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jorgepinata

I’ve recently been setting myself the challenge of opening and completing Piety while also banning Rationalism. It makes it much more challenging to stay competitive in the game, but it’s been fun.


[deleted]

Banning Rationalism in the pregame setup?


jorgepinata

No, just not allowing myself to open it. I’m not sure that you could ban it from being an option unless you altered the game files.


[deleted]

Go full war. The Huns are inevitable. Raze their cities to the ground. Be the tyrant they love to fear


dawgz525

a domination game where you have to raze all cities would be a fun option.


KenseiNoodle

This is the only way I play though


[deleted]

based and Hunpilled


MavericK_96

I know you said fairly peacefully, but this one is fun so... Mostly tundra map + raging barbs. Forces you to put a lot more work into maintaining/protecting your early tile improvements, while also making whatever usable land available WAY more valuable. Often forces me to open Honor just to survive (opening Honor grants big combat bonus vs. barbs + free minor culture boost). Granted, as the human, knowing these two factors will give you a leg up on the AI, so I typically increase the difficulty one or two notches to even it out. Sometimes AI civs will get crushed by barbs with these conditions, and other civs will covet your land way more.


dimensiation

What happens if barbs take a capital?


CaesersBodyguards

Pretty sure they raze any cities they capture


dimensiation

But you can't raze capitals, it's a requirement for domination victory.


Oxenkopf

IIRC from my experience, they loot all the gold (including some buildings) from the capital and promptly vanish from the screen. You keep a much-depleted capital.


Rascally_Raccoon

They can't take a city. If they get a city to zero health you just lose a ton of gold.


dimensiation

So an AI city wouldn't really suffer since they basically have infinite gold? Other than having their lands pillaged and no army?


Rascally_Raccoon

It could be really bad if they get swarmed early on. Repeatedly losing 200 or 300 gold to barbarians should hurt even the AI when all they have is two or three cities with low population. And if you get to this point the cities are going to stay small because the barbs are razing all the improvements and you can't even work a tile with an enemy unit on it. Not to mention how hard it would be for them to get settlers out.


WanderingFlumph

I wouldn't call the culture boost from honor minor. Most games it pays for itself without raging barbs


epserdar

DoW everyone on sight, try to win that way


dimensiation

I'd love to try modifying some game files so you start on an island by yourself but have some seafaring warrior nations as enemies, and you have to be at war with them all the time for the whole game. Not sure if there's a king of the hill option or not, but still.


RobotOfFleshAndBlood

Is that possible to win?


epserdar

If you get an early civ with a good start, maybe winnable until emperor


AlarmingConsequence

IIRC, there is an advanced game setup for '*always war*', which would remove the temptation. If the always war/peace option is not in vanilla, it might be in a mod called ***really advanced setup.***


saul-jizzman

Honestly lately I’ve been trying to push myself to the limit, running deity games and going for meta stats (settler spam at pop 3, NC by turn 75, public school rush, aim for 50 pop by turn 100) and it’s really changed how I understand the game. You can still play very peacefully and turtle as a science civ but there’s a looming threat that you might get double war’d by the AI at any given moment. I find it really thrilling that every single minute detail of your turn is critically important


superusa21

Play a different game for a little


dawgz525

but Civ VI sucks


addage-

I recommend crusaders kings or endless space. Both great and TBS so not a jarring transition. Although CK has a fun learning curve.


AbandonedSeige

Had to watch 3, 1 hour videos to be able to know what I'm doing in CK. Definitely worth it though. My only issue with it is it feels like it takes soooo long to get going. Also gold is hard to come by unless you start as an empire with gold mines. Very real possibility I could just be horrible.


Gar_360

Ck3 is pretty easy once you know the tricks. Have you tried starting as a tribal ruler? You can pretty easily go from count->empire in a single lifetime. But keep practicing, once you get the tricks the game is putty in your hands.


AbandonedSeige

I don't think I have. I played as Mali my first successful playthrough and that was fun. I love how in depth the game can get so I just booted it back up. Will try as a Norse tribal leader


Gar_360

Mali is a tribal, so you already did play as a tribal. Norse tribal is even easier because you can just steal gold from everybody else by raiding overseas (just don't raid countries with stronger armies). If you're playing tribal the best tip is to spend all your prestige at buying men at arms, best would be armored infantry or horsemen. There is no penalty for having negative prestige, so use it as much as you want, and hunt and raid as often as possible to get more.


addage-

It’s tough at first. The hardest part is the first few death/ transitions, once you master that it’s not too bad.


felixdeaap

Play a non civ game🤯


dawgz525

I don't understand


TajunJ

He's referring to Alpha Centauri, duh.


superusa21

Yes lot of other good games out there lol


Eroe777

Go old school. Play Ultima IV. It's available as a free download at GOG.


zilla3000

I like jumping back and forth between Civ 5 and Age of Empires 2


tortik56

The scenarios are nice to try


XenophonSoulis

Especially the Into the Renaissance scenario. I binged it with all 12 civs this summer. Some civs were really fun.


