Best thing about Civ4?

[Gunner]

Modablity definitely.

Its amazing what we've been able to mod in Civ3 even with a very restictive editor. The possibility of being able to mod almost everything is gonna be great.

 

[Mallipeep]

It might not be the best new feature, but i think i have been waiting for something like that for longest: the ability to ask one civ to stop attacking other, or ask to declare war to a civ that you arent in war with. If they are willing to do that (given enogh inc£ntiv£) then you might just play your builder game and keep the other countries balanced well enough that they will not become a threat.

 

[Aks K]

CIVICS!!! I cant wait until we get more revelations on this matter.

Aks K

 

[CJNyfalt]

The civics is the only killer feature for me that I know of. I'm tired of Civ style governments.
The rest of the features are nice or not so nice, but nothing that gets me excited.

 

[ranLR]

I understand that in C4 you can easily find resources from a zoomed-out global view when you make the discoveries (i.e. coal), this sure beats "combing" the countryside for a lump of coal (which was hard to see anyway in those dark jungles).

If i may be a pessimist- the screenshots look quite terrible, too much stuff on the screen. theyre really going into the eye-candy for the masses market. too bad

 

[troytheface]

Attack Camels and Rivers that move.

 

[obscenename]

Global Warming inreality will cause the world to freeze for a very long time.
Greenland used ot be green, Sahara used to be the lushest forest on earth. The mooon used to be another planet and the gulf of mexico was caused by the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs. But anyways, Im just glad teh game is coming out and wont blow.

 

[kitsquad]

Civics! Religion! Return of Wonder Movies (are they in 3D too?)

 

[Grohan]

Religion, civics and 3D graphics. And of course much better modability.

 

[Meleager]

Yeah! My first tread is hot!

@obscenename all those things are just theories. And of them only the first has anything to do with global warming. Now the earth is thought to have natural cold / warm cycles WITHOUT human interference. However WITH human interference no one really knows what is going to happen.

I look foward to more realistic combat (i.e. spearmen does not defeat tank, though I wonder how they did this with only 1 strength value), and combat with a variety of units.

 

[toh6wy]

I wish we had global warming and we could populate Greenland again, like in the XII century, when when the south part of Greenland was green and the global weather was warmer than today's. (Why do you think Greenland has that name?)

It has that name because Erik the Red wanted people to settle there, as opposed to Iceland, so to make it seem more appealing, he named it "Greenland."

 

[Sickman]

Even though the game isn't even out yet, I would say these things impress me:

- Civics
- Great people
- Ability to make more terrain improvements
- Cities can be controlled and example wonders can be seen from the main map
- Leader personalities which makes different civ have more characteristics(whether it actually affects the game or not still remains to be seen)
- Modding options (still there's question how easy it's make a single scenario without the knowledge of programming)

What doesn't impress me:

- Wandering animals (Since when wandering animals have been huge problem for man kind? I mean did Romans have problems with them? I believe not)
- 3D graphics (Civ never been about graphics and shouldn't be as long as the graphics work. Don't need no fancy eye candy)
- Wonder movies (who actually needs them? They probably take lot of time to make and then in the end player watches them once or twice and forgets them)
- No great military leaders? (human history been hardly anything but conflict after another and there are no great generals? Civ leaning into pasifism?)
- Diplomacy seems too simple still. (Give me all you got/Shut up and die!)
- The whole aspect of religion doesn't seem to be really thought through yet (I fear complications)
- Game doesn't out sooner than in the end of year (at least they can finish it up well)

Biggest questions:
- How "lively" the world actually feels and how different aspects of game now that they have been changed effect the whole experience (And I don't mean animated rivers but that the interaction between you and the game so you can feel control over your empire)
- AI (After Civ3 in which the AI was bad. For me who will hardly touch multiplayer feature would like really see competing AI in single player game)

Biggest disappointment:
- There seems to be no "random events" like natural disasters such as floods, vulcanic eruptions, epidemics, meteor showers or example civil wars, revolutions, stock market collapse(and similar that would make you feel that there are events that you cannot have control over but have to just to learn and live by them)

 

[Sullla]

Biggest disappointment:
- There seems to be no "random events" like natural disasters such as floods, vulcanic eruptions, epidemics, meteor showers or example civil wars, revolutions, stock market collapse(and similar that would make you feel that there are events that you cannot have control over but have to just to learn and live by them)

Sickman, imagine you are a game designer. Would adding uncontrollable and unpredictable events such as the ones described above really make for a better game? Elements of chance of course have their place in a strategy game, but between random maps, unpredictable interactions with other civs, battle results, different tech paths taken, etc., I'm confident that the Civ games have enough random elements already without needing to add over-the-top cheap tricks like this. (Does anyone remember how resources used to move around the map in the original release of Civ3? That was random, and WOW did everyone get tired of that fast. )

A natural disaster or a revolution SOUNDS cool in the abstract, but these kind of random events are generally bad for game balance and they are a lot less fun when they're destroying your hard-built civilization!

