Newbie - Please be gentle!

[Lukeage]

ok, so i found this site recently cos i just got the new CIV and it seems to be the only one i can get on at work! but it looks like a pretty cool place and I am impressed with all the epics you have run in the past. I've been lurking for a week or so now so thought I would just say hi to everyone...so, er, hi!
Anyways, i will try and give the epics a go when they come out, although i fear i may be a bit behind some of you guys, i'm playing on Noble at the moment and only just edging ahead of the AI, and i used to play on Prince on Civ 3, but hopefully i can improve my game over the next few months....

one question - do you guys struggle to keep games going once you start? i mean, i often find that after the initial set up, laying out your territory and stuff, once it gets to the later stages it can get kinda dull - i spose the epics and stuff that you do combats this, just wondered how you coped when you were playing your own games....

anyway, enough for now, i've rambled on far too long.

take care everyone! and roll on the patch!

[Kylearan]

Hi,

welcome to Realms Beyond!

Anyways, i will try and give the epics a go when they come out, although i fear i may be a bit behind some of you guys,

Oh, don't worry about that! The Epics won't be all about winning. The main focus of our tournament is to write reports, compare games, discuss different strategies, and improve our gameplay. I remember although I played the Epics from the start, I was a far worse player than many here; but simply participating and comparing my games to other's, my gameplay improved faster than it would have had I played only private games.

one question - do you guys struggle to keep games going once you start? i mean, i often find that after the initial set up, laying out your territory and stuff, once it gets to the later stages it can get kinda dull

I agree that the initial stages of the game, establishing your core, is some of the most fun aspects of the game to me. However, thinking about how to go on after that stage is a lot of fun too, and I don't have to struggle to continue; it's more a struggle to stop... The only stage of the game that's dull to me is to finish a clearly won game.

i spose the epics and stuff that you do combats this

Yep. If you know others will play (and complete!) the same game as you, you'll have a whole new kind of motivation to finish your game as well.

See you in the Epics!

-Kylearan

[Lukeage]

thanks for the welcome

and i will definitely give the epics a try, i'm just a bit scared about going in at Monarch level or higher!

[Ginger_Ale]

Just saying hi, and weclome to RB, Lukeage!

[Scowler]

If it is any consolation, I am in the same situation as you, Lukeage. I have been lurking here for a couple of years, trying to work up the courage to dip my toe in the alarmingly deep waters of the RB epics.

I think it's fair to say that I've learned more about Civ3 from reading the wonderfully lucid AARs and forum posts of Sirian et al. than from any other source, and knowing that these same people contributed to the development of CivIV is very reassuring. However, it also makes RB seem somewhat intimidating at times (at least to me), knowing that players - and writers - of this calibre are watching over us!

[Speaker]

But the water is cool and refreshing. Jump right in. These fish won't bite.

[Sirian]

However, it also makes RB seem somewhat intimidating at times (at least to me), knowing that players - and writers - of this calibre are watching over us!

Have you read some of Dwip's reports?

Man, I really envied him in Civ3 Epic Fourteen! I botched the design of that event, as far as the top players were concerned, but Dwip was playing one of his first and his report was by far the best read. I was wishing I could have played his game instead of mine! (My game was boring, almost a sleeper, but he struggled and lost, and it was so much more interesting to read about someone engaged in a valiant, difficult undertaking!)

"It is better to have played and lost, than never to have played at all!"


There's no great magic to what I do. I play, I open a window to my game and my own thoughts and emotions, and I try to be goofy and humorous at times, informative at others.

If you open a window on your own games, and you communicate effectively about what you were thinking and feeling at the time, people will like it and come back for more.

Maybe it can be intimidating, but... Everything worth doing takes some amount of commitment and risk taking. Since you seem ready to get out on the dance floor with us, I hope that you will, and have a good time.

It's OK to be a wallflower, too, but dancing is often more fun than watching.


- Sirian

[Dwip]

I'm having trouble expressing myself on the subject better than Sirian can (surprise!), but since his speaking my name has summoned me, I'll give it a shot.

Epic 14 was, for the record, my very first Epic. First Monarch game. First Always War game. It handily thrashed me, but I had fun doing it, and it taught me a lot.

You can sum up a lot of what I'm about, and what I get out of RBCiv, in that:

1. It is not, to use that old saying, if you win or lose, but how you play the game. I've lost quite a few of my 15 Epics. I have never, I think, topped the results list in any Epic, though I've done ok in a few. Whatever. It's enough to have showed up, played the best game I could, and tried something a bit different from the regular game. The variety and new challenges of the Epics are what keep me, and I suspect most people, coming back.

1a. Too, having to write a report for each game is one of the neat things about the Epics, though sometimes it can get a little exasperating. I find that if I write about the game, I put more care into the game, and end up having more fun with it. That I am apparently able to entertain people with said reports doesn't hurt either.

2. While it's not really about winning or losing, it turns out that consistantly showing up for Epics and Succession Games will end up making you a better player. Epic 14, for example, took me from Regent to Monarch. Epic 15 was also Monarch, and I won that. Some 3 years later, I've won on Deity with an SG team, and have won solo consistantly on Emperor and Demigod. I imagine if I cared enough, I could win on Deity, but I don't much care to play that rat race, so I don't. I owe a whole lot of that to the Epics, good players commenting on my reports, and those same players playing SGs with me. It's pretty rare to have an Epic go by without my learning something new about how the game works.

I still can't win an Always War Epic, but the doing and the telling are fun.

So to all you lurking types, come on out and play. Play some Epics. Get in on the SGs. It's pretty hard to not enjoy yourself.

[Sullla]

For the record, I never won a single Epic competition in Civ3. Lots of second place finishes though! For example:

Epic One: 2nd fastest domination (behind Arathorn)
Epic Two: 2nd highest score (behind Sirian)
Epic Four: 2nd fastest spaceship win (behind JJ)
Epic Eight: 2nd fastest victory (behind JMB)
Epic Eighteen: 2nd fastest Greece (behind Kylearan)
Epic Twenty One: 2nd fastest victory (behind Ribannah)
Epic Twenty Two: 2nd highest score (behind T-Hawk)
Epic Twenty Seven: 2nd fastest domination (behind Sirp)
Epic Twenty Nine: 2nd higest culture (behind Dark Savant)

I also lost Epics Twelve and Seventeen, and lost the savegame file when I was in a winning position in Epic Nine.

In some places, that would make you a failure. At Realms Beyond, it means that I've had lots of interesting stories to tell.

[Dimy]

I'm new here too, so I might just as well say hi in this thread

I've been playing Civ games ever since Civ I came out in the early 90's... I kinda skipped Civ II, never really got into it... bought it on release day but just never liked it enough to keep me interested. I've been a member of Civfanatics since late 2001 and played in about 10 GOTM's. Civ IV is looking excellent so far, I hope to play some SG's and the epics.