Help me before I have to lose Civ 4 CD!

[MDPhillips]

Well, thank you all for your very insightful responses.

I vaguely remember a "hide the sausage" game, but after being married for nearly 20 years, I really don't remember how it is played.

My daughter is only seven, so it is a little early to get her going on Civ . . . but last summer she and my wife got "Lego Star Wars" for me because we could play it together. Well, that apple didn't fall too far from the tree. We played through the game together - and now she plays it by herself almost every day after school. I'm so proud! So, how long before she can grasp the basic game concepts of Civ???

And still, nobody has a "Save and Exit after X turns or Y minutes" utility. Oh well, after I finished a game in the wee hours of this morning, I took the CD out of the computer and took it upstairs - I've got to put some time into other things for a while.

 

[mjs0]

My daughter is only seven, so it is a little early to get her going on Civ . . .

My son started when he was five. He now has a pretty thorough understanding of Civ4 and can hold his own at Settler level.
We are homeschooling and this has given us some great educational opportunities. For example, he hated not being able to read the messages and has really improved his reading because of this. I am much happier to see him play this than some of the mindless games available for consoles.
Of course it is important to ration the time so he also learns about real life!

btw it is quite amusing to watch him and our daughter (who is a year younger) scouting out the back yard for good city sites, whilst avoiding 'bad dudes' as she calls the barbarians.

 

[Adrenaline15]

its disturbing how civs addicts u..1st, u dont really feel the need to play it.2nd, when u start playing, u somehow get addicted and keep spamming the spacebar. 3th, u break away from reality. lastly, its night alrdy. and i need the mod too...my thumb hurts from spamming spacebars...

 

[jayron32]

This is sort of tangental to this discussion, but for anyone who has played the Paradox game series "Europa Universalis" (especially EUII) on their message boards is a game synopsis from someone's 8 year old (the 8 year old played the game, the father wrote the After Action Report). It was really impressive. If you haven't played EUII, its equally as addictive as Civ IV, but much more involved, and much more "historically accurate". The kid had grasped all of the game concepts phenomenally, even if he didn't understand the historical context. If you get a chance, head to www.europa-universalis.com, and check out the After Action Reports section for the review of this kids game.

As a side note, I played my first grand strategy game at about 10 years old. It was Koei's "Nobunaga's Ambition". Young children can pick up games like this without too much trouble. Just watch out, they WILL be adicted for life...