Civ style game but Much Faster?!

[AlishaSansy]

I don't play games often but I like Age of Empires and have played Civlization before. I feel Civilization is a neat game, but I feel it is crazy slow in its pace. The longest AOE sessions I've played are maybe 3-4 hours, and maybe 6 for the longest ever, but I find that it will REGULARLY take most of your waking hours just to play through a single scenario Civilization, especially the more complex scenarios. While I like the game underneath, I think this is a serious design flaw and cuts the appeal to people who don't want to be totally enslaved and zombified by a video game mechanic. To me its not 'fun and games' after the 10th ... or 16th hour ... just a slow grind.


So, does anyone know if it is possible to tweak the game to go much faster (like 5-10 times), or have any recommendations for a game better suited to more casual players? Ideally games which can be played in sessions less than 2 hours?