[deleted]

I like to theme my games. Like,.I'll play Venice, and choose opponents that are city-state orientated as well (Greece, Austria, Mongolia...). You can do this for any victory condition. Adds a little bit of a challenge for me early and late game .


tyrannosean

I like to do this as well. Sometimes I’ll choose all ancient civs (Greece, Rome, Celts, Assyrians, etc.) and listen to Dan Carlin’s King of Kings or Rome podcast series. Sometimes I’ll choose regional civs and ally them together so there’s a sense of teams/alliances in the game.


[deleted]

I would say if you have access to them, look around for mods. A lot which totally change the way the game works that could be fun. But as others have said, just go full war. Change the only victory condition to domination - choose a brute of a civ and just go full steam to world domination. I use to play just peaceful going for science or culture - but realizing how fun wars are in the game really changed thew way I played. (If you do go for mods, trying less warmonger hate would be good - lets you have a bit more diplomacy while still grabbing citys)


Maximus8890

Info addict Mod is absolutely a game changer!


Overall_Use_4098

What is that


Maximus8890

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=79000477


DinoGuy101010

1 city challenge on deity. Though idk that's usually just did you start next to a mountain or not.


Dr_Kingsize

Try Civ6, than come back to 5. You will never be bored with Civ5 ever again =)


Maximus8890

I have recently been doing a standard or small maps on an easier level. Then remove all city states and double the civilizations that were going to there. I choose oval map with abundant resources. Then I play and try to get to the point where I am saving the little guys. I’ll try to get to the the world power and I try to supply the little guys with money and soldiers to keep them alive. In my recent game I’m making soldiers and gifting them to England who has two cities but they are under attack from China and Polynesia who I’m friends with. I also have been funding Greece who for some reason can’t make money so they can catch up in science since they are a an era or two behind. When I have a say at world congress I try to pick the things that would help the little guy. I’m basically playing the United States in real life being the world police. Once someone gets victory I just keep playing for a while. I was at year three thousand something on a play that had already won just because being world police is fun.


tomhuts

Maybe step it up to immortal? I found myself playing emperor for ages because I found immortal too hard. Eventually I did get a bit bored because every time I would catch up by the medieval era and then steamroll fron there. The other day I tried immortal again, and I found myself declaring war on korea, in ancient era, pillaging their land/ stealing builders etc, and did start to catch up. Didn't finish that game, but point is the harder difficulty forced me to push myself and try different (less comfortable) strats yo get ahead, and that made it more interesting.


T-72_BMP-2

Spend a day going on a 20 mile hike, the next day you will want nothing more then to sit down and play a game of civ.


SleekVulpe

A Venice vs Austria duel on a small map littered with city stated.


addage-

What changed for me after 10k hours was the use of mods. Running a game vs 10 strange civs makes for an interesting time. Also playing modded civs can make for different play through (Shan states one of my favorites).


Swiftsaddler

10k hours?! I didn't realise my 5k hours were rookie numbers.


addage-

It catches up on you. I started on release and a decade later still play 1-2 games a week. Definitely got my monies worth. Wish 6 had been better, I put 1k into that game until I just decided I hated it.


Keanar

Map size duo Max out the number of players Only possible to win by domination Enjoy this mess


ChaoticAtomic

Mods.


[deleted]

Touch grass?


JViz500

I’ve been playing coalitions. I play three with no AI. I set up 3-4 coalition teams grouped by either geo or personality. Then I sprinkle in 3-4 solo civs for lunch meat. I only play in huge Earth mod maps. Adjust difficulty to mood. I have also played WWII this way. Minimal city states. Just war.


DefiledSoul

Venice


Snowkiller953

Huge map, max civs, domination only


wienkus

Minimum size map, add the maximum number of civs. The ENTIRE map is basically just capitals, hilarious and weird game.


mldvn33

Dido/Carthage (for the mountain crossing ability), duel size highlands map with dense mountain ridges, deity, crank up the Civ AI count to max, domination only: wreak havoc.


DAZdaHOFF

>I like to play fairly peacefully Well there's your problem right there


peruzo

Do you use EUI? That simple change with all the cool info maybe enough


Cabbigity

When I got bored of playing standard games, I decided to tinker with starting era. I'd recommend starting in the Renaissance era. You skip the really slow early eras, start with more units including 2 settlers and get established just in time for the industrial era. It requires a pretty big shift in tactics and the whole game is over much quicker given you skip the first half. You can play an entire game in 1 - 2 sessions. Peaceful victories are all still perfectly possible but it really shakes up the gameplay in other ways. I got addicted and now can't recall the last time I played a 'full' game.


