I've been up 2 nights in a row now playing off and online. First of all the graphics are very good, the music/sound is decent as well. I'm happy that corruption is gone. Loving the new combat with collateral damage. I think Civ4 beats Civ3 but it definitely needs some changes, which will hopefully come in patches shortly. Here are some things I've noticed that I think could be improved upon-
-First of all the lobby is messed up, the scroll bar is useless so the arrow keys must be used. There is no way to filter out full games, and no way to tell if a game is in progress or brand new that I can tell.
-Windowed mode would really be nice in this type of game, I can't find it.
-It might just be my comp but the volume controls need some adjustment because the different sounds dont come through well at comfortable zoom levels.
-The civilopedia is confusing, I prefer the Civ3 one. Trying to find something in there is like playing wheres waldo with all those icons, except you arent sure what waldo looks like. Also the linking between topics seems lacking.
-Personally I think the right click menu is intuitive for anyone using a computer and should be on by default. Even with it on though, there should be at least as many options as Civ3 provided, or more. What if I want to wake a certain unit, or zoom to the city, without fear of disturbing my fortified units(I know it usually doesn't but that isnt obvious to the player)?
-When in the city detail view the worst thing that stands out to me is the build 'menu'. It's another grid of icons which takes extra time to navigate. In Civ3 if I wanted to build a settler, a barracks, and then a worker I simply: Hold shift and click their names in order from the drop down menu. In Civ4 I find settler by checking the tooltip, ok, now I realize there are no buildings in view...so I scroll down.. check tooltips until I find barracks, okay gotta memorize that one for later... oops forgot too hold shift.. start over..then scroll back up.. anyways you get the point: HORRIBLE!
-When I was looking for games in the lobby I kept joining ones that were already in progres... ugh.. so next time it started loading that kind of game I canceled. When I got back to the lobby my mouse was stuck as a permanent spinning wheel. It stayed this way until I finally was able to launch a game I hosted.
-When logging into the gamespy thing it should at least have an option to save my username and password.
-This is a major one for me. I've played 3 online games where it was obvious I was going to win them. So of course my opponents surrendered when they knew they were beat. Suddenly I lose my urge to play, because they get replaced with AI opponents and I play online so I can play with real humans! I don't want to spend 3 more hours with the comp, I can do that offline. Why is there no option to make it so when a player 'retires' their civilization becomes defeated? I understand why some wouldnt want this, but there should at least be an option!! Out of the all the online games I've played so far(all of them I was going to win) I didn't get to see my ending stats for any of them (which I realllly look forward too) because the humans surrendered and I got stuck with the uninteresting AI.
-I have no graphical lag, my computer runs the game smoothly. Yet, when playing online, even off, the game..the interface.. feels sluggish. The problem becomes exponentially worse when 1 laggy player is in the game it seems. When I click a button I shouldn't have to wait 2 seconds for feedback, when my turn is done the green light should instantly tick red- instead it waits a while without any notification of progress or thinking, then finally slowly fades. It would be okay if a button was depressed instantly, then displayed some notice that it was waiting on something before continuing. I know this isn't vital, but its one of those things that creates frustration, especially when managing/upgrading large armies against a blazing timer.
-I found that occasionally the chat box wouldn't allow me to type in it.This isn't where another dialog has come up that needs your attention (thats another thing.. you should be able to finish your sentence in the chat, then focus on the dialog afterwards), for some reason no letters could be typed into the text field until my next turn. This has happened to me maybe 5 times so far.
-When retiring from an online game it should take you back to the lobby, not the game menu. Then you have to type your name/pass in again, just so you can get into another game(that is in progress no doubt).
-Minor, but occasionally the sprite animation goes in slow motion for some reason.
-If you have a unit selected, and the turn timer forces you into the next turn, it should let you continue with that unit before taking you on a tour of all your cities and asking you what needs to be built. This is especially frustrating with simultaneous turns where you and another player are fighting with large armies and you are about to take a city or make a critical blow. Then after you speed click through all the things you want built, you find your opponent has reinforced the city you should have been able to take.
-Some people have mentioned wanting an ability to kick players.. I can think of some reasons against this but considering the lag and how some players act.. there should probably be an option.
