Favorite Scenarios?

I've tried a couple of the scenarios so far, a couple I liked, one not so much. I'm curious how other people rank the scenarios that are included (I haven't tried any customs ones).

Edit: I've added a multiple choice poll, so people don't have to choose only one favorite. Obviously, if you chose the last option, don't choose any scenarios

I'll say for myself, I really enjoyed Wonders of the Ancient World and the revamped Conquest of the New World. I also enjoyed Scramble for Africa, though the first time I tried it as the Boers and found it pretty difficult.

I found Empire of the Smoky Skies so-so - I enjoyed the concept and the branching into fantastical/steampunk territory, but I found the actual execution mediocre - after finishing it once, I didn't have a huge desire to play it again.

Wasn't that fond of the Civil War one. And those are all I've tried so far.

I have never touch scenarios. They have never interested me- until recently. I`ve become a fan of Steampunk lately and might try the Steampink scenario.

Me too, i'm interested to play them but not before i have won 'regular' games with all the leaders - - - there are still 5 or 6.

Socratatus said:

I have never touch scenarios. They have never interested me- until recently. I`ve become a fan of Steampunk lately and might try the Steampink scenario.

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Made my day. Thank you.

lol. I must be tired.

I've played every scenario, but to tell you the truth I prefer SFA over the other scenarios because it offers a large amount of variety as well as being closest to realistic as possible.

My least favourite would be the Americain Civil War. It's just honestly soooo boring, it just feels like random groups of soldiers just killing each other.

I am grateful for this thread because the scenarios, especially as compared to what shipped with IV, seem very uninspired, and I have not bothered with most of them. Smokey skies was different enough, but only good for three games (and the last two felt exactly like the first one, despite being with different leaders). Based on the posts, I will give Scramble for Africa a try. Thanks!

EricTheGreat12 said:

I've played every scenario, but to tell you the truth I prefer SFA over the other scenarios because it offers a large amount of variety as well as being closest to realistic as possible.

My least favourite would be the Americain Civil War. It's just honestly soooo boring, it just feels like random groups of soldiers just killing each other.

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Pretty much how I feel. The Civil War scenario could have been really cool, and could have been actually vaguely 'strategic', but as it is it's just 'spam cannons and move them to [Richmond/Washington] and win'.

On the other hand, the SFA really is a top-notch scenario, with a very high replayability. I also personally like the ESS and ItR scenarios, because they do a good job of taking the basic Civ V gameplay and twisting it just enough to be fantastic.

cpm4001 said:

Pretty much how I feel. The Civil War scenario could have been really cool, and could have been actually vaguely 'strategic', but as it is it's just 'spam cannons and move them to [Richmond/Washington] and win'

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I've got to agree with you on that one, but also like to add that Cavalry is absolute stupidity in this scenario. I get that they're realistic, but how weak can they be like holy cow....

Also like to add that the scenarios from worst to best (in my opinion):

1-Scramble for Africa
2-Conquest of the New World (Deluxe)
3-Fall Of Rome
4-Into The Renaissance
5-1066: Year of the Viking Dynasty
6-Americain Civil War

I'm too lasy too put the rest, but I believe that these are the more important ones.

I honestly don't understand the love of the 'steam' themed scenario. It was honestly too boring and plain.
Also Rise of The Mongols having potential, but I find that the turn-limit isn't enough for me to throw a immense strategy against the enemy.

So far its definately the Paradise Found one with the Polynesians. Unique play with everyone being Polynesian.

I loved Into the Renaissance when I first played it, but then I saw a really big problem it had: too much empty space in Central Europe and the Balkans. Granted, it was a G&K scenario, meaning no Poland that could take up some space there - but even a bunch of new, scenario-unique city states would be nice. Or even a civ or two adapted from regular ones just with a new icon and/or static leader screen, for example for Poland and Hungary. ItR deserves a Deluxe version, with BNW civs and mechanics included, but I still like it.

I played Scramble for Africa twice, and liked it very much. It provides very dynamic gameplay with a lot of things going on - colonisation, exploration, digging, fighting, building railroads etc. Very fun.