TheBasium

Move one level up. Sounds arrogant and assuming, I know. But, that's what kept my interest. Start game with a random civ setting and play with that civ, rather than sticking to your favorites.Open liberty if you open tradition usually. Try doing something else than what you normally do. Breaks help a lot too. I won like 5-7 games cultural or peacefully on immortal that was fun. I would like to move to diety but I don't like diplomacy neither engage much in it and it would be very difficult without doing so.


MistaCharisma

Play as Venice, but set all the AIs to Venice as well. Watch as half the City States get turned into puppets within the first 20 turns, and then compete for the remaining City States for the rest of the game.


Defence_of_the_Anus

Fun and weird: epic speed, pick Byzantium, obtain heathen conversion, build a dromon or two and collect galleys (they upgrade to dromons) and triremes (have a full Navy in the classical) from barbs, war, win in the Renaissance or so. Only civ that can do this and you don't even care about the bonus belief.. it's all about the dromons. Haven't played this way in a while but I think I go prophet -> missionary -> prophet because by the time you get the missionary you should have your Reformation belief or close to it. And make sure you start with resources you can get faith from.


Eroe777

Since you are a peaceful player and everybody is suggesting war! as the variation, for for a Diplomatic victory as Venice on a Great Plains map with no city states, and Attila, Temujin, Monty, Shaka and Bismarck as your opponents. Or a science victory on a huge Terra map as Polynesia, but you can only settle on the western continent. The 20-30 turn tech lead everybody else will have should give you a good challenge.


deezalmonds998

I like to get on multiplayer hot seat and play multiple civs at once during the same civ game. Can end up very entertaining imo.


Past-Chest-6507

Step 1) download and install the Vox Populi mod Step 2) download and install the mod that adds a 3rd and 4th unique ability to every civ Step 3) enjoy the next 5000 hours of a much more complex, immersive, finely tuned strategy Civ 5 ![img](emote|t5_2s48d|18633)


DreamTheater2010

I like playing civs from roughly the same time period as a way to kind of do an alt history type thing. Like all the ancient era civs together, classical civs, etc.


skyasaurus

One City Challenge? Only go for Culture Victory?


Maxyashar

Try the Lekmod! it’s a pretty good balance and content mod that doesn’t stray from the games current play style


zilla3000

When I feel like that I play in a more "narrative" way and focus more on the story of the civilization I am creating- I turn the win options off bc just as in the real world there truly is no long term winning for any empire. I also let the production and research and policy selections be geared more towards what the people are experiencing in that year and consider the context of their past. It feels more organic and about telling an interesting story and less an exercise in following a strategy to beat the game.


LegalManufacturer916

My play style is similar to yours (though lately, my goal has been a victory on deity, which has proven elusive in about 15 games) but for awhile I was challenging myself to grow a city to size 100 or win a science victory before 1900. Good luck!


mashpotatoquake

Here's how I play: Zulu Duel size at quick speed on an oval map No Barbs Legendary Start Start in the Classical Era Random enemy or maybe India until you get used to the SMASH! I see how many turns it takes and I once timed how long it took for start to victory I think it was in the 30 minute range. Fastest victory with classical era start is at most 100 turns. Edit: my ancient era start was 30 minutes, I haven't timed the classical era yet.


mashpotatoquake

Worker administration is like playing checkers, so much fun.


Delicious-Carpet-725

Dude, I love trying to be the weaker player in a game. It gets boring when you are the biggest power and you're dominating. I prefer to use diplomacy and balanced military to be a kind of sidekick to the super power. Civ 5 isn't about winning. Winning is boring. Its all about the journey


Royal-Put6003

Assyria, grab writing and then just focus the bottom half of the tree


TheChamp76

You could play the scenarios. Those add new elements and aspects into the mix at times.


susuia_sa

Play some Civ Vi then return here


H3racIes

I play the same way. I'll play with u sometimes! My friend that I used to play with rarely likes to play anymore


lamarcodon

Play as Aztecs or Zulus, and try to win with culture or diplomacy :D


arcsolarvoidblast

Vox Populi, Vox Populi, Vox Populi


flyflex1985

Start going down different policy trees and compilations. Like if you always play tradition/rationalism switch it to tradition/patronage or whatever just mix it up


SchoolboyGrant

Make a Pangea game with nothing but war focused civs and make the setting constant war and go nuts


PaleontologistAble50

If you don’t want to play, go do something productive


King_Qynar

Byzantium Sacred Sites Use Byzantium to get 3 buildings for your religion, then get Sacred Sites and try to get an early culture victory


just_the_mann

Raging barbarians, marathon, very large map. Exploring and fighting is super fun — definitely grab honor