-There should be a more noticeable alert when your town is under siege. I was fighting someone in a narrow strip of land, and found out later that he had taken units in galleys across the bay and destroyed my second largest town. His units were very close to the same color as mine (light purple and dark purple) so I didn't notice him in my town. I know it alerts you if units have died or if they have been spotted near some area, but I had been fighting so much elsewhere that I had learned to ignore the constant battle notices. Some things are just fine tucked away in that corner, but some things should be presented right in your face.
-This isn't really a complaint since it's expected with a Civ game. But since they said this would be a big change I thought I'd point out its not as big as I thought it would be. I noticed that playing a 'quick' game on 'blazing' speed still often takes all night or more. Part of this may be due to the turn timer going down in some new time increment I can only describe as slow seconds. It doesn't help with players constantly joining and leaving the AI slots(which takes a turn in itself it seems). Not to mention the interface that responds when it wants to, not when you want it to.
-If I want to declare war when playing online, it doesnt work to just use 'g' to goto a location on someone elses border. I always have to use the numpad movement or declare war on their name in the lower right.
-I saw a yellow caraval within my purple border, but I wasnt at war and had no open border agreements.. is this normal?
-Most of the advisor screens dont seem to be too helpful, except for the civics one. The technology one is okay but it is kind of hard to find what your looking for amongst the small icons.
-I constantly see people asking how to do things.. like hurry production ("how do you make slaves?" they say).. and with the civilopedia no longer my ally.. I really have no idea how to answer all the questions I see. I think this should be part of the right click menu thing, thats where a lot of players would naturally look first for actions.
-It's probably too early to say this.. and I don't know why I'm saying it, since it would destroy my flawless strategy.. but Praetorians may be overpowered, I know there are axemen.. but I can pump out zillions of my UU very early in the game, and I never have to worry about any other Civs until much later (unless they are roman too).
-oh another lobby oddity.. I'm not sure why the default name for a server is your computers name.. I see JAMES-MAIN or ANDY-COMP and get confused, should have probably been "Jayblue21's game" or something.
There are just as many good things to list or more, but I think its more important to report on what could be improved. I know I could list more little issues but I've been up for 24 hours straight (if my writing seems odd thats probably why). If you're wondering why I went into so much depth its because, first, I love the Civ series and I want to see it improve. Second, I'm a game developer myself so I approach the game from that perspective.
Bring on the patch! Firaxis I'll work for you at no charge to get it out faster, I love the game that much!
-First of all the lobby is messed up, the scroll bar is useless so the arrow keys must be used. There is no way to filter out full games, and no way to tell if a game is in progress or brand new that I can tell.
-Windowed mode would really be nice in this type of game, I can't find it.
-It might just be my comp but the volume controls need some adjustment because the different sounds dont come through well at comfortable zoom levels.
-The civilopedia is confusing, I prefer the Civ3 one. Trying to find something in there is like playing wheres waldo with all those icons, except you arent sure what waldo looks like. Also the linking between topics seems lacking.
-Personally I think the right click menu is intuitive for anyone using a computer and should be on by default. Even with it on though, there should be at least as many options as Civ3 provided, or more. What if I want to wake a certain unit, or zoom to the city, without fear of disturbing my fortified units(I know it usually doesn't but that isnt obvious to the player)?
-When in the city detail view the worst thing that stands out to me is the build 'menu'. It's another grid of icons which takes extra time to navigate. In Civ3 if I wanted to build a settler, a barracks, and then a worker I simply: Hold shift and click their names in order from the drop down menu. In Civ4 I find settler by checking the tooltip, ok, now I realize there are no buildings in view...so I scroll down.. check tooltips until I find barracks, okay gotta memorize that one for later... oops forgot too hold shift.. start over..then scroll back up.. anyways you get the point: HORRIBLE!
-When I was looking for games in the lobby I kept joining ones that were already in progres... ugh.. so next time it started loading that kind of game I canceled. When I got back to the lobby my mouse was stuck as a permanent spinning wheel. It stayed this way until I finally was able to launch a game I hosted.
-When logging into the gamespy thing it should at least have an option to save my username and password.
-This is a major one for me. I've played 3 online games where it was obvious I was going to win them. So of course my opponents surrendered when they knew they were beat. Suddenly I lose my urge to play, because they get replaced with AI opponents and I play online so I can play with real humans! I don't want to spend 3 more hours with the comp, I can do that offline. Why is there no option to make it so when a player 'retires' their civilization becomes defeated? I understand why some wouldnt want this, but there should at least be an option!! Out of the all the online games I've played so far(all of them I was going to win) I didn't get to see my ending stats for any of them (which I realllly look forward too) because the humans surrendered and I got stuck with the uninteresting AI.
