Playing Civ II game for 10 years!

[Sparky812]

Read this today and thought that I'd share it.

Apparently, this guy posted on Reddit that he has been playing the same Civilization II game for 10 years, not full-time but as a time killer. He is at almost 4000 AD and has been at almost a stalemate for 1000 years.
You have to admire his persistence and dedication because this is long past the point where I would become either bored to death or give up and/or go on a suicide mission to entertain myself.


ETA Since his world has been decimated by the ongoing war, he is now taking suggestions on how to end the war and save his world, if anybody want to help.

[steronz]

I find it fascinating that his ultimate plan for world peace is to wipe out the Vikings.

[Cicero]

I didn't read the article, but it surprises me a little that he still has a computer still able to play Civ II. Sadly I gave my copy away years ago.

[JohnT]

I still play Civ 2 on Vista and Win7 machines... the game works fine.

[Cicero]

Does it? I had an Age of Empires which was made for Windows 98 (I think) and the visuals were so bad on newer machines it was unplayable.

(I still have old machines which I could have used but to drag them out and set them up...well not worth the effort).

[aruvqan]

Originally Posted by Cicero

Does it? I had an Age of Empires which was made for Windows 98 (I think) and the visuals were so bad on newer machines it was unplayable.

(I still have old machines which I could have used but to drag them out and set them up...well not worth the effort).

I would love to have the money to move us from our microscopic house to a huge rambling victorian so I could have a computer room with the space to set up all my computers [2 amigas, my first custom built PC, a 386 running 3.1, my compaq running win95, the custom built running ME, my XP machine and my current win7 desktop and all the monitors I need for them all.]

I still have all 5 CIV, pyramids with the cleopatra expansion, caeser, age of empires, world of warcraft 1, 2 and online, eq and lords of eq, eye of the beholder 1,2 and 3 for both amiga and pc [i have most of my games still, including a leisure suit larry 1 on disc for amiga]

[Ludovic]

Originally Posted by aruvqan

I still have all 5 CIV

Including CtP? That's the computer game I've probably played the second most beside Medieval 2: Total War. I like it the best because it's a good mix of possibilities versus balance. Unfortunately the AI is so bad that I literally have never lost a city to an enemy in CtP. If they were a bit more aggressive it would have been my favorite grand strategy video game ever.

[Cicero]

Well, I only have an average size house but there is only the two of us and the loon of a cat. Quite a large games room which I want to turn into a library (never use the pool table) but at the moment it is full of books and my 8 computers. One has ME on it but I don't quite go back to Amigas.

Every few years I will drag the old desk tops out and hook them up to the Internet, although that is getting more difficult. The connections I have aren't suited to the more modern screens and even things like connections for keyboards and a mouse are difficult to locate. (I do clean out my junk every now and then).

[Chronos]

What I can't fathom is how he can build up that much experience at the game, and still not be able to break the stalemate. It sounds to me like he's allowed himself to simply become a copy of the AI, using the same futile and obsolete strategies over and over without ever learning from them. Although, I guess those futile strategies have become pretty ingrained habit, after 10 years.

[Sparky812]

Originally Posted by Chronos

What I can't fathom is how he can build up that much experience at the game, and still not be able to break the stalemate. It sounds to me like he's allowed himself to simply become a copy of the AI, using the same futile and obsolete strategies over and over without ever learning from them. Although, I guess those futile strategies have become pretty ingrained habit, after 10 years.

Maybe, but I think due to his opponents not honouring their treaties for long he has spent most of the time merely surviving.

[appleciders]

He's noted that this has taken so long because he refuses to switch to a Fundamentalist government, which is clearly the best choice for his situation, for story and/or political reasons. He's not using that powerful tool. If he did, he'd win.

[I_Know_Nothing]

My favorite news story in a while. I still play CivII every once in a while.

[Mahaloth]

Originally Posted by Cicero

I didn't read the article, but it surprises me a little that he still has a computer still able to play Civ II. Sadly I gave my copy away years ago.

Does a lot of stuff not work on Windows 7/Vista? It runs on XP quite well.

[Cicero]

From memory, it played okay on XP. Vista not so well. And then when I upgraded to Windows 7 it was horrible.

I liked the game. I would love to see a compilation pack of all Civ games released that would play on Windows 7 as well. Just as a grab bag.

[Chronos]

Maybe, but I think due to his opponents not honouring their treaties for long he has spent most of the time merely surviving.

