Getting back into Civ - which platform to use?

[OscarWildebeest]

Been out of the Civ loop for a few years. Loved IV, barely played V, haven't looked at VI. I miss the game and was thinking about getting back into it. But, as a Mac user, I'm curious to know which version I should be buying.

I can buy the Mac version on the App Store; I can buy the Mac version on Steam; or I can buy the Windows version on Steam using GeForce Now (involves streaming the game). Or I can install Windows on my Mac and run the game with Bootcamp, but I'm not sure I'm ready for that yet.

What would other Mac users recommend? Thanks in advance.

 

[Vrenir]

Buy on Steam. You get the Mac version and the PC version for the price of one. Download whichever you like at any time.

 

[OscarWildebeest]

Good advice, thanks. It's more expensive on the App Store anyway.

There appear to be some issues with compatibility of Steam on the Mac (getting the "not optimised" message), but I guess I can always use GeForce Now if that becomes a problem.

 

[OneLastTurn]

The Steam client has been updated to 64-bit on the Mac, but you only get it on a brand-new install, they don't push it out as an update to already-installed versions. I'm on the Catalina beta and it works as well as it always does.

 

[OscarWildebeest]

The Steam client has been updated to 64-bit on the Mac, but you only get it on a brand-new install, they don't push it out as an update to already-installed versions. I'm on the Catalina beta and it works as well as it always does.

This worked for me, thank you. I had to uninstall and re-install but it's all working just fine now.

 

[Balton]

I run the steam version on both PC and Apple. For the PC side, I currently have an Alienware 13R3 with 2TB ssd HD and the 1060 Nvidia graphics card. The Processor is 7700 series. As for the Mac, my cherished 2011 MBP (8,2) recently developed the video card issue but was not serviceable. So I got it to work as in HD mode and transferred everything to a brand new 2019 MBP (15,3 bto) with 1 TB SSD, 32GB RAM, and 4 GB HBM Vega graphics.
So, I can definitely recommend the MBP as it loads the larger maps way faster. although, both have SSD storage, Apple is much faster. The only downside is the display resolution. The Aw 13R3 has a much crispier display at 2560x1440 compared to MBP. But I have not tried them with external displays. So, MacbookPro really handles it well albeit running hot at times (temp up to 83C sometimes).

 

[OscarWildebeest]

I'm using the new 2019 iMac with the Radeon Pro Vega 48 card (8GB). Interestingly I've been able to run Civ IV (my favourite so far), with the History Rewritten mod. There's some input lag but otherwise it works very well so far - not even at medieval period in my test game yet, so we'll see if it lasts the course. But I do want to try Civ VI properly.

By the way, are there any good Mac-compatible mods for Civ VI?