you don't have too much time to play. Assuming you play on 4 o 5 pitboss with motivated players, you need about 2 hours to correctly play these games (diplomacy, thinking your strategy, etc.). You now, when you play against 17 other players, you have a lot of treaties (NAPs, alliances), exchanges, proposals, etc, to manage. You need time.

But the result are games with a lot of fun and interest. Even if you play it during months or years.

[HalfLotus]

I'm really enjoying SP, particularly diplomacy. Just started playing Civ IV, so I don't yet know the quirks and faults of the AI. And I actively avoid reading about them on the forums.

Played a few pickup games on Gamespy, they were quite fun. The Gamespy lobby is incredibly obnoxious though, so I might start looking for some organized MP games.

I absolutely love competitive online gaming, but the communities for such games tend to be rather uncivilized.

[Blaupanzer]

Too much testosterone among the younger MPers. There is an MP forum here and several MPers post on this forum as well. They seem a little less about talking smack and a little more about getting everyone to stick around for a full game.

[wodan11]

I used to play pbem Diplomacy a lot, which would usually be 1 turn/wk. A single game could take 6 months to finish.

[LDiCesare]

To me there's a huge difference between a game that lasts 6 or ezven 9 months and one that lasts 1 year or more. Namely holdidays. You're very likely to run into a long period where people leave on holiday and one or two of them is unable to play for a week or two and with one and the other, you end up losing 1 or 2 months because of that. I just hate it and restrict my mp games to what can last, hopefully, at most 9 months (unless you allow for 1 turn/week, but that's too slow for civ).

[wodan11]

The chance you'll get hit by summer vacations and holidays for a 6 or 9 month game is pretty high. I don't see how that's any worse than a 12 month game. You'll have to deal with the issue either way.

[astrologix]

If the game has been well organized, every player has a replacement and the game can continue without interruptions. Otherwise the player can program the moves for some turns in advance or the admin can convert him into an AI for some days.

[LDiCesare]

The chance you'll get hit by summer vacations and holidays for a 6 or 9 month game is pretty high. I don't see how that's any worse than a 12 month game. You'll have to deal with the issue either way.

No, because I start the games I play in in september.
As for replacements, yes, I know that, but when you have some trouble finding a sub it leads to things like what I had to deal with for the last 2 weeks:
I had no idea what the situation was from the guy I replaced, so all diplomacy was shown to me by the neighbours. Who may or may not lie. One of them even had some connection problems, leading to 3 turns of zero diplomacy between us which could have led to war quite easily just because I hadn't been briefed correctly.

This in Dominions III, but I saw similar issues in Civ IV MP, where one player couldn't connect for some reason, so you change your plans considering your neighbour will be an ai and acting accordingly, diplomacy-wise included (like getting similar religion so the religious fanatics attack or cancels deals with other players) and suddenly the human comes back and you're wrecked.

In theory, long games can work well, but I prefer shorter ones, like 4-6 players, with small maps. Even there, I believe Civ IV is too slow to be interesting as too little happens in a single turn.

[pedrojedi]

I like the single player. Me is all that I can handle.

[Blaupanzer]

Originally posted by pedrojedi
I like the single player. Me is all that I can handle.

[Pluvo241]

I'm a single player guy. I have played a few FPS and RTS games multiplayer with friends, and I played a great many hotseat games of the Heroes of Might and Magic III and Warlords II when I was younger. Nowadays I play more for immersion than competition. I'm not looking to lock horns so much as I'm looking to dabble and dither away my time in a pleasant manner.

[bantams]

Originally posted by Ming
I find MP games to be far better than SP. First, the AI just plain sucks and is too predictable. Second, it's a level playing field and you everybody is playing by the same rules vs the "cheating" the AI needs to be competitive. Third, the diplomacy is far better (assuming you aren't playing a team game)

SP is a great way to try new things, and have some fun, but the AI is still stupid and predicatable. Humans opponents aren't

some humans are as stupid as the ai especially the ones who go worker first in a ancient teamer