http://ir.take2games.com/ReleaseDetail.cfm?ReleaseID=315205

Sounds great, I always liked the original. Especially the endgame where you had to defend against the Europeans.

Awesome!!
lots been happening latly I see. THis sounds like a new xpak for civ4 but better it says you don't need the orginal, meaning those who missed Warlords and Bts can have all that plus the the new game!

http://www.strategyinformer.com/news/1303/2k-games-announces-civilization-iv-colonization-for-pc - First screenshots, looking sweet! :)

http://www.strategyinformer.com/news/1303/2k-games-announces-civilization-iv-colonization-for-pc - First screenshots, looking sweet! :)

THanks! :)
Hey It looks like they have opium as a resource now. See the lil white flower patch below the tobbaco planter? Its bout time I guess. That plant is the most valuable but its sorta unethical to have kids dealing in this plant.
Oh well, we will have to wait n' see. They might just be poppies for remembrence day, enabling a 'Goodleader day" type benifit :)

They will fix the diplo and the interface that currently is used with civ4 and also says they will make it more moddable(hopefully that means less skins)

Sounds like some major improvements!

Excellent!!! Would have preffered Civ5 TBH, but frankly I cant wait for this either!!!! Never played the original but this looks great

http://kotaku.com/5014693/shiny-new-civ-iv-colonization-coming-to-pc

Discuss.

Wow, this looks to be a year of bringing back long-dead franchises and/or creating sequels as opposed to expansions/prequels. Super Smash Bros. Melee, Command and Conquer Red Alert 2, StarCraft, Grand Theft Auto III, Metal Gear Solid 2, and Colonization have all received sequels this year!

Duplicate thread merged. See the announcement on the main page.

i played the fanbased copy and it's a fun game.

Can't wait for this.

In other news, it looks like the 3 tile city placement radius has been dropped in this game which is awesome.

woooooooohoooooooo

Never played the original as it was "before my time" but this is good news. Very good news

[tab][tab][tab]:banana:
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:banana::banana::banana::banana::banana::banana:
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I wish they had used the revolution graphics in stead. It looks nicer.

Finally. I LOVED that game. They need to open up a Colonization Forum now, just like the other expansions.

If they don't include Portugal as a playable nation again, I'm going to be seriously pissed off. It's a COLONIZATION game for crying out loud!

Colonization is one of my all-time favorites. I still play the Windows 95 version on the PC I am using now and look forward to playing this new upcoming release.

It would be great if an upgrade of Master of Magic were their next project.

Some people are still wondering what they wanted beta-testers for? :D

(side note: I'm note a beta tester, this is all assumption from myself ;) )

It would be great if an upgrade of Master of Magic were their next project.


Yes yes yes. We need more games with the "if everything is overpowered everything is balanced" mentality of MoM.:D

Cool. I did play original Colonization but don't remember too much from it. So.. this means CIV V about a year and a half from now? I can live with that. :mischief:

Hopefully it'll turn out to be good sequel. Couple screenshots don't tell us much. I especially wonder how handle various trade goods and trade in general.

If this turns commercial success, maybe Firaxis will make sequel to Alpha Centauri or as some others have said to Master of Magic. Who owns the rights to Master of Magic franchise currently anyway?

Btw, what do people think the changes are of slavery being in :p


If people have not played Colonization before, it might be worth to try FreeCol (http://www.freecol.org/) (Forum (http://sourceforge.net/forum/?group_id=43225)). It's rather faithful fan remake of the original Colonization. New version should be released tomorrow according to latest roadmap (http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?thread_name=57507.80.202.85.174.12128247 44.squirrel%40webmail.uio.no&forum_name=freecol-developers).

If they don't include Portugal as a playable nation again, I'm going to be seriously pissed off. It's a COLONIZATION game for crying out loud!

Oh no, the discussion starts again. I guess that the polish camp will be quieter this time around at least.

Oh no, the discussion starts again. I guess that the polish camp will be quieter this time around at least.

