Is it Civ 5 or is it me?

[HoldenA]

I'm a long time lurker on these forums but this is my first time posting. Like most everyone else I've been playing Civ5 none stop, and like some people (obviously not all) I have a fowl taste in my mouth. I REALLY want to like this game but as someone else said else where I find my self just wishing I was playing civ4. I think maybe there are just some simple things in the game I am not getting so thought I would ask you all about it:

1 - Is there a way to effect gold/culture/science production other than what buildings you choose to build?

2 - Is unhappiness a pool that effect every one of your cities evenly or does it effect individual cities more than others?

3 - Is there a way to see what luxury resources your empire has currently? I definitely feel like I'm missing something obvious on this one...

4 - Being you can't have more than one unit to a tile any more (a feature I'm torn on) I've run into some problems during peace time. Where do you all put your troops? I find, especially on smaller maps, that if they are with in a few hexes of any borders other civs start to think I'm going to declare war. I also run into problems of getting things moved around the mapped, any suggestions?

5 - On a similar note I find I have a near impossible time exploring the map once things begin to get developed. Once I can sign open borders I find most passageways between cities and mountains blocked by other civs troops. I haven't found any way to map trade, am I missing something really obvious (which wouldn't surprise me, I didn't get that you didn't need roads to get access to resources)?

 

[Glencore]

@3 You just hoover over the Happiness score on the status bar (at the top)

 

[Plethora22]

In generally I do really like the game, and I would go to far as to say that Civ V is better than Civ IV was prior to any patches or expansions.

That said I agree with some of your points.

1) Yes, I too feel very limited when it comes to pointing my empire in certain directions. Aside from moving workers around on tiles how do I change policies to focus on science or gold or whatever? Building things seems to be the only way to affect this...

2) I actually think the empire-wide happiness is a very very good thing. It's not really very realistic I admit, but it gives a real incentive to not conquer everything just because you can.

3) Interface does leave something to be desired so far, but I'm fairly confident this will improve in time.

4) I LOVE 1UPT. I do see your point about where to put the units. I haven't seen it become a major problem but maybe there could be a terrain improvement or something to allow all your units to "sleep" in the same tile... knowing that they will all get wiped out if they are attacked.

5) No real thoughts on this one yet...

 

[HoldenA]

@ Glencore - thanks! I knew there had to be a really simple way!

@ Plethora22 - As for your first comment, I didn't try civ4 till at least the first expansion pack if not later, but I think I know what you mean. It will be interesting to see what they add with expansions. So many of the features in Civ4 that I adore and makes it so re playable are things that were added later on.

#1 I am glad I am not alone on this... especially on the lengthy versions of game play I'm not sure what to do with myself between wars. There is only so much land development to so and you are penalized for excessive development anyways.

#2 The empire wide happiness is rather more abstract but I think where it stands now civ5 is much more of an abstract game when compared to civ4. From what I've read it feels how comfortable people are with the level of abstractness plays out in how much they like civ5 compared to civ 4, if that makes sense.

 

[May Day 10]

they should add in some sort of stationary "troop bucket". Like a Military Base improvement or building where you can hold any unused units

 

[tcjsavannah]

If you have a fowl taste in your mouth, I suggest you eat more pork.

 

[Drawmeus]

I'm a long time lurker on these forums but this is my first time posting. Like most everyone else I've been playing Civ5 none stop, and like some people (obviously not all) I have a fowl taste in my mouth. I REALLY want to like this game but as someone else said else where I find my self just wishing I was playing civ4. I think maybe there are just some simple things in the game I am not getting so thought I would ask you all about it:

1 - Is there a way to effect gold/culture/science production other than what buildings you choose to build?

Two ways - first, working different tiles with your citizens produces different outcomes for gold, science, and culture, though most of the time culture and science aren't affected (exceptions include the great person buildings and a few circumstances where e.g. working Jungle tiles adds Science when you have a University).

Second, slotting specialists into buildings like the Library can increase your research.

Though honestly, I've found the emphasize-X for citizen automation feature to be pretty robust. It's pretty rare that I tinker with things after emphasizing the most important aspect of the city, beyond adding a few specialists when I'm aiming for a particular great person.

2 - Is unhappiness a pool that effect every one of your cities evenly or does it effect individual cities more than others?

It's an empire-wide thing. It's not just a presentation difference.

4 - Being you can't have more than one unit to a tile any more (a feature I'm torn on) I've run into some problems during peace time. Where do you all put your troops? I find, especially on smaller maps, that if they are with in a few hexes of any borders other civs start to think I'm going to declare war. I also run into problems of getting things moved around the mapped, any suggestions?

I've also noticed this as an irritation, but I can usually either disperse them over my empire or find some internal patch of desert to road over and plop them all down.

I just chalk it up to the costs of a high degree of military readiness.

5 - On a similar note I find I have a near impossible time exploring the map once things begin to get developed. Once I can sign open borders I find most passageways between cities and mountains blocked by other civs troops. I haven't found any way to map trade, am I missing something really obvious (which wouldn't surprise me, I didn't get that you didn't need roads to get access to resources)?

I haven't found any map trading either, but I haven't run into any problems getting through regions. The worst case I've run into is having to embark once or twice and float up the coast a little distance to get past a choke point.

 

[HoldenA]

If you have a fowl taste in your mouth, I suggest you eat more pork.

Doh! I walked right into that one. At least it wasn't an oral joke...

 

[HoldenA]

they should add in some sort of stationary "troop bucket". Like a Military Base improvement or building where you can hold any unused units

I like that, but I think what would be better is a tech, like military science, that lets you have 2 military units per space, and another later in near the end of modern era that lets you have 3.

 

[Zhahz]

1. Not sure what you mean. I rarely micro my cities at the tile level, but I do shift focus for them a lot (usually default, production, or gold). This is almost like having sliders, just at the city level.

2. Happiness is global - empire wide. 1 pop = 1 unhappy, 1 city = 2 unhappy. Brand new city (1 pop) 3 unhappy. Luxuries give 5 hapy. Buildings give whatever they say. Various SPs/wonders give direct happy. Things get a little less clear once you have SPs or wonders that are doing 20% or 33% modifications. Then good luck keeping track of it.

3. Sorta, you can see hovering over your culture on the top bar but it doesn't list what you DO NOT have so it's hard to do comparitive considering.

4. Haven't really had this problem. There is little need for a huge army and the upkeep kills. If you do want to have huge armies, play on a map type that'll support them better.

5. You can't trade maps. If you want a full picture you need to explore everything early. Open borders early is less annoying because - you have no border early - your culture hasn't spread - if an AI wants to settle right on top of you, he will. Most AIs will do open borders early unless you've built close to them and pissed them off early. Do open borders. Getting open borders also means the AI isn't upset with you yet - it's good to know and builds good relations. You want good relations since most of the AIs are psychotic and just waiting to build troops before snapping and attacking someone for some random reason. As things progress, research optics for embarking and just go around blockers.

 

[HoldenA]

So thank you to everyone that answered and helped out! I am enjoying the game more now that I have a better grasp on it, but it still... I don't know, I think I have the same feeling that a lot of the "negative" people posting on here have. I don't "hate" CiV, or even dislike it, I mean, I am playing it after all. I'm just... disappointed. My first civ was Alpha, than Civ 2, than 3, and than 4 (although I didn't jump into 4 until after at least one of the expansions was out). When I loaded up the new civ games they always felt like a progression, a deepening of the same game, and this... doesn't. It feels a bit like one step to side and one step back but with a huge leap forward in graphics.