I have recently re-started playing CivIII PTW in multiplayer after having left it for some time, and I am finding that most of the games never get further than half way through the medieval era, and end sometimes when someone conquors everyone, but far, far more often when everyone other than me leaves after about two hours. Most of the multiplayer games seem to be set up deliberately to encourage a short game ending in conquest - small or tiny map, pangea, even elimination mode.
Am I missing something, or is about two thirds of the game's potential being wasted? I always had the impression that Civ was designed to be played over many, many hours (even days), from the beginnings of prehistory to the modern age, simulating the way in which civilisations actually came to be.
I used to play Civ II an awful lot, and I enjoyed that, and I hoped that Civ3 would let me play a more sophisticated version of Civ II. However, playing against computer opponents I found somehow hollow, so I was very keen to get PTW so that I could have a far more rewarding game against human players.
However, what I almost inevitably find is that all the players dropped out after an hour or two, leaving me to be the nominal and thoroughly hollow winner (or that I was left to play a computer player, which, in a formerly MP game, makes the interface impossible to control). For example, to-day, one player dropped out because of lag, one player dropped out because he had to eat paella (!), and one player dropped out because he was losing.
So, I joined a ladder so that at least if I won by default, I'd have something to show for it. However, reading some of the posts by Fried-Psitalon on the other forum (and they really are rather well written and useful, by the way), I was somewhat depressed to learn that "most" MP games on the ladder were played for only one or two hours with as few as two players, often on elimination mode with a small world and pangea.
Is there anywhere where one can find players who are prepared to take part in long, drawn out games that end in the space-race? Dependable sort of people who will meet back in the lobby at an appointed time days later to resume a saved game, and who don't quit when they're losing? There must be other people out there who share my enthusiasm for those sorts of games.
I'd like to be able to play in a game that might finish in 500BC or be won when a player reaches Alpha Centuri, a game that doesn't have rules other than those defined by the game itself, when the players don't know until the end what type of victory will be achieved.
Is there anyone else out there, who's willing to play long, long games over many days (and who's reliable enough to turn up at the appointed time for each resume from saved), who doesn't quit when he/she's losing, who wants to play this sort of game (whether in the ladder or not)?
If anyone else is interested in these sorts of games (and my preference is for them to be somehow recorded on the ladder, although that isn't necessary), please reply to this post. Maybe we could arrange to meet at set times, perhaps each week-end.
I'm in the UK, which has repurcussions apropos both timezone, and, until the European versions of 1.21f are released, game versions. However, if anyone is interested enough and able to overcome this, I should be very pleased to hear from you :-)
Am I missing something, or is about two thirds of the game's potential being wasted? I always had the impression that Civ was designed to be played over many, many hours (even days), from the beginnings of prehistory to the modern age, simulating the way in which civilisations actually came to be.
I used to play Civ II an awful lot, and I enjoyed that, and I hoped that Civ3 would let me play a more sophisticated version of Civ II. However, playing against computer opponents I found somehow hollow, so I was very keen to get PTW so that I could have a far more rewarding game against human players.
However, what I almost inevitably find is that all the players dropped out after an hour or two, leaving me to be the nominal and thoroughly hollow winner (or that I was left to play a computer player, which, in a formerly MP game, makes the interface impossible to control). For example, to-day, one player dropped out because of lag, one player dropped out because he had to eat paella (!), and one player dropped out because he was losing.
So, I joined a ladder so that at least if I won by default, I'd have something to show for it. However, reading some of the posts by Fried-Psitalon on the other forum (and they really are rather well written and useful, by the way), I was somewhat depressed to learn that "most" MP games on the ladder were played for only one or two hours with as few as two players, often on elimination mode with a small world and pangea.
Is there anywhere where one can find players who are prepared to take part in long, drawn out games that end in the space-race? Dependable sort of people who will meet back in the lobby at an appointed time days later to resume a saved game, and who don't quit when they're losing? There must be other people out there who share my enthusiasm for those sorts of games.
I'd like to be able to play in a game that might finish in 500BC or be won when a player reaches Alpha Centuri, a game that doesn't have rules other than those defined by the game itself, when the players don't know until the end what type of victory will be achieved.
Is there anyone else out there, who's willing to play long, long games over many days (and who's reliable enough to turn up at the appointed time for each resume from saved), who doesn't quit when he/she's losing, who wants to play this sort of game (whether in the ladder or not)?
If anyone else is interested in these sorts of games (and my preference is for them to be somehow recorded on the ladder, although that isn't necessary), please reply to this post. Maybe we could arrange to meet at set times, perhaps each week-end.
I'm in the UK, which has repurcussions apropos both timezone, and, until the European versions of 1.21f are released, game versions. However, if anyone is interested enough and able to overcome this, I should be very pleased to hear from you :-)
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