Civ II - original, Gold or TOT?!

ChiefSparkY

Warlord
Joined
Feb 27, 2004
Messages
130
Location
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Hi guys
Yet again I tried to enjoy a game of Civ IV yesterday and yet again I was bored. It kind of feels like the computer is playing for me and I'm half watching. There's something about the game that has lost its fun for me.

Anyway, Civ II has always been the most fun for me (with Civ I close behind). I used to play the original version and then got Gold for multiplayer - I didn't realise all those years ago but from what I read in the forum, Gold AI is tougher on the human?

So what about TOT? I've always avoided it but I might get a copy from eBay and try it out. I've no interest in the scenarios and stuff at the moment, I just want to play the classic game. So how does it play? I know there are a couple of tweaks from Civ II classic but apart from that, it's exactly the same plus a graphics revamp - right? Anyone play TOT regularly?

SparkY
 
I've got the Ultimate Civilization II Collection and Test of Time. I was just playing as Celts. The original is still better than ToT.
 
I prefer ToT to vannilla Ciiv 2.

It's 4 maps, 3D capability makes it more interesting.

I love its Fantasy Game rather than its Midgard Fantasy scenario.

However there is little purpose in you buying it, if you will only ever
play the original game option. It just gives you a different set of graphics.
But I think the resource seed for special squares is more generous.
 
I know it's just a different graphics set but I'm wondering if the gameplay has been tweaked at all - is the AI tougher or easier on humans for example? Dumber? Smarter? Any other gameplay changes I should know about?

It's nice to have the option anyway! Although I might try some of the graphics sets in the Downloads section - I do love the plain and clear graphics of Civ II - it would be nice if they were slightly higher res of course.
 
So what about TOT? I've always avoided it but I might get a copy from eBay and try it out. I've no interest in the scenarios and stuff at the moment, I just want to play the classic game. So how does it play? I know there are a couple of tweaks from Civ II classic but apart from that, it's exactly the same plus a graphics revamp - right?
AFAIK, with the exception of the airbase bugfix (ie, the removal of the city flag), it plays exactly the same as MGE. Yes, that means the AI is more hostile than earlier versions. See this post of mine in yet another discussion on Civ2 versions. If you're only interested in playing the standard game, then vanilla Civ2 looks like the one for you.
 
AFAIK, with the exception of the airbase bugfix (ie, the removal of the city flag), it plays exactly the same as MGE. Yes, that means the AI is more hostile than earlier versions. See this post of mine in yet another discussion on Civ2 versions. If you're only interested in playing the standard game, then vanilla Civ2 looks like the one for you.

That's a very useful post that you have linked to, thanks. Looks like I'll have two Civ II installations then - one for playing single player games (Vanilla) and one for multiplayer games (MGE). My next step is to start trawling through the threads to see where everyone (anyone?) plays online!
 
You should check out the thread on Lalande 21185 - that's in reference to the science fiction portion of ToT. You have four worlds to explore - Funestis, the orbital stations, Naumachia (a moon), and Nona (gas giant planet).

There are two different fantasy scenarios in ToT. Midgard is a LOT harder than the regular fantasy portion (again, four worlds), and there are mini-quests you have to complete to win.

There is a version where you can play Civ II as a Centauran - that's the only way I like playing the regular Civ II part of ToT. You can't communicate with the Earth civs for most of the game, but the Wonders still work quite nicely (ie. Great Library).
 
I have all 3 of them. The original is probably the best, but MGE is great if you want to play scenarios as most of them are made for MGE. The AI in MGE isn't exactly more challenging, just more annoying. If your civilization is the strongest, no matter what you do, everyone will hate you. If you're about to win the game by a space race, everyone will declare war on you. If you go with MGE and hate the AI, there's a patch that someone made that changes the AI back to normal.

As for Test of Time, I really don't like it. The graphics are just too awful.
 
Hmm, an interesting discussion, since I acquired the Civilization Chronicles with all of the games. I will have to take a look at them and see what else I can learn from here. I have been playing Civ3 for quite a while, and have a strong dislike for Civ4. I normally play on Macs, but I bought a Windows box to do editing for Civ3, and Civ2 keeps looking more and more interesting.
 
If you go with MGE and hate the AI, there's a patch that someone made that changes the AI back to normal.
Not to threadjack, but is this patch available for ToT?
 
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