New Civ 4 patch coming up?

[player1 fanatic]

As for HD displays. If you have no one, then buying console + HD takes out main advantage consoles have over PCs, and that's price.

 

[Sibben]

Civilization might work on the Wee though, with it's übercool controller. Question is really if you wan't to play such a game in the sofa though.

 

[meatwad4289]

WOAH! AI Not using Nukes?? WTH, I've been nuked by the AI SEVERAL Times in Vanilla. All out Nuclear war in some cases...

My brother and his friend played a multiplayer game, the AI used nukes against them several times, when My Bro quit he let the AI take over, My brother had built 300 nukes before he left, and al lthe cities were on culture/wealth/research(He couldnt build anymore had 20 troops per city a massive fleet) My brothers friends computer lagged and all he heard was rockets being fired and exploding until it was just a repeating sound, and the combat log on the left screen pure Red... after 10 minutes, he heard the last explosion.... All his cities had been completely nuked...

-FACT AIs can and will build and use nukes.. Atleast prior to 1.61

 

[Charles 22]

WOAH! AI Not using Nukes?? WTH, I've been nuked by the AI SEVERAL Times in Vanilla. All out Nuclear war in some cases...

My brother and his friend played a multiplayer game, the AI used nukes against them several times, when My Bro quit he let the AI take over, My brother had built 300 nukes before he left, and al lthe cities were on culture/wealth/research(He couldnt build anymore had 20 troops per city a massive fleet) My brothers friends computer lagged and all he heard was rockets being fired and exploding until it was just a repeating sound, and the combat log on the left screen pure Red... after 10 minutes, he heard the last explosion.... All his cities had been completely nuked...

-FACT AIs can and will build and use nukes.. Atleast prior to 1.61

I've never seen one AI missile in all the games I've played. Of course if you're going around stomping everybody then maybe that gets their dander up enough. I think the thing with me, and maybe most people, is that you build something of a nuke arsenal and protect yourself. If the wars go fine you reserve them and don't use them. The AI may be waiting for somebody to use them, or throw a lot of them around, or for a lot of stomping to occur, or a combination of the three. There's been only one game where I actually launched the things and I got no response at all till the end of the game. I must say, however, that I think I only used it against one or two nations, nations which may not had had any. The rest of the game saw me not using them because I was doing well enough conventionally.

 

[MrCynical]

AIs would occasionally use nukes in 1.61, but I don't think it would even build them until you'd already used them.

 

[Danicela]

My prediction is that civ 4 is the last they'll make for the PCs. They might squeeze out another expansion pack just to get the revenue, but we should all enjoy the sunset on this great series.

The sad fact is that they messed up big time moving to 3D on this one. The non-standard hardware profiles of PC games meant that they needed a LOT more testing before they released their software, testing they decided they couldn't afford.

Now, 6 months in, they're rushing out an expansion to get more cashflow so they can keep the machine rolling, but they still haven't sorted out the technical problems, nor have they demonstrated that they can release even as simple an expansion as this bug-free.

My prediction: 1 more expansion in about 6-8 months (in time for Xmas?), maybe a patch for Warlords between now and then, and a patch for the next expansion thereafter, then you'll be playing Civ on consoles only.

EW

looool .... Civ4 on consoles... (ONLY!).. and no on PC .. This is just impossible. (not to say Absurd)

 

[Enkidu_Warrior]

I forget sometimes how silly a game fanatic can be in defending their favourite games. But that's okay, I forgive you all, as I love the game too.

Nobody buys games for 3D graphics. It's for fun. For gameplay. EA screwed up the SimCity series by missing this point. By contrast, Firaxis has done a fantastic job focusing on gameplay in this release.

The problem is that the PC platform requires more testing than they could put in. I play a lot of PC games, and I've never seen a debacle as big as the last 8 months.

I also know several software developers, and more than one has sworn off ever working on PC games for this very reason.

I know you all like your shortcut keys, but you don't have a shred of creativity if you can't think of how all of it can be duplicated with menus on a console.

But please, carry on with your defensiveness and outrageous claims.

EW

 

[Sibben]

Nobody buys games for 3D graphics. It's for fun. For gameplay.

I really wished that was true, but it's not. Graphics are very important to the bulk of consumers. But I totally agree on a personal level, gameplay is king.

I also know several software developers, and more than one has sworn off ever working on PC games for this very reason.

It is a pain in the butt, especially when the publisher wants to support as wide a range of hardware as possible. And if you actually happen to narrow the range to high-end cards everyone goes bananas because they can't play on their computers. I've been there. But as long as PC games sell someone will make them.

I know you all like your shortcut keys, but you don't have a shred of creativity if you can't think of how all of it can be duplicated with menus on a console.

Of course it can be done, that's just a design issue, those are to be solved. But It's also a question of demographics. How many casual console players (because most, not all, console customers are casual gamers) will wan't to play CivIV?

Cheers,
/Sibben

 

[Enkidu_Warrior]

How many casual console players (because most, not all, console customers are casual gamers) will wan't to play CivIV?

All really good points.

This last, though, in particular caught my attention, as it becomes a business decision - a lot of headache (and potentially lower margins) for a larger market, or less headache and higher margins for a smaller market. I don't know where the most "total dollars" would be, but one bundle would be more easily come by than the other!

EW

 

[Zanmato]

Sorry, but the idea of any turn based strategy game, let alone Civ, going purely console based is laughable. The Civ series would end before that happened.

