Civ IV to Civ II?

[CedricTheAwesom]

I have Civ IV and really love it, so I'm thinking about getting Civ 2 for the PlayStation. Are the games similar enough that I would enjoy both?

 

[TheMulattoMaker]

I'd say yes, probably, but there are a lot of things Civ4 has that Civ2 didn't that you might miss. I lost, oh, 'bout three straight years of my life to Civ2, but I haven't played it since before Civ4 came out.

You might wanna ask this same question over on the Civ2 forums- although the answers you get from active Civ2 players will probably be a little biased, they could give you better information.

 

[Tatran]

Civ2 is dated.
There are only 2 victory conditions (space and conquest) and Fundamentalism is overpowered.
Civ2 becomes repetitve after a few games. The wonder movies + music are everlasting though.
It was great in 1996, but it was replaced really quick after SMAC three years later.

 

[ikotomi]

Playing on a Playstation sounds gross. should be easy enough to find the pc version. If I remember correctly, freeciv is also mostly a clone with civ 2 mechanics.

 

[civfanchambers]

Civ2's game play and mechanics feel broken by civ4 standards. SMAC introduced cultural borders, civ2 lacked this feature. Also the ZOC " zones of control" imposed on units feels archaic. But the music and wonder movies is unforgettable.

 

[TheMulattoMaker]

But the music and wonder movies is unforgettable.

Definitely. And the advisors.

"While the men of learning play with their quill pens, Sire, the city defenses stay as thin as parchment. BUILD CITY WALLS!"

 

[rah]

Except for the exception of diplo-guiding, I was always a big fan of ZOC

 

[Priyon]

I have never played anything older than Civ 3. I started with Civ V, then heard older games were better and had a lot more features/customization, so got Civ 4 and loved it more than anything else. And then I bought Civ 3 just because it looked beautiful.

But I am considering buying Civ 2 if I can find a copy, just for the hilarious advisors.

Any feature in Civ 2 that is NOT in newer games, like Palace/Trophy Room?

 

[civfanchambers]

I have never played anything older than Civ 3. I started with Civ V, then heard older games were better and had a lot more features/customization, so got Civ 4 and loved it more than anything else. And then I bought Civ 3 just because it looked beautiful.

But I am considering buying Civ 2 if I can find a copy, just for the hilarious advisors.

Any feature in Civ 2 that is NOT in newer games, like Palace/Trophy Room?

Civ2 was the last game version with set defined borders. In civ1-2 every city built automatically gained its bfc "big fat cross". From SMAC onwards the games series used cultural borders. Each city generates culture which over time merges to create a national cultural territory.

 

[rah]

Stack defense is also quite different. In II if a defending unit lost (outside of a city or fort) the whole stack was destroyed. There were no SODs (for long anyway)

 

[ringwraith18]

I played civ 2 back in the day, and whilst I enjoyed it at the time I'd never go back to it now. Even civ 3 feels archaic to me having playing civ 4 for so long.

 

[reddishrecue]

I used to use freeciv, a civilization similar to II but mobile. It seems similar at first but not sure ir similar at the end. I havent gone that far since my cell had storage issues.

 

[Priyon]

Civ2 was the last game version with set defined borders. In civ1-2 every city built automatically gained its bfc "big fat cross". From SMAC onwards the games series used cultural borders. Each city generates culture which over time merges to create a national cultural territory.

As much as I've been reading about Civ2, it seems there were no borders in that game at all. Anyone could go anywhere (unless stopped by armies) and cities could work all the tiles as long as some other city wasn't working on them.

The only thing that prevented a cluster of cities was the minimum tile distance limit.

 

[Civinator]

Any feature in Civ 2 that is NOT in newer games, like Palace/Trophy Room?

Multiple maps in Civ 2 ToT.

 

[Seraiel]

But I am considering buying Civ 2 if I can find a copy, just for the hilarious advisors.

You don't need to buy the game for that, there will surely be videos of them on youtube.

 

[Priyon]

You don't need to buy the game for that, there will surely be videos of them on youtube.

Yeah, I've seen most of them, and I thought looking at them during gameplay, running my own empire, sounds much better. And that's what got me interested in Civ2 in the first place.

I have a question. Is Freeciv a Civ2 clone, or a Civ 1 clone?

 

[reddishrecue]

Freeciv is more of a Civ II clone. Its similar to civ 2 more than civ 1.

 

[Lennier]

Any feature in Civ 2 that is NOT in newer games, like Palace/Trophy Room?

Custom map sizes. You could generate maps between 1000 ( I think) and 10,000 tiles. I think the min dimension was 40.

 

[Patine]

I have Civ IV and really love it, so I'm thinking about getting Civ 2 for the PlayStation. Are the games similar enough that I would enjoy both?

Civ2 is for easier to mod in all ways than any later iteration, as you don't need programming and 3D animated graphics production skills. It also has an easy (or compared to some iterations of later Civ, actually extent) game event editor. But I play it on a laptop, not a PlayStation, and I'm not fully aware of how the PlayStation version differs, frankly.

 

[vorlon_mi]

Others have highlighted the key differences. It's still a fun game, in a stripped-down, simplified way. I don't know if they were able to preserve the wonder videos and advisers in the console version.

Stack death -- kill one unit, kill them all -- makes Civ 2 resemble Civ 5, after a fashion.
The term ICS "Infinite City Sprawl" was invented for Civ 2, since it is a viable strategy.

One Civ2 feature which hasn't been replicated elsewhere in the franchise is the tech tree choices: one doesn't always get free rein to choose from all the available techs to pick, but even more intriguing is the linkage of trade commerce and science.

One can build *units* for trade (caravans early on, freight later) and when each one arrives, it gives you a lump sum boost in both gold *AND* beakers. Some Civ2 master players found a way to exploit this, resulting in an extreme trade economy and super-early spaceship launch dates... say, 1AD. One needed to keep bribing the AI to keep them from attacking, and gifts of tech usually worked.