Beginner Friendly?

[clarkkent]

So I've never really played any turn based strategy games. I have played RTS and I just can't do them. But it's not that I don't like to think, I just like to go slow and be able to adapt to what's going on in the game. I've found that in an RTS game, if my enemy's plan counters mine from the get go, then that's it, game over.

So I have a couple questions:

1) How noob friendly is this game? I haven't played ANY of the Civs but I've heard good things from them. I don't want to waste my time on a game that has an overly steep learning curve.

2) Does it have to be played in one sitting or can I break up a game and pause it?

3) If I got this game, would anyone be willing to play me once or twice? (ie OWN me once or twice lol)

Thanks for any feedback/opinions!

- CK

 

[d,,p]

1) Get the demo from steam, should give you an idea. If you never played civ, you definitely have to get used to it, but it's fun and it's doable.
2) Most of my games i sit back a lot and to extensive breaks. You can save / load anytime.
3) Best start imo is single player. multi player when you got the basics at least.

 

[Turner]

Welcome! I've noticed you've posted this in a few different places. Please only post it the one time. We can move the discussion if need be.

That said, I can answer your questions in a generic manner.

1) There are several levels of varying difficulty with Civ. Chieftain is usually the easiest, but it also usually allows bad habits to form from the game. Definitely play it a couple of times to get the hang of it, but I would get out of Chieftain ASAP. (Okay, that's valid for Civ3, dunno about the rest. )

2) Yes. That is, you can probably play a game in one sitting, but you have the option of saving the game at any point and leaving it to come back later. I don't play Civ5 (yet), but the rest of the civ series you can save on demand and return at a later time. But you can also set up a quick game to play in one sitting. Oh, and generally nothing happens until you make a move of some kind. So if you have a unit waiting for an order, it will wait indefinitely for it.

3) I'm sure someone here would love to play MP.

 

[GeneralMayhem]

RTS can be pretty frenetic especially when you get to bigger sizes. Turn based is like chess, and you can go at your own pace. Personally, I love both.

if you are on the the fence with civ, i would suggest downloading the demo. also you can buy civ 4 and civ 3 at discounts because they are older games if you don't want to shell out money for civ 5.

1. civ is pretty easy once you learn the mechanics. personally believe you don't need to read the manual to play the game, but it helps. civ can have a big learning curve. civ 5 is considered by some civ fanaticals as "dumbed down" but it too has some learning curve. there are some good guides in strategy forums here or on other sites.

2. you do not have to play it in one sitting. in fact, you can play it at your own pace if solo. i've played many civ games for a month off and on, as you can save games and even go back to different games you've saved.

3. i'm sure you can get multi player game going. personally i like playing solo as i dont have a lot of time to play. so not sure how many MP players are out there.

good luck and welcome to civ

 

[-=Yin=-]

Little (?) known fact: Civ started life as an RTS!

It's turn based, of course, I think precisely to allow the player more time to think about his/her decisions. It's also a game that is ultimately designed to provide a challenge but not to be annoying difficult (I suppose that highest difficulty level is there for that).

NOTE: The AI currently still needs a lot of work, so it's even easier than normal at the moment. But even in the grand design, Civ isn't about forcing you to maximize every single turn down one specific path or you're pre-determined to lose.

 

[clarkkent]

Thanks for the feedback guys! And sorry about that Turner, I figured someone would delete the extra one. I just wanted to get feedback and I realized it'd prolly be better to just post a topic. Won't happen again

Didn't even think about looking for a demo, durr. I'll download it and check it out!

 

[Rohili]

1) Unfortunately Civ does have quite a learning curve, and the various game concepts might seem overwhelming at first. But the good news is that Civ 5 is far more simplified than previous Civs, so this is the best time to pick up the game.

2) You definitely can (and probably will) break up a game into many sittings. Basically, you can save your game and quit every turn. I've never finished a game in one sitting.

3) Civ is really more about the single player experience, IMO. If you are the sort who likes to take time and think through your moves, MP will not be for you. But you can take all the time you like in single-player.

 

[SuperJay]

1) How noob friendly is this game? I haven't played ANY of the Civs but I've heard good things from them. I don't want to waste my time on a game that has an overly steep learning curve.

2) Does it have to be played in one sitting or can I break up a game and pause it?

3) If I got this game, would anyone be willing to play me once or twice? (ie OWN me once or twice lol)

Thanks for any feedback/opinions!

- CK

1) It's very accessible for a turn-based strategy game - probably the most accessible in the series. You'll have questions, but you shouldn't get stuck and be unable to play due to lack of information. Plus, the in-game tips and tutorials coupled with the Settler (training) difficulty are designed to ease you in and introduce you to the concepts at a manageable pace.

2) Civ games can last days, weeks, or months. You'll definitely be saving and coming back to your game, and you can take as long as you want to play it. Turns aren't timed and you can disable the "turn limit" victory so the game won't automatically end at the year 2050.

3) Sure, I'd be happy to play with you (we can be allies / teammates) if it'd help show you the ropes. Feel free to ask questions around here or PM me if you have anything specific you want to discuss outside of a forum thread.

All that said, I'd download the demo and play through it a few times first. You'll need Steam if you haven't installed it already. I don't think we can play the demo in multiplayer, but you can get on Steam chat (voice or text) and ask questions of another player while you're in-game.

Welcome to the world of Civilization! Prepare to lose a lot of sleep.

 

[clarkkent]

1) It's very accessible for a turn-based strategy game - probably the most accessible in the series. You'll have questions, but you shouldn't get stuck and be unable to play due to lack of information. Plus, the in-game tips and tutorials coupled with the Settler (training) difficulty are designed to ease you in and introduce you to the concepts at a manageable pace.

