CIV IV IS THE BEST GAME EVER!!!

[Peacefanatic]

Hello everyone,

I'm writing from Brazil to say this is an awesome game. I have been playing it for about two months now and I'm totally addicted to it.

I have read lots of threads and discussion and most of the articles in War Academy, but I'm still pretty much a noob. Currently I'm playing on Prince and trying to move up the ladder.

I wonder if there are people interested in playing online. It would be awesome to play against humans.

Also I would like to ask if it's worth to play Civ V and Civ IV. I started playing Civ IV because I saw lots of people saying this is the best of the series.

Thanks for your time and I hope there are still people playing this great game!

 

[Lennier]

Are you playing base, Warlords, or BtS?

I’ve never played V or VI, but most of the IV players seem to think they’re vastly inferior games.

 

[Peacefanatic]

Thanks for your reply Lennier.

I play BtS. Should I try only Warlords or Vanilla? I have been playing BtS from the beggining.
Right now I'm playing Boudica and have just destroyed Joao II.

Do you play online?

All the best,

 

[civfanchambers]

Stay with Bts. It's the second expansion pack, and the best version of the game. Others can direct you to them but there are good mods for the game. Bug/bull/bat. I run the bug/bat wih the blue marble graphic upgrade. These mods only improve the graphic look of the game as well as provide more user info. They do not change any game play.

 

[lymond]

Hello everyone,!

Hello!

Glad you found what is the best game ever!

Highlighting some points made by others, as well as some of your questions, I provide you with a few links.

----BUG/BULL and/or BAT can be found here:

https://forums.civfanatics.com/forums/civ4-bts-unaltered-gameplay-bug-bat-and-bull.268/

As cfc noted above, these mods do not change gameplay, but rather improve UI. BAT is bug/bull plus graphics (i play this mod the most). You can also install Blue Marble found in that link as well for terrain graphics (BAT has it)

Most folks play with at least bug/bull installed.

BUFFY (the BTS HOF mod) is nice to have installed. It's used for HOF games, Game of the Months (GOTMs) and Successions GOTMs (SGOTMs), which are other ways to enjoy the game here and collaborate with others. See my sig for links.

---If you would like to improve your game fast and move up levels, I recommend spending most of your time in the Strategy & Tips forum. Really the most active of the subforums with many folks there willing to help you out with your learning endeavors. Forum games are constantly running there as well:

https://forums.civfanatics.com/forums/civ4-strategy-tips.155/

----I don't play Multiplayer, but there is a subforum dedicated to it here:

https://forums.civfanatics.com/forums/civ4-multiplayer-pbem.160/

Probably your best bet to find MP games and folks to play with. Playing Civ IV MP is really a different animal so to speak. MP has its own strategies since you are playing against humans, which is a far different experience than playing AI. Note that there are actually several ways to play MP with Civ IV, including Internet, PitBoss, PBEM (play be email), LAN and Hotseat.

I think the internet lobby can only be found with the Steam version, sponsored by Steam, since the old Gamespy lobby was retired some years ago. The other options are more personal either playing with friends, or hooking up with folks from the forums that sponsor things like PitBoss.

 

[Peacefanatic]

Stay with Bts. It's the second expansion pack, and the best version of the game. Others can direct you to them but there are good mods for the game. Bug/bull/bat. I run the bug/bat wih the blue marble graphic upgrade. These mods only improve the graphic look of the game as well as provide more user info. They do not change any game play.

Thanks for the info civfanchambers. I'm running the BUG mod and it's great, specially the ability to lay down BFC so I can plan my expansion.
Regarding the blue marble graphic upgrade, do you think I need a good computer for it? I run Civ IV pretty smoothly, I'm afraid this graphic upgrade might slow it down. What do you think?

Most folks play with at least bug/bull installed.

Hey lymond, thanks for your reply.
I'm using BUG mod and it's pretty good. But I'm not using neither BULL and BUFFY mod. Besides the graphic upgrade, is it worth using them? I can see that there are options in the BUG mod that are not available unless I install BULL, but I don't feel I'm missing anything, maybe it's because I have never used them.

