There are many ways you can play strategy games, but playing a game of Civilization V, with twelve factions, and a single person playing all twelve in order to direct the course of history for that game, is certainly a new one. It’s not one I’ve heard about often, at least.
But hey, since Firaxis isn’t announcing Civilization 7 any time soon, the Civ player base might as well find new ways to enjoy the games they have. User MartinChatski on the Civ subreddit has been sharing one especially galaxy-brained way they like to enjoy Civilization V using hotseat multiplayer. “I’ve played multiple really long hot seats games against myself from the Ancient to the Information Era where I built the world essentially from scratch!,” they explain.
Hotseat is traditionally a way that people on the same machine can play games against each other, with play formally shifting from person to person – since the advent of the internet, it’s not a mode of high importance. But for MartinChatski, it’s a way to keep in control of a game that can often be highly unpredictable.
“I roleplayed the various civs and created alliances, religion, history, trade, you name it,” they explain. “For insane people like me it’s fun to have control of every aspect of the world and mould it into whatever you wish!”
I am a nutbag who almost exclusively plays Hot Seat Civ 1v1v1v1v1v1v1v1v1v1v1v1 with myself AMA! from civ
MartinChatski didn’t stop there, however. Eventually they expanded these games to involve friends. Not by playing actual multiplayer like a normal person, of course, but by letting their friends make key decisions with certain civs during the course of a run.
“I created a groupme where I had my friends ‘take control’ of one civ each and then I would take screenshots of important events throughout the game to keep everyone updated. It was like Civ DnD. I’d be the game master and then I’d have people DM me backstabbing people or setting up secret deals.”
What gets me is the willingness to play sessions that are so large. I could perhaps stomach a smaller game myself, but twelve certainly displays a level of dedication you rarely see. MartinChatski admits that they prefer playing games like these in Civ V vs Civ VI, because there’s less micro involved. They also aren’t afraid to take long breaks and come back later, with some games lasting up to six months.
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If you want to try this out for yourself, you may need to understand which Civilization V civs are considered the best. If you want to try this out in Civ VI, we have a Civ VI civs guide as well.