DS Version Impressions and Q&A

[fishlore]

Got the DS version and played a few hours last night. It looked right in line with my expectations and played pretty close to what I was expecting as well. It was really nice sitting on the patio playing civ on a cool summer night. On to my questions...

Where are the unit stats?
"Sometimes" when I highlight a unit to build in the build screen the top screen will give me attack/defense/movement numbers but sometimes it's a screen with different information. How can you see the unit values at the build screen consistantly or can you at all?

Also from the main map, how can you tell the unit values? When attacking you can see the attack number at the top of the top screen, but is that all you get?

How do you switch from science to gold
This was obvious and easy to do on the PS3 demo, but on the DS, I can't figure out how to switch the trade from science to gold. I guess I could try specializing the city for gold, but I like to manually place my workers, so how does that work?

Is there a tax rate and if so, how do you change it?
I can't remember if civ:rev has a tax rate at all, if so how do you change it on the DS version?

I'll add more questions as I think of them.

Impressions...
Some of the reviews talk about how cramped it feels on the DS. I can see where they are coming from, but didn't find it detracted from the gameplay. I will admit when I was exploring with my galley I was shocked how quickly I got around the planet.

The graphics are obviously behind the times, but I feel they did a good job with the limited amount of pixels to make everything feel civ-ish and unique.

I only have one real gripe and since I only played a few hours, I probably shouldn't even bring it up until I play more, but WOW the AI is something else. Give me this or war. Give me that or war. I had one turn where every leader I knew about declared war on me at the same time because I wouldn't give up free techs.

 

[Politico34]

I got civ rev for the DS and xbox and played on game on each yesterday.
I was actually surprised how well the gameplay held up on the little ds. It really is like playing the console version...just with 1995 graphics. Which really are not that bad. I found myself getting sucked in and not even noticing the graphics after the second turn or so.

My major complaint echos the one mentioned above- the AI is all about war. They always want to fight.

If someone is on the fence though with buying this game- if you like Civ at all, this is a suitable portable version.

 

[Capt Ajax]

I agree....

Just having CIV on the DS is cool. I play it on the PC and also bought it for the 360, but having a handheld version means CIV ON THE GO
Well woth the coin!
Airplane and car trips will go alot faster. THANKS SID!

 

[Sichaeus]

As I've mentioned on another CivRev DS thread here, it feels extremely cramped for me (especially the text), and perhaps even more so as I've been playing the Spanish version.

 

[PimpyMicPimp]

I'm a HUGE Advance Wars fan, infact the reason I bought the DS was when Advance Wars DS was announced, even though it was months away from being released.

I'm wondering if, being such a massed AW fan, it would be worth buying the DS version as well as having the 360 one.

 

[bamf226]

I like the game but I feel that the manual is a skeleton of what it should be. There's no mention of moving workers.

When I go in to manually move the workers, the bottom screen has a column on the left and right (4 sections each column) each with pluses to commerce (I assume the arrows are commerce) and production. What are they there for? It looks like when I remove a worker, they appear in the upper left row of small checkboxes. I can't seem to select anything in either column.

Being a player of Civ, I understand the apples are food and the hammers are production, but again there is no reference to that in the manual. The manual barely explains the interface and the units and does nothing to teach new players how to play. There's not even a tutorial.

I haven't played a whole game yet, but I will try tonight. So far it has been a fun experience but also slightly frustrating trying to figure put what everything does with little documentation.

 

[bamf226]

And where is the civilopedia?

 

[phr0ze]

I haven't seen much in a civlopedia. Tax is set in rev differently. I havn't looked int the DS version, but if you want more money you can have a city make it instead of science.

The thing I don't like is when I'm attacking it doesn't show the attack and defense stats like it does on the PS3. So I'm often wondering what bonuses the defender has.

 

[FourtyTwo]

Question: Is there hot swap for mutliplayer (taking turns passing the ds back and forth)?

 

[Cornstalk]

Where are the unit stats?

Also from the main map, how can you tell the unit values? When attacking you can see the attack number at the top of the top screen, but is that all you get?

On the build screen, leave the cursor over the unit, every few seconds it switches between the stat info and the fluff text.

As for combat, the top screen when you're ready to initialize it seems to be the only place. The Oracle supposedly will help see military disasters (haven't tried it yet), and there's a unit upgrade that will let you see a defender in cities, but it seems completely random weather a unit can choose it when they have the XP.

How do you switch from science to gold?
Is there a tax rate and if so, how do you change it?

It's a city by city basis. On the city screen over on the right side tell it to focus on currency (gold brick) or science (beaker?). You may need to set your city back to production, balanced, or custom because selecting either of those will maximize tile use for raw trade. Kind of a hassle, actually, but I haven't found any other way to do it.

Question: Is there hot swap for mutliplayer (taking turns passing the ds back and forth)?

Nope, wireless link up or WiFi only. From my experience so far, it's bordering on almost unplayble from annoying little bugs.




