i own civ3 right now and im wondering if i should get civ4. is it better? (it probably is) and what's different about it?

Yes, it is a gazillion billion times better, and in the words of Yoda, "To learn, first you must unlearn." :D

it is incredible in comparison. gameplay, graphics, everything is better. the only problem is if you have a slow computer, it might not cope so well.

I was a bit of a Civ III junkie, and my first couple of games of Civ IV I spent thinking to myself "Wow, I can't beleive this is so much worse than Civ III".

Then I played some more, read up online, learned some subtleties and moved up in difficulty level a bit (I'm nowhere near as good as many who frequent these boards), and I have to say that overall I consider it a dramatically better game than Civ III..... in almost every way.

If you haven't tried it yet, you're missing out. Even if you don't like it (unlikely) then it is at least good to know. You can even try some of the great mods for it if you don't like the vanilla version. Just make sure to install patch 1.61 as soon as you buy the game.

And just as a disclaimer to all who love CivIII, this doesn't mean that CIV4 is better, so don't rise up in righteous indignation, I'm not trying to start a flame war.

Yes, it is better. Warlords is great. Buy it and enjoy!

i own civ3 right now and im wondering if i should get civ4. is it better? (it probably is) and what's different about it?

Well you will not get much contesting Civ4 is the better game over here in a civ4 fan forum.
THe Civ3 side likewise willl be full of advice to save your money and see how the Game has evolved from more practiced and refined ritual by dedicated modders. Don't like modding the original game? while its still easyier to edit and custimize to your liking so thats a big differance along with adapting to bigger maps less lag comes CIv3 on top no question.

Lets just say if the amount of players that are currently on the Civ3 forums are matched over here this long into the next sequal's life, you will be able to say Civ4 is truly the better of the two.

Clearly the base has been divided where younger kids make up the clout of Civ4's support while mostly older players hold up Civ3. Without commitment from the wide array of artists in CIv3's modding sector it would have fallen by the way side instead of capture otherwise Civ4 particapants by the droves

Lets just say if the amount of players that are currently on the Civ3 forums are matched over here this long into the next sequal's life, you will be able to say Civ4 is truly the better of the two.


thats not true at all. If civ 3 or civ 4 is better is up for depate, there is really no majority that thinks one way or the other. But what if civ 5 is clearly better then civ 3 and 4. Then everyone will be at civ 5 side so you cant compare.;)

nah, Im not sure. Anyway I just think the Civ3 is holding remarkable and its unprecedented(probably won't be reapeted with Civ4). You here the phrase "sounds like the ol Civ3 vs Civ2 argument" on threads comparing the two but one thing is for sure, Civ2 never held out in the face of its sequal. Civ3 has and continues to do so.

With CIv3 it was the first time in the series where the defending champ wasn't knocked out in the 1st round by the newcomer. Yes stilll one more round though... and CIv3 has some crazy ambitious projects to keep up.

THe differnce will be if CIv4 patch the leaks on the boat in order to load more luggage. I can't see how adding more civs and a bunch more additions are going to make the game run faster this time. Thats exactly how it played out for Civ3's expansions, bigger and faster each add-on. I had a horrible time waiting for the AI in the last era using Vannila Civ3 but by the time of Conquests it had almost been iradicated (turn times). Once I 'Civ4 proofed' my system and went back to Civ3, I was in heaven playin maps any sizes 2-30 civs unlimited units, I never thought it was possible (many back then said it wasn't it was design flaw) Havn't looked 'forword' since
sorry for OT n bad G

your join date in jan 2006, how do you know what it was like when civ 3 came out.

Civ 3 is not holding like you like to believe, yes it still has alot of viewers but civ 4 almost always has more. C&C has about 2 times or more as civ 3 C&C section, and general descustion has about 3-4 times as many viewers.

civ 4 has 306,000 posts civ 3s to 370,000 post. Civ 3 posts per mounth in general desscusion = 5,500. Civ 4 posts per munth in general desscusion= 17,700. The biggest section is Creation & Customization, Civ 4 is at 214,000 civ 3 is at 462,000. Civ 4 posts per month is 11,900 civ 3 is 7,000.

In general desscusion that 3 posts per 1 in civ 3's
Creation & customization is civ 3's strongest one but civ 4 has about 1.6 posts per 1 post on civ 3.

Lets just give it up. There is not conclusion as of yet, nor will there probably ever be a universal one that answers which game is better. Arguement and disagreement is futile. :borg:

indeed. try the game, keep the reciept.

Get it, if you have some money. You decide whether it's better. My opinion is that it's clearly worse, but it's up to YOU. I made my decision, and might change it in the future, if something really great happens with Civ4. I'm not claiming I'm going to keep this idea for the eternity. But if nothing really great happens, I'm definitely going to stick with this idea.

your join date in jan 2006, how do you know what it was like when civ 3 came out.

Civ 3 is not holding like you like to believe, yes it still has alot of viewers but civ 4 almost always has more. C&C has about 2 times or more as civ 3 C&C section, and general descustion has about 3-4 times as many viewers.

civ 4 has 306,000 posts civ 3s to 370,000 post. Civ 3 posts per mounth in general desscusion = 5,500. Civ 4 posts per munth in general desscusion= 17,700. The biggest section is Creation & Customization, Civ 4 is at 214,000 civ 3 is at 462,000. Civ 4 posts per month is 11,900 civ 3 is 7,000.

In general desscusion that 3 posts per 1 in civ 3's
Creation & customization is civ 3's strongest one but civ 4 has about 1.6 posts per 1 post on civ 3.