If they leave in the moddability of Civ 4, at least nothing will prevent modders from adding portugal or any other real or fictional colonial power for that matter.

Btw, what do people think the changes are of slavery being in :p


Of course it should be in, but not sure if it it would (should) be implemented similarly as in CIV4.

Cool. I did play original Colonization but don't remember too much from it. So.. this means CIV V about a year and a half from now? I can live with that. :mischief:

I know very little about the industry, so this is just total speculation, but seeing as this is basically an extensive Mod of civ4 (brilliant though it'll probably be, thats seems to be what it is), I doubt it will delay any prospective Civ5 by long. Just dosent strike me as a game that would have needed a huge amount of manpower diverted from Civ5.

Yep, but i'm thinking about release times so i would expect CIV 5 on summer year from now on.

Yep, but i'm thinking about release times so i would expect CIV 5 on summer year from now on.


Oh like June 09? Yeah maybe... maybe xmas 09 I was thinking. Probably depends on that EA takeover thing. they could be working on it now for all we know


5000 posts

So is this an expansion pack to Civ4, a stand-alone game, or something else? Obviously it uses the Civ4 engine, but I'm confused if this is an expansion or a different game using the Civ4 engine?

So is this an expansion pack to Civ4, a stand-alone game, or something else? Obviously it uses the Civ4 engine, but I'm confused if this is an expansion or a different game using the Civ4 engine?


complately stand alone, dont need anything else to play it

Fantastic!

An X-pak without the legacy! Great!

I only hope we can create a "civ mod" for the new Colonization game, utilizing the latest tweaks and improvements for the "main" game too... :)

Well, although it's labeled as expansion (civ4:colonization), it actually is not, since it does not expand anything.

You won't be able to play normal Civ4 games with it. Just colonization. And since it's just that, it really must be done (and balanced) much better then any actual modification for Civ4, making it a new game sharing same engine.

Comtrya! I never could play the original as the graphics made it hard to understand.

I played Colonization back in the day. It was a nice diversion from Civ but I always felt constricted - I recall the land area being much smaller than in Civ games. It was kind of like Civ-lite. Nothing bad for a diversion.

Oh no, the discussion starts again. I guess that the polish camp will be quieter this time around at least.
Wrong... (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Courland_colonization)
I DEMAND POLAND IN THE GAME

With Russia, Portugal, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, and the Ottomans of course.

Wow. This should be very cool. Can't wait for the release and then the feedback from those that initially try the game.

I'm pleased they're doing Col again. Never thought it would happen!

On 2nd thoughts....Not sure about how it will turn out as a Civ 4 *expansion*? The game engine for Col was totally different than Civ. Trading, Employment and Land Use were much deeper and there's probably more I've forgotten about. Religion is not Civ 4 religion, Natives are not Civ 4 barbarians. You can't just make a new 'skin' or scenario for Civ 4 and call it Col.

Hopefully, they're just using the Civ 4 Graphics and GUI, and building a new game rule engine for the real work. This would explain why it's totally standalone. And maybe they're adding the "Civilization 4 - " prefix to the title just as a marketing tactic to make the link with such a succesful game.

In one of the images - the city is building an "expert silver miner" so it would seem like there's more detail to resource development.

Wrong... (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Courland_colonization)
I DEMAND POLAND IN THE GAME

With Russia, Portugal, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, and the Ottomans of course.
Portugal, Denmark, and Belgium I could understand.

Poland, Russia, Sweden and the Ottomans... where in the New World did they colonize? The link you post is about Poland colonizing in Africa, which I can sort of see, though it's entirely possible that Colonization is purely about the New World (and not Africa or the Far East). What about the others (Russia, Sweden, Ottoman Empire)?

Even if there is some history, there has to be some threshold... Poland having one minor colony that wasn't particularly successful does not necessarily qualify it to be in the new game.

Wodan

Poland, Russia, Sweden and the Ottomans... where in the New World did they colonize?

