Next SGOTM??

[Xevious]

Being a long time player of Civ III GOTM, I bought Civ IV when it came out, but found my computer couldn't handle it very well. I could play 1/3 to 1/2 a game before it bogged down so badly I couldn't finish. I finally have a computer that can handle it and have come back to play and found I am FAR out of the loop. I thought getting in on a SGOTM would be a great way to get back into it and ramp up quickly.

So the question is, when is the next SGOTM planned?

[Gyathaar]

Planning to have the next SGOTM in BtS, so waiting for the final BtS patch to come out before starting it
(unless the patch take a very long time.. then perhaps will make a vanilla SGOTM first.. dont know)

[Xevious]

Are BtS and Warlords independent expansions, i.e. if I skip Warlords and go straight to BtS will I miss something important along the way?

[AlanH]

You won't be able to play Warlords games - eg. WOTMs - and you won't be able to use Warlords mods.

Why not just buy the Civ4 Complete pack? You get all three variants in one box, probably for less than the price of BtS alone, and they are all enabled by the same DVD. No more DVD juggling, and a simpler installation.

[unkle]

Originally Posted by AlanH

You get all three variants in one box, probably for less than the price of BtS alone, and they are all enabled by the same DVD. No more DVD juggling, and a simpler installation.

Doh
Why can't we send our 3 DVDs and get the new one for free ???

I hate DVD juggling, and I do not like either the other, non-completely legal , methods...

In all cases I hope we will not wait too long for next SGOTM

[BLubmuz]

Originally Posted by unkle

I hate DVD juggling, and I do not like either the other, non-completely legal , methods...

That's what i do, and i think those methods are legal, since i own the regular copy of the game(s).
I hope too for a new SG soon, i think that a bit of overlap is not bad.
Do you got some news about announcements of a new patch from Firaxis?

[Thrallia]

I've never even seen Civ4 Complete on store shelves, so I'm not sure where you are supposed to get it in the US

As for the next patch, all I've heard from it is a couple posts from firaxis members asking modders for permission to use some of their creations in the next official patch...no clue when it is supposed to come out.

[AlanH]

You're right - it seems Civ4 Complete is only available outside the US! That's surprising - we usually pay way more than US customers for such things.

However, a Google search did turn up ... this, at GoGamer for $34.90 plus shipping. I've no idea if they know what they're talking about - the overview only describes vanilla and Warlords, and they claim the publisher is Microsoft. But the pack shot is definitely of the same Civ4 Complete package I have sitting on my desk.

[ArcadicGamer]

There is always the option of STEAM for users who dont want to juggle disks, however the current cost of complete is 70, or you do have the option of buying just BTS or warlords and using your vanilla install to supliment it. BTS and Warlords are 20 a piece.

[unkle]

Steam looks promising, though I do have seen people having issues with their install and some HOF-mod stuff. But I'll definitely check it for Civ5

[da_Vinci]

The first SBOTM ought to have a victory condition unique to BtS ...

for example, a theme of "Corporations in Space" ... where you have to win a space race but also must have founded all of the corporations in order to win (assuming corporations are national items, not world items)

or something else uniquely BtS ...

dV

[LowtherCastle]

Originally Posted by da_Vinci

The first SBOTM ought to have a victory condition unique to BtS ...

for example, a theme of "Corporations in Space" ... where you have to win a space race but also must have founded all of the corporations in order to win (assuming corporations are national items, not world items)

or something else uniquely BtS ...

dV

Did you mean SBOTY? This last one was allotted 4 months

Keep 'em short.

[BLubmuz]

Originally Posted by LowtherCastle

Did you mean SBOTY? This last one was allotted 4 months

Keep 'em short.

Agreed.

@ da Vinci
corporations *are* world items.
Not only, but you can have 2 (say, Mining inc, and Standard Ethanol) without problems, after that you fall in the problem that the others will *compete* with the above, so the result is that you cannot have more than 2 corps. in a city.
e.g.: you can't found Creative Constuctions in the Mining inc HQ city, you need another city, but CC will *never* spread to the MI HQ city, and often it will fail to spread in a MI city.

Anyway, a Space Colony with at least 2 corps founded can be a nice target (i mentioned exactly the 2 that help this VC).

[Thrallia]

what if we can't self-research anything past alphabet we have to do an espionage economy past that

[ArcadicGamer]

Originally Posted by unkle

Steam looks promising, though I do have seen people having issues with their install and some HOF-mod stuff. But I'll definitely check it for Civ5

All issues with Steam installs have been resolved with the 3.13 patch and few minor file swaps. There is a post in the HOF forums that will help fix any issues. Only Warlords has trouble with a steam install, BTS works once purchased and d/l'ed. Vanilla still requires the .dll swap, as does warlords.

[Thrallia]

hm...I dislike Steam(and any other digital distribution system) I don't like that I can't play if I'm not connected to the internet for validation, and I don't like that I don't have a disc I can use to reinstall with if something happens or if I want to install on a different computer/buy a new computer, I don't like having limited numbers of reinstalls.

[ArcadicGamer]

Originally Posted by Thrallia

hm...I dislike Steam(and any other digital distribution system) I don't like that I can't play if I'm not connected to the internet for validation, and I don't like that I don't have a disc I can use to reinstall with if something happens or if I want to install on a different computer/buy a new computer, I don't like having limited numbers of reinstalls.

Steam features none of that, past the requiring of internet to validate files the first time. I have downloaded almost 500gb worth of games total, many being reinstallations. Steam tracks all purchases from an account and a client, so the d2d method of limiting installs isnt needed. You can also have the account installed on as many computers as you want, just only one can be connected online at one time.

My biggest pro of steam is the fact that at any time, i can go delete a nessisary file, and have steam check my files to see whats wrong/missing. It will check and re-download anything that is wrong. Its because of that feature i was able to fiddle so much with my files to get it HOF compatable, and had almost zero downtime reinstalling patches and games.

The biggest con of Steam is you cannot reinstall older patches. However, there are ways around this, such as having a backup of local files, playing offline, and using those instead of the newer patched files.

If anyone has any more ?'s about how steam works and such, you can PM me or visit steampowered.com. To keep the topic on topic. I love it, and havent bought a boxed game outside of crysis, since crytec isnt on their cataloge, yet.

I wouldnt want to see a SGOTM in BTS til an official fix for many issues is made. Bhurichs is nice, but i feel some of what is patched is more opinion than definate fix. Regardless, i'd play all 3 flavors. Possibly a shorter one in the meantime while a possible bts patch is on the way?

[leif erikson]

Originally Posted by Gyathaar

Planning to have the next SGOTM in BtS, so waiting for the final BtS patch to come out before starting it
(unless the patch take a very long time.. then perhaps will make a vanilla SGOTM first.. dont know)

Just curious if there are any updates on this?

[AlanH]

So am I

Gyathaar is a little elusive currently, and I don't have any other inside track on the status of BtS patches.

[leif erikson]

Originally Posted by AlanH

I don't have any other inside track on the status of BtS patches.

I'm so Here I thought you knew everything...