...has anyone seen a definitive list of the differences between how things worked in 3 vs 4?

for example: It took me a few games to understand that building workers/settlers doesn't remove pop pts like it did in 3. instead, growth food is diverted so you don't grow while building them.

I don't mean for this to be a discussion about this topic, but more a list of resources. I'm only posting this here because I figured, we mac users are all new to the game and while searching in the strategy forum is great (and I've found SOME good info), it seems like most people over there already know all this stuff.

The documentation and civilopedia are kinda lacking IMHO. I FINALLY found out how railroads worked after searching here for a while. (hint, there is no more infinite movement!)

thanks!

There's a really nice beginner's guide here. (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=165632)

Initially I was kinda bummed that the printed manual is only a "quickstart guide". But I suppose the tech tree poster makes up for it. Gone are the days when you got a nice beefy manual + a pretty poster. Still have the Alpha Centauri poster in my room. :)

Don't you have a reasonably thick, ringbound manual? I'll agree that some things were missing, but, for the most part, once they patched the civilopedia, I was able to find out everything I needed from either the manual, tooltips or the civilopedia...

there's a printed manual that doesn't go into much depth. When I got civ 3 there was a whole chapter for "if you played civ 2 start here" (i didn't, but that's neither here nor there). and I'm not sure if this "patched civilopedia" shipped in the mac version. I CAN tell you that there was no info about railroads in the civilopedia under either "improvements" "buildings" or "units".

there is also a PDF of an "expanded" manual on the disc but it didn't seem to add a whole lot to the printed one.

One thing I just noticed - no production from disbanding units.

Yeah... that never made much sense to me anyway, but I do miss that extra boost of production.

I didn't like Civ III much... only played it once. Some things about Civ IV to think about... big one is religion. No other Civ game has featured religion, and it's a prominent part of the game. I love the country boundaries where your culture pushes your boundaries outward. There are loads of improvements and wonders that you just have to kind of read up on as you go. With city specialists (priests, merchants, etc.) there a million and one ways to get your cities doing what you want them to do.

Oh, and let's not forget Great people... the first time I played and I got a great person, I sent him off to fight. I thought he was a great leader... like heroes in WCIII. But he wasn't.

Oh, and each leader has special abilities... these give bonuses throughout the game. You can choose your leader based on what kind of victory you're going for.

That's just a bit of stuff I've learned while playing.

other than religion, you just described civ 3. why didn't you like that game?

out of curiosity lateralis, what are you running it on? and are you able to play large/huge maps?

other than religion, you just described civ 3. why didn't you like that game?

What was it about Civ III that I hated? Now I'm trying to remember. I remember it felt very slow (not in terms of computer slow... just game play). And there were annoying things... oh yes! The advancement grid! That's what I hated... that sealed the deal. That you had to follow a certain path and wait for each AGE before you could get new advancements. I love the new advancement map... with lots of options. Every game will be a little different based on how you choose to progress.

Honestly that's about all I remember. I played it a couple times before reverting back to Civ II.

thats what the "haha" in the title meant. I'm on a dual G5 2.5 with 4 gigs of RAM and the geforce 6800 ultra. 10.4.7 and QT 7.1.2 (not able to downgrade)

the largest map I've tried to play is standard and while my super-economic, just enough military to not get wiped out, space-race victory was MOSTLY playable at 1280x800 (1920x1200 is my native resolution) with most settings at low, my current game is almost painful. Right now I'm trying a standard map with a purely military focus and, wow, is it slow. I have unfrozen the animations because I like watching the battles (although I do miss chanting "great leader, great leader, great leader" when my dudes are fighting) and I also have "show health bar" turned on.

I'm also only playing currently at the 3rd lowest difficulty. I'm stepping up one per finished game to get a feel for how things work without getting totally creamed.

there's a printed manual that doesn't go into much depth. When I got civ 3 there was a whole chapter for "if you played civ 2 start here" (i didn't, but that's neither here nor there). and I'm not sure if this "patched civilopedia" shipped in the mac version. I CAN tell you that there was no info about railroads in the civilopedia under either "improvements" "buildings" or "units".

there is also a PDF of an "expanded" manual on the disc but it didn't seem to add a whole lot to the printed one.

In the Windows version, we got a ~225 page ringbound manual (which, though missing info, obviously, I wouldn't call a "quickstart guide" ;) )

I do recall now that it was hard to find out what trees and roads did, etc. There really should be a table of effects for terrain improvements and such.

I finally figured out that you can find the info when you have a worker on a square and hover over the railroad icon, it tells what the new effect will be.