Is it easier, or is it me?

[Dekraa]

Is Civilization V an easier game than its predecessors?

I remember, for instance, playing Civ II, and getting hammered by the AI, I was sometimes terrified when I was forced into war because I knew this was going to hurt. Civ III wasn't as bad, though I lost sometimes. Civ IV was much the same deal, perhaps slight better. I guess this is because the older I gets, the more I focus on details.

But in Civ V, and I'm playing on emperor now (which I never done before !! I think I lost Civ II sometimes on chieftian, well, maybe not, but you get the picture) and after 180hours playtime in Civ V, I still has to lose a city! I don't know if it's me playing rather defensive, or is the game just easier to handle? Maybe a combination.

But it's not easy to take a city, you have to be rather smart. And the AI maybe has some screws lost. Although, I really love Civ V.

 

[Sherlock]

Is Civilization V an easier game than its predecessors?

I remember, for instance, playing Civ II, and getting hammered by the AI, I was sometimes terrified when I was forced into war because I knew this was going to hurt. Civ III wasn't as bad, though I lost sometimes. Civ IV was much the same deal, perhaps slight better. I guess this is because the older I gets, the more I focus on details.

But in Civ V, and I'm playing on emperor now (which I never done before !! I think I lost Civ II sometimes on chieftian, well, maybe not, but you get the picture) and after 180hours playtime in Civ V, I still has to lose a city! I don't know if it's me playing rather defensive, or is the game just easier to handle? Maybe a combination.

But it's not easy to take a city, you have to be rather smart. And the AI maybe has some screws lost. Although, I really love Civ V.

Have you just played CiV more than the earlier games? I certainly have. A LOT MORE.

 

[JordWindy]

I'm not sure it's easier, but the resources available to guide and teach, certainly are more.

 

[TractorBoy]

Emperor now, deity in a couple of weeks, some of the sparkle (sense of achievement), has been taken away. Some people will argue that because we are members of this forum, we are learning how to play to high standards, and this is the reason why. I say to them that not all of us follow the tactics forums and watch play through video's in order to be an achiever, some people are able to do so because the game HAS become easier, and each add on becomes easier still!!

The way I summarise how way the game is evolving, they are trying to appeal to a wider audience of youngsters who like to think of themselves as internet "big boys", so they can quickly add another trophy or two to their ever increasing list of achievements.

 

[m15a]

The way I summarise how way the game is evolving, they are trying to appeal to a wider audience of youngsters who like to think of themselves as internet "big boys", so they can quickly add another trophy or two to their ever increasing list of achievements.

Curious what age these theoretical "youngsters" are. And how old were the people in the original "niche" audience of previous Civ games?

 

[Uzael36]

I definitely noticed that BNW felt easier than prior, but I'm not sure Civ 5 vanilla is easier than Civ 4. But it is also true that the more of these games you play, the better we become at them. Things we learned in Civ 4 has taught us to handle Civ 5 better.

However, Civ 5 has less micromanagement, which may also make it easier, or at least, allow you to not focus as much on the details as it was required in Civ 4.

 

[Chum]

The way I summarise how way the game is evolving, they are trying to appeal to a wider audience of youngsters who like to think of themselves as internet "big boys", so they can quickly add another trophy or two to their ever increasing list of achievements.

Heh. Get off your high horse, gramps. Video games are evolving all the time, and they're evolving usually in the direction of fun, rather than realistic, tedious gameplay. I've seen a lot of genres change in the 25+ years I've been gaming heavily, and the one thing almost all old games have in common is that they suck. You can easily look back thru almost any history of games and find immensely popular games for their time, but with completely terrible mechanics that no one finds fun anymore. Battletoads? That game was so hard it was unbelievable. It still makes my friends cringe when I mention it. Everquest? Why, oh why did we sit for 8+ hours in one room killing the same 6 frogs? Is it because we're hardcore? No. It's because we were idiots that didn't know any better.

Don't be so adverse to change. I know you're set in your ways, but that doesn't mean that all the kids need to get off your lawn.

 

[Uzael36]

Heh. Get off your high horse, gramps. Video games are evolving all the time, and they're evolving usually in the direction of fun, rather than realistic, tedious gameplay. I've seen a lot of genres change in the 25+ years I've been gaming heavily, and the one thing almost all old games have in common is that they suck. You can easily look back thru almost any history of games and find immensely popular games for their time, but with completely terrible mechanics that no one finds fun anymore. Battletoads? That game was so hard it was unbelievable. It still makes my friends cringe when I mention it. Everquest? Why, oh why did we sit for 8+ hours in one room killing the same 6 frogs? Is it because we're hardcore? No. It's because we were idiots that didn't know any better.

Don't be so adverse to change. I know you're set in your ways, but that doesn't mean that all the kids need to get off your lawn.

I don't agree that easier is needed to be fun. I'm not sure about some of your examples, but did play Everquest, and it was true that at times people would sit in a room and camp a spot, and that is definitely not fun, but it was loads of fun when you went to rarely visited areas and explored. Kunark was awesome for that. There was the obvious camp dungeon, but there was many other hardly touched places in which people spent hours exploring unseen areas that provided a lot of challenge and fun (and more risk, as dying was harder to deal with, but then again, most my favorite memories were spent self rescuing corpses).

I personally really miss the slower paced MMO. Everything has become almost automatic, and so frantically fast that you don't get a chance to talk or use strategy to solve problems.

