Has CivV improved significantly since launch?

[Drawmeus]

Has the AI improved?

Yes, vastly. No, it isn't perfect, and yes, it will still have some moments that make you /facepalm.

Does it feel more like Civ (rather than CivRev)?

It never felt like CivRev to me. It felt like Civ, but unfinished. It feels more finished now - it's a valid, fun game. It does still have its issues.

Does it still cook graphics card p)?

Only if you have a lousy graphics card.

 

[_hero_]

Don't get your expectations up. This game probably gets one or two more major overhaul patches and then it goes to minor patching.

They are still making good sales on DLC. If there's only 1 or 2 more major patches that means an expansion is coming. No way they quit working on a game that's still yielding profits.

 

[Misterboy]

I also had tons and tons of game crashes during leader scenes, and I also dropped my leader scenes down to "low" quality to fix the issues. Literally played 30 games since then without a single crash at all. I also have a gtx 460, hmm...

Bryanw1995, I'd *really* encourage you to report your problems to 2K support. It's easy, you just need to register in their help system and start a ticket: http://support.2k.com/home

My gut tells me there is a problem with their implementation of some DX11 feature. I know my system is stable and no other games cause me problems, Metro 2033 etc etc. It really pisses me off that a Civilization game crashes my video hardware

In any case, if you tell them you're having this problem, then maybe we can get it fixed.

 

[Polycrates]

They are still making good sales on DLC. If there's only 1 or 2 more major patches that means an expansion is coming. No way they quit working on a game that's still yielding profits.

Yeah whatever you may think about it, Civ V seems to have been a huge financial success, and it still has a really big playerbase - at this instant it's the 5th most-played game on Steam, even so many months after release. They're clearly pretty committed to keeping it going if they're making such huge patches so long after release, so they'd be crazy not to bring out more DLC/expansions to keep the revenue flowing.

Anyway to answer the question - yes. The original was a great game trapped behind a wall of bugs, terrible balancing, poor optimisation, and a general lack of playtesting and polish. You may still not like the game's underlying design choices, but to their credit they've put in a lot of work in the patches to really refine those choices that they've made, and the overall balance of the game is so inordinately improved that it's like a whole different game. The AI is now quite competent as far as strategy game AIs go (let's be honest, it's now overall better than any civ game except BTS with all its third-party AI improvements), and the new patch looks to be going a long way to fixing its diplomacy bugbear. Performance seems better for me as well.

 

[Uncle Anton]

Yes it's improved since Day Zero. Hugely and without question.

Still a long way to go.

 

[Jim Bro]

the AI is much better but still very bad at mass invading new continents...

everything has improved but the diplomacy. here is my biggest beef about civ5:

- the AI never pays tribute, even in front of imminent danger.

- the AI will go to war with you but if you have to move your units through their territory, will not accept that.

- the AI will call you a warmonger even if you went to war because others attacked you first.

- the AI will hate you or declare war against you simply because you're the best, even if you were nice the whole game.

- the AI will hate you for liberating them but will vote for you at the UN (?).

- the AI makes ridiculous deals when they are hostile. they should simply say that they do not want to trade.

- the AI will accept a deal to go to war without you in return for something but some turns later will denounce you for that.

- absolutely no way to repair relationships (except those rare cases where you'll save a civilian from a barbarian encampment).

- the AI never come up with an original deal. if they talk to you, 80% chances it's for a research or open border agreements. 10% chance it's to denounce you.

 

[He-Who-Hunts]

the AI never pays tribute, even in front of imminent danger

This isnt true, on Immortal and Emperor I've demanded luxuries and money from the AI and received them.

 

[pennjersey83]

Still takes long enough during the modern era between turns to make me not want to finish the game. Granted I have the minimum graphics card but in all other areas my computer meets recommended. I want to wait 5 seconds between turns, not 30. It stills feels as long as it did at launch

 

[Gali]

Even with my complaints Civ 5 has been vastly improved. Terrain Matters now and buildings are usefu. Social Policies are FAR better balanced. Tradition at launch was a complete joke, but now is a decent choice.

Civ Balance is actually pretty decent with this patch and they can play differently. Yes some are overpowered, but with the boosts to germany, America, Ottomans, Egypt, Rome and so on in this patch there's no civ I can't see being interesting. France is the one problem now with their UA and the musketeer being boosted.