My wife was lusting for Civ on the DS ever since it was announced. I was neutral about it, having been underwhelmed by the demo on 360 (knowing that they made a core engine that graphics could be built on).

So now that I've had a chance to play it, both solo and over wireless link up with the Mrs... I find myself more inspired to do violent things to game programmers then when my gamecube ended up in little pieces because of Falco in Super Smash Bros. Melee. Yes, I have some anger issues, but that's not the topic here.


Simply put...

Civ Revolution on the DS is CRAP. A big smelly pile of it covered in pretty pixel graphics.



I'm going to try and list everything that pissed me off as short and sweet as possible.


SOUND
It seems pleasant enough, until the other Civ leaders keep popping up diplomacy with you and saying the same gibberish phrases over and over again. Why does Alexander sound like a stoned surfer dude?


EVERYBODY HATES YOU
Maybe Civ 4 just spoiled me with the AI's actually picking on each other once and a while. Seems like everyone is out for your blood and ONLY your blood now. Nothing too strange from Civ's 1 through 3, except this time the AI will actually siege you with WARRIORS. China swarmed me with 5 of the little bastards... which leads me to a common gripe.


LUCK
Nothing like losing a fortified 5 defense unit to a 1.5 attack unit. Without even hurting it. Twice.

Special kudos go to the randomly placed barbarian huts and ancient wonders, which can apparently give a player 2 cities, 4 archers, 8 legionaries, a couple horseman, and another settler by 1000 BC. It's even more fun when the AI is the one that gets all of that.... while everyone has declared war on you demanding science and threatening you with swarms of super archer killing warriors.

I'm pretty sure a tank will still lose to a warrior often enough to encourage DS throwing.

I'm not bitter, I swear.


NO CIVILIOPEDIA
If it's there, I can't find it. It could have been included in the tech tree. When it says a science allows you to build X unit and Y building... there -is- enough space to actually tell you what X and Y freakin DOES. But no, you don't even get unit stats listed.

I went through 3 games before I found out that I needed a courthouse to increase my city reach to the fat cross.



GLITCHES
I got a spy from a barbarian conquest. 1 turn later I suddenly had a land locked Galley sitting in the middle of the desert.

I've had units mysteriously disappear with no pop up for combat.

During a multi player wireless game, my system locked up trying to initiate first contact with the other human player.

During a different wireless game, it took 6 attempts of attacking trying to declare war on each other just to get the game to recognize contact between the human players had been made. It took 4 more turns just to make the trade window work, and even then only the hosting player could initiate it.


All of those happened within two hours, which makes me worry about the stability of the game in general.



ROADS
There is some good, and some bad. For the simplified system I actually think they work... but it rewards you for having cities really far apart (city to city is 1 movement) and punishes you for having them closer together.

As a war monger, I would typically build roads towards my soon to be targets.



CULTURE
I have no idea how this works. At some point my territory just magically fills itself in from what I can only assume is the effect of my culture. Until then it's only determined by what tiles a city is working.

Never mind that 2 turns after capturing a city, culture flipped it back to the enemy. Thankfully it was kind enough to warn me that units would go with it, so I only lost an archer. Still, what if my Army grouped legions had been sitting there healing and that had happened?


COMBAT
Civ 4's combat system sometimes feels like a little too much when it comes to army set up. Yet Revolution has it so dumbed down that it pretty much needs the luck (as griped about above), to throw any kind of curve to it at all.

Armies are an interesting feature. An archer defending as a 4 can be knocked over by 3 legionaries forming an army that makes a 6... yet the problem comes when the defender makes armies to defend with. Without any way to see what your opponent is using, and strangely no easy way to see what is a single unit compared to an army... it makes it a tedious guess work that really doesn't feel like strategy, but more like a "mine's bigger" contest.

Don't even get me started on how ridiculously game breaking a great general can be, especially for how completely random it seems to be to get one.



I'm disappointed enough with Civ Revolution for the DS I want to smash the game into pieces and send it to 2K games with a note reading something to the effect of, "I bought your game but there was only garbage in the case. Please sent me the actual game when you're finished making it playable."


Simplifying and streamlining game play shouldn't feel like a step backwards from previous incarnations.

 

[fishlore]

When I go in to manually move the workers, the bottom screen has a column on the left and right (4 sections each column) each with pluses to commerce (I assume the arrows are commerce) and production. What are they there for? It looks like when I remove a worker, they appear in the upper left row of small checkboxes. I can't seem to select anything in either column.

As your city grows you'll get a really little guy in one of the really little boxes. If he's working the fields he'll be dim. If you're city is getting big and you don't want certain guys working the fields you can remove them from the fields and when they're removed, the really little guy icon un-dims and gets bright. Each brightened little guy will get you one hammer and then depending on how big your city is, you'll get 1 to many trade.

Hope that helps, it confused me at first too.


@ Cornstalk...

LOL about Falco from Star Fox and thanks for the answers.