I am, however, perfectly fine removing micromanagement, and I am ok with some convenience, but I do miss some of the challenge and thought that was required in games in the past. Civ 5 is a good balance in my mind, but I've yet to play a decent MMO sense WoW's 2nd expansion. After Burning Crusades, MMO's have been made too fast paced and too easy, with almost no requirement to use social skills to join groups. Heck, they are mostly all catering to solo play now. MMO's should be group based with people you get to know as you play, not auto queued with people you'll never see again.

 

[bhavv]

Its vastly easier, mostly due to the AI being crap with 1UPT.

 

[HeraldtheGreat]

I don't know, but I like to think I've simply become one with the game.

 

[BrokTheFanatic]

Its 'easier' but it has as much 'depth' as any civ.

What all civs lack is average+ high level AI strategy for the mid and late game (this is not a knock on civ devs, noone knows how to make computers think). So this means the big challenge comes early when devs are forced to give the ai big bonuses. Since you are 'so small' at the start, your options are limited, making the early game tough to survive. So by 'easier' I mean that you actually have a better chance at coming out of the early game on diety than the previous civ games. But they balance it with a number of growth hindering measures that then make it more challenging in the mid to late parts of the game. Overall, this makes civ5 a better 'overall' challenge than previous civs, except for the combat AI. Stacks of doom were always a threat while 1 upt has completely gimped the ai. This is correctable, the ai doesn't have to be good at it, just not bad at it. Definitely can be done and hopefully will be sometime.

 

[Dekraa]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but in Civ IV the AI didn't get as many bonuses when you ramped up the difficulty as it get in V?

 

[gps]

Is Civilization V an easier game than its predecessors?

Well, the question has been asked so many times and I've read so many people claiming they beat Civ V on much higher levels than they do Civ IV (or beat deity much faster) - can't be all coincidence...

 

[Dekraa]

Sorry I'm new to this forum so I have not been searching through its thickness. However, as I feel competetive on Emperor in Civ V, I just installed Civ IV and played BTS for 200 hundred turns on Prince. How did it go? Well, I don't want to use those words here as there might be children around. Totally different animal.

But as someone stated out above. When playing games in 80s or something. Those games were impossible! I grew up with the feeling that you die, you start over. You get punished. How many years untill I beat Zelda II ? Many! In the latest Zelda game I didn't died once! I guess time changes, but for the better, I'm sure of it.

 

[gps]

When playing games in 80s or something. Those games were impossible!

Well, I'd say it depends a little bit. The Civilization series from I to IV grew constantly more and more difficult. Or some other examples: I stopped playing the Civ predecessor "Railroad Tycoon" when I was able to overflow the cash amount variable after ten years of game time or so. In good old WW1 flight simulator "Red Baron" the only real challenge for me remaining at the end was to compete with Germanies sitting duck wanna-be fighter Pfalz III vs. a full group of S.E.5a or Sopwith Snipes (or with the french SPAD VII vs. German D.VII, a comparable challenge). Or maybe my finest hour: I just wanted to show a few nephews of mine this great new shooter called "Turrican II" I got a few weeks ago. Well, two and half hours later I had finished the final boss and the kids had redrawn to watch TV because their Amiga computer had been blocked all evening... Never did that before. I guess the fact that I hadn't intended to play seriously had taken a lot of pressure away.

 

[HappyBuilder]

It's easier to survive, largely because of the 1UPT. In the previous Civs, when you were DOW'd by a superior opponent, they could send wave after wave of soldiers crashing in to your cities. Now, the most damage they can do on any given turn is what they can surround you with.

The days where you could get hit by 30 calvary at once are over (though those fights were EPIC.)

 

[Uzael36]

It's easier to survive, largely because of the 1UPT. In the previous Civs, when you were DOW'd by a superior opponent, they could send wave after wave of soldiers crashing in to your cities. Now, the most damage they can do on any given turn is what they can surround you with.

The days where you could get hit by 30 calvary at once are over (though those fights were EPIC.)

That is not 100% true, after the AI reaches flight, I've seen them send 20+ bombers at a city instantly.

 

[HappyBuilder]

That is not 100% true, after the AI reaches flight, I've seen them send 20+ bombers at a city instantly.

Very good point. I should have qualified the statement to say before the modern era.

HB

 

[TheMadFiddler]

Sorry I'm new to this forum so I have not been searching through its thickness. However, as I feel competetive on Emperor in Civ V, I just installed Civ IV and played BTS for 200 hundred turns on Prince. How did it go? Well, I don't want to use those words here as there might be children around. Totally different animal.

But as someone stated out above. When playing games in 80s or something. Those games were impossible! I grew up with the feeling that you die, you start over. You get punished. How many years untill I beat Zelda II ? Many! In the latest Zelda game I didn't died once! I guess time changes, but for the better, I'm sure of it.

There is a reason for that though- many of those 80s games [which were awesome- I still play Contra on occasion] grew out of the arcade experience where you had to die so that you could put in more quarters.

 

[Civking5]

To the OP, There is another factor in play here. How old were you when you played civ2? How old are you now? I am sure that most gamers can play better and think better with aging and getting more experienced over all. Beside as you said in your post, you also have experience of playing all civ games since civ2. Therefore, you already know a lot how the game is played in general which makes it easier. Am I right ?
Also, I suggest you move up to immortal level instead of playing empror level. In my opinion, the jump from emperor to immortal is quite big.