Comparing Age of Empire 3 to Civ 4?

[JujuLautre]

On Noble level, it doesn't cheat.

The AI gets bonuses on EVERY level, settler included.

 

[qwertz]

The AI gets bonuses on EVERY level, settler included.

the human gets bonuses on every level too, deity included.

 

[Balderstrom]

Honestly I couldn't stand AOE:3, the interface was just lacking and felt wrong. I believe the last AOE I played - though I still didn't like it all too too much, was the first or 2nd.
The main problem I have with it, are all the buildings look the same, you really need to look hard to distinguish between any of them.
I'd take a game of WarCraft II over AOE any day.

 

[MonRiverMonarch]

Honestly I couldn't stand AOE:3, the interface was just lacking and felt wrong.

I agree with Balderstrom. I bought AOE3 and BtS last Saturday. Although I've always enjoyed the previous AOE games, I got bored with it, and the interface just didn't feel right. I played one game. On the otherhand, I can't stop playing BtS. AOE 3 doesn't seem much different than 1 or 2. (Except my computer slows way down in water battles)

 

[Bongo-Bongo]

AOE is much more suitable for a quick play then Civ. After playing one game, I don't really feel like playing another for a while. I don't think I have ever played AOE 3 for more then an hour. It gets too repetitive. Civ however, is a game that you can put on and still be playing several hours later, and personally, is a game I much prefer.

Personally, I felt RON was far superiorto AOE, that was until my computer decided it no longer liked it.

 

[CossackProblem]

Rise of Nations is more comparable, but even then it's RTS vs. TBS... pretty different.

 

[omnimutant]

Aoe2 was Great back in the day for LAN Parties. My friends and I had many, many hours of fun with that. The Maps were much bigger and there were just more options over all the AOE3. 3 IMO was a big Pile of poo poo. Civ4 BTS FTW!

 

[MrCynical]

the human gets bonuses on every level too, deity included.

Eh? The human gets no bonus relative to the AI at Noble or above. The human gets a slight bonus when fighting barbarians, but that's it (and the AI gets a larger bonus there, and it isn't present at Deity.

 

[qwertz]

Eh? The human gets no bonus relative to the AI at Noble or above. The human gets a slight bonus when fighting barbarians, but that's it (and the AI gets a larger bonus there, and it isn't present at Deity.

isn't there a part of map generator that gives the human, on averge, a better starting spot than the deity AIs

 

[blitzkrieg1980]

The AI gets bonuses on EVERY level, settler included.

I've never heard that before. I've always heard that the AI gets NEGATIVE bonuses below Noble, no bonuses on Noble, and all POSITIVE bonuses above noble.

 

[SwordofStriker]

I am a big fan of both games. In fact, when I get tired of one, I play the other, and the process repeats.

The fact is it all boils down to preference. You really can't make a fair comparison being that they are different genres.

The only way to decide which game YOU like better is to play them both. I believe you can play the demo of AoE III for free.

Also, for those people who tire of AoE III, there are tons of map scripts out there to help break the monotony, just like for Civilization.

 

[DMOC]

The AI gets bonuses on EVERY level, settler included.

Really? Wow, I'm confused now.

 

[Genv [FP]]

The AI can upgrade it's units for next to nothing on any difficulty.

 

[MrCynical]

The AI gets certain small bonuses (such as unit upgrade cost) at all levels, including Noble and below. Below Noble the human gets much larger bonuses than the AI to things like production and research. Above Noble, the AI gets similar bonuses to production, research, starting tech, etc. The human does not get any bonuses at all over the AI at Noble or above (no, there's nothing in the map generator to favour a human).

 

[foobarred]

I think a better comparison would be Master of Orion 2 vs. the Civ Franchise. They are both turn-based. I thought MOO2 was better than Civ until the MOO franchise tanked with MOO3.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Exactly. Both are very different--I used to be a HUGE fan of AoE II but it got old and soon I switched to Civ4.

Actually, you can win by building a wonder, which was one of my favorite victory paths , but you've got to tech through a lot and survive your way. Plus, everyone knows when you begin it so in multiplayer don't even try it (hey isn't that similar to civ when everyone hears "player x has achieved legendary culture in 1 city...").


I will say this: Civ4 is a lot better in terms of thinking and strategy and difficulty--however AoE II (the only game I played in those series) has the benefit of a really easy to use map editor.

Lol-starcraft was probably the best RTS ever. I loved those games too, which is probably why I blaze through civ games so quickly (left over micro powerzzzzzzz. I wonder what my civ 4 "apm is?!")

The games aren't comparable. At all. They highlight different skill sets and strategic abilities. They are also balanced quite differently. It's fun to try to get good at such wildly different genres. Madden/civ/warcraft 3...yikes. Add a shooter to that and man...well at least I have a very strong feel for controllers/keyboards. You just press buttons because they "feel" right. They are extensions of your body! TRAIN .

 

[Clam Spammer]

I love AOE II! I'd still play it if it weren't for Civ. Didn't get AOE III though - the demo (plus what I'd heard about gameplay) put me right off.

Has anyone here played Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds? Very similar to AOE II (even uses the same game engine) but set in the Star Wars universe.

 

[Balderstrom]

Star Wars fan...not a fanatic. And I just found Galactic Battlegrounds boring. I really wanted to like it. I reinstalled it at least 3 times, between successive OS wipes over a year or 2, and could not get into it at all. The pacing was too slow or something. I think it should have been a Warlords:Battlecry type game instead.
I suppose Star Wars is High Fantasy/Space Opera, you wanna be doing exciting things not mining Green Crystals and Purple Crystals and something that looks like a tree.

The last Star Wars game I really liked was Jedi Knight, which is suprising since I hate first person shooters (aside from Hexen).

I'd rather play Dune 2000 - a re-release/fix of the original Dune RTS by West End Studios: the grandaddy of RTS.

 

[Clam Spammer]

I'm not really a Star Wars fan. I've seen the movies, but that's about it. If anything, being a true "fan" of Star Wars would put me off SWGB since it's not hugely faithful to the film series. I'd say it is adapted from AOE II rather than based on Star Wars.