I've been a fanatic since Civilization. To show you how old school I am, I've never liked the angled grid introduced with the second game; I'd just asoon go back to the flat grid from the original.
But anyway. I love civilization. But in this new one, I'm seeing that there really isn't all that much variability in game play style. For all the different ways of winning (thank god), you can't really play the way I like to. To be more specific: I don't like the whole conquering aspect of the game. Ideally -- and I honestly mean this -- there would be no other civilizations and I would be the only one. But barring that, while I do very often play regular games for fun, by far and away my most favorite way of playing is to found ONE city and make it the mecca of the planet.
Unfortunately, with Civ3 this is impossible.
First, the limits on population (first an aquaduct then a hospital) make it take FOREVER for one city to develop the technology to overcome, as population is limited before then.
Second, the most glaring problem I ever had with Civ is STILL in the game: a city can only harvest from it's "knight's move" area. What it should be is a system similar to the "cultural borders" one, so my city can grow to cover an entire continent.
So really, the only way to play civ is to try and found as many cities as possible. The real game play in civ now is how you best accomplish this. Do you destroy your enemies? Pay them off? Dominate them? But no matter what, all strategies are to the same goal: maximize your cities.
What I had hoped to see was a game where the goal was to win, and I could do it any way I wanted. To that end, I applaud "space race", "diplomatic", and especially "cultural" victories. But if the only way to acheive them is bymaking the largest empire, then *yawn*.
I love civ, but this doesn't bring anything new to the game, truly. It's just nicer graphics.
Also, in many areas this is a step backwards. You can't combine armies anymore. How can I manage huge groups of armies? I can't click on a square and see a list of all of them to unfortify with one click. There's no sentry function.
And my favorite feature of civ has been totally removed! Where is the demographics plage?!? Life expectancy, literacy, largest cities, GNP? I loved this thing. I used to check it every turn.
The option window is a jumble of things...where's the organization?
The game is no longer about simulating the growth of a civilization, it truly is a combat strategy game. A high-tech Risk. Great.
I think this game was rushed. How disappointing.
But anyway. I love civilization. But in this new one, I'm seeing that there really isn't all that much variability in game play style. For all the different ways of winning (thank god), you can't really play the way I like to. To be more specific: I don't like the whole conquering aspect of the game. Ideally -- and I honestly mean this -- there would be no other civilizations and I would be the only one. But barring that, while I do very often play regular games for fun, by far and away my most favorite way of playing is to found ONE city and make it the mecca of the planet.
Unfortunately, with Civ3 this is impossible.
First, the limits on population (first an aquaduct then a hospital) make it take FOREVER for one city to develop the technology to overcome, as population is limited before then.
Second, the most glaring problem I ever had with Civ is STILL in the game: a city can only harvest from it's "knight's move" area. What it should be is a system similar to the "cultural borders" one, so my city can grow to cover an entire continent.
So really, the only way to play civ is to try and found as many cities as possible. The real game play in civ now is how you best accomplish this. Do you destroy your enemies? Pay them off? Dominate them? But no matter what, all strategies are to the same goal: maximize your cities.
What I had hoped to see was a game where the goal was to win, and I could do it any way I wanted. To that end, I applaud "space race", "diplomatic", and especially "cultural" victories. But if the only way to acheive them is bymaking the largest empire, then *yawn*.
I love civ, but this doesn't bring anything new to the game, truly. It's just nicer graphics.
Also, in many areas this is a step backwards. You can't combine armies anymore. How can I manage huge groups of armies? I can't click on a square and see a list of all of them to unfortify with one click. There's no sentry function.
And my favorite feature of civ has been totally removed! Where is the demographics plage?!? Life expectancy, literacy, largest cities, GNP? I loved this thing. I used to check it every turn.
The option window is a jumble of things...where's the organization?
The game is no longer about simulating the growth of a civilization, it truly is a combat strategy game. A high-tech Risk. Great.
I think this game was rushed. How disappointing.
