Rate the new patch (1.21f)!

If you have installed the new Civ3 patch and played it for at least a few hours, please rate it on a scale of 5 to 10... Do you recommend this patch to players who are still undecided?

(This is an official CivFanatics Quick Poll and is accessible from the right nav panel of the main page. )

I give this patch a 10, because it's the best patch so far. Install this patch.... or die! J/K

I give it a 9. The least buggy patch so far (other than the minor scrolling bug) and give the modding community much more control over the bic file.

However, still no scenario creation so -1 from the 10. But from the look of the newly added features in the Civ3Edit file such as Player Government, free tech etc, I would say Firaxis is definitely heading towards something big in terms of scenario creation,

LOL, 5 to 10 range. Zouave will not be able to vote, j/k Zouave!
As soon as I get off work I will install the patch and play for a fee hours.

As a casual player not very much interested in editing/scenerio options, I gave the 1.21 patch a 10.
While I have only put in approx. 4 hours of gameplay into the patch, the fun factor has returned. To me, it is when the casual player loses interest that the death knell begins. The 'hardcore' fan/critic of any product will always be there.
Firaxis, in my opinion, went back and blended the game wonderfully for both sets of fans with this patch - not just the extreme players. I suspect previous patches were geared towards the hardcore. 1.17, in particular, was just too much.

I believe Firaxis did a fantastic job.

Hm...just wondering...why 5 to 10? Why not 1 to 5 or 1 to 10? Totally off topic, sorry, but I haven't downloaded the patch, I hate switching in the middle of games, it makes me feel like I missed out on something, lol.

Originally posted by ssmith619
Hm...just wondering...why 5 to 10? Why not 1 to 5 or 1 to 10? Totally off topic, sorry, but I haven't downloaded the patch, I hate switching in the middle of games, it makes me feel like I missed out on something, lol.

Click to expand...

I couldn't find enough suitable smilies put in the poll. Actually I think if enough people voted 5, then the patch is very bad and you should not install it. Lower ratings 1 to 4 are irrelevant.

I give it a 9. I like the new options in the editor as well as the fact that it will now support unlimited new resources and units in the game (or at least that's what the readme said). But two minor annoyances keep me from giving it a 10: 1) removal of the add/delete "bug" in the editor, without telling us they were going to remove it (the hacked 1.21f editor by Jimmyh makes up for some of it though), and 2) they took away the gray lines connecting techs in the science advisor view for scenarios, which makes the job of significantly changing technologies that much harder (they should be making things easier to mod, not harder).

Other than those two minor complaints, I think 1.21 is a great patch!

I rate the V1.21 patch as an excellent effort, but only give it an 8 score because many of the features are in the editor options that we can turn on for ourselves but that still get deliberately ommitted from the standard game.

Lethal bombardment should be default ON
Respawning crap should be default OFF.
No Barbs is a great option, but this should not be in the random selection pool because it accidentally suppresses good huts as well.

Bombardment success rates are still out of line.

The calculations of power ratings for competing civs are still way out of line and overemphasize numerical superiority of weaker obsolete military units as well as number of defenseless cities. A civ with 12 cities and spearmen/warriors will be rated as more powerful that a civ with 10 cities and 10 Knights. On any difficulty level less than Emperor, the game winner will almost always be the civ that builds the 10th through 12th cities first unless the map randomly deprives you of resources or alliance reversals can be engineered.

It is hard to believe that the V1.17 patch even got released at all when you see the difference in trading levels that V1.21 makes. I was too new to the game in February to realize how screwed up V1.17 really was.
(I bet no one at Firaxis will put V1.17 on there resume).

The enjoyment level is way up. The other civilizations are actually different in terms of tech progression and competitive strategies. The also seem to truly multiple strategies for shaping the future events in the game instead of just being flotsam and jetsum in a runaway torrent of out of control cheating be socially dysfunctional computer entities.

I rated the patch as an 8. The game is a lot easier than on v1.17f, but doesn't add anything groundbreaking.

