Is BTS Worth it?

[TheDS]

I think the espionage system is a lot better than any other I've played, but that it's still got some wrinkles to be ironed out. Some people say they can do a completely espionage-based economy more cheaply than a regular economy; I'm just not able to adjust my ways of thinking to become espionage-heavy like that, so I don't see it.

Corps are interesting, but there are a lot more wrinkles with them to iron out.

The Portuguese are pretty awesome if your map is good for them. Carracks are the man! I had plenty of reason to hate the Civ4 caravels, now I have one more.

I am actually able to make use of privateers now. Sure, they don't last long, but if you've got a small tech lead over someone, you can plague them with a dozen privateers and really cheese them. Suck a few coins out of their economy per city, PLUS they have to start building lots of boats to try and kill off your privateers. I don't know that they'd have any use at all if I didn't have the tech lead for a few dozen turns, though. In previous games, I pretty much NEVER built them, but in my last few games, I've had a lead, and so built them to keep people away from my spaces, and suck some cash from their stingy-bastard economies.

Vassals and Liberations seem to work just fine; there's a definite balance between doing them or not that must be struck.

City flipping seems to be handled a little more betterly than before; you're given the option of whether or not to let them go.

 

[jessiecat]

Kinda agree with you on espionage. I rarely use it except to spark revolts
in nearby enemy cities. My main beef though is when the AI spawns spies,
even in B.C while you're still growing, trashing your improvements and
stealing your technology. I can't stand that, but how can you stop it?

 

[Wodan]

Espionage is awesome for stealing early techs.

Also, to answer your question jessiecat, you simply make a "bank" of points vs. all the civs on your continent. Even if they "waste" points poisoning the water supply of one of your cities or whatever, they are paying out the butt for that privilege and it's costing them way more than they gain. Seriously, would you rather them be spending it on research to tech faster than you?

Wodan

 

[Simon Appleton]

To echo the second poster, I found BTS made Civ4 run much better on my computer. Out of the box, Civ4 really overheated my computer, struggled with huge late game maps and had quite long load/new start times. With BTW, I have not had any such problems.

The AI also seems much improved. Out of the box, I found Civ4 AI was pretty poor at warfighting - I could defeat superior forces by better unit matchups and aggression. However, in BTS, it comes with bigger and better stacks (sometimes lots of siege units, which is what it really needs, rather than the 1 or 2 in the original game). It also seems better at some grand strategic issues.

I am not sure how much the performance and AI improved from Civ4 out of the box and the patches and Warlords. But I patched regularly and played Warlords, but still noticed a big improvement with BTS.

I am not sure about the other improvements in BTS. I find espionage a pain and corporations remain a mystery, and not a very alluring one. But there are some small changes and tweaks that are nice.

I was in two minds about buying BTS - Warlords sounded more of a must have for the Great General - but am glad I did.

 

[Civfan333]

Yep, BTS is DEFINITELY worth it.
Don't listed to me, though. I STILL don't have it.

 

[Swein Forkbeard]

To echo the second poster, I found BTS made Civ4 run much better on my computer. Out of the box, Civ4 really overheated my computer, struggled with huge late game maps and had quite long load/new start times. With BTW, I have not had any such problems.

The AI also seems much improved. Out of the box, I found Civ4 AI was pretty poor at warfighting - I could defeat superior forces by better unit matchups and aggression. However, in BTS, it comes with bigger and better stacks (sometimes lots of siege units, which is what it really needs, rather than the 1 or 2 in the original game). It also seems better at some grand strategic issues.

I am not sure how much the performance and AI improved from Civ4 out of the box and the patches and Warlords. But I patched regularly and played Warlords, but still noticed a big improvement with BTS.

I am not sure about the other improvements in BTS. I find espionage a pain and corporations remain a mystery, and not a very alluring one. But there are some small changes and tweaks that are nice.

I was in two minds about buying BTS - Warlords sounded more of a must have for the Great General - but am glad I did.

I agree. When I bought Civ4 (well, got it for Christmas), I thought that things were taking waaaayyyy too long. Fortunately, I accidentally got Age of Empires and Age of Empires II in addition confused, so those games kept me busy, and I eventually bought Empire Earth and later Empire Earth II and those game occupied most of my time. But when I had heard about Warlords, I was extremely anxious. When I bought it, I thought the scenarios were exceedingly good (now I think the opposite, of course), but it made Civ4run faster, and BtS addressed other sorts of problems.

 

[DaMonkey]

goodjob: I think it's worth the buy, I just got it and it's worth it for the MOD's alone. I love warlords but i'm glad i got it. The Final Frontier MOD is great!!

