i've got a dualcore 2 GHz powemac G5 currently with only 512 MB or ram, but another gig is coming in the mail, and it has the stock vid card which i think is a geforce 6600 LE with 128 v-ram. what sort of performance should i expect from this? will i be able to play large and huge maps with max number of civs, or will i need another graphics card?

My g5 tower duo 1.8ghz w/stock video card & 1gig of ram plays the game poorly, even on tiny maps. I attempted to play on a standard map, and it became unplayable after about an hour. Your best bet is to update your video card if you can... but it's going to cost lots of $$$

Also, watch out for kernel panics. I hear those are popping up with increasing frequency for some folks.

Gatekeeper

well if i can't play this game on a 2500 dollar computer then that is the stupidest thing i have ever seen. is there any way to get a refund on it if you order it from amazon? i think i will just order civ 3 complete instead. i am not going to sink a bunch of money into a vid card that may or maybe not be able to play a game on a system that really has very little to offer for gaming otherwise. it just isn't worth it. i will wait until the intel powermacs, or mac pros or whatever they will be called, are out and then get the game for windows.

Jdevo, what video card do you have?

According to this thread (http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?threadid=141405), it should work fine.

well if i can't play this game on a 2500 dollar computer then that is the stupidest thing i have ever seen. is there any way to get a refund on it if you order it from amazon? i think i will just order civ 3 complete instead. i am not going to sink a bunch of money into a vid card that may or maybe not be able to play a game on a system that really has very little to offer for gaming otherwise. it just isn't worth it. i will wait until the intel powermacs, or mac pros or whatever they will be called, are out and then get the game for windows.

From what I understand, your setup — which is almost identical to the one I have on pre-order at the Apple Store — is more than capable of handling Civ IV. The problems seem to rest strictly with Civ IV itself and/or the updates to 10.4.7 and whatever the latest version of QuickTime is.

The computer is fine; it's Civ IV itself that needs to be patched. IOW, your $2500 purchase is OK, but the $49.99 (or whatever it was Amazon charged) bit is the source of the problems. I don't think Aspyr tested it on 10.4.7 and the latest version of QT because neither were public yet during the beta testing phase of Civ IV.

Gatekeeper

It should play just fine with the extra ram. It plays fine on my 2 gig G5.

Drahkkael... from experience... Civ III is like punishment compared to Civ IV. I'd rather play Civ II or Civ IV on a buggy machine than try to suffer through Civ III again.

From what I understand, your setup — which is almost identical to the one I have on pre-order at the Apple Store — is more than capable of handling Civ IV. The problems seem to rest strictly with Civ IV itself and/or the updates to 10.4.7 and whatever the latest version of QuickTime is.

The computer is fine; it's Civ IV itself that needs to be patched. IOW, your $2500 purchase is OK, but the $49.99 (or whatever it was Amazon charged) bit is the source of the problems. I don't think Aspyr tested it on 10.4.7 and the latest version of QT because neither were public yet during the beta testing phase of Civ IV.

Gatekeeper
Aspyr didn't test it on 10.4.7 because 10.4.7 came out long after they finished it. Remember that games can't be changed during the inspection, copying and shipping phases. 10.4.7 ultimately came out three or so days after the game started shipping.

I'd expect a patch within a week.

Here is some feedback: 20" Intel iMac, 1.5 GB RAM ...

Graphics/sound/playability so far good, though I have yet to proceed much into even the ancient era.

It has crashed the OS once - some sort of video card issue - in about 30 minutes of play time.

They're going to have to patch this thing.