I wasn't referring only to diplomatic strategies. If he's always at war, that just means that his military strategies aren't enough to beat them.

[Sparky812]

Funny, last week, while cleaning out the basement for a garage sale, I found all my old PC games. I suddenly had an urge to play Starcraft but alas, the disk was not in the case!?

At some point I am going to try to get some of the old ones to run, when I do I'll be sure to post something and/or beg for help.
Some of my favorites were Return to Zork, Beyond Zork, Club Dead, The 7th Guest, The 11th Hour, Myst, Dragon's Gate, Civilization, Sim City, and a few others.

[Mahaloth]

Originally Posted by Sparky812

At some point I am going to try to get some of the old ones to run, when I do I'll be sure to post something and/or beg for help.
Some of my favorites were Return to Zork, Beyond Zork, Club Dead, The 7th Guest, The 11th Hour, Myst, Dragon's Gate, Civilization, Sim City, and a few others.

7th Guest is available on Ipad and Iphone. It was actually free briefly a few weeks ago.

A lot of those are on Good Old Games for very, very little. All should work on Windows 7 as well.

[msmith537]

Originally Posted by Chronos

What I can't fathom is how he can build up that much experience at the game, and still not be able to break the stalemate. It sounds to me like he's allowed himself to simply become a copy of the AI, using the same futile and obsolete strategies over and over without ever learning from them. Although, I guess those futile strategies have become pretty ingrained habit, after 10 years.

It sounds like he plays much in the same way I used to play Civ. Once the national boundardies have sort of stabalized, I tend to play more to maintain the global status quo than to actually conquer the entire world. Not for ten years though.


4000 AD doesn't sound that far into the future in game time.

[appleciders]

Your basic game of Civ II is only about 500 turns to get to 2000 A.D., if memory serves. So he's been playing for about five times longer than an average game won by a space-race.

[MJinks]

Originally Posted by Cicero

Does it? I had an Age of Empires which was made for Windows 98 (I think) and the visuals were so bad on newer machines it was unplayable.

(I still have old machines which I could have used but to drag them out and set them up...well not worth the effort).

With regards to Age of Empires 2 killing explorer.exe in the task manager will solve the weird colour problems in the game. Click 'new task' in the task manager and type 'explorer'exe' to restart it when you're finished playing.

I've pretty much given up trying to get old games to work now though. It's too much work for not much reward. I'll just wait for them to appear on GoG instead.

[Lynn Bodoni]

I've had a lot of problems getting most of my games to work in Win7. They worked fine in Win XP, but when I tell the Win 7 computer to run in XP mode, it crosses its arms, sticks out its tongue, and says "not GONNA".

I've been thinking of buying Civ II for the PS2, because I DO still have a working PS2. My Win XP gave up the ghost about a year and a half ago.

[Kobal2]

Originally Posted by MJinks

I've pretty much given up trying to get old games to work now though. It's too much work for not much reward. I'll just wait for them to appear on GoG instead.

The easiest answer is often to run a virtual Win98 machine using VMware (or equivalent). DOS games, games requiring old drivers or codecs to run etc..., no problem.

Originally Posted by appleciders

Your basic game of Civ II is only about 500 turns to get to 2000 A.D., if memory serves. So he's been playing for about five times longer than an average game won by a space-race.

That's the thing I'm the most puzzled about: how come neither of his AI opponents have gone for Alpha Centauri by now ? I don't remember if you could disable victory conditions back in Civ II...

[appleciders]

Originally Posted by Kobal2

]


That's the thing I'm the most puzzled about: how come neither of his AI opponents have gone for Alpha Centauri by now ? I don't remember if you could disable victory conditions back in Civ II...

They have. The game has been won, a decade ago, by someone, either through a diplomatic victory (UN) or a space race. He claims to not remember who. But the game allows you to keep playing if you want, ad infinitum.

[Bob Ducca]

There's a dedicated subreddit for what they're calling The Eternal War. The guy's uploaded a copy of the saved game and people have been giving it a go to try and end the war. Looks like a few people have even succeeded.

[Lantern]

Fun story and that screenshot brings back the memories. I remember those spies were ridiculously overpowered and they featured prominently in my late game military strategy. And those ski units; forget what they were called; they were cool but never seemed that useful. Perhaps they become important if you have huge amounts of pollution.