Again that calculations? You forgot to take into account a very, very important part. In 2001, this site had less than 1000 members, now it has more than 100000. :lol: How many posts are they likely to make there? Calculate this again. See how it's MUCH in favor of Civ3. ;) You see, these calculations are null and void unless you take into account the number of members.

Let's make it even clearer: if on this site, in 2005, there are ten thousand posts about a game, and on another site, in 2008, there are one hundred posts about the game, considering both are totally focused on that game, does this mean the first one is a better game? No, obviously, since they are the same game. ;) It just means the second one has less members.

how is fan following the metric for a good ANYTHING?

your join date in jan 2006, how do you know what it was like when civ 3 came out.


Hey! I was a lurker so what! Sometimes my patience for grammer tells me I should have have kept it that way! (instead of editing everything I say after Ive already pressed play ;) )
besides..the whole thing on the pulse of general forums can be explained. The latest feature will always have the threads based on general Civ fan criteria. If you want introduce yourself, state your gender, or age, etc etc. your gunna pad these numbers no matter what.

Civ3 chat is for newbies to get some help and whatever interests havn't been talked to death in the last 5 years. Over here you can still come to inquire when the next expansion or next sequal, is going to drop cuz your not happy with what you got. Im amazed anyone is on the 3 side at all. On the C+C front its another thing, That where Civ3 is made into the game that I play, one with much mopre to offer.

No matter what you change in CIv4, over time the same gameboard is whats going to break your will to play continually.

your join date in jan 2006, how do you know what it was like when civ 3 came out.

Civ 3 is not holding like you like to believe, yes it still has alot of viewers but civ 4 almost always has more. C&C has about 2 times or more as civ 3 C&C section, and general descustion has about 3-4 times as many viewers.

civ 4 has 306,000 posts civ 3s to 370,000 post. Civ 3 posts per mounth in general desscusion = 5,500. Civ 4 posts per munth in general desscusion= 17,700. The biggest section is Creation & Customization, Civ 4 is at 214,000 civ 3 is at 462,000. Civ 4 posts per month is 11,900 civ 3 is 7,000.

In general desscusion that 3 posts per 1 in civ 3's
Creation & customization is civ 3's strongest one but civ 4 has about 1.6 posts per 1 post on civ 3.

The big reason there are more posts on the Civ 4 forums is that Civ 3 fanatics post here bashing Civ 4. I don't think that the opposite happens, I wouldn't know since I have never visited the Civ 3 forum. :)

I don't understand the "us vs them" attitudes re: Civ3 vs Civ4. I have been a diehard fan of the series since the original DOS civ, and have owned them all right up to Warlords.

Civ4 is a nice game; very fun to play, and very, very pretty. I don't like 4 nearly as much as Civ3, though. Civ3 plays well on my laptop, and I am so comfortable with the game rules and mechanics that I could practically play it with my eyes closed. :crazyeye: Civ4, meanwhile, won't play nice with my laptop. I think I was put off a bit when I bought Civ4 vanilla as soon as it was released, and it was junk. So buggy and clunky that it crash my desktop computer everytime I tried to play with it. Now it plays quite nicely with the patches installed.

In my opinion, if you are trying to make up your mind about sticking with Civ3 or switching to Civ4, don't rely too much on our opinions here. We all have different experiences and different expectations. They are both viable games. Civ 4 is priced with the second-tier games these days, so it's not like you will be set too far back if you find you don't care for it. Just don't throw your Civ3 discs in the trash yet!

I was a bit of a Civ III junkie, and my first couple of games of Civ IV I spent thinking to myself "Wow, I can't beleive this is so much worse than Civ III".

Then I played some more, read up online, learned some subtleties and moved up in difficulty level a bit (I'm nowhere near as good as many who frequent these boards), and I have to say that overall I consider it a dramatically better game than Civ III..... in almost every way.

the exact same thing happened to me! at first I didn't like it being a little more forgiving in a few ways but now I prefer it, with n added bonus of much better graphics :p

Same for me. I have played Civ pretty much ever since it came out. When I first moved in with my bf, Civ III was only coming out and I warned him not to buy it for me for my birthday because I knew I'd be there for hours on end playing it. I only ever had Vanilla of that. The following year we had some pretty rough times and had to pack up and leave and start all over again. I was without a PC and only used internet cafès from 2003 until the beginning of this year, so I missed a lot of stuff.

I'm now living in the Canaries, and computer stuff isn't as easy to buy here and there isn't much choice as perhaps other parts of the world. When we had this PC built, they were doing a deal with CIV4 coming with a certain graphics card. I ordered that one and of course it was out of stock and I would have had to wait at least another month for that card to be back in stock. A few months down the road, I was back in the computer shop and the guy who built my computer gave me a brand new copy. He already had the game but he just bought that graphics card so had a spare CIV laying about and gave it to me for nothing :D He rocks!

During that time, also, a friend of mine was moving off of this island and was selling everything. I bought Civ II TOT for a Euro off of him. Woot!

My life was hectic the past few months so I only got around to taking CIV 4 out of the package 3 days ago. I must say, the first time I played I wasn't impressed but I'm getting into it now.

Oh and just in case you were wondering..I do still have the bf and he has learned to accept my Civ-playing ways..within reason. I'm just sneakier about it than I used to be :P

I think there's a demo somwhere ( for bts ? ). You could download that.

It's up to you. I prefer civ 4 to Civ 3, but Civ 2 over both of those. As Mowque said above, "buy the game and keep the receipt".