Its strange to play the scenarios...

[snipafist]

I've never touched 'em an don't plan on it. As has been said before, it just doesn't feel right not playing from scratch. Take over a prebuilt empire? No thanks.

At least the Chinese Unification scenario starts with some decently-placed cities right off the bat. Lots of other scenarios have cities placed in about the stupidest possible places (some cities with 12 or more tiles overlapped from two cities being placed far too closely, etc.). That's one of the major things I can't stand in some of the scenarios. I don't mind cities being pre-placed so much, but I do mind them being pre-placed stupidly.

 

[espionage]

I've only played the chinese unification scenario so far, but i really enjoy it. Oftentimes I can get overwhelmed by the overall scope of the regular game, and so scenarios like this are easier to understand and manage. The "boundaries" are already set up so at this point you don't really need to worry much about settlers.

I also enjoy warfare pre gunpowder more, which may be another reason why I like the chinese unification scenario so much. I don't have to worry about jet fighters, aircraft carriers and the like.

 

[ChaosLord]

Well it could be worse. People say they hate taking over a civ thats already been developed some but that drove me crazy in the Conquest scenarios. Like starting the Sengoku Era of Japan with everyone only having one city...

Anyway I agree the best of the scenarios is the Chinese Unification one. Could have had more free cities/warlords, maybe even throw in some of the nomads and barbarians to play as if you felt like conquering China as an outsider. Theres two things that makes it play better though, aggressive AI and disable city building. Otherwise it doesn't seem motivated enough to truly unite all of China.

 

[turquoiseninja]

I love scenarios. I like how they focus on the specific techs and units and everything of a specific culture/era, rather than just being very general things like in regular civ. Though of course I love regular civ more.

 

[Underdawg]

I just wanted to say that I like the Chinese Unification scenario too! So much conflict! Aggressive AI just makes it even sweeter.

 

[player1 fanatic]

Well, the whole point of scenarios is to take break of standard gameplay and try something new.

So, when you get bored with normal civ play, try the scenarios for something fresh.

 

[Jheronimus]

Never tried even one scenario! I can't understand why they put so much efford in these scenarios, I won't play them and masses of people agree with me. Please, I beg firaxis, please make it up with me with the next expansion, and add lots of new stuff to the regular costum game.

My oppinion: Worst move ever in the civ history to make stuff for scenarios only!

Maybe I am overreacting but I need to get rid of my feelings and write them down.

From a hardcore civ player since the beginning......

 

[Murky]

I liked most of the scenarios but find the traditional game to be more interesting.

 

[scottcstoness]

Never tried even one scenario! I can't understand why they put so much efford in these scenarios, I won't play them and masses of people agree with me. Please, I beg firaxis, please make it up with me with the next expansion, and add lots of new stuff to the regular costum game.

My oppinion: Worst move ever in the civ history to make stuff for scenarios only!

Maybe I am overreacting but I need to get rid of my feelings and write them down.

From a hardcore civ player since the beginning......

Hmm... Vassal States, Unique Buildings, New Traits, New Promotions, Warlords, new Civs, new leaders, adjusted gameplay, a couple new units, better AI.
Hardly "make stuff for scenarios only"!

I played most of the scenarios when I first got the game, enjoyed them a lot, and I'm now enjoying the main game with all the changes they made to that, trying out each civ and their unique building.

Besides the obvious fact that many people like scenarios, they also used the scenarios to show off many changes they made that could be used by modders: camps (Genghis, Barbarians), techs opening up promotions, all the great generals, preferential targets in a stack (those camels in the Genghis Khan scenario), getting techs from Civs (Genghis), Victory point locations (Rise of Rome), and some fun new unit profiles (the extremely fast, weak fighting scouts in Alexander, the high withdraw javelineers in ghengis), all of which can be picked up and used/expanded by modders.

Add in the fact that all the scenarios are in fact mods, so that new maps can be easily created for added replayability of the scenarios, and I think you've got pretty good value for $30. If you are only going to use the additions to the main game, then you certainly have the option of waiting a month or two until you can get the expansion for $15-20; certainly the changes to the main game are worth the price of a movie + popcorn or a couple of books...

 

[Snerk]

Hmm... Vassal States, Unique Buildings, New Traits, New Promotions, Warlords, new Civs, new leaders, adjusted gameplay, a couple new units, better AI.
Hardly "make stuff for scenarios only"!
.

True... true...
Nonetheless, you cant escape the fact that for an expansion pack to civilization IV, Warlords offer too little of improvements and new addition to the main game that most people play. That is also the general opinion of the reviews i've read on Warlords.

 

[Charles 22]

I find many of the scenarios disappointing because the tech tree is boring beyond belief. The Rise of Rome scenario sucks hard because it is just a constant quest to upgrade your super unit, and that's it. No other advances at all are to be found. I thought just about anything would be better than the Greek World scenario from the vanilla game, but the Rise of Rome scenario is a real stinker.

I found much the same boredom with that scenario (some of the praetorian advances didn't seem to do anything at all, as the strength stayed the same. Another thing I don't like about scens is that they seem to be almost always in a quick mode. I want my games in epic or marathon thank you very much.

 

[Charles 22]

Actually the Mongol one is the worst. You get new units by where your camp is based???? Wow, you're sort of not even allowed to choose what unit to build. I looked at the defensive units in the armies to the south, and I decided I sure didn't want to play that dorkfest enough to have to wait on building the new siege weapon by placing the camp in the appropriate terrain.