Russia was the first European power to colonize Alaska. For a time they claimed land as far south as Oregon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska#History


The first European contact with Alaska occurred in the year 1741, when Vitus Bering led an expedition for the Russian Navy aboard the St. Peter. After his crew returned to Russia bearing sea otter pelts judged to be the finest fur in the world, small associations of fur traders began to sail from the shores of Siberia towards the Aleutian islands. The first permanent European settlement was founded in 1784, and the Russian-American Company carried out an expanded colonization program during the early to mid-1800s.


Sweden held a few colonies in America:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedish_overseas_colonies


The former Swedish colonies in America:

Guadeloupe (1813-1814;returned to France)
Saint-Barthélemy (1784-1878; sold to France)
New Sweden (1638-1655; lost to the Dutch)


But of course, both Sweden and Russia were minor colonial powers in America. The only major colonial power missing from Colonization is Portugal.

Russia colonised Alaska....it was nothing on the scale of colonisation on the East coast, and I suspect they only managed to 'colonise' so much because there wasn't any serious competition in the sphere. It could be an interesting aspect - but one that would also have to factor in that to get materials to/from Alaska, they had to travel across the expanse of Asia - much of which had only recently been colonised itself, and that for each winter Russia had no effective docks.

The Courland reference relates to Tobago in the Windies. Sweden had a colony that was swallowed up by the Dutch, which later was swallowed up by England. Personally I think Sweden, Courland and Denmark are to some extent represented by Holland.

I could be wrong, but at game start of colonisation I don't think Belgium actually existed.

As far as I'm aware the Ottomans didn't colonise in the New World. I guess their inclusion would be a what if? scenario....but the you could argue the case for China, plus a hoste of other European micro states such as Genoa and Venice which were associated with the seas.

Personally, I think the only really genuine alternative to England, France, Spain and Holland would be the inclusion of Portugal....but whether you could give them a niche to differentiate them from the others (England - high immigration, France - good integration with the Indians, Dutch - traders, Spanish - military and missionary) is another matter

Yeah, that's what I mean... basically they "staked a claim" but it wasn't really a wholehearted attempt to colonize.

Most such "colonies" were trading outposts or perhaps military depots.

Wodan

On 2nd thoughts....Not sure about how it will turn out as a Civ 4 *expansion*? The game engine for Col was totally different than Civ. Trading, Employment and Land Use were much deeper and there's probably more I've forgotten about. Religion is not Civ 4 religion, Natives are not Civ 4 barbarians. You can't just make a new 'skin' or scenario for Civ 4 and call it Col.
By utilizing the CIV4 engine that basically means, not having to start from scratch and write a code base to interface the gui and xml/python scripting with the map.

If you look thru the code itself, all the screens are python script that interface via python callbacks to C++ where necessary. Thus they will need to design new screens and change code/rewrite the compiled DLL to enable Colonization specific rules/gameplay.

In one of the images - the city is building an "expert silver miner" so it would seem like there's more detail to resource development.

I believe that isn't a city, but a native village. In Colonization, you could send a regular citizen to a native village, and if you're on good terms with the native tribe, they'd "train" them to be an expert at something. This allows that "expert" to go back and work a "special resource" more efficiently than a regular citizen.

Sometimes you could train and bring "experts" from the Old World, but some types of "experts" (like tobacco farmers) had to be trained initially by the natives.

This topic sort of hearkens back to a previous poster's concern about how well the Civ4 engine may (or may not) fit with the Colonization gameplay. Pulling a citizen out of a city as a separate unit, then moving him to the village, and then moving him back, was an annoying micromanagement issue. But the concept of "asking" for an improved citizen was pretty neat.

Trying to implement this by treating the native tribes as an AI Civ, and allowing them to build a "special missionary" and send it to whomever they want, isn't the same kind of game play.

Colonization is one of my all-time favorites. I still play the Windows 95 version on the PC I am using now and look forward to playing this new upcoming release.

It would be great if an upgrade of Master of Magic were their next project.

If you are craving Master of Magic experience play Age of Wonders: Shadow Magik. It is pretty much spiritual succesor to MoM.