[GreasyJack]

Originally Posted by appleciders

They have. The game has been won, a decade ago, by someone, either through a diplomatic victory (UN) or a space race. He claims to not remember who. But the game allows you to keep playing if you want, ad infinitum.

"Just...one...more...turn..."

[Ike Witt]

Originally Posted by GreasyJack

"Just...one...more...turn..."

The drones needed him, and looked up to him.

[Jophiel]

A little while back I was moving stuff between hard drives and making the "What's worth saving" decisions when I came across my old Civ2 "mods" folder. My collected or hand-drawn unit graphics, stat modifications, I even amended the Civilopedia to reflect my new units/technologies despite me being the only one who'd ever see it.

I haven't played Civ2 in years but I still couldn't let that folder go.

[Kobal2]

Originally Posted by appleciders

They have. The game has been won, a decade ago, by someone, either through a diplomatic victory (UN) or a space race. He claims to not remember who. But the game allows you to keep playing if you want, ad infinitum.

Right, I knew that

[Peanut Gallery]

Originally Posted by Cicero

(I still have old machines which I could have used but to drag them out and set them up...well not worth the effort).

OK I realize this could hijack the thread, but since you specifically made that comment, and also because I found this link surfing from that Civ2 thread on reddit ....

check this dude's collection out...link

[An Gadaí]

I still play Civ II regularly. It's the only game I play with any sort of frequency really. I find it's easy to have a quick game while doing other things.

[iamthewalrus(:3=]

Originally Posted by Chronos

What I can't fathom is how he can build up that much experience at the game, and still not be able to break the stalemate. It sounds to me like he's allowed himself to simply become a copy of the AI, using the same futile and obsolete strategies over and over without ever learning from them. Although, I guess those futile strategies have become pretty ingrained habit, after 10 years.

Yeah, it's pretty clear that there's a stalemate because he's not interested in breaking it. It's exceedingly unlikely that no player is actually capable of winning, since even a small victory is going to start generating an increasing advantage as the game goes on. If he's not winning, it's because he isn't trying.

[hogarth]

Originally Posted by iamthewalrus(:3=

Yeah, it's pretty clear that there's a stalemate because he's not interested in breaking it.

If you read some of the posts, he admits it's because he was using engineers to try to clean up some of the pollution at the same time.

Originally Posted by iamthewalrus(:3=

It's exceedingly unlikely that no player is actually capable of winning, since even a small victory is going to start generating an increasing advantage as the game goes on.

It's even more unlikely that no player is capable of winning, considering that a player has already won using that saved game. He disbanded a bunch of engineers, sold off a bunch of useless improvements (e.g. libraries, universities and courthouses) and started churning out howitzers. It took him almost 60 more turns, though.

[iamthewalrus(:3=]

Originally Posted by hogarth

It's even more unlikely that no player is capable of winning, considering that a player has already won using that saved game.

Well, true. But I meant "no player in that game", like one of the computers or the human. It's theoretically possible that the particular human playing this game wasn't skilled enough to win, but the chance that he's exactly skilled enough to maintain a steady state is very unlikely.

[hogarth]

Originally Posted by iamthewalrus(:3=

Well, true. But I meant "no player in that game", like one of the computers or the human. It's theoretically possible that the particular human playing this game wasn't skilled enough to win, but the chance that he's exactly skilled enough to maintain a steady state is very unlikely.

It's not too far-fetched if you consider a human playing against two extremely defensive AI players (e.g. they destroy any units you send out but they never attack).

[kenobi 65]

Originally Posted by steronz

I find it fascinating that his ultimate plan for world peace is to wipe out the Vikings.

As a Packer fan, that's part of my ultimate plan, as well...though I'd then move on to obliterating the Bears and Cowboys.

[iamthewalrus(:3=]

Originally Posted by hogarth

It's not too far-fetched if you consider a human playing against two extremely defensive AI players (e.g. they destroy any units you send out but they never attack).

I've played Civ II. The AIs aren't that defensive (or particularly hard to outsmart)

But, yes, there could be such a game.

[hogarth]

Originally Posted by iamthewalrus(:3=

I've played Civ II. The AIs aren't that defensive (or particularly hard to outsmart)

Don't get me wrong -- I've never had a stalemate situation in Civ II, either (and I used to play it a lot). But I've been in winning situations and losing situations (particularly at the highest difficulty level), so it's not inconceivable for me to imagine an equilibrium. I'd probably quit playing long before that point, though; I like to win.