What is the best speed to play the game at ?

[Alien]

Online or normal ???

[parent child bowl]

I prefer online, but that might be because I mostly play multiplayer and use the same settings in singleplayer.

[johnarhoades]

Single player "standard" is fine. Just get a good spot or nothing will help you.

[Vexillum]

Enjoy Epic or Marathon the most. Online is just a no go for me since units will be obsolete before getting to the enemy. On Epic and above each special unit gets there time to shine.

[Rod_Shaft]

In addition to personal preference, the slower game speeds actually work against the AI. The more turns you give the AI to screw up their progression, the more they will. It is more challenging to overcome the initial boost the AI receives over fewer turns, regardless of the (progression) scaling to speed. Each action the AI makes that is not optimal is an advantage for the player.

I do enjoy epic speed thematically, and played only on that speed, or even marathon through the first 4 CIV games. As I got better though, I found I couldn't stay invested in a Diety game where I've got a power stranglehold by 400 AD, and potentially hundreds of turns remaining to get through. That beings said, I do feel online just go's by too fast to be immersive.

After about 5000 hours across all the CIVs I guess I just prefer to spend a couple days playing each match, not a couple weeks lol. I still enjoy the occasional Epic speed game, when I have a certain goal or "fun project" in mind though. For Multiplayer I usually play Online speed due to the time investment, and the rarity of a whole group of players sticking with a slow speed game.

[Imhotep]

A slower game speed means more turns for units to move, leading to faster exploration of the map.

I would recommend these speeds at each map size:

Duel - Online
Tiny - Online
Small - Quick
Standard - Standard
Large - Epic
Huge - Marathon