Russia colonised Alaska....it was nothing on the scale of colonisation on the East coast, and I suspect they only managed to 'colonise' so much because there wasn't any serious competition in the sphere. It could be an interesting aspect - but one that would also have to factor in that to get materials to/from Alaska, they had to travel across the expanse of Asia - much of which had only recently been colonised itself, and that for each winter Russia had no effective docks.

The Courland reference relates to Tobago in the Windies. Sweden had a colony that was swallowed up by the Dutch, which later was swallowed up by England. Personally I think Sweden, Courland and Denmark are to some extent represented by Holland.

I could be wrong, but at game start of colonisation I don't think Belgium actually existed.

As far as I'm aware the Ottomans didn't colonise in the New World. I guess their inclusion would be a what if? scenario....but the you could argue the case for China, plus a hoste of other European micro states such as Genoa and Venice which were associated with the seas.

Personally, I think the only really genuine alternative to England, France, Spain and Holland would be the inclusion of Portugal....but whether you could give them a niche to differentiate them from the others (England - high immigration, France - good integration with the Indians, Dutch - traders, Spanish - military and missionary) is another matter

I think the Russians made some forts on the West Coast.

Yeah, and at 1600 (when Pirates! begins), the Netherlands didn't exist.

Hey, was Colonization originally inspired by Pirates!?

The renewed absence of Portugal is a bit disappointing, specially for us Brazilian players. Perhaps playing as the Spanish could somewhat compensate for this, if not for the fact that their military bonus doesn't fit Portugal at all.

Looks like they're using the exact same engine for this.

This should have really been just a mod/expansion pack for Civ IV. No way am I spending money on a game that's basically an expansion pack.

Come on.. Try harder next time. This is pathetic.

@ Warpus - I haven't seen any MSRP yet, it may very well get priced around the cost of an expansion pack. $20-30 bucks would be acceptable I imagine, $40-60 pehaps outlandish. Though if they are trying to maximize profits it will probably hit the streets towards the higher end, since a number of people will pay the premium to get it right away.

Come on guys, you haven't even seen the feature list.

What you're doing is making an assumption, and then basing a conclusion off your own assumption. If your assumption turns out to be wrong, then that would make you look pretty silly. ;)

Wodan

This should have really been just a mod/expansion pack for Civ IV. No way am I spending money on a game that's basically an expansion pack.

If I reasoned like that I would've never played such jewels in game industry like Fallout2 or KotOR2.

Is colonization a expanision pack or a new civ4-looking game

Is colonization a expanision pack or a new civ4-looking game

It's a seperate game using the Civ Engine. Presumably, including "Civilization" in the title is a bit of a marketing ploy, in the sense that it is probably expected it will appeal to Civ players.

The original version had a number of different mechanics to Civ, but ultimately both games are on the same lines.

Yeah, and at 1600 (when Pirates! begins), the Netherlands didn't exist.


The war of independence against Spain lasted from 1568 to 1648. You're not off by much, but de facto independence had been achieved by then.

Sometimes you could train and bring "experts" from the Old World, but some types of "experts" (like tobacco farmers) had to be trained initially by the natives....Pulling a citizen out of a city as a separate unit, then moving him to the village, and then moving him back, was an annoying micromanagement issue. But the concept of "asking" for an improved citizen was pretty neat. Trying to implement this by treating the native tribes as an AI Civ, and allowing them to build a "special missionary" and send it to whomever they want, isn't the same kind of game play.

When I first looked at it, my impression is that the bar is how much longer it is going to take to train the Expert Silver Miner. This could make sense if each village has different specialties and some take longer to train than others. I don't think they'll just be sending you units.

If they don't include Portugal as a playable nation again, I'm going to be seriously pissed off. It's a COLONIZATION game for crying out loud!

I agree!
On the original Colonization, I never understood WHY Portugal didn't appear in the game. What they think what is BRAZIL?

-----

Poland? Russia? Ottomans?
I'm sorry but what are they on the process of colonization over the Americas?
Russia and Alaska (I see) but when they did that?