 

[dc82]

Wow, there's a lot of hate on the DS version. I just picked it up last night and I have to say it's great. It's moreorless just like the console version, at least in gameplay - with the good and the bad. The same issues that PS3/Xbox players have you'll find on the DS as well, which I think is what seems to be highlighted.

In terms of actual differences between the console versions and the DS, I haven't seen to much aside from the graphical - it has a Civ 2 feel, no zoom, no music. Surprisingly, they kept the "gibberish" from each Civ (exactly the same as the consoles). As you move your units, the top screen (displaying the terrain) will change as it moves. You can't customize names anymore and you're pretty much stuck with the same three names cycled over and over - not that it matters much, at least for the terrain - it won't be highlighted on the map.

I'm still playing through, but the game plays otherwise the same. I was able to grow a mega-city and get all my bonuses. All in all, if you like the console (or am okay with the complaints on this forum thus far, you're in the clear!). The DS version is a great way to have CivRev on the go.

 

[dexters]

cornstalk, how is the DS version crap ? is that the only verison you have? It's the exact same game as the console versions with a different presentation.

 

[bamf226]

As your city grows you'll get a really little guy in one of the really little boxes. If he's working the fields he'll be dim. If you're city is getting big and you don't want certain guys working the fields you can remove them from the fields and when they're removed, the really little guy icon un-dims and gets bright. Each brightened little guy will get you one hammer and then depending on how big your city is, you'll get 1 to many trade.

Hope that helps, it confused me at first too.

I think I understand. It sounds like when you have more workers than land plots, the extra workers will work in the city and provide the bonuses listed in one of the columns. The farthest I've gotten is a size 4 city so far because I turn my workers into settlers when I can.

 

[big Deezy]

anyone successfully play the DS version multiplayer?

 

[dc82]

I just finished my first game... some more highlights of the DS version

Replay at end (with 1x-10x speeds available)
Score breakdowns per civ
Options to tone down or turn off help

 

[Lucidphoole]

I'm fairly disappointed with this game.


Gameplaywise I dislike how there seems to be no way to manage how much trade becomes science and gold. As far as I can see the only way to switch from science to gold is set the city to gold production, this bothers me because then the city stops producing science, no middle ground can be found.

Also the AI which has already been mentioned which delights in attacking me wheter I'm bottom, middle or top of the ranking. I've occasionally seen the AI attack each other but thats very rare and they still continue to war with me after they've made peace.

The games difficulty is laughable. Because I played the previous civ games i began on warlord and each win I moved up a level. I just finished a game of emperor and still havn't hit any challange except the few maps where I began in an impossible location.

Despite the civ series being about playing the game your way in this itteration I've always been forced to play a very military heavy, dominating style.


The only hope for it is its multiplayer which I havn't been able test out completely. I spent all last night looking for matchs while watching some dvds and didnt find a single one. Today I found one after fifteen minutes and was having an alright game before it ended abruptly at 1600AD. Without warning it just said I won the game through conquest despite having never started a single war. I was working my way towards a cutural victory.

One nuisance I noticed was how if two players pick the same nation there is no way to differentiate them during play. I was bordered on one side by two american nations and when I got drawn into fighting one I had no way of knowing if I was attacking the right city until my advisor would pop up stopping me.

Overall I feel they didn't do as much playtesting as they should cause every fault I found should have been easy to detect by anyone playing it.


Still one good thing came of it. It reignited my love for civ4 and once I find my gamedisc I'm gona load it back up and play some proper civ

 

[bamf226]

I'm fairly disappointed with this game.


Gameplaywise I dislike how there seems to be no way to manage how much trade becomes science and gold. As far as I can see the only way to switch from science to gold is set the city to gold production, this bothers me because then the city stops producing science, no middle ground can be found.

Try manually adjusting your workers. Bottom icon on the right column of the city screen.

Also the AI which has already been mentioned which delights in attacking me wheter I'm bottom, middle or top of the ranking. I've occasionally seen the AI attack each other but thats very rare and they still continue to war with me after they've made peace.

Maybe I haven't played long enough, but this has happened to me. I'm playing King difficulty. Does this only happen at Emperor and deity level?

 

[phr0ze]

I'm fairly disappointed with this game.


Gameplaywise I dislike how there seems to be no way to manage how much trade becomes science and gold. As far as I can see the only way to switch from science to gold is set the city to gold production, this bothers me because then the city stops producing science, no middle ground can be found.

Really, you should focus one city on science and one on gold. Build science related buildings in one (Library), and gold related buildings in another (Market). Later in the game, my cities seem to generate lots of gold even if I don't designate any to gold production.

 

[phr0ze]

After playing again for several hours, these are my annoyances:

Galleys easily taking out my cruisers.
Pikemen/archers taking out my planes.

Nations at war with me (Which is all of them) keep telling me they are at war with me. (The spanish would contact me every other turn just to say prepare for war.) I have to click ok several times. I wish they would just shut up.

City defenses can seem impossible to get through until you have catapults. Once they have one defender in a city, I can't seem to rush them at all.