Civ 5 is shallow and less deep than civ 4. There are fewer interesting options available. If you just like playing civ 5 casually its a fine game now. I recommended it to my sister lately. The main benefit for me is that I always hated civilization combat. The complete lack of threat of the AI's allow me to focus on Building more than I ever could before. Once the march patch made building fun and worthwhile I returned to Civ 5. I actually think the new patch could take that even further.

 

[MisterBarca]

Still takes long enough during the modern era between turns to make me not want to finish the game. Granted I have the minimum graphics card but in all other areas my computer meets recommended. I want to wait 5 seconds between turns, not 30. It stills feels as long as it did at launch

May I ask what your computer specifications are?

And what do other folks think about end-game turn speed?

 

[Misterboy]

I'm also curious what his specs are. I've never had too much trouble with turn speed, especially since later patches. Late game, my in-between turn time is maybe 5 seconds.

I have an i5 though, which is probably above average speed.

Edit: That is with "Quick Combat" turned on. If I had a good view of the world, I'd spend a lot of time watching units crash into each other. Speaking of which, is there a way to turn "Quick Combat" on/off while playing a game. I hate how it has to be chosen at the outset.

 

[MisterBarca]

I'm also curious what his specs are. I've never had too much trouble with turn speed, especially since later patches. Late game, my in-between turn time is maybe 5 seconds.

I have an i5 though, which is probably above average speed.

Edit: That is with "Quick Combat" turned on. If I had a good view of the world, I'd spend a lot of time watching units crash into each other. Speaking of which, is there a way to turn "Quick Combat" on/off while playing a game. I hate how it has to be chosen at the outset.

Only 5 seconds? Wow. Two questions:

1. What size maps do you ordinarily play on?

2. What kind of graphics card do you have?

 

[Horizons]

Some new Civs have been added in and the river graphics updated but besides that, no, the AI isn't improved much at all. The current patch fixes a problem with civ AI's not building more than 1 city. That tells you the current state of this sorry mess.

 

[Sonereal]

Only 5 seconds? Wow. Two questions:

1. What size maps do you ordinarily play on?

2. What kind of graphics card do you have?

Third question: Do you use strategic view? In my experience, switching to SV helps with turn times.

 

[qalsip1977]

I'm also curious what his specs are. I've never had too much trouble with turn speed, especially since later patches. Late game, my in-between turn time is maybe 5 seconds.

I have an i5 though, which is probably above average speed.

Edit: That is with "Quick Combat" turned on. If I had a good view of the world, I'd spend a lot of time watching units crash into each other. Speaking of which, is there a way to turn "Quick Combat" on/off while playing a game. I hate how it has to be chosen at the outset.

See my post on this subject here. I'd love to what could possibly be wrong with my system or software that would cause my monster of a machinie to take 30-45 seconds in between every turn!!

 

[mtrein]

Don't get your expectations up. This game probably gets one or two more major overhaul patches and then it goes to minor patching.

And if you think this game is 40% done right now, then you may as well just leave. Because no amount of patches will bring it up anything past 55%.

Well said.

 

[Gali]

My turn times are fine too, though I also have an I5. The slow part is when it cycles between workers, units and production. Takes as long to realize I already chose a building to produce as between turns sometimes.

 

[qalsip1977]

My turn times are fine too, though I also have an I5. The slow part is when it cycles between workers, units and production. Takes as long to realize I already chose a building to produce as between turns sometimes.

It's only in larger maps that I experience the lag. It seems to have something to do with the number of civs in the game. It's not really noticable in the early parts of the game, but by the medieval period, it starts slowing down. I'm guessing it's the number of units that have to be cycled through by each of the AIs.

 

[Furycrab]

Btw... Civ 5, much like most if not all the civ games, isn't very GPU intensive, it's memory and cpu intensive and most crashes are the result of memory.

For fewer crashes, consider upgrading memory first, 4gb or more on a 64 bit processor and decent cpu will cut more than half the crashes.

 

[Nyanko]

Also for those who are crashing often, update your graphics cards firmware if you haven't already. There have been some advancements in multithreading of graphics cards that have been implemented recently, and multithreading of graphics is a key feature of the DX11 version of Civ 5