I agree!
On the original Colonization, I never understood WHY Portugal didn't appear in the game. What they think what is BRAZIL?

-----

Poland? Russia? Ottomans?
I'm sorry but what are they on the process of colonization over the Americas?
Russia and Alaska (I see) but when they did that?

Ottomans were for flavour, Russia colonized Alaska and we did colonize the Americas, well 1 island in the americas anyway.... :p

Besides i think Colonization isn't just going to be about the Americas, but about Africa and Oceania as well.

Ottomans were for flavour, Russia colonized Alaska and we did colonize the Americas, well 1 island in the americas anyway.... :p


Seriously? Which one? I'm curious.

Seriously? Which one? I'm curious.

Tobago. But then we lost it to the dutch.

We did have several colonies in Africa though.

But i think the fact that we were even able to get a colony considering our location and circumstances is amazing.

Ottomans were for flavour, Russia colonized Alaska and we did colonize the Americas, well 1 island in the americas anyway.... :p

Besides i think Colonization isn't just going to be about the Americas, but about Africa and Oceania as well.

The original focussed on the New World - I'm not sure I can see that being changed to be honest, because it would increase the number of concepts to consider.

Having said that one thing the original only hinted at was the slavery aspect (it included the concept of indentured servants and penal colonists, but not the slave triangle (Guns to African tribes for slaves -> Slaves to the New World -> New World Produce to Europe), and to include slavery would imply Africa would need to be represented in some form or another.

...but then, I would suspect that the thought of the game being in part a slave trade simulation will perhaps be a little too unsavory for the designers and that as such it will be omitted in this version too. It's simply too much of an emotive subject to take the risk to include it

I agree. As historically accurate as it might be to include slaves from Africa, I don't see an international gaming release that would include actually trafficing in human beings. Not just from the fall out you would get in America and Africa, but the rest of the world as well. Sumggling of human beings still goes on today, and it just seems like asking for trouble to make that part of the game. They allowed "Slaver" units in Civ II, but they were available to everyone and the slaver looked more like a fanciscian monk than any realistic depiction of someone who would have taken slaves from Africa to America. Even though slavery is a form of civic in CivIV, its your own people you're cracking the whip on, which people in general seem to be more tollerant of. it's making slaves out of the folks next door that gets people irrate.

i LOVED Colonization. It was the first game that I would sacrifice sleep to play. Absolutely addiciting and that addicition continues today with pretty much any of Sid Meier's games. I don't usually buy games when they first come out, chosing to make due with what I have until the price drops, but to pick up a modern version of an old childhood favorite, I'd probably even pre-order this one.

FreeCol 0.7.4 has been released. This is bug fix release and last version before 0.8.0. Some of the bugs that were fixed:

- Mistyping in transfer dialog prevents saving or ending turn
- Buttons stop working
- AI gets stuck in infinite loop
- Indian settlements can be visited multiple times

Bug fixes in 7.4 (http://freecol.org/bugtracker/0.7.4)
New features in 7.4 (http://freecol.org/featuretracker/0.7.4)

Freecol (http://www.freecol.org/) - SF (http://sourceforge.net/projects/freecol/)


FreeCol 0.8.0 is scheduled for release on Friday, July 11th. Main goal of this release is to make game more moddable but also adds new nations, sounds and music. Planned features:

- Allow the game to be customized using XML-files.
- Support different sets of graphics.
- A file format for packaging changes to graphics and rules.
- Units now slide between tiles while moving.
- Sound effects for dragoons, artillery capturing a colony, building
complete, church and blacksmith.
- New sound effects for artillery and buying/selling goods.
- Short music clips for Aztecs, English and fountain of Youth
- Named regions and nicer placement of native settlements.
- New nations added: Portuguese, Swedish, Danish and Russian
- Games with up to eight European players are now supported.

