Most unfun feature of Civ4?

How could I forget those spy specialists? I usually forget all about it until out pops some guy I've never heard of instead of the prophet I need for my shrine...

 

Well said, sir. This for me as well (especially waiting for 3D leaderheads to load).

 

What you're describing is the diplo from Civ II, if I remember correctly. The problem with Civ IV is not so much that the AI bugs you with their begging, it's that they ask you for stuff that you would NEVER even think of giving to them, and then they get ticked off at you. It's like I said "Give me your car" and then got pissed when you said no. It's even worse when a punk like Jao demands Assembly Line from a Trireme off my coast; how dare he get peeved.

 

Ditto that.

And I hate workers. I hate everything about them. I hate having to build them. I hate having to micromanage them. I haven't played the console Civ game, but I read that you actually purchase your tile improvements instead of having a worker build them. That sounds like a fantastic idea to me.

DEATH TO WORKERS>

 

i posted this in a separate thread, but thought that maybe it'd fit better here, as this thread seems to be harping on bad ai interactions.

i wish that there were some way to offer going to war or ceasing trading myself in exchange for tradegoods from the ai. that is, instead of an ai demanding i cancel deals or asking me to go to war with another - for nothing in return - i could offer to do it for, say, some tech, or gold, or whatever. i mean, the ai can be bribed into it by human players, so why not the other way around?

 

I have never gotten this to work so if it does already exist it needs a better interface. It would be nice to be able to shift-click on a worker and see an actual list of their queued up commands or be able to manipulate them in something of an organized fashion like we do with the city queues. Queues are basically worthless to a user if they cannot be easily seen and/or manipulated. If there is a guide to how to use the worker command queues I would really appreciate some direction. Right now they are unbearable late game.

 

In order of hatred

1) Tech Trading

my most hated feature of Civ4 is the tech trading bewteen AI, they whore it so much! , seroiusly 1 turn this AI had less techs then i did , next turn his score shot up cause he traded techs bewteen AI Casue he was the goodey 2 shoes, although this was kinda dumbed down with "No Technlogy brokering" in BtS but i like to play vallina civ 4

2) Religon

Although this was properly intended, The AI Shuns you if your not there religon and this induces a heavy standing penelty which... feeds my ass kicking.. cause the AI Always declares war on me in numbers insted of 1 at a time.

3) Global Warming

Although this is a right pain in the ass, and it only happens to you! its a part of the game i can accept But still hate it

Theres no Superpower without sacrifice

 

Great thread, I've got an easy winner.

AI Diplomacy. I can't possible rank an issue that comes first because there are so many of them.

Random events come second, but only because you can turn them off. Otherwise they would win easily. I can't say I hate them as much as TMIT, but I find his rants about them amusing to read .

AI's hating you and calling you 'worst enemy' only because you've traded with someone else who was their worst enemy. That makes zero sense. Not to mention the psychic power all AI's have to know every deal you make but you do not have the same luxury.

Hidden modifiers. In certain situations no matter how much you kiss up to Monty, he's always going to like Shaka and fellow warlunatics more.

The nagging doesn't bother me so much, I just think to myself shouting "BUGGER OFF" at them and how the leader would actually react to that and the news headlines. Extra! President Peachrocks of the Inca tells King Roosevelt of the Americans to bugger off after refusing to trade Military Science for Refrigeration! (And I don't get a diplomatic demerit for that? -2 You told us to Bugger off!)

Lose-lose deals that are made to you but never the AI. You refuse to stop trading with someone, they hate you but the other party doesn't like you more because of it. You stop trading the other leader won't talk to you and hates you and again the other leader doesn't like you more as a result. You lose either way and never gain anything, that's quite stupid. Same sort of applies for 'can you give us this?' stuff. It isn't scaled based on the nature of the request, you get the same bonus and penatly giving fishing away as you would giving Rocketry.

Not being able to 'think about' a proposal an AI gives you. Example, I have the Taj Mahal nearly built, AI requests I make a civic change that I intend on making anyway, but I want to wait a few turns so that I don't lose a turn due to Anarchy, and so that I can switch most of my civics when the Taj is done. Or I plan on declaring war on someone, and they request I declare war before I am ready. It's like dealing with a little child sometimes (BUT I want it NOW!!!!)

Ah its been fun reading this thread

 

I still cannot accept that the transmission of electrictiy is, solely of itself, unhealthy for the population.

 

You remember correctly. God I miss that feature from Civ 2. (I also miss the advisors )

 

You can only build power plants after factories, so I just assumed there was more industry after that. Doesn't explain the power unhealth from the dam wonder to new cities though.

 

I just thought of something worse than Global Warming or even the diplo system.

The PLACEMENT OF YOUR FIRST SETTLER.

The AI ALWAYS gets a ton of resources, yet when you look around, you find nothing. The strategic resources will OCCASIONALLY appear within your borders, but will usually be somewhere else.

One time, and this is completely outrageous, I was just playing a normal map on continents, it looked normal, just about until I settled. Turns out, while everyone else is on nice, fertile, land, I was placed in a pocket of land, just about big enough for one city, IN THE FREAKING SOUTHERN ICE CAP.

 

I play with a mapscript called "Lots of Resources." It solves any starting position problems, and even lets you be more consistent in your game-to-game strategy. Just don't abuse it, unless you don't mind being the undisputed leader in everything.

 

I've been on a map where three of the AIs were on pieces of land that look like the fat cross melted through the ice, allowing just enough room for one city, while I was on floodplain central. I've never noticed bias before, to the AIs or otherwise

Anyway, I'd have to go with the complaint that in the modern era, my cities change their highest food yield tiles, like pig and corn, and replace them with engineers. Sending them into starvation. Every single ****ing turn, I have to go through the domestic advisor and see if there are any starving cities.

 

Bias in favour of the AI is likely to be imaginary. The poor sod who got stuck on endless plains with desert nearby is quickly forgotten, the one with 3 fish and 3 gold we remember because that one likely became a major obstacle to our victory.

 

Those advisors were great.

http://www.youtube.com/v/fLrdQKwznsk

 

Some fundamental pet peaves with civ:

1. almost nothing happens in the ancient age and little happens BCE, because
2. units aren't produced fast enough in the ancient and classical age.
3. difficulty levels skew some aspects of the game that should've remained the same (like AI-AI relations).
4. random starting position can make a bigger difference than moving up a difficulty level.
5. the game could've been better balanced, some stuff is useless (esp. nuclear plants) and some is overpowered (like slavery civic, financial trait).

Even with all that I still like the game.

 

I don't think financial is very overpowered, but it comes close. In the end of the game, it just means one extra commerce point on a cottage, which makes 7 w/ optimal civics anyways. So, counting resources and stuff, you have a 14.2-20% bonus. Strong, but an Aggressive civ w/ Combat I on all his troops and cheap barracks will still butcher you.

But in the start of the game, it's explosive. A free commerce point on every tile making 2 already leads to great cottage growth. Philosophical is similar. 100% more GPP only leads to about 20-30% more Great People due to the increasing points required. But it helps a lot in the early game with almost double the Great People.

The conclusion: they are both top-tier traits. But not super-overpowered. Just easier to utilize in some aspects.

My pet peeves:
1)Global Warming
2) Barb animals. Seriously, a massive pride of lions going to a coniferous forest and eating thousands of settlers? Show me the historical precedent for this.
3) Start position. Sometimes I get 1 cow and plains. Other times I get 4 fish and pigs. And other times, 3 gems w/o jungle. How come this never happened in Civ4, only BtS?

 

Global warming in this game is stupid. There should be a poll in this topic.