 

[evirus]

No more complaining about the different civs. What is the thing (based on CivRules thread) that you are most looking foward to in Civ4 and why?

other nations respecting my boarders... i hate how they would walk right through my terrain for like ten turns even though i told them not too... also theres a point where they ship their settlers to my own little island that i started on and populated every little square i dont have control over yet it is annoying

 

[Saltylicious]

other nations respecting my boarders... i hate how they would walk right through my terrain for like ten turns even though i told them not too... also theres a point where they ship their settlers to my own little island that i started on and populated every little square i dont have control over yet it is annoying

I'm with you there!

I'd like to see some of the things Sickman suggested in, AS LONG AS I have the ability to turn them off, sort of like deciding whether or not I wanted barbarians in the game.

 

[JavalTigar]

Sickman
- There seems to be no "random events" like natural disasters such as floods, vulcanic eruptions, epidemics, meteor showers or example civil wars, revolutions, stock market collapse(and similar that would make you feel that there are events that you cannot have control over but have to just to learn and live by them)

There is a reason why those are a selective things in Sim-city! Everyone was tired of spending 24 hrs building a shiny metropolis to have half of it wiped out by godzilla. It sounds cool in theory, but I have had it happen and it sucks butt!

Imagine spending 2 days playing civ, after a serious space race with the French, you finally got your spaceship ready for launch. One more part and you will win, then a tidal wave wipes out your city building it. The French complete theirs first and you lose. Not because you played badly, not because your strategy was flawed, because a random number generator decided thats what should happen. Nothing in the way you played would have affected this outcome.

BOY THAT SOUNDS FUN, I CAN'T WAIT TO PLAY AGAIN!!!! /sarcasm off

 

[Himalia]

other nations respecting my boarders... i hate how they would walk right through my terrain for like ten turns even though i told them not too... also theres a point where they ship their settlers to my own little island that i started on and populated every little square i dont have control over yet it is annoying

I agree i find it so aggresive if another nation does that. Its not a problem on multiplayer as you speak to each other and make very specific agreements. But you just cant do this with an AI for obvioues reasons.

 

[Meleager]

It says in civrules thread that nations will have to sign war or an open boarders treaty. i wonder if that means that when you try to move your units into enemy territory it warns you that this will instantly declar war?

 

[Sickman]

Sullla and JavalTigar,

I saw that coming.
But how about option to tick those "random events" off from the options?

This is the age old debate about the randomness of world.

But that's the thing about why I don't like chess. It's too predictable and just basic mathematics. Only random factor being your opponent.
For me the life and the world is much more unpredictable. There are lot of games out there that has the same strategic depth as of Civilization (even though they aren't actually similar games) but they still have that random factor there which makes every game bit of different and heaven forbid...makes you FEEL something when you play.
Not just sit quietly and sipping coffee and waiting the inevitable to happen.
But lucky/unlucky things happen and sometimes you end up ripping your hair off.

Random events would mix up the pot big time.
And how about if your civilization isn't doing that well, how about you are tiny little civ and everything has gone bad for you and then some random event changes the game into your favor? However it would be you who must make most of crisis, most of the opportunity that rises, just like in the real world. We otherwise would be leaving in all different kind of world. Just look at the history.

Maybe you would be playing the French in that space race JavalTigar and ended up being the winner. Would that be so bad? Maybe, because you didn't plan it to happen 1000 years before?

But of course not all of us are leaving in perfect predictable world where "perfect strategy" always wins.

Strategy isn't about planning everything beforehand and doing everything by the schedule, strategy is about planning ahead preparing to the worst and giving your best shot when time comes to make difficult decisions when tide is turning against your favor. It's about you using the chances that come up and sometimes wandering into "damage control zone" when everything has gone bad and all you can do is prevent continuing effects.

But as said it could be just an option and in my opinion would greatly add replay value, give more strategic depth and add interesting liveliness to otherwise quite frankly stable and dull world of civilization. (and no animated whales don't count as more "living" world, natural disasters and such do)

Well, maybe in the expansions or through some modding...

 

[JavalTigar]

Yes it would be bad to win that way.

If the odds are stacked against you and you win: then you know you played well using your mind and skill in logistics, tactics and strategy.

If the odds are stacked against you and you win through no action of your own: then it is just dumb luck.

I like to know at the end of the day that my actions have some type of meaning in the digital world and the real.