Feature requests implemented for this version (http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=browse&group_id=43225&atid=435581&_group=749890&sort=DESC&order=artifact_id&_category=100&_status=100&_assigned_to=0&set=custom)
Bugs fixed for this version (http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=browse&group_id=43225&atid=435578&_group=749887&sort=DESC&order=artifact_id&_category=100&_status=100&_assigned_to=0&set=custom)

Edit: Those interested can also check new art and animations being made for future releases in graphics mailing list (http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?forum_name=freecol-graphics). There is also been some work on nationally distinctive colony architecture and distinctive indian tribe settlements (http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?thread_id=1937874&forum_id=141200) and other artwork. New contributions are always welcome (wether its code, graphics, sound or music) *hint* *hint* ;).

In case you have not noticed there is now some information about the Colonization in the Firaxis web site: http://www.firaxis.com/games/game_detail.php?gameid=21#

One thing seemed quite interesting to me: "Trade resources, gold and land ...". It seems to indicate that it would be possible to buy or sell pieces of land. I think that has never been possible before.

Well, it was possible in original Colonization.

If you settled just near native villages, tiles around them would be taken by natives and you would be able to buy them, so your town could use them.

Well, it was possible in original Colonization.

If you settled just near native villages, tiles around them would be taken by natives and you would be able to buy them, so your town could use them.

Oh, would the land trading then mean just that ? I thought that it would mean more general buying and selling land - but perhaps that would be too good to expect.

In the original Col you got the choice to buy land from the Natives or take it.

And all that that choice would lead to!!

If you are craving Master of Magic experience play Age of Wonders: Shadow Magik. It is pretty much spiritual succesor to MoM.

Yes, that's about the closest thing I've found to MoM. But even it doesn't have quite the charm of the original. And it feels like it's missing something, but I'm not sure just what.

Does anybody know/predict when Civ 4-Col will be released? On September 2008 or November 2008 or later?

Also, one thing to note is that the 1UP preview mentions October 15th, 2008 as the release date. Whether this is pure speculation or they have more knowledge is unclear, but it does fit within the estimate of Fall 2008.


:) :)

This is a very exciting time for all those who have still been playing the DOS version of this game ... glad to see they are finally bringing it back and up to par with the Civ series!

Colonization is one of my all-time favorites. I still play the Windows 95 version on the PC I am using now and look forward to playing this new upcoming release.

It would be great if an upgrade of Master of Magic were their next project.

If you are craving Master of Magic experience play Age of Wonders: Shadow Magik. It is pretty much spiritual succesor to MoM.

Yes, that's about the closest thing I've found to MoM. But even it doesn't have quite the charm of the original. And it feels like it's missing something, but I'm not sure just what.


So... What about Fall from Heaven II. It´s a Mod (or better Total Conversion) of Civ 4 and it brings you everything you need for a superb fantasy TBS!
FfH II is now in its third year of development and was featured with a small scenario on Beyond the Sword, introducing the player to the new universe.

FfH II is a unique fantasy total conversion of CIV with 21 unique new civilizations and spells and armaggeddon and guilds and events and dragons and gods and whatever not.
It furthermore has over 1.000.000 views in the main threat and a whole Subforum with Subforums ;) and all in all around 300.000 downloads.
Give it a try, and start here in the FfH II Subforum:
http://forums.civfanatics.com/forumdisplay.php?f=190

The Subforum has a lot of threads.

the stickied ones are the important ones:
FfH 0.32 Bug Thread (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=276032) has the link to the newest version and the actual patches.
FAQ (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=190988) for all your questions
The user created pdf Manual (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=257728), giving you a great overview over the new mechanics, units, civs, etc.
The Art Team Blog (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=222807) Showing off some of the newest Custom Models.

So... What about Fall from Heaven II....

It's a good mod, and it is similar to MoM. But it, too, lacks something. Probably the nostalgia of the original. ;)

And tactical battles.

