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In course of a previous thread, it struck me there are two sorts of Civ players posting here, and that the release of Civ3 seems to have made it somewhat harder for them to get along.
The first sort is the "Uber-Geek" who views the game as a challenge, a puzzle even, and derives enjoyment from finding the best way to beat the computer. It doesn't matter to such a player if silly things happen like pikemen beating tanks, because it's only a game anyway, and can never be realistic. Such people are happy to wile away the hours developing the perfect system for winning the game by any means necessary - note, however, that most Uber-Geeks will never cheat, except for research purposes, because that, after all, is cheating. Taking advantage of a bug may be okay, however.
The second sort of player we'll call the "Little Napoleon". This sort of player wants amusement first and foremost. The Little Napoleon wants Civ to be a sort of "Empire simulator" to some extent... if you for instance bekin to put on ze eccent a liddle bit like zis ven you are playing ze Chermans, go "Wuhahahar!" when you conquer an enemy, frequently rename your civilisation at the start, and love mod packs, you are likely a Little Napoleon. For such a player, beating the AI isn't important - when in the mood a Little Napoleon may play at Deity level with Rampaging Hordes just to giggle at how quickly all his cities end up in flaming ruins, but at other times may not be satisfied with anything less than total world domination achieved with minimum effort. This means Little Napoleons will cheat when they feel like it. It's the feel of the game that interests, not the numbers.
I admit that I'm in the Little Napoleon mould. The trouble starts because people like me get the feeling that Civ3, unlike Civ1 and Civ2, has been written with only the Uber-Geek in mind. The game is harder on all levels - generally I feel that each Civ3 level is perhaps 2 levels tougher than its Civ2 equivalent. Little Napoleons are frustrated by the lack of scope to just mess about a bit without taking the game too seriously. Uber-Geeks, not understanding them, think they're spoilt.... this leads to bad feeling, with Uber-Geeks viewing Little Napoleons as whiners and just bad players who've been left behind. For their part Little Napoleons start to view Uber-Geeks as obsessive-compulsive Borg drones who don't know how to have fun without a spreadsheet.
Sadly, I can't see any way out of this. Sorry.
Maybe Civ3 just needed a broader range of difficulty levels instead of just making everything harder.
The first sort is the "Uber-Geek" who views the game as a challenge, a puzzle even, and derives enjoyment from finding the best way to beat the computer. It doesn't matter to such a player if silly things happen like pikemen beating tanks, because it's only a game anyway, and can never be realistic. Such people are happy to wile away the hours developing the perfect system for winning the game by any means necessary - note, however, that most Uber-Geeks will never cheat, except for research purposes, because that, after all, is cheating. Taking advantage of a bug may be okay, however.
The second sort of player we'll call the "Little Napoleon". This sort of player wants amusement first and foremost. The Little Napoleon wants Civ to be a sort of "Empire simulator" to some extent... if you for instance bekin to put on ze eccent a liddle bit like zis ven you are playing ze Chermans, go "Wuhahahar!" when you conquer an enemy, frequently rename your civilisation at the start, and love mod packs, you are likely a Little Napoleon. For such a player, beating the AI isn't important - when in the mood a Little Napoleon may play at Deity level with Rampaging Hordes just to giggle at how quickly all his cities end up in flaming ruins, but at other times may not be satisfied with anything less than total world domination achieved with minimum effort. This means Little Napoleons will cheat when they feel like it. It's the feel of the game that interests, not the numbers.
I admit that I'm in the Little Napoleon mould. The trouble starts because people like me get the feeling that Civ3, unlike Civ1 and Civ2, has been written with only the Uber-Geek in mind. The game is harder on all levels - generally I feel that each Civ3 level is perhaps 2 levels tougher than its Civ2 equivalent. Little Napoleons are frustrated by the lack of scope to just mess about a bit without taking the game too seriously. Uber-Geeks, not understanding them, think they're spoilt.... this leads to bad feeling, with Uber-Geeks viewing Little Napoleons as whiners and just bad players who've been left behind. For their part Little Napoleons start to view Uber-Geeks as obsessive-compulsive Borg drones who don't know how to have fun without a spreadsheet.
Sadly, I can't see any way out of this. Sorry.
Maybe Civ3 just needed a broader range of difficulty levels instead of just making everything harder.
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