Civ 3 game length; PTW value

[Wiglaf]

Hi, I am just starting Civ3, and I am a little intimidated with how long a game seems to take. Most games like this are long by default but allow through customization for shorter sessions. My first Civ3 game with Accelerated production, small world, was over 2 days (6 hours, up to 1800AD and still going). Short of playing scenarios, what can I do to speed things up?

One thing I am looking at is buying PTW. It only costs $8, whereas Conquests is up in the $30 range, and it seems to allow reliable single-player variants that might shorten the game. Or is Conquests, despite being $22 more, still a better value? Thanks.

[Tassadar500]

Conquests actually comes with Play the World, so it is a better deal.

[Wiglaf]

Then again its more expensive, and odds are I will not use the conquest modes (they, like scenarios, do not hold my interest). I'm more interested in a cheap way to speed up Civ3 games.

[Tassadar500]

If you are not interested in the Conquests, I am afraid that there is no form of "short" game.

[alexman]

Two days? My typical game takes over a month if I play several hours a day, every day.

My advice: Slow down your game even more and try to think more about your every move. The game becomes boring only when your choices become automatic.

[Robert]

Slow games are cool!
Nothing beats being busy with one game for 1 or 2 montsh. Why always end the game on the hour you began it?

And I would say: buy conquests.
It's single player mode is better than the PtW single player.

And again: don't be shy to play long games!

[Vince278]

My epic games could go into several months.

[Robert]

Last game told me I playe 400 hours or something.
I guess it didn't mind that I oftenly keep my computer running when I'm hours off home

[Dis]

PTW blows. There's a reason it got so many bad reviews.

Even if you don't play the conqests, conquests is still a better buy. I like the civ traits, and there are a few other nifty things in the game as well.

As for game time. I actually prefer short games, though I'm playing a large game on a very huge map right now. But normally I play standard and sometimes I play small maps. Sometimes even tiny maps.

[Harovan]

If you intend to play against the AI and want a better challenge, PtW is the way to go. Sadly, compared with it, the Conquests AI is retarded. For multiplayer, Conquests is the better choice. It adds new governments, traits, units, wonders and a lot to game balance. Sadly one particular trait (agricultural) is overpowered, though. The same can be said about the new stats of Communism.

[Wiglaf]

Is conquests AI "stupid" always, or just in conquests, or both?

Slow games are cool!
Nothing beats being busy with one game for 1 or 2 montsh. Why always end the game on the hour you began it?

I think eventually I'll get used to it, like I did with Civ2 . Besides, I looked more into the conquests and some of the scenarios and they actually don't look that bad. Maybe I am asking for a Rise of Nations RTS-style game which would, of course, kill the whole point.

[eris]

To shorten a game:

Surrender immediately. That'll do it. But maybe that's not the answer you are looking for.

Going to an even smaller map should help. Adjusting your playstyle might help. Go for an aggressive nature of play. War early and often. The less enemy units and cities that exist, the sooner the game will end.

PTW and Conquests both introduced stack handling abilities, albeit primitive ones, which seem to relieve some of the tedium of moving units around and make the gme at least seem less endless. Despite other opinions, I would recommend Conquests. There are new traits and some gameplay balance adjustments that are significant improvements. (However, watch out for the resource scarcity. That can be a pain in the Assigned Strategy and cause significant rethinking towards a new Assigned Strategy.)

If you go with the upgrade and want a fast game, try Elimination mode. Take out one city and that whole tribe disappears. The AI doesn't understand that mode very well, (it is intended for multi-player mode more than single player) but it might make the game entertaiing enough that you start to get hooked.

If you do get hooked you might find yourself playing more extensive games so as to play with the details. You might even find yourself eventually coming back to these boards asking how to implement those extra-huge map sizes just so you can play a little bit longer. Then again, you might not. What really matters is having fun.

It comes down to part of your original post. You said you were in the 1800's after some, in your opinion, long length of play. The question becomes: "After all that play and construction and work, aren't you interested in what's going to happen next?" "Does an old unprovoked war still haunt you, or a miss for a land grab for a resource?" If not, then you need some of the suggestions in this thread. However, if it is so, then you are ready to play a second game of Civilization, the one entitled "My Conquest and Revenge, part II". It's just a different way of looking at the epic nature of the game. It's like the Lord of the Rings films. You can watch them one at a time in whatever schedule your interest and life permit, or you can watch them all at once, like I and the kids did this last weekend. It's the same story, but with two different approaches, one of which is even more obsessive than the other.

Maybe that is really what it comes down to, obsession level. And I am obviously in no position to give well-balanced advice on that subject. I fall into the "Too much is almost enough." category all too often.

[JimMac]

Originally posted by CyberShy

And I would say: buy conquests.
It's single player mode is better than the PtW single player.

And again: don't be shy to play long games!

I have to agree with Sir Ralph; as both versions are currently patched the best MP version is conquests, but the best single player version is PTW.

Conquests wrecked a few important things in the single player game that PTW had fixed, while adding a few, um,.. novelties!

[Wiglaf]

Eris, thanks for the suggestions. I am still trying to make time for games but hopefully once I do get time, I can check out the upgrade and adjust playstyles like you said.

JimMac, can you spell out why Conquest's single player game is weak vs. PTW? What happened?

[Tassadar500]

For one thing, the corruption is all messed up in C3C.