-I have no graphical lag, my computer runs the game smoothly. Yet, when playing online, even off, the game..the interface.. feels sluggish. The problem becomes exponentially worse when 1 laggy player is in the game it seems. When I click a button I shouldn't have to wait 2 seconds for feedback, when my turn is done the green light should instantly tick red- instead it waits a while without any notification of progress or thinking, then finally slowly fades. It would be okay if a button was depressed instantly, then displayed some notice that it was waiting on something before continuing. I know this isn't vital, but its one of those things that creates frustration, especially when managing/upgrading large armies against a blazing timer.
-I found that occasionally the chat box wouldn't allow me to type in it.This isn't where another dialog has come up that needs your attention (thats another thing.. you should be able to finish your sentence in the chat, then focus on the dialog afterwards), for some reason no letters could be typed into the text field until my next turn. This has happened to me maybe 5 times so far.
-When retiring from an online game it should take you back to the lobby, not the game menu. Then you have to type your name/pass in again, just so you can get into another game(that is in progress no doubt).
-Minor, but occasionally the sprite animation goes in slow motion for some reason.
-If you have a unit selected, and the turn timer forces you into the next turn, it should let you continue with that unit before taking you on a tour of all your cities and asking you what needs to be built. This is especially frustrating with simultaneous turns where you and another player are fighting with large armies and you are about to take a city or make a critical blow. Then after you speed click through all the things you want built, you find your opponent has reinforced the city you should have been able to take.
-Some people have mentioned wanting an ability to kick players.. I can think of some reasons against this but considering the lag and how some players act.. there should probably be an option.
-There should be a more noticeable alert when your town is under siege. I was fighting someone in a narrow strip of land, and found out later that he had taken units in galleys across the bay and destroyed my second largest town. His units were very close to the same color as mine (light purple and dark purple) so I didn't notice him in my town. I know it alerts you if units have died or if they have been spotted near some area, but I had been fighting so much elsewhere that I had learned to ignore the constant battle notices. Some things are just fine tucked away in that corner, but some things should be presented right in your face.
-This isn't really a complaint since it's expected with a Civ game. But since they said this would be a big change I thought I'd point out its not as big as I thought it would be. I noticed that playing a 'quick' game on 'blazing' speed still often takes all night or more. Part of this may be due to the turn timer going down in some new time increment I can only describe as slow seconds. It doesn't help with players constantly joining and leaving the AI slots(which takes a turn in itself it seems). Not to mention the interface that responds when it wants to, not when you want it to.
-If I want to declare war when playing online, it doesnt work to just use 'g' to goto a location on someone elses border. I always have to use the numpad movement or declare war on their name in the lower right.
-I saw a yellow caraval within my purple border, but I wasnt at war and had no open border agreements.. is this normal?
-Most of the advisor screens dont seem to be too helpful, except for the civics one. The technology one is okay but it is kind of hard to find what your looking for amongst the small icons.
-I constantly see people asking how to do things.. like hurry production ("how do you make slaves?" they say).. and with the civilopedia no longer my ally.. I really have no idea how to answer all the questions I see. I think this should be part of the right click menu thing, thats where a lot of players would naturally look first for actions.
-It's probably too early to say this.. and I don't know why I'm saying it, since it would destroy my flawless strategy.. but Praetorians may be overpowered, I know there are axemen.. but I can pump out zillions of my UU very early in the game, and I never have to worry about any other Civs until much later (unless they are roman too).
-oh another lobby oddity.. I'm not sure why the default name for a server is your computers name.. I see JAMES-MAIN or ANDY-COMP and get confused, should have probably been "Jayblue21's game" or something.
There are just as many good things to list or more, but I think its more important to report on what could be improved. I know I could list more little issues but I've been up for 24 hours straight (if my writing seems odd thats probably why). If you're wondering why I went into so much depth its because, first, I love the Civ series and I want to see it improve. Second, I'm a game developer myself so I approach the game from that perspective.
Bring on the patch! Firaxis I'll work for you at no charge to get it out faster, I love the game that much!
I find it enormous and untuitive, for once I understand how some Gnome users feel about KDE ( though I disagree it's to such an extent ) everything seems thrown all over the place, what's there is freaking enormous and I feel that it could be space better used. 
that exact same thing happened to me, what a crap city it was to!! 
Is there a way to scroll back over these events?