Among the rest, some are memorable, and some are not. If we're into lists, I'd put mine in such a way:

1. Scramble for Africa
2. Into the Renaissance
3. Conquest of the New World Deluxe
4. 1066 - fun, nail-biting scenario
5. Fall of Rome - same as above
6. Wonders of the Ancient World - I hoped a dual-civ DLC would accompany this, with Hittites and Sumer making an appearance
7. Empires of the Smoky Skies - love the setting, but the scenario underdelivers.

The remaining few have aged badly (Mongols), or are really boring (American Civil War). Samurai Invasion of Korea still holds up, but I wish it could use the 100 hit point system.

On CD release, Rise of Mongols was enjoyable but was nerfed to abysmal on the first balance patch affecting Horse units. (It needed code to restore the Horse based units to CD release in the scenario.)

Paradise Found is a fun once as any civ. Not really worth playing full a second time.

Invasion of Korea is fun once as Korea on Deity. Not really worth playing a second time.

Fall of Rome suffers from locked war with everyone in combo with other Barbs prefering to attack the human instead Romes. If you are playing Celts / Franks, the Sass. really be really passive and not take more than 1 East Rome city. If you are playing the Sass, none of the Western barbs will take any W Rome cities in Italy. This basically makes it almost required to knock out both capitals yourself to win given the score values.
Huns really need the ability to change their capital to some other city they conquer, as is city connection isn't possible without building a huge road that will both take a long time and cost a lot of tile maintenance.

Fall of Rome and Scramble for Africa for me.

1066 is brutally difficult, and the Civil War and Samurai Invasion scenarios seem tedious. Wonders is too stressful for me, everything starts falling apart in Mongols, Smoky Skies is just weird, Into the Renaissance is too much like a normal game, and Paradise Lost has too many tiny islands to deal with.
And Conquest...

Scrambled for Africa actually gives you a challenge. I haven't been able to win with the Ottomans on deity. That being said Zulu and Boers are also very, very hard. You have to effectivly take Englands main capital and Port Elizabeth and declare war on Bismark just so Portugal doesn't DOW on you. They seem to only dow you when they can get another european to dow against you.

It's amazing and has a lot of replayability, but for a real challenge Ottomans, Boer and Zulu are very good candidates.

Into the Renissance is also pretty good. Enjoyed playing as Russia for a challenge.

Fall of Rome is probably the hardest out of all of the scenarios in my opinion. I don't see how you can win as Western Rome without Eastern Rome taking a smack out of the barbs.

Phalanx300 said:

So far its definately the Paradise Found one with the Polynesians. Unique play with everyone being Polynesian.

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To tell the truth I don't see the 'uniqueness' in the scenario. Ok I get that each Polenysian 'civ' in the game has its own ability, but it feels like there's no difference in between each one as well as the fact that the replay value is very low.

Well, it seems like Scramble for Africa is the clear favorite, with the Civil War and Mongol scenarios bringing up the rear.

Before I announce my decision, I would like to at least say something. I am disappointed in CivV's scenarios. In comparison with the scenarios shipped with CivIV, they are lackluster, unimaginative and quickly bore me. I do have to say that the American Civil War scenario is my favorite, but not for reasons you may think. Six months ago I played a hotseat one-on-one duel with a friend of mine. It was honestly one of the richest strategic games I have played with CivV to this day. Unit position, built orders and special units were very game changing, and in the end neither of us were able to claim victory before time ran out. If you haven't, try playing a game with your friends

I'm going back and picking up achievements that I've missed over the years, mostly scenario specific ones at this point. I played the American Civil War scenario recently and it made little sense the first time or two. But after playing it several times with each faction, it's actually pretty good. But the difficulty level doesn't make much difference. The AI puts up a good fight even on Warlord (I played that for the Sherman's Valley and Pickett's Recharge achievements), and it's not that much harder at Deity for the Red Badge of Courage achievement. I have all those achievements now, but still want to play a few more games to leverage what I've learned and win it faster.

Several of the scenarios are almost good, but the 10-point unit health thing ruins them.

Honeslty the devs dropped the ball a bit a bit with scenarios - a few were great and have lots of potential but they needed a bit of touching up to bring them up to scratch,
Conquest of the New World was great because it got a deluxe version.
Wonders of the Ancient World was fun - try the deluxe version that was modded!
Into the Renaissance had a lot of potential but needed a deluxe version - it was half way there but the mod team abandoned it
Fall of Rome needs the same treatment.