Saturday, September 16, 2017

Galactic Civilizations III - 11/20 hours

I finally found the correct map settings to get the AI to leave me alone. It doesn't feel entirely fair, because they really can't seem to deal with the isolated star clusters, but that's what they get for crossing me on a more economically balanced map.

If I'm being completely honest, this is not a new "strategy" from me. I first started doing it back in my Alpha Centauri days when I realized that the AI was completely unequipped for "Arid and Rocky" map settings. It was a handicap applied to all the factions equally, but only I, the human player, had the mental flexibility to adjust my strategy accordingly. I eventually grew out of needing that boost, but a large part of the reason I was able to outgrow it is because I was able to use the peace it bought me to learn the game's tech tree inside and out.

I feel that starting to happen with Galactic Civilizations III, though the process now, like then, is slow. I'm pretty sure I won't even finish my current game by the end of the 20 hours, and it will probably take me a dozen at least to get an effective early game worked out. It's exactly the sort of challenge that I used to love back when I was playing games like a normal human being.

My plan for the short-term is to stay the course. I love playing the degenerate version of the game as a type of tile-filling solitaire, and I could probably do that indefinitely. Nine more hours will be nothing.

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