My wife appears to be enjoying Civ incorrectly

[Guynemer]

Galnemer and I enjoyed a good laugh at your OP, Elok.

[Elok]

Do you have a similar divergence in your household?

[Donegeal]

Not sure about Guy, but I have a similar deal going with my wife. She's a builder, I'm a war monger.

"Ooo! That city needs a library!"

"Honey, your in the Modern age and your opponents have just gotten out of the dark age. Go run'em over with a tank."

[Elok]

Oh, I'm somewhat inclined to be a builder myself. I enjoy building more, largely because Civ4's combat mechanics can be frustrating--I miss being able to rampage around the enemy's roads like I did in Civ2 (why does Firefox's spellchecker recognize "Civ2" but not "Civ 2"?). I typically build up a tech advantage until knights, then do a one-unit rampage because I hate waiting for the artillery to arrive/heal. Like I said, I'm not a great player.

But dagnabit, I make an effort to do things for logical reasons! When I get a great artist, I don't settle him in a safe city, I send him to steal my border back from the rapidly-encroaching Babylonians! I tell her she's killing me, but she just laughs her sinister laugh...

[Aeson]

ur wife isnt a witch but does seem 2 share some characteristics with albie... As 4 u, u might b a witch if ur really generating great artists 4 border management

[Elok]

I generally avoid generating great artists at all (I don't go for pansy cultural victories). But if I do make one by accident, I'd rather get border push of some kind than three bucks a turn. Actually, I typically send them into conquered territories, but I was using an example from her game, and she hasn't gone to war. Oh, and of course they're good for GA fodder, if you're willing to stockpile them.

[Elok]

I usually give myself weird missions, like, naming my nation banana republic, sticking with republic as my gov, choosing a tropical world, and having as my victory goal controlling all the tiles with bananas in the world

****. The wife read this and said "that's a good strategy, I'll have to try it!" Thanks a lot, Barney-boy.

[Egbert]

Good idea Barney, might try it myself.
I think Mrs. Elok is enjoying Civ correctly.

[Tuberski]

Oh, I'm somewhat inclined to be a builder myself. I enjoy building more, largely because Civ4's combat mechanics can be frustrating--I miss being able to rampage around the enemy's roads like I did in Civ2 (why does Firefox's spellchecker recognize "Civ2" but not "Civ 2"?). I typically build up a tech advantage until knights, then do a one-unit rampage because I hate waiting for the artillery to arrive/heal. Like I said, I'm not a great player.

But dagnabit, I make an effort to do things for logical reasons! When I get a great artist, I don't settle him in a safe city, I send him to steal my border back from the rapidly-encroaching Babylonians! I tell her she's killing me, but she just laughs her sinister laugh...

Because you told it to recognize Civ2 but not Civ 2. Mine recognizes ACK!

ACK!

[Guynemer]

Do you have a similar divergence in your household?

She lacks the patience to learn Civ, though I am 100% certain that if she gave herself the chance to learn it, she'd love it.

[MikeH]

The only wrongness going on in the Elok household is someone thinking that playing the game in whatever way you enjoy is a bad thing.

[Aeson]

I also think that Elok is totally 100% super serious about this.

[MikeH]

I think he's 300% serious.

[Aeson]

I just had a thought brought on by the bad taste jokes thread... if you tell a Pollock joke online is that an Elok joke?

[Ari Rahikkala]

I'd like to play Civ like your wife, but I think the years and years I've spent playing to win have left me permanently brain-damaged. The best I can do is pick up a civ that lends itself to an unusual playing style that's nevertheless powerful with that specific civ, and use that to win.

SMAC is a good game for this (sure, they say the whole point of Morgan is that he doesn't *need* free market to be a huge economic power, but you're Morgan, what are you doing *not* in free market?), as are some fantasy games. Try this crazy civ4 mod (based on Fall From Heaven) for starters. Taking over the world with your Mechanosian artillery is winning, but it feels more like playing with a cool toy than it feels like outwitting the game to reach victory.