---If you would like to improve your game fast and move up levels, I recommend spending most of your time in the Strategy & Tips forum. Really the most active of the subforums with many folks there willing to help you out with your learning endeavors. Forum games are constantly running there as well:

Thanks again for all the info. I'm always reading something from these forums and trying to improve my game.
I just moved up to Monarch level and I was able to win my two games there pretty comfortably by securing an easy tech lead.
But I feel I'm still pretty much a noob because all I know are military/culture wins and I'm not aware of lots of mechanics of Civ IV.

Probably your best bet to find MP games and folks to play with. Playing Civ IV MP is really a different animal so to speak. MP has its own strategies since you are playing against humans, which is a far different experience than playing AI. Note that there are actually several ways to play MP with Civ IV, including Internet, PitBoss, PBEM (play be email), LAN and Hotseat.

I think the internet lobby can only be found with the Steam version, sponsored by Steam, since the old Gamespy lobby was retired some years ago. The other options are more personal either playing with friends, or hooking up with folks from the forums that sponsor things like PitBoss.

I had no idea you could play MP by e-mail, that must be insteresting. I don't have Steam so I think it will be difficulty to be able to play Civ IV, specially since none of my friends play it. But who knows, I'll try to find one someday.

All the best,

 

[civfanchambers]

My PC was purchased back in spring 2014. Just a basic gaming PC, and it runs the blue marble graphic enhancements just fine.

 

[rah]

I would hope so

 

[lymond]

Regarding the blue marble graphic upgrade, do you think I need a good computer for it? I run Civ IV pretty smoothly, I'm afraid this graphic upgrade might slow it down. What do you think?



Hey lymond, thanks for your reply.
I'm using BUG mod and it's pretty good. But I'm not using neither BULL and BUFFY mod. Besides the graphic upgrade, is it worth using them? I can see that there are options in the BUG mod that are not available unless I install BULL, but I don't feel I'm missing anything, maybe it's because I have never used them.

I think blue marble's impact on a machine's resources is very minor. There is a low and high resolution option as well on install. Note that blue marble is just about enhancing the terrain and water..it does make the game look a lot better. (I can't speak though for what kind of computer you have, but if you have a reasonably modern machine then I see no problem)

BULL activates quite a bit more info that BUG provides (bug and bull are obviously synergistic). The one thing I really like that it adds is the worker prechops forests feature, which stops a worker from completing a forest chop the last turn. Important for high level play. Otherwise you have to manage workers closely when they chop forests. An optional feature - heal on sentry - is nice too, but must be added and compiled. However, the BAT mod, which I use the most out of anything, has everything setup up and ready to go, plus blue marble and a couple of nice graphic mods.

BUFFY is the HOF mod used for GOTMs, SGOTMs, and HOF games. Combines BUG, BULL and the small HOF vetting mod. I recommend having it installed so you can participate in those CFC features.

Note: BUFFY and BAT are both standalone mods. Meaning the mods are installed separately into the Mods folder and must be loaded (although a modified shortcut of the BTS executable makes loading mods easy) BUG/BULL can be installed as standalone, but the preferred way is to install the SP option into Custom Assets (I assume you did it this way). No need to load the mod..the features are just there.

I'd also recommend that when running BUG, BUFFY or BAT that you go to the BUG options screens. On the PLE tab uncheck the very top checkbox to disable PLE...a rather resource intensive feature, but you don't lose much.

 

[Abegweit]

This is a thirteen-year old game. Any modern computer will handle it just fine - for example, my 4 year old laptop with integrated graphics.

 

[Aristos]

@Peacefanatic : Tudo joia! You have seen the Light, my work with you is not needed.

I recommend you use the merged version of BUG/BULL with the Better AI mod, called Better BUG AI or BBAI instead of only BUG:

https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/better-bug-ai.354019/

Also, Blue Marble is not a problem with a PC that already runs civ 4 at max.

 

[ThunderLizard2]

Agree that Civ IV BTS is peak of the Civ series. Graphics are getting dated though. What's needed is a new Civ IV BTS rather than the crap called Civ V and Civ VI. Unit stacks forever!