I don't know how to use the editor so I'm not rating that - everytime I tried anything with the editor my game would just crash.

well I voted an 8 nothing that great but it is better although I also have noticed that the AI seems to think before and after they do something.

Originally posted by cegman
well I voted an 8 nothing that great but it is better although I also have noticed that the AI seems to think before and after they do something.

Click to expand...

It seems to me that the AI actually seems to know when to make war with me to mess me up the most.
Like my last game with V1.21 I was just ready to Invade France cause that was the only way I was going to continue to expand.
behind france was Russia to the north and India to the northeast.
anyway Russia suddley declares war on me and gets India at war against me. So instead of declaring war on france I had to sign an alliance with them so I wouldn't have three civs against me! India takes most of the damage and Russia just sits back and scoops up a HUGE Island in the north while I am busy holding off India and France seems to not even attemt to attack Russia.
So Finally once the war is over Russia is the big boy on the block his freind India has made no real gains (just a one city loss) and Russia and India are both Furious with me.
Just to contend with Russia I had to (once all the deals were up) Turn on my only ally and Invade and take over France. Russia is still huge as he found a BIG Island with no one else on it. (Its almost a second continent.)
At the time I was wondering "WHY THE **** IS RUSSIA ATTACKING ME NOW! THEY HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THERE DOING"
oh but in the aftermath I realize that Russian ***** knew exactly when to stike to mess me up the most.

I gave it a 9, don't want them to get too cocky hehe.

Here are a few things that I think are in the realm of possibility of things that could have and should have been done in a patch but haven't yet:

Let bombers have whatever range we want them to (up to global).

Let attacker choose what improvement to target in a precision strike.

Increase cruise missile range, and allow them to be loaded on AEGIS cruisers and nuc subs.

i gave it an 8. Its a good patch, no bugs really but nothing amazing added, mostly to the CivEdit which i usually don't bother with.

@Marzipan: You can do some of the stuff in the editor, like increasing cruise missile range and having it loadable on cruisers.

:soldier: like the upgrade and it IS ready for install by everybody. but, more needs to be done. J command needs to be improved. would like to see workers and armies able to use airports. just stuff that lets my computer do the work instead of my fingers. also, totally agree with cracker. was going to wait to install it, glad i didn't. in year 2010 and everything is going well, plus the time lag between turns is way down.

I am about to patch for the first time ever, thanks to all your input.

But besides the issue about editing - which doesn't upset me so much for now - are there any other complaints?

Well, even though I've barely played, it seems a big improvement over 1.17. On the advice of my partner/roomie voted 8 cause now her style of play (pick fights for short wars that end with tech-for-peace deals) is viable at higher levels.

I foresee a significant change in the way these discussions unfold, however, as we start to experiment with the corruption slider, bombardment rules, etc. Soon we will be playing different games. This will make a lot of us happy, as we each find the right setting that fits our individual perceptions of realism/playability, but it will also make comparisons of strategies, etc., quite tangled.

Whatever, since I actually have a few hours to myself maybe I should go PLAY civ3 for a while...maybe even try emporer level...

I gave it a 7. Nothing that is very nice though many features were added. Everythign is easier to use but for some reason loading and exiting times seem to have increased dramatically. Anyone else having this problem?

This poll is premature.

Can't we wait at least a WEEK (or two) before evaluating 1.21??

I did NOT spend all weekend playing Civ 3!

for some reason loading and exiting times seem to have increased dramatically. Anyone else having this problem?

Click to expand...

Yes, although I don't care too much. On my computer, exiting time seems shorter but loading is much longer. I also couldn't find the option that allows combat probability to change from turn to turn, although that seems sort of like cheating to me (finding the turn that you win all your fights in).

Other than that, I like all the new options in the editor, and I might mess with the settings. One quick question: can bombardment be lethal in the regular, unmodded game or do you have to change the settings? It didn't happen in the few hours I played today and yesterday, but that's with cannons that can't hit anything.