CivII is available for the Playstation, I have a copy of it. It worked out of the box too, big plus hardly laughable. Then CivIII and CivIV came out, the series is still going. The truth of the matter is that console game developers are seeing some potential for strategy games on the consoles, especially with handheld in the near future. It is a limited market for strategy games now but it will grow.

Not all console gamers are casual, talk to anyone who has put over 100+ hours in any Final Fantasy game which is far longer than any Civ4 game just about.

I think by moving to a 3D engine they grossly underestimated the spec needed to play Civ4. They also didn't make it clear that TnL is criticial for the graphics leaving alot of people wondering why their maps appeared black. I think the technical issues that still exist with the original Civ4 and with Warlords just alienates fans further. It's a great game but people will just remember the time and money spent on trying to get the game working in the first place.

 

[Sibben]

I think by moving to a 3D engine they grossly underestimated the spec needed to play Civ4. They also didn't make it clear that TnL is criticial for the graphics leaving alot of people wondering why their maps appeared black. I think the technical issues that still exist with the original Civ4 and with Warlords just alienates fans further. It's a great game but people will just remember the time and money spent on trying to get the game working in the first place.

Odd. I've had no problems at all. Unlike Rome Total War which has been a technical hassle from start to finish. Then again, PC games are usually a royal pain compared to consoles in that sense.

 

[Zanmato]

True, Sibben. PC games can be a hassle at times, just because there is some many variations of Window systems out there. I just had a harder time with CivIV than with any other PC game I have. The others games I have are not really taxing on the system (Nexus, CM4, Empire Earth, Deus Ex) but still it took a long time to get CivIV working to a decent degree coupled with patches. I've decided not to get Warlords at this moment partly for this reason.

 

[Alistic]

Nobody buys games for 3D graphics. It's for fun. For gameplay. EA screwed up the SimCity series by missing this point. By contrast, Firaxis has done a fantastic job focusing on gameplay in this release.


EW

I couldn't agree more. So many project coordinators these days have gone blind to that idea. Pretty boxes and pretty graphics sell games. What these people dont realize is that in the long run good gameplay sells more games. Civ is IMO one of the few games around that is sticking to keeping great gameplay as the main focus, and we love them for it.

 

[jimbob27]

AIs would occasionally use nukes in 1.61, but I don't think it would even build them until you'd already used them.

I wanna see proof. Out of dozens of games, and extensive testing, I never saw an AI build a nuke in 1.61.

 

[Duuk]

The problem is that the PC platform requires more testing than they could put in. I play a lot of PC games, and I've never seen a debacle as big as the last 8 months.

Civ4 must have been the first PC game you'd ever installed. Several games, especially strategy games, are downright frightfully bad out of the box.

Off the top of my head, I can think of Imperial Glory, MOO3, Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds, Paradox's Diplomacy, Hasbro's Diplomacy, SSI's Steel Panthers... [edit: I forgot Superpower! How could I forget that?]

At least Civ4 worked for most people right from go. However, due to the Civ niche, there are some very interesting, very vocal complaints. Search for the polls done though and you'll find that 90%+ had little to no trouble at all with the game in 1.00 state (I'm among those people). People running Windows 98 in 2006 deserve everything they get. That OS is 3 (and a beta) generations behind and fading fast. People running a video card with 64M of video ram when even budget PCs ship with 128M video card... deserve everything they get. Spend $20 and upgrade to a new video card. Spend $50 (note: the original price of this very game!) and upgrade to 1G of RAM. Your Civ4 will stop having issues.

I promise.

 

[JasonusMaximus]

People running Windows 98 in 2006 deserve everything they get. That OS is 3 (and a beta) generations behind and fading fast. People running a video card with 64M of video ram when even budget PCs ship with 128M video card... deserve everything they get. Spend $20 and upgrade to a new video card. Spend $50 (note: the original price of this very game!) and upgrade to 1G of RAM. Your Civ4 will stop having issues.

I promise.

And the wind came forth, carrying with it the voice of wisdom.

 

[Zanmato]

At least Civ4 worked for most people right from go. However, due to the Civ niche, there are some very interesting, very vocal complaints. Search for the polls done though and you'll find that 90%+ had little to no trouble at all with the game in 1.00 state (I'm among those people).

90%+ you sure? Seems abit high to me. I will have to look at those polls, in any case it certainly wasn't stable. I seem to remember the tech forums being very busy when it first came out, not just on this site but on others too. People with even the recommended spec had a tough time getting it to work at all. Even high-spec rigs couldn't run it or it crashed out. Then it seemed that doubling up on the recommended spec and user workarounds not developer workarounds (ie. Hark's MemSaver which was then ripped off by the Civ4 developer in a later patch) was the only way to get this game to work. The fact remains that v1.00 was a very poor release and the recommended spec on the back of the box was incorrect. Now it seems that some of these bad habits of not testing releases throughly have made it's way into Warlords, though in general it is nowhere near as bad as the original Civ release.

 

[Sibben]

People running Windows 98 in 2006 deserve everything they get.

Harsh, but true.

 

[dh_epic]

I agree that Civ 4 was pretty decent for bugs. It worked on most modern systems, and after that, they managed to fix most other problems moderately quickly.

Most other games are downright unplayable in the first release -- no lie.

 

[eugenek]

The problem is that the PC platform requires more testing than they could put in. I play a lot of PC games, and I've never seen a debacle as big as the last 8 months.

BattleCruiser3000?