I don't care about winning

When playing video games, I rarely care about actually beating the game, or winning versus other players. This weekend I played a bunch of Civilization 5 and is a great example of what I wrote above.  I don't worry about the score of the game, or even the victory conditions.  For me, Civilization is all about the journey.  The same goes for most strategy games I play.

Speaking of Civilization, there is not much better than starting a new game.  So much is unknown about the world around you.  Which resources are nearby?  How close are the other empires?  What is the geography like?  Getting those questions answered is part of what makes Civilization a great game.

There are exceptions to my not caring about winning, of course.  League of Legends is one game where I want to win.  I even find it hard to play Normal games because I know I could be spending my time in ranked matches instead.  To spend 45 minutes in a match just to lose it ends up being pretty demoralizing.  But a win is oh so sweet.

In scenario based PvP ( WAR, SWTOR et), I really don't mind losing.  There is still character progression (forward, not backwards like LoL), and as long as the match was fun I am happy.

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Civilization 5 Giveaway

Thanks to XCOM Enemy Unknown, I now am in possession of an extra copy of Civilization 5.  That means it is time for another giveaway!  Civ 5 is an excellent game and I highly recommend it, especially when it is free.  So, how can you get your hand on it?

We'll be using Sites with Benefits (formerly known as Project Murdock), which is a project of mine.  Since I have only a single game to giveaway, it is a perfect chance to test out the lottery functionality.  As usual, you can earn points a few ways.  Then you can spend those points on buying lottery tickets.  You can buy as many as you want.

Reward.  Free copy of Civilization 5 for Steam.  The lottery will end on Saturday, October 6th at 12pm EST.  Each ticket costs 15 points and you can buy as many as you want.  Or, you can do the missions and save the points for another giveaway.

If you sign in using twitter, you may want to stop by http://www.siteswithbenefits.com/ and enter an email address so you can be notified if you won the lottery.  Otherwise, it will show up in the Rewards Earned tab after the lottery ends.

Missions


Sign In.  Using the widget on the left side of the screen, sign in and get a cool 20 points.  You can use existing logins ( Google, Twitter and more), so no need to create a new account.

Daily Visit.  You'll also receive 5 points just for stopping by.  (Daily mission)

Trivia.  Answering a question about Civilization can get you 10 points.  You only have one chance to answer, so choose wisely.

Tweet.  Sent a tweet about this giveaway and receive 15 points.  Just use the link on the Mission window to send it out.

Comment.  Which civilization is your favorite?  Leave it in a comment and get 5 points!  (Daily mission)

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Please let me know of any problems, as Sites with Benefits is still in its beta phase.  Any feedback is appreciated. Thanks!

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Gods and Kings

Yesterday, the new expansion pack for Civilization 5 came out:  Gods and Kings.  I had to have it of course and Steam was happy to download it while I worked.  As soon as I was finished, I started up a new game.  As expected, time flew and it was a lot of fun.

Dutch.  I decided to go with the Netherlands as my civ since they are new.  They have a nice bonus which gives you 2 happiness even if you trade away the last of a particular luxury resource.  If I have 1 Silver left, I can trade it for another resources and get 6 happiness instead of just 4.  They also have a special boat and tile improvement, which I have not seen yet.

I've always liked playing the Netherlands ever since Colonization.  I guess it's their general focus on trading which appeals to me.  In this game I am going for an economic focus as well.

Religion.  As the title suggests, Religion is one of the newly added systems.  It takes Faith (a new resource) to unlock Pantheons then full fledged Religions.  My explores happened upon a ruin which gave me 40 faith, enough to establish the worlds first Pantheon.  For my bonus, I chose Idolatry.  This generates +1 faith for every gold and silver deposit you control.  I happened to have a number of Silver deposits near Amsterdam.

I don't really plan on playing a religious focused game, but one of the perks is Church Lands which generates money for me.  That fits nicely with my economic aspirations.

Enemy.  It seems I am not alone in this part of the world.  Japan settled very close to my capital city of Amsterdam.  They also picked a spot between me and a Gold deposit, so you know that is going to cause some trouble.  In fact, Japan launched a series of wars against me, since they wanted my lands as well.  I was able to fend them off, but just barely.

I always start off slow when it comes to my military and the AI certainly knows this.  In Civ 5, taking a city is pretty hard, especially early.  Besides having a unit stationed in the city, the city itself gets an attack.  The combination of the two can really tear up weaker units.

Diplomacy.  I have made some friends: the Americans and India.  It's neat that if you become friends with someone, their friends may notice and offer you friendship requests too.  They list the fact that you are a friend with theirs as a reason.  I do not have the technology for alliances yet, so we will see how this translates to wars later in the game.

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A different kind of war

As I mentioned yesterday, Civilization 5 has been going for a domination victory over my free time.  I have really been enjoying it, but that isn't surprise.  Civilization 1 was the first game I bought when I got my own computer (as opposed to a parents). So you could say I am a fan.

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