Completing SP Games

[Sombre]

I play on small maps and I never finished games. 'Finishing' in Dom3 SP is basically arbitrary anyway. I just stop playing when it isn't fun/interesting any more. It might be because I've obviously won, it might be because I'm obviously going to win or it might just be because I get sick of that particular game. Sometimes the AI just puts up a really boring fight - like they're much bigger than you but keep ramming into one checkpoint every turn and forcing a stalemate. I can't be bothered to grind anything out - I just want to have fun. It's a game after all.

[SlipperyJim]

I try to finish every SP game, but I only play on small/medium maps. Personally, I cannot imagine grinding a single-player game out to its (foregone, by then) conclusion on a large map.

Maybe that explains why I don't play as many games as some other people here. If I simply quit once the outcome was assured, I'd be able to play a lot more....

Food for thought.

[Mozkito]

I tried doing Glory of the Gods in singleplayer with LA Ermor... I took over a fourth of the map before I started getting bored. I never did finish it, but by golly, before I die, I'll have that map beat!

[Ewierl]

SlipperyJim said:
I try to finish every SP game, but I only play on small/medium maps. Personally, I cannot imagine grinding a single-player game out to its (foregone, by then) conclusion on a large map.

I finish almost all my SP games, but that's largely because I've figured out how to properly calibrate my victory conditions. I tend to go with "1 VP per capital", and set the needed VP to half the number of players +/- 1. I found that this tends to make the game end just about when my dominance starts to become complete and boring, the ideal time to call it a wrap.

[Agema]

I've very rarely completed SP games on anything that is based on random maps (eg. Civ as opposed to, say, Starcraft where you 'complete' the game). Once the hard part is over, you may as well go to a new hard part.

[NTJedi]

Agema said:
I've very rarely completed SP games on anything that is based on random maps (eg. Civ as opposed to, say, Starcraft where you 'complete' the game). Once the hard part is over, you may as well go to a new hard part.

Atilla the Hun: "It is not enough that I must win, everyone else must lose."

[Lingchih]

I've completed maybe two or three SP games, out of the hundreds that I have played. That may be why I suck so bad at the endgame in MP

[LDiCesare]

Agema said:
I've very rarely completed SP games on anything that is based on random maps (eg. Civ as opposed to, say, Starcraft where you 'complete' the game). Once the hard part is over, you may as well go to a new hard part.

In Civ, depending on what you're targetting, the end may very well be the hard part (One City Challenge in Civ2 for instance, or a cultural victory in Civ IV).
I tend to finish all the SP games where I remember to set a victory condition (usually about half the provinces or half the land provicnes). Otherwise, I will erase the game after either getting bored or having tested what I wanted to test (nation, spell, whatever).

[Serenity]

Well when things go too well or too badly I tend to quit the game and start another. Usually they go too well, which is damn boring. Sometimes I come up with a interesting build for the nation and start over.

I've always liked the idea of bleeding your opponent out of resources. Attack a province beyond the front lines, put some PD and pillage till its worth nothing. Repeat a few times at high pop or farmland provinces and you can win tough opponents pretty fast thus speeding up the boring end part.

[Ming]

I have never finished an SP game on standard victory condition.

I have since set victory condition to around 60% of the provinces and even then only finish about 50% of my SP games. However, I hope to work on my unfinished games at some point and bring the % up. 8-)