Civ V is here!

[El_Squid]

Woo hoo! Sid Meyer's Civilization V is out! I cannot resist, must buy it!

[El_Squid]

Hi, my name is El Squid and I am a Civ-aholic! I can't help myself. I have logged way too many hours playing Civ V and there is no end in sight. Less than two weeks into it and I find myself plotting my strategy on the drive to and from work, and at any moment of free time I get.

[Guts3d]

Aren't there ten steps?

[El_Squid]

Aren't there ten steps?

Ten steps... twelve steps... that's for quitters and I'm no quitter!

[Niclo Iste]

The most I'll do is borrow it seeing how in any version of the game I only have a chance at beating it in the beginner level. I just don't understand how the game screams through technology AND builds an army to rival that of the legions in hell in only 5 turns in the harder levels.

[El_Squid]

Yeah, the AI gets extremely vicious in the more difficult levels. I suspect they programmed some "enhancements" to the AI players as the difficulty increases. However, the AI has the abiltiy to micro-manage and tweak their strategies to a level beyond the ken of mere organic brains. Unless, of course, you are an accountant afflicted with OCD, or a BIOS programmer.

I have found that playing in the upper reaches of difficulty, you should immediately abandon a game if your starting set up is not perfect or you make a blunder. It also helps to find that certain civilization that fits your style of play. For me, cultures that excel at Technology or Military are best, especially if they get their special units somewhere in the mid to late game. I am terrible with cultures that focus on Diplomacy or Economics, and I have never been able to properly exploit special units in the early stages of the game.

Typically, I win by Space Race, the Technology Victory.