Massada Feff
Chieftain
Absolutely Tripa... this genre is stagnant... the ideas just havnt developed significantly to really justify calling these games "sequals" more like... minor expansions of a theme... the best part of civ3 is the 3d modeler that created the new images; most everything else is mediocre at best. My complaints with the civ turned based strategy games as a whole are almost all "game mechanics" based. With some minor complaints about how other games within the same genre like master of orion have consistently remained on my drive for years and years, while civ comes and goes with the "next new installment". I could even say that games like Imperium Galactica 2 captured me more then the latest civs and ctp's... atleast they tried something different. (good game btw if you like moo). The biggest problem right now with civ is linear progression of the game, there is no "breakout". Nothing that really tells me that "im really in a new age" or "weve done something unique", attacking a spearman with a tank dosnt convince me that this is a "simulation of real history". Or even having an army of spearmen while you send people to the moon... im just not captured by that...with 3d technology where it is now I would also think it possible to generate a turn based game played out on a fractally generated world, zooming around from town to town in 3d, semi to complex troop movements, supply of the troops; lots of things... but still and yet we purchase and suffer through more array grid based sophmoric AI thats only hope of providing a challenge to players is to base its progression from the player and produce at reduced cost. The best chess player was beat down by deap blue; and it didnt have any "padded" rules it played by. Granted in chess theres a set number of permutations and possible moves per turn, but lets be honest... when you play against a "real player" theres always that chance that they will risk everything in one big push, or counter attack you in a flank... a human conceptualizes what is going on and makes its plans to win. The current AI models dont seem to have any grasp of the world it lives in; it only makes stastical decisions based on maximum returns... like city placement, it dosnt "get" tactical importance... or; skip a tech to get a unit thats going to help it now, not 100 turns from now. Ever notice how in ctp your computer slows down significantly right before the computer "robs" you. Its changing the rules to deal with some hidden parameter youve tripped... pure chease. Civ3 is just as bad... ive isolated empires from there naval trade, and strategic resources... and still n' yet they produce units which require the resources to produce... therefor, the player is the only element which seemingly requires anything to advance (more then likely they start the build with the resource you take it out they get the unit and quick build the harbor back, switch back, you smack the harbor again, but the unit is allready being built). Time and time again in many games you can see this... RTS games are notorious for computer opponents that dont resource or quick build fodder units... while its entertaining at first... its just weak scripting and gets old quick. The sence of "fair play" or "wow" factor is lost on me... as I watch a computer poop out unit after unit while in the "rules" you suffer with inferior units, and fiercely fought over resources. Unfortuneatly I have no desire to play civ3 through on diety... I know it cheats rediculously... and theres no real point (to me) to suffer against that... monarch is where my last 4 games went and they where all almost identical in my play style... even avoiding using semi exploits... i knew if it was win or loose by 1000ad even on gigantic maps. Perhaps I expect too much for the limited time constraints developers are under, or perhaps when one town was nuked by 4 civs over and over again even when its pop was 1 and no units where in it I just sighed... then proceeded to get the only full motion movie (asside from the intro) and landed my little druegies on alpha centauri... again... in 1850...