 

[TheWilltoAct]

Oh yea, absolutely worth it! As has been mentioned just plug in patch 3.13 and pour in some Bhruic sauce to fill in the holes and wa la! A waffle.

... I mean a great game

Probably the greatest additions are to the diplomacy side of things via the new Apostolic Palace wonder and subsequent improvements to the United Nations. The AP is basically the UN of the middle ages and allows it's owner to force peace where it so desires! I have used it to save a weaker nation from a mighty enemy by forcing the war to end, and then later forcing the aggressor to return the one city he took LOL (You can also order that a city under heavy cultural influence be flipped to the other side!)

The Espionage system is pretty fun, useful for seeing what's going on in enemy lands, post poning their cultural victories until you can invade them, and essentially sieging their city to 0% defenses in one fell swoop.

Forts can be built on resources instead of the regular improvement to give a 25% defense boost plus the resource (you don't gain the additional tile benefits but that's OK). Makes it easier to defend resources on your borders.

National Park is a great new national wonder - it eliminates all unhealthiness from population!

Events are rather boring generally... which is sad because I was quite excited about them :/ Basically to make things balanced they often provide almost no benefit...

All in all I love BTS and would highly recommend making the switch ASAP.

 

[Moonsinger]

Just wondering if, overall, BTS is worth the purchase and upgrade.

I don't know...because I haven't upgraded to BTS yet.

 

[VirusMonster]

I think it is worth it :-/ but again, I am a civ addict, so don't count on me much

 

[Mat777]

BTS is much better than civ4 and warlord.

The thing I prefer the most in bts is the blockade the boats can do now. The boats was useless in the past civ4. Having naval superiority in bts is as important as defending your city in a rush-start. On a island mp games, the point is not just going to atomic anymore, you better defend your coast with boats otherwise the blockade will ruin your economy and foods of your city.

 

[Naokaukodem]

BtS definately doesn't worth the purchase. I purchased it, to take benefit from multiplayer ladders, and it has a huge bug that prevent me to choose a random civilization. I'm selling it nowadays.

Plus, as said earlier, espionnage is really a pain in the ass, the AI using it systematically on your cities poisoining water and reducing your population. This is annoying!

Overall, there is nothing much added to justify BtS purchase.

 

[CliftonBazaar]

In Australia BtS was $60 and it wasn't worth that much; if it was $30 then it would have been worth it.
Should really be around the $20 mark.

 

[Mat777]

I must admit at the price the games are sold when released, noting is really worth it these day. But for bts and civ4 at this moment, you can surely get a copy for 20$.

 

[Still_Asleep]

BTS is a 'real' expansion that adds a lot to the game.

Warlords was questionable imo - 2 civics, 1 great person, 3 wonders, vassal states and a few new leaders are really not enough for an expansion set.

Espionage, Corporation, improved graphics, some intelligent tweakings to the techtree, 6 interesting new core-units, new wonders, new buildings, 1 great person, vastly improved AI, slightly improved spacerace, new leaders and an improved interface a definitaly worth it. The changes to the techtree also add balance - no more unstoppable cavalry-beeline, tanks no longer completely unstoppable by _slightly_ backwards civs.

And about the bugs: The official support is nonexistant, but Bhruics patch solves pretty much anything. Nothing to worry about.

 

[Swein Forkbeard]

Right now the user score at Gamespot is higher for Warlords than BtS. But the highest user score for any expansion pack in the series goes to Civ3's Conquests.

 

[Mat777]

Right now the user score at Gamespot is higher for Warlords than BtS. But the highest user score for any expansion pack in the series goes to Civ3's Conquests.

I don't think gamespot is a good reference. They give good score if you pay.

 

[Dubai Vol]

I don't know...because I haven't upgraded to BTS yet.

Well, that was helpful. At least now we know how you have 4k posts.

IMO BtS is well worth it. By all acounts, with Bhruic's "unofficial" patch, just about all the issues are solved. I never saw the problems because I went straight to 3.13 AND Bruic's patch before I ever played the game. One of the advantages of being a latecomer....

 

[NYHunter]

I think it is really worth it. I mean there are always going to be a few things that will be bothersome, but that is the same reason why Civ does so well, what some people don't like others like and people still buy it because it is a great game. BTS also added a lot of new features that the modding community has taken advantage of and there is still a lot of areas that I feel have been unexplored for the most part but I am sure will be.

I am not sure if you are a scenario lover or not. But ALL of the scenarios are at least interesting in my opinion even if that scenario isn't your type of thing.
Final Frontier and the Charlemagne scenario are two really great ones.

So I definitely recommend buying it.

 

[RulerOfDaPeople]

Buy it. You won't be sorry. The extra features and civs make it the best civ incarnation ever released.