Civ 4 questions

[yay]

I just started playing Civ 4 (my last turn based game was Star Trek: Birth of Federation which I loved).

I've a couple of questions...
1) Which is the fastest speed? Marathon, epic, normal, quick.
2) In your opinion, what is the best race/civilization to play as and why?
3) Is beyond the sword worth getting?


I also have a very powerful computer (quadcore, 8gigs ram, geforce 8600gt 256mb, 320gig hd) and running the game in the later stages with 10 computer opponents seems slow....it looks like when it comes time for the AI turns, it takes like 2-3 minutes. Is that normal? I'm using the largest map available.

 

[JoeCivFan]

I have a decent computer and it never runs slow for me, but I dont like to play large maps, because of that reason exactly. Later on in the game when there are more units moving, more improvemtns being made, and wars being fought, the game goes slow because the AI is doing so much.

 

[MrCynical]

1) Which is the fastest speed? Marathon, epic, normal, quick.

Quick has the fewest turns, and hence will give the fastest game.

2) In your opinion, what is the best race/civilization to play as and why?

It boils down to leaders rather than civs, and it depends what your style of play is. If you're going for a peaceful game any leader with Financial or Philosophical (and particularly Elizabeth with both) will suit you well. For a more aggressive game either Roman leader would be a good choice.

3) Is beyond the sword worth getting?

Yes, though it is also worth applying the unofficial patch in order to fix a number of major bugs in the current version.

I also have a very powerful computer (quadcore, 8gigs ram, geforce 8600gt 256mb, 320gig hd) and running the game in the later stages with 10 computer opponents seems slow....it looks like when it comes time for the AI turns, it takes like 2-3 minutes. Is that normal? I'm using the largest map available.

Very large maps inevitably run slowly in the late game (especially if you're at war). You can turn off all combat and movement animations to save time.