average game length/duration?

[planetfall]

Is this an echo or what?

I only play standard size maps. It usually takes me 20-35 hrs for a game. Usually only play in evening after work and family. So that works out to about 2 games in 3 weeks.

Accelerated production is supposed to cut game time in half, but most posters say that messes up the game too much.

For a shorter game, sometimes I play a variation of my own games. I'll sometimes stop a game at an era break point and backup to previously saved version and see if I can do better replaying to current year. {Never go back to 4000bc, too tedious.} For example, may go from 300ad to 2000bc, or 1700ad to 1300ad and replay. This is both short and interesting to see how more effectively can play.

No one has the ability to sit down and play game from start to end unless not building anything. It does take some time to get used to the fact that games take time. Automation does not help because the play style will be too different from yours.

-- PF

[The Puny Celt]

I take 3-4 weeks to play a game because I set myself a time limit of no more than 3 hours at one time. Usually I play in 1 or 2 hour blocks. Not only does that mean I don't spend whole weekends in front of a PC, but I think it helps me play a better game. (Some of my best strategies come to me not when I'm playing but when I've taken a break and am doing something else)

[sgrig]

Well, some of my games takes literally months to finish! Sometimes I play Civ3 not very regularly so the game my drag on for ages. I believe my fastest game ever took at least 2 weeks.

[The Pioneer]

Well, I have never really finished a Civ 3 game in one sitting. Gone are the days when I played Civ 1, 2 or Colonization when I could actually stay up for more than 24 hours straight playing a computer game. Now days one game will take at least a week with at least 3-4 hours of playing time per day. It depends on how many wars I have to fight towards the end of the game.

So long....

PS: I should go back to school in order to free up my time so I can play more.

[lateralis]

For a shorter game, sometimes I play a variation of my own games.

I do this to, but in a slightly different way. I often come to a point (usually around industrialization) where I have to decide which victory to go for. There is often a possible war I could get into if I want. So I save the game with a name like "china war or build indust.SAV" I will then restart from that point going for variously different strategies. Sometimes I really wanna teach the world a lesson, other times I wanna see if I can beat them to a launch. Anyone else like that?

lateralis

[planetfall]

Yes and no.

No I don't play for alternative win methods.

Yes, I save my game at least every 5 turns until finish it. I annotate key decision points. Sometimes I will go back and replay just to see what difference it makes. For example in current game forgot that Internet was a GW and not a SW. I used my second leader for an army. Opps, really, really tempted to go back 5 turns and use GL for Internet and then see how much of a difference the bump in literacy give you in game play.

Lately it is rare I don't go back and replay some turns. I am pushing difficulty levels and find it easy to make "mistakes" I realize 5-10 turns too late.

To keep my games straight I use this naming convention:

First play of game.
Year-b( if bc)-KeyEvent

Second play of game
b-Year-b/a-KeyEvent

Third play
c-Year-b/a-KeyEvent.

And so forth. Sometimes I use the A for AD and sometimes just leave blank. The most variations I have ever played was "f", i.e., 6 times of the same game.

Since I try to gauge the strength of the various variations, I have renamed the default city names. Each civ now has 25 cities in city name list. {Original has between 35 and 18}. Each city's name is preceeded by a two digit number. So Cairo becomes 01Cairo and Rome becomes 01Rome.
Now when I view the alternative civ's number of cities I just look for the largest number and don't have to count their cities.

-- PF

[JamesDS]

It takes me about 2-4 weeks with a couple of hours a day.

[Master Marcus]

I play mostly on huge maps+16 civs, so 50 hours ( 3-4 weeks ). Occasionally tiny+4 civs, which takes 5-8 hours. I want to control every order and move, by the exception of workers when I have lots of them by mid-game then shift-A automated.

[Explorer579]

The larger the map the longer is the game. I play standard and below. Many times I play tiny and manage by finishing a game in 8 hours by forbidding other civ access to iron.

The easier the difficulty level the faster the game. I was teaching a person civ3 yesterday, and I finished a game (tiny map, easy level) in 40 minutes by wiping everybody off the map! I have not played diety in civ3 but these could be fast too if the AI finishes me off too early! I play Regent and the level after it! My comments below apply to these levels.

A game takes me a week, about 12 hours, usually 4 sessions of 3 hours each. Recently more like 6 sessions of 2 hours each. Except weekends when sessions could be longer. I NEVER go beyound the year 1900 because each turn would be time consuming then on standard maps (I don't put my works on automation because the AI messes up my strategy, unless it was an island where workers can do much mess up to my strategy). Besides, I am a romantic historian and like to play old units and not modern ones (20th century on) ....

I bought PTW and installed the 1.04 patche, and I have yet to paly an Internet game though I went to the Internet forum about 10 times. It is ridiculous. I play PTW and enjoy the new civs though they are not much difference considering you could have got some MOds of civ3 that are similar to the new ones on PTW. But considering that I make good money in real life, if I pay $30 to play a game about 1000 hours, that is like paying 3 cents per hour! Not a bad deal if you make your own money.

[Mad Bomber]

Play on Huge Maps:

The more civ's there are the longer it takes

If I play 6-8 civ's then it will usually take 65-70 hours (about 2 weeks)
8-12 civs will take me 75-90 hours (2-1/2 -3 weeks)
12+ will take me in excess of 100 hours to play (over a month, many never end)

In my current game its 780 AD, I am researching Laser, and there are four civs that are tech parity with me with most of the rest slightly behind. There are 12 civs remaining and I can only win with a conquest victory. Have already played this game over 60 hours, and its not even half way over (Regent difficulty level)