Civ II or MOO2 - which is best and tell me differences!

[bsteinbach]

I've never played a Civ or MOO game (I don't get to stay in very much), but I want to buy one of the the best older strategy games and can't decide on Civ (1 or 2) or MOO (1 or 2). What are some of the positives and negatives of each, and if I only ever get to play one game, which should it be?

[This message has been edited by bsteinbach (edited July 21, 2001).]

 

[TrailblazingScot]

A massive task you give...civ2

THOUGH NOT TO GET CIV2 mpge, civ1 and moo2 is a crime against timewasting fun. I love moo2 in terms of the challenge the hardest level gives in the early stages of the game...and the thrill of finding a decent planet!

 

[Algernon Pondlife]

Not really the right place to ask this question, but I'm sure our worthy moderators can sort that out.

If you really can only have one then you have to decide what you want: both games are exceptionally good so there is little risk in that department.

First way to choose: do you prefer your head in the stars or your feet on the ground?

Second way to choose: Civ probably has slightly more replayability about it, but that is only relevant if you expect to get thousands of hours out of them.

Third way to choose: toss a coin

Fourth way to choose: (this aught to be third but it is a lot more work and you say you are short of free time) visit all the sites about both games, read everything you can find and get a really good feel for which one suits you better.

Fifth way to choose: find someone you know has pretty much the same tastes as yourself and who knows all these games and take her/his judgement.

THERE IS ANOTHER WAY

get all four and also SMAC/SMAX

Live with the fact that you don't have time to fully explore any of them but you will get the best of them all because they are at their best before you know all there little foibles and you can have fun dipping into them from time to time.

The original civ may look crude beside more "modern" graphics but it is a purer version of the game; Civ2 did add soome excellent features and fix some anomalies but it also played up to the toy soldier brigade (many of whom can be spotted in this forum).

The original MOO has some problems especially with very large fleets but it has an excellent resource/research management system that seemed to get simplified in MOO2. On the other hand, MOO2 has excellent facilities for designing your individual ships in a way that allows you to build complex and effective fighting forces; it also has the kind of variable species (they call it "race", but you can't expect perfection) configuration that you also get with Stars! (depending on your disposition, you may prefer that game anyway; it is a little dry for some tastes).

SMAC/SMAX use the basic civ engine type but with more of a military orientation. The time scale is considerably shorter and the complexity of military design is accentuated. This all works well and is the real answer for the toy soldier brigade rather than mess with the "grand design" feel of the civ family.



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Nothing is too wonderful to be true

 

[stormerne]

Moving this to Civ2 GD

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[a_disciple]

He... funny!

While I was writing a reply to this in the other forum, stormerne moved it to this forum... So I have to give the reply anew, but shortened!

In short...
If you feel alive when you see your empire expand all over the world, and you feel like the father of Alexander the great felt when he said to his son: "My son, take upon you another kingdom for that which I leave, is to small for thee!" Then the CIV series is for you. The CIV series are about being the greatest, biggest and ONLY nation on earth, or to be the first to reach Alpha Centauri.

If you feel alive when you see your empire expand into the deep space, and you hear the message from your engineers reaching your ears, telling you that your long awaited DEATH STAR is about to be completed and soon will be armed and ready!

... "I have foreseen it!" ... then the MOO - especially MOO2 - series are for you.

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"How happy your men must be! How happy your officials, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom!" (The Bible about Solomon)

 

[Alan_Nicoll]

Civ2 gives you the chance to start with a primitive village and turn it into a buzzing, burgeoning, modern civilization. If you liked Empire, or want to conquer a hapless civilization and see them come begging for peace, go for Civ 2.

MOO starts about where Civ2 leaves off, if you choose to build a space ship and fly to Alpha Centauri rather than conquering the world. In MOO you try to expand to other planets while improving your fleet of ships. If you like to incinerate big, thriving planets, turning them into radioactive balls of cinders, MOO is great. I haven't played MOO2, though. My preference continues to be Civ2, mostly because of the multiplayer capability. A multiplayer MOO would be hard to pass up.

 

[Dogberry_Old]

MOO2 is multiplayer, but you have to wait for everybody to complete their turn, before you can "go". I have heard that the turns are quite lengthy. Also MOO2 came out during the transition between DOS & Windows, so you might have memory problems w/ Windows SE & above. MOO2 is a great game & the AI is one of the better ones going.

Dog

 

[Dogberry_Old]

MOO2 is multiplayer, but you have to wait for everybody to complete their turn, before you can "go". I have heard that the turns are quite lengthy. Also MOO2 came out during the transition between DOS & Windows, so you might have memory problems w/ Windows SE & above. MOO2 is a great game & the AI is one of the better ones going.

Dog