I haven't seen a game like Master of Magic since the original game. The game combined several features:

-Freedom to build cities everywhere on the map and expand your empire in a civ-like manner.
-A large list of buildings that can be constructed and expand the options of the city to make money, increase productivity, increase the mana and magical research ability of these cities and increase the options to build advanced units.
-A decent list of units that can be constructed in cities.
-Different races which multiply the options to create different cities and units.
-A huge list of magic spells (more than 200) which can be researched where some spells buff cities or units and others harm cities and units, some spells change the terrain, some summoning spells and some spells that change the entire world.
-Magical nodes and other terrain specials that spawn monsters and allow a reward to the player that captures them.
-Heroes and magical items and spells to buff these heroes
-Special terrain features that make some cities special because they create units with special weapons.
-Tactical combat where you can control your units in a fight against another stack of units on a tactical map. You can use all kinds of spells in this tactical battle to support your side or harm the other side. Units have various special abilities which can control the outcome of the battle.
-Pregame specialisation of your wizard where you could focus your wizard on one school of magic or split his/her knowledge over various schools of magic. You could also pick special bonus abilities.
-Much more.

This game's only negative was an AI which wasn't very capable at handling all of the options. Allthough it had been somewhat improved in the patches. It's a pity the game is a bit dated now (especially graphically). I would love to see a remake of this game but it probably won't happen as the holder of the name rights doesn't want to sell them and won't remake the game themselves.

I haven't seen a game like Master of Magic since the original game. The game combined several features:
(list)
Indeed: no game so far has managed to encompass the variety and complexity of MoM, my all-time favorite game. :)
True, the AI was weak (but not worse than that of contemporary games, like Civ1, Moo1 - another gem - or Col). Indubitably, there were gameplay balance issues (could you ever lose while playing Dwarven?), and the mere list of the most COMMON bugs would not fit on a 30' monitor. But no game ever gave me as much flavor as this one.
Alas, I could never make it work under XP, the DOS emulators are a pain to use, and all the fan-made remake projects seem to have died on an early alpha stage. :(
As I said, I'd gladly donate to help someone rebuild one, or make it work on a modern platform.

Still, I'm overjoyed to see that we'll soon have a new COL. This prospect prevents me from drowning in nostalgia. :)

Indeed: no game so far has managed to encompass the variety and complexity of MoM, my all-time favorite game. :)
True, the AI was weak (but not worse than that of contemporary games, like Civ1, Moo1 - another gem - or Col). Indubitably, there were gameplay balance issues (could you ever lose while playing Dwarven?), and the mere list of the most COMMON bugs would not fit on a 30' monitor. But no game ever gave me as much flavor as this one.
Alas, I could never make it work under XP, the DOS emulators are a pain to use, and all the fan-made remake projects seem to have died on an early alpha stage. :(
As I said, I'd gladly donate to help someone rebuild one, or make it work on a modern platform.

Still, I'm overjoyed to see that we'll soon have a new COL. This prospect prevents me from drowning in nostalgia. :)

I send you a PM about making MoM work under Windows XP. I hope it works for you. :)

By the way, Stardock is working on a game that has elements from MoM. Maybe something that we should follow as MoM fans.

Alas, I could never make it work under XP, the DOS emulators are a pain to use, and all the fan-made remake projects seem to have died on an early alpha stage. :(

Well there's Leylines (http://crystalshard.net/leylines.htm) but that's only one that I know. There have been several dozen remakes but as you said, but all of them have been abandoned at some point.

I haven't seen a game like Master of Magic since the original game. The game combined several features:

-Freedom to build cities everywhere on the map and expand your empire in a civ-like manner.
-A large list of buildings that can be constructed and expand the options of the city to make money, increase productivity, increase the mana and magical research ability of these cities and increase the options to build advanced units.
-A decent list of units that can be constructed in cities.
-Different races which multiply the options to create different cities and units.
-A huge list of magic spells (more than 200) which can be researched where some spells buff cities or units and others harm cities and units, some spells change the terrain, some summoning spells and some spells that change the entire world.
-Magical nodes and other terrain specials that spawn monsters and allow a reward to the player that captures them.
-Heroes and magical items and spells to buff these heroes
-Special terrain features that make some cities special because they create units with special weapons.
-Tactical combat where you can control your units in a fight against another stack of units on a tactical map. You can use all kinds of spells in this tactical battle to support your side or harm the other side. Units have various special abilities which can control the outcome of the battle.
-Pregame specialisation of your wizard where you could focus your wizard on one school of magic or split his/her knowledge over various schools of magic. You could also pick special bonus abilities.
-Much more.

