How can I get better at 4x games?

[Spiny Rumples]

A lot of my local friends enjoy board games and video games, but, when it comes time to play together, they really like these complex PvP games.
They spend a lot of time on Civilization V/VI and Settlers of Catan.

My typical experience has been setting up some nice home-away-from-home and making it nice before I am bodied by someone with more resources or someone hits the win condition and the game just ends. I don't really see the appeal of harassing and betraying my friends to get +2 nuggies per turn, but I would like to be able to keep up, just so hanging out with them feels like less of a drag.

How can I git gud at these slow, zero-sum games?

 

[Mr.Miyagi]

I can't really help too much with Catan, but I do enjoy 4x games, so a few things I can think of:

I'd recommend taking a look at some rankings/tier lists for Civilization's civs and leaders and seeing if there are some high tier ones that match your playstyle. It seems like you might be the type that enjoys a focus on turtling and getting a good economy/science production going, but might not shift that into good defenses until you've got a more aggressive neighbor right on your doorstep. That can be difficult in Civ with barbarians running around pillaging in the early game and stifling your expansion, which makes the later game much harder, so you'll always need some military to defend yourself, and going wide and expanding as often is usually the way to go (depending on the civ.) You don't need to become a metaslave or anything, but civs are not created equal, and knowing some of the common high-level ones will let you know their strengths and what your friends might be aiming for in terms of victory conditions, along with how to stop them.

You might also suggest some team matches if your friends are up for it, where you have the winner of the last game match with the lowest scorer. It might be a bit embarrassing to be the handicap, but I've found it can help make more engaging games if there's a clear skill disparity. When playing with friends who were new to the game, I'd usually have them in a team against me, so they'd have one less enemy to deal with, and more resources to throw at me. Similarly, if your friends are dudes who've got 1000 hours in the game and find deity difficulty too easy (like a lot of MP guys), but you only play when it's them getting together, I'd go and play some AI games and practice fundamentals/try out different strategies to get a good baseline. Practice makes perfect. Watching some videos from high-level players can help, too.

And don't feel bad about screwing over another player in the game. Unless your friends are getting seriously upset over the game (like, MOBA teammate meltdowns levels of mad), it's expected that these games have shifting alliances and players teaming up against the frontrunner or stabbing someone in the back if it helps them. It's just part of the game. Just don't do it too much, or you'll get a reputation that you can't be trusted in the game at all.

 

[Shroom King]

Can you train with 5x games and then back to 4x and start whooping ass?

 

[SSj_Ness (Yiffed)]

They're boring so I can't help you. Make them play better games.

 

[Matt Damon]

Start at 2x and work your way up.