One more turn syndrome

For the past two days I have been playing Freeciv.

It all started with a stomach discomfort on Wednesday, totally ruining the mood and motivation to do any work. Those nights became early nights, only to incur more sleep debt the following day. Imagine the relief of finding out that Friday was a public holiday - the thought of rest and "a long weekend off" is tantalizing.

I started browsing for games on Thursday night, and realized my Freeciv version isn't the latest. I'll be frank: I have played Freeciv before, and stopped playing after realizing each game tends to take a long time. Okay, okay, the other part of the story was that I was pretty new at the time, and not being able to take down a city (owned by an AI, to boot) after 20+ turns tends to be demotivating.

Freeciv puts you in the position of a civilization's ruler, very much like the popular Sid Meier's Civilization series. Except, it's free. You start with a few settlers and gradually build cities to expand your empire. Along the way, you scale the tech tree and compete with other civilizations to build Wonders, which provide many different special effects. Somewhere in the middle, you can either be aggressive and wage war or be a backstabbing people pleaser and play diplomacy.

The moment the client starts up, I can tell I'll get re-addicted fast. The game requires you to make every turn count, and optimizing aficionados like me simply can't resist. Several turns later I'm leading a Democracy while secretly building nuclear warheads on my secret military base near the North pole. I'll admit I'm still a beginner (better than last time of course!), which is why the AI can still entertain me.

Now, I should get back to my empire. Unless you're interested in a beginner's match, in which case do let me know. ONE MORE TURN!