2) Civ games can last days, weeks, or months. You'll definitely be saving and coming back to your game, and you can take as long as you want to play it. Turns aren't timed and you can disable the "turn limit" victory so the game won't automatically end at the year 2050.

3) Sure, I'd be happy to play with you (we can be allies / teammates) if it'd help show you the ropes. Feel free to ask questions around here or PM me if you have anything specific you want to discuss outside of a forum thread.

All that said, I'd download the demo and play through it a few times first. You'll need Steam if you haven't installed it already. I don't think we can play the demo in multiplayer, but you can get on Steam chat (voice or text) and ask questions of another player while you're in-game.

Welcome to the world of Civilization! Prepare to lose a lot of sleep.

Awesome I have steam and Ill pm you my handle once I get around to installing the demo.

 

[Aristos]

So I have a couple questions:

1) How noob friendly is this game? I haven't played ANY of the Civs but I've heard good things from them. I don't want to waste my time on a game that has an overly steep learning curve.

Completely noob-friendly! Do not worry at all, you will grasp it in no time! You will find yourself winning no matter what... do not worry.

Enjoy.

 

[Disgustipated]

Sounds to me you would like TBS games if you don't like RTS for those reasons.

Civ5 seems to be very noob friendly, although frankly Civ4 is a better game right now. Give them both a try if you have time.

 

[clarkkent]

Is there a tutorial or something I can read/watch? I installed the demo but I'm still a bit confused on how to play. =P

 

[Charybdis]

Just play and have fun, best way to learn about civ imo rather than having it all dumped on you.

I remember back when I was a newbie playing chieftan as a kid on civ 1 and only playing with one city. Took me like 3 months of playing to see the purpose of having more than one city.

But I still had fun

 

[Thormodr]

It's your lucky day.

The title was designed with noobs specifically in mind.

Things have been simplified a fair bit, streamlined and complexity removed.

So, I think you should have no trouble learning to play the game.

It's a fairly short learning curve as the developers intended.

Good luck and welcome to the forums.

 

[Psyringe]

1) How noob friendly is this game? I haven't played ANY of the Civs but I've heard good things from them. I don't want to waste my time on a game that has an overly steep learning curve.

I wouldn't say that Civ games have a steep learning curve, but rather a long one. Even veterans may find things they hadn't considered yet. But the Civ games are also very enjoyable without knowing all the details. Hence, the learning curve is not a steep slope on which you slide back frustrated, but more of a long journey to look forward too. At least that's how it felt to me, I enjoy games that give my mind something to do for an extended amount of time.

2) Does it have to be played in one sitting or can I break up a game and pause it?

Others already answered that; you can save the game anytime.

3) If I got this game, would anyone be willing to play me once or twice?

If you prefer slow games, then multiplayer may not be the thing for you, usually there's a high focus on speed in Civ multiplayer games. There are other ways of enjoying the game together with others though (succession games, hall-of-fame games, etc.)

Edit: Since Civ3 and Civ4 have been mentioned as alternatives: If you're unsure whether this type of gameplay suits you, then buying one of the older Civs for cheap is indeed a good option. Civ5 is still pretty rough around the edges. Civ5 was designed to be more attractive for new players, but I don't think they implemented this goal very well. For example, Civ5 now hides a lot of information from the player, or tucks it away in sub-sub-menus, in order to not "confuse" the player. Instead of explaining the data better, they hide it. And it probably does look less confusing, but it also makes it harder to understand many things, because the information isn't readily available. Features which could help new players along (like the advisors) are more design fluff than actually helpful. These things may improve when the program matures though.

 

[tokala]

Is there a tutorial or something I can read/watch? I installed the demo but I'm still a bit confused on how to play. =P

While not intended as a tutorial for newbies, there's lots of useful stuff in that Q&A video session

 

[Bad Brett]

I'd say it's quite easy to master this game even if you don't have any Civ experience. They key is to build four horsemen as early as possible. Then you raze everything you can.

I should make it clear, though:

Do not buy this game. At least not yet. It's still buggy, the AI is horrible and there really isn't much to do except hitting the "End of turn" button.

 

[Disgustipated]

horrible ai isn't that big a concern for him as he's just starting out. He can play the quick game and probably get some enjoyment out of it.

I don't know about a tutorial. The easiest way to play is to build a city with your first settler. build maybe a scout then another settler or worker. explore with your other unit, and just have fun. Remember to build some military units to defend your empire and some buildings and land improvements that seem like something you want. If you start at a low level I wouldn't stress too much if you are building the right thing.

 

[clarkkent]

Started my first game, but no one wants to go to War with me haha.

Anyways, I'm on the lowest difficulty setting (Settler?). Should I bump it up or keep it low to learn? Honestly, I did slowly start to learn things and I was having some fun

Thanks for the Q and A video, was pretty cool to see. Any other tutorials/guides would be awesome!

 

[SuperJay]

Started my first game, but no one wants to go to War with me haha.

Heh, give it time. They'll come around.

Anyways, I'm on the lowest difficulty setting (Settler?). Should I bump it up or keep it low to learn? Honestly, I did slowly start to learn things and I was having some fun

That's really up to you. If you feel like Settler was too slow or too easy, bump it up to Chieftain; you're probably not going to see a huge difference between the two. Settler is really intended as the "training / introduction" level. If you're still learning the concepts (which is natural if you're on your first few games) you might want to finish a full game before you move on to Chieftain, just so you can get some experience with the mechanics. Are you just playing the demo, though? If so, it'll end at 100 turns if it hasn't already.