New to Civ5: How do I get "non-Vanilla"

[carbontaxes]

Hey guys I'm new to Civ5 (loving it) however, not sure how to get non-vanilla. For instance, I cannot play or ever play against a Spain or Babylon. This seems to be the biggest sign of playing vanilla. I don't even know how many more civs are available or general options that are available in non-vanilla.

So how do you get to that state? I mean this game is Steam-only and I hate steam but went ahead and registered on Steam and bought C5. I thought that Steam itself just goes ahead and applys whatever patches are necessary to transform C5 to whatever "non-vanilla" is supposed to be. But apparently it doesn't?

My question(s) are do I need to download a third party patch or whatever, and where on my hard drive do I look for it or is it easy to apply. Sorry, so far I just thought Steam would simply take care of all of this but I don't jack about Steam except that C5 seemed to demand that you join it to just play C5.

TYIA for any guidance.

 

[sav]

You need to buy the DLC - downloadable content. You can do this in Steam. The game patches itself which is great, so it's up to date in that respect, but the extra civs you need to buy.

 

[carbontaxes]

Okay all the packages' descriptions are so vague and horrible that they cannot simply inform the buyer "hey, you get Babylon and/or Spain and/or whatever else comes with non-vanilla"


And I see that what I bought (basic C5) at full price must've been recently lowered in price lol. Oh well enough whining, but can anyone just tell me which DLC you buy to be non-Vanilla?? Is it the "Civilization V: Cradle of Civilization - DLC Bundle" or is it that and other things, or what?

 

[elprofesor]

I don't really get what you mean by "non-Vanilla". There is not such a thing as a full expansion, so you technically can't get the "non-Vanilla" version: it doesn't exist yet. What you can buy are small DLCs. From memory, these are:
-Babylon: you get Babylon as a playable civ, both by you and the AI
-Mongolia: you get to play as the mighty Gengis Khan (as does the AI), and you get a scenario about conquering Asia with their mighty Keshiks. Free, you should have it already.
-Spain and Inca civ pack: you get to play as either of them (as does the AI), and you get a scenario about discovering the new world.
-Cradle of Civilization: scripted maps. Frankly not a very good buy.
-Polynesia: you get to play as Polynesia (as does the AI), and you get a scenario about colonizing an archipelago and developing your culture.
-Denmark: you get to play as the danes/Vikings (as does the AI), and you get a scenario about the English war in 1066 BC
- Explorer's pack: some scripted maps and some new algorithms for random maps. Pretty nice, actually.
-Korea: you get to play as Korea (as does the AI), and you get a scenario too (don't have this one yet).
-Wonders of the Ancient World: you get 3 new wonders for the regular game, plus a scenario about building most wonders in that specific era. YMMV.

The Denmark/Explorer's pack bundle is a really good one, as is the Inca/Spanish civ pack. Korea and Babylon are (turtling) