Back after 12 years!

[screwball]

I didn't realize it had been so long since I'd played Civilization until I came back here and found my last post made in 2001. I hadn't played a Civilization game since Civ III.

I just purchased Civ V from Steam and am enjoying every second of it but I have a couple of quick questions. The game I purchased was the 'Gold' edition and includes the Gods and Kings expansion pack.

When I launched the software from Steam for the first time it automatically launched me into Gods & Kings. I'm assuming that from now on all of the games I play will include the expansion pack items? What if I wanted to just play the 'base' Civ V without the expansion pack to see what that's like?

Is it worth it to purchase the additional Brave New World, or is the Gold enough?

 

[Mr. Grieves]

You can deselect G&K in the splash screen -> DLC.

I would definitely recommend BNW if you like culture and diplomacy. The AI isn't quite as willing to attack you in the early game as it used to be in Gods and Kings.

 

[Arcaian]

Gold Edition is a very good start! And congratulations on entering the world of Civ V! It's certainly different from Civ 3, but I prefer it. We can play both though, so no need to debate which ones better. First, your questions:

- You can play just the Base Civ V, but it certainly is not as good. Both Gods and Kings (G&K here) and Brave New World (BNW here) significantly improve on the game, so I would recommend playing with G&K and the DLC enabled if you have played Civ 1-3 for a decent amount of time; a couple of things are very different, but it's not too hard to pick it up. To change to just the base game if you want a very basic, uncomplex version to learn at first select the DLC option from the main menu, and left click on the green arrow to disable any of the expansions or DLC.

- I would definitely recommend BNW if you've played and enjoyed the Gold edition, but don't purchase it straight away. It also depends on your preferences, BNW made it quite hard to build a lot of cities and conquer enemies, but improved the culture and late game peaceful options significantly. If you love the science/culture/diplomatic victories, I would recommend BNW in a heartbeat. If you're a conqueror, not as many of the changes are useful for you. Play the gold edition for 3 games or so, get a feel for the game. If you enjoy it I would recommend BNW regardless.

And just some important things you may not know:

- Warmongering is VERY badly looked on from the rest of the world. Conquering cities (especially in the early eras, as the penalty is more severe the less cities there are in the world) is not recommended at the start, better to either rampage and threaten them and try and get the cities, or just fight the defensive war and continue. The penalty is lessened a fair bit if both factions are at war with the common enemy, so if you're playing Atilla or Ghenghis, try getting your friends to declare war as well, then they should be fine with you.

- There is only 1 civilian and 1 military tile on each square (or if on water, one embarked unit and one naval unit per square) and that so you have to organise defensives/offensives around this.

- Population leads to science, and science is king. Anything that boost your science significantly is very useful, so make sure you look out for them - libraries, universities and the like. One of the most important structures early game is the national college; build a library in all your cities and you can build it.

If you're playing at a lower level you shouldn't really need any other tips, so I hope you have an excellent time playing CiV, I know I have

 

[TheMarshmallowBear]

I didn't realize it had been so long since I'd played Civilization until I came back here and found my last post made in 2001. I hadn't played a Civilization game since Civ III.

I just purchased Civ V from Steam and am enjoying every second of it but I have a couple of quick questions. The game I purchased was the 'Gold' edition and includes the Gods and Kings expansion pack.

When I launched the software from Steam for the first time it automatically launched me into Gods & Kings. I'm assuming that from now on all of the games I play will include the expansion pack items? What if I wanted to just play the 'base' Civ V without the expansion pack to see what that's like?

Is it worth it to purchase the additional Brave New World, or is the Gold enough?

OH YOU POOR MAN ... the complete edition is due to be released like tomorrow D: You could've gotten that!

 

[Bulldog Bats]

I was in the same spot you were - III was the last I played until I got this. I am playing G&K right now as well. Yes, the game is very different. The game is very different - some like it better now, and some like the older version. I would look up some of the warmongerer threads to get an idea on the main issue. Science is king now, and some people work with about 4 big cities, and go with that (I prefer the empire-building myself).

The big thing now is that if you want to start conquering, you need to build alliances - either declaration of friendships, or go to war with another coming along with you. Otherwise, you are looked upon as a warmongerer intent on taking over the world, and no one will want to trade with you. My last game, even trying to keep good relations, I got tripled DOWed in one turn.

Good luck and enjoy.

 

[ferretbacon]

OH YOU POOR MAN ... the complete edition is due to be released like tomorrow D: You could've gotten that!

I was thinking the same thing. OP should have waited 12 years and 1 day.

 

[beetle]

Just as a counter point, I got Civ 5 less than 6 months ago. I started with vanilla, but upgraded to Gold within days. In hindsight, this worked very well. G&K is a much, much better game than vanilla. OTOH, I think it would have been a little overwhelming to dive into G&K without a few vanilla games under my belt. The interface is beautiful, but the gameplay a little too simplistic. I am liking G&K well enough that I will probably wait another 6 months for BNW. (Prolly when I can pick it up for real cheap.)

 

[PreLynMax]

Gold Edition is a very good start! And congratulations on entering the world of Civ V! It's certainly different from Civ 3, but I prefer it. We can play both though, so no need to debate which ones better. First, your questions:

- You can play just the Base Civ V, but it certainly is not as good. Both Gods and Kings (G&K here) and Brave New World (BNW here) significantly improve on the game, so I would recommend playing with G&K and the DLC enabled if you have played Civ 1-3 for a decent amount of time; a couple of things are very different, but it's not too hard to pick it up. To change to just the base game if you want a very basic, uncomplex version to learn at first select the DLC option from the main menu, and left click on the green arrow to disable any of the expansions or DLC.

- I would definitely recommend BNW if you've played and enjoyed the Gold edition, but don't purchase it straight away. It also depends on your preferences, BNW made it quite hard to build a lot of cities and conquer enemies, but improved the culture and late game peaceful options significantly. If you love the science/culture/diplomatic victories, I would recommend BNW in a heartbeat. If you're a conqueror, not as many of the changes are useful for you. Play the gold edition for 3 games or so, get a feel for the game. If you enjoy it I would recommend BNW regardless.

And just some important things you may not know:

- Warmongering is VERY badly looked on from the rest of the world. Conquering cities (especially in the early eras, as the penalty is more severe the less cities there are in the world) is not recommended at the start, better to either rampage and threaten them and try and get the cities, or just fight the defensive war and continue. The penalty is lessened a fair bit if both factions are at war with the common enemy, so if you're playing Atilla or Ghenghis, try getting your friends to declare war as well, then they should be fine with you.

- There is only 1 civilian and 1 military tile on each square (or if on water, one embarked unit and one naval unit per square) and that so you have to organise defensives/offensives around this.

- Population leads to science, and science is king. Anything that boost your science significantly is very useful, so make sure you look out for them - libraries, universities and the like. One of the most important structures early game is the national college; build a library in all your cities and you can build it.

If you're playing at a lower level you shouldn't really need any other tips, so I hope you have an excellent time playing CiV, I know I have

Addendum: You only need to build roads and railroads between cities. No spaghetti roads, or no need to link them to everywhere.

 

[Arcaian]

Addendum: You only need to build roads and railroads between cities. No spaghetti roads, or no need to link them to everywhere.

I had forgotten about the spaghetti road spam of the previous Civ titles

 

[screwball]

You guys are TOO awesome, thanks for all the tips! I'm enjoying Civ V quite a bit.

I really like the way automation finally works the way it should. It's nice to let workers improve, ships explore, and cities produce all on auto-pilot without the need to constantly micro manage the hell out of everything every two seconds. The tedious nature of management in Civ III was one of the few things I disliked about that game.