This game's only negative was an AI which wasn't very capable at handling all of the options. Allthough it had been somewhat improved in the patches. It's a pity the game is a bit dated now (especially graphically). I would love to see a remake of this game but it probably won't happen as the holder of the name rights doesn't want to sell them and won't remake the game themselves.

except tactical combt and complete pregame specilization, (we have different leaders) FFH II has all of what you mentioned (and additional features!), plus it is very polished and developed in a very professional manner, maing it addictive and giving it a huge replay value, not comparable to any other mod out there, the AI is improved with every patch and we have a very coherent, deep, unique dark fantasy universe with history, lore, backgrounds and all that stuff written by some very talented writers! completely with detailed new custom graphics for over 200 units.

Ah, another game comes to my mind, Lords of Magic was a very nice MoM-like game, too, with some better graphic but trimmed down features.

except tactical combt and complete pregame specilization, (we have different leaders) FFH II has all of what you mentioned (and additional features!), plus it is very polished and developed in a very professional manner, maing it addictive and giving it a huge replay value, not comparable to any other mod out there, the AI is improved with every patch and we have a very coherent, deep, unique dark fantasy universe with history, lore, backgrounds and all that stuff written by some very talented writers! completely with detailed new custom graphics for over 200 units.

Ah, another game comes to my mind, Lords of Magic was a very nice MoM-like game, too, with some better graphic but trimmed down features.

I have heard great things about it, but simply haven't found the time to look at it. I would probably like it. I might find some time to try it a few months from now.

You shouldn't compare the mod with an old game. There will always be points where the mod would have the advantage and points where the old game has the advantage. But you can simply never beat the nostalgic feelings associated with that game for people who loved it.

I have heard great things about it, but simply haven't found the time to look at it. I would probably like it. I might find some time to try it a few months from now.

You shouldn't compare the mod with an old game. There will always be points where the mod would have the advantage and points where the old game has the advantage. But you can simply never beat the nostalgic feelings associated with that game for people who loved it.

true true :)
i think you are completely right, when i think of old games i liked, i just have this really nostalgic memory and how great the time was and stuff. but then when i try to play them again... somehow i get scared away by the grafics ;)

true true :)
i think you are completely right, when i think of old games i liked, i just have this really nostalgic memory and how great the time was and stuff. but then when i try to play them again... somehow i get scared away by the grafics ;)

The old games needed a lively imagination to make them beautiful. Nowadays we have been spoilt by game images that don't need any imagination to make them beautiful. Thus when we again see the old game, we expect to see the images in our imagination, but those are gone and we find them hard to recall. :sad:

Hah, pure nostalgia.

I want a remake of MoM with the graphics that I have in my mind. :D

Join the 'Great news club'

As an ol'timer Civ1 & MoM & Col nerd I am expecting a nice pretty time coming... :D

I must admit I've never played the original Colonization but after looking at the screens and reading about it, I'm excited for this. Now the "real" waiting begins for me...

Haven't posted here before, but if you know the Usenet group alt.games.civ3 you'll have met me.

I loved the original Colonization game, and still play it sometimes - one of the few pluses of having a spare old computer running Win ME. :)

I liked the original and will definitely be buying this. It has been a long time but I recall thinking the game wasn't quite robust enough, that is, not enough strategic elements and a bit artificial - too many things just glossed over - but still it is my kind of game and I'm eagerly awaiting its release.

Haven't posted here before....

Welcome to the Civilization Fanatics' Forums, vidcapper! :wavey:

I liked the original and will definitely be buying this. It has been a long time but I recall thinking the game wasn't quite robust enough, that is, not enough strategic elements and a bit artificial - too many things just glossed over - but still it is my kind of game and I'm eagerly awaiting its release.

Of course, back in 1994 the original game was pretty much state of the art...