Bugs: should I wait for a major patch before playing?

[hardcore_gamer]

I've found the AI to better than IV so far.

LOL!

While I agree that the AI in Civ 4 was far from perfect, calling the AI in Civ 5 "better" is just so outright laughable that it smells of fanboyism.

Just to make it clear I don't actually hate Civ 5 for its game mechanics or because of its differences with Civ 4, in fact I actually welcome most of the changes.

But the fact remains that while the AI in Civ 4 was at least good enough to build a large number of cities and represent a fair challenge even on the normal difficulty, there have already been people who have been able to beat the AI on deity without many problems simply because the ******** AI can't compete with them.

Whether Civ 5 is a good game or a bad game is entirely subjective and based on opinions. Whether Civ 5 has bad or good AI however is not and is based on facts alone. And that fact is that at the moment at least the AI is bad.

 

[charon2112]

disagree with ya here. Civ IV AI constantly did some of the dumbest things, like building cities one tile away from the coast preventing ocean access. attacking with super weak units when they had absolutely no chance of winning. In V, the AI plays more like a person, they're actually trying to win. I've seen a few threads already on here by people that felt "cheated" (really outsmarted) by the AI, as if that was a bad thing. So better AI, more diplomatic options = V is an awesome game.

LOL!

While I agree that the AI in Civ 4 was far from perfect, calling the AI in Civ 5 "better" is just so outright laughable that it smells of fanboyism.

Just to make it clear I don't actually hate Civ 5 for its game mechanics or because of its differences with Civ 4, in fact I actually welcome most of the changes.

But the fact remains that while the AI in Civ 4 was at least good enough to build a large number of cities and represent a fair challenge even on the normal difficulty, there have already been people who have been able to beat the AI on deity without many problems simply because the ******** AI can't compete with them.

Whether Civ 5 is a good game or a bad game is entirely subjective and based on opinions. Whether Civ 5 has bad or good AI however is not and is based on facts alone. And that fact is that at the moment at least the AI is bad.

 

[hardcore_gamer]

In V, the AI plays more like a person

Which may very well be the worst design decision ever.

The brain of the typical online gamer is a crude pile of mud held together by bandages. Why would I want a AI like that?

 

[Vader1025]

What bugs? Well, not to complain, but the fact that many people are experiencing bugs (some significant) shouldn't just be swept under the rug by those few who've experienced no bugs.

Bugs/problems I've experienced: 1) auto-moved unit embarks to sea on its own accord; 2) tile remains controlled by governor no matter how badly I want to lock the sucker down; 3) Romans have 4 cities and access to iron but makes no attempt to collect iron and builds no units even after war is declared -- Rome decides to build 1 archer one turn before its civilization is destroyed; 4) game crashes if try to skip intro movie; 5) game crashes if reload earlier save from Main Menu screan; 6) a few minor animation/audio bugs.....

So, yeah, nothing game breaking per se -- but certainly not problem free!

Well, the bug I encountered, limiting to only 69 cities, IS completely game breaking for me.
I want to play. Even as I sit here at the computer, I search all forums I know for a workaround so I can play. NOTHING from Firaxis on this. NOTHING.

 

[Debanad]

As long as you play on archipelago and not on duel, you can win basically every game with space, cultural, or diplo.

The AI is fairly decent in beating the hell out of you if you are on the same continent as them though, but its only with mass numbers not any tactics.

 

[MeowTau]

I also experiences crashes from loading. I can load one game initially, but if I want to load again I must restart Civ V or it will crash 100% of the time.

 

[Surgeon]

Bugs/problems I've experiencednt) shouldn't just be swept under the rug by those few who've : 1) auto-moved unit embarks to sea on its own accord; 2)

not a bug. Feature that you don't like perhaps. but not a bug.

 

[charon2112]

The brain of the typical online gamer is a crude pile of mud held together by bandages. Why would I want a AI like that?

I agree with you, and I didn't mean that they made the AI play like an online player...just that it made more realistic decisions and tried actively to win.

 

[Bigwilly 16]

To the OP...if you already bought it, play it, just know up front that there are significant issues in the opinion of many and try and enjoy it now for what it is.

If you haven't bought it, it's a tougher call. Personally, I'd probably wait, but it is playable in single player mode and you might enjoy it. Despite my beefs with the game, I've put in 60 hours - though probably no more until AI and balance issues receive some love.

 

[SuperJay]

I agree with you, and I didn't mean that they made the AI play like an online player...just that it made more realistic decisions and tried actively to win.

First, I don't disagree with you about Civ 5 in general; I like the game overall.

But have you played an archipelago map yet? In the one I'm currently playing, none of the AI civs have built a single ship. I don't remember offhand how far I am into the game, but suffice to say I'm sailing around with Caravels and Frigates, and my only opponents on the high seas are barbarians. The AI hasn't built a single trireme.

That's a big AI problem

 

[charon2112]

To the OP...if you already bought it, play it, just know up front that there are significant issues in the opinion of many and try and enjoy it now for what it is.

again, design decisions you don't agree with are not "significant problems". This is one of the more bug free releases I've experienced.

First, I don't disagree with you about Civ 5 in general; I like the game overall.

But have you played an archipelago map yet? In the one I'm currently playing, none of the AI civs have built a single ship. I don't remember offhand how far I am into the game, but suffice to say I'm sailing around with Caravels and Frigates, and my only opponents on the high seas are barbarians. The AI hasn't built a single trireme.

That's a big AI problem

I haven't played archipelago yet, but in my continents game, my AI opponent had quite a navy going.

 

[Taan]

No question: Wait. They fixed some gamebreaking bugs already (peacethreaty not ending for e.g.), but there are still major flaws/bugs/crashes. That aside: the ai is so weak..just wait.

 

[SuperJay]

I haven't played archipelago yet, but in my continents game, my AI opponent had quite a navy going.

Hmm, that's interesting... what size map and what difficulty, if you don't mind me asking? The archipelago map I'm playing is Tiny and on Prince level. Given that I sacked the capital Siam straightaway, there are only two civs left, the Ottomans and the Romans. Maybe their people just have a predisposition to seasickness.

 

[Drago Askani]

50+ hours with no problems in Xp with DX9, upgraded system to win 7 finally yesterday, 6 hours played in dx11 and no problems their either. The upgrade to Win 7 64bit also finally let me play huge maps since before that it would crash. I now know why too, when generating huge maps it can get up to 3+gigs in memory usage, obviously 32 bit xp wouldn't let it allocate that much of my memory.

Side note, I think I like win7. I was so hesitant on buying it since vista was such garbage. But this thing is nice.

 

[charon2112]

Hmm, that's interesting... what size map and what difficulty, if you don't mind me asking? The archipelago map I'm playing is Tiny and on Prince level. Given that I sacked the capital Siam straightaway, there are only two civs left, the Ottomans and the Romans. Maybe their people just have a predisposition to seasickness.

standard size, prince difficulty

 

[Onionsoilder]

I wouldn't say you need to wait for a major patch. There are bugs certainly, but the ones that extremely frustrating or will break your game are pretty rare. Do they still exist? Yes. Is Civ V perfect? Hardly. I've completed three games so far, working on my fourth, and there are a lot of things that need improvement. AI is one of the big ones. I had extreme difficulty winning Emperor games in Civ IV, yet I've steamrolled the AI twice on Deity in Civ V. Still, Civ V is a fun game in it's own right - I've found myself OMTing quite often, even though I know that I will win(In Civ IV once I realized I had won the game I usually got bored and quit).