Re: Would you play to the death?
 

I seem to take 10-160 minutes, usually, depending on how far the game has advanced. An hour is common for me! But actually, moving to multiplayer reduced my time commitment drastically. In a singleplayer game, you can take each turn quickly if you want, but there's nothing stopping you from taking a hundred turns in a row! In a multiplayer game, you are forced to rest between turns. :)

Re: Would you play to the death?
 

Hey, thanks, that could be a useful criterion to promote. Why shouldn't you turn things over to the AI, if the AI is actually going to be as responsible a steward of your nation as you would have been! You'd have to have a certain amount of experience to be able to judge whether that was the case. But that experience is pretty easy to get--just play with AI's for a while, and play with humans for a while. Neat!

Re: Would you play to the death?
 

This is basically my philosophy too. Altough sometimes I am just too damn boneheaded to give up, which leads to frustration and general un-fun. It takes a great lot from me to admit there is no longer anything I possibly could do better than the AI could do :hurt:

Re: Would you play to the death?
 

I think I turned ai only once, but then I haven't played that many games.
The reasons I did that were:
Spite. I had done a mistake and lost all chances of doing anything useful.
Spite. I had been explaining I wouldn't be able to play my next turn before a given day, no changes to the time limit were made, and I had something like 10 minutes left to give my orders before going stale. I think ai is better than stale.

I don't think a player turning ai is that bad compared with a player staling forever. I also think if it takes you too long to play the turns (for whatever reason - not easy internet access for instance) and you end up slowing down the players you're better off turning ai (or finding a sub, but that can be hard).

Re: Would you play to the death?
 

While fighting to the bitter end makes the player a more valuable ally for future games... I'm surprised people are able to find subs when another player drops. It's like taking over a random life... and usually waking up in the body of a homeless 50-year drug addict who is bi-polar with ulcers. I don't mind fighting to the bitter end from turn_1 when it's my nation... but to take over another individuals mess is usually a nightmare.

Re: Would you play to the death?
 

Oh, I prefer taking over a sick and dying nation! I'm having a lot of fun with Caelum in Faerun, even though they are totally doomed. It's a challenge to see how long a nation in decline can be kept alive. When it's my nation, it's hard to let go of those dreams of former glory, and I usually play too conservatively. If you are completely doomed then you are more free to experiment. Plus you (hopefully) don't have very many provinces to micro. It's fun just like the early game, and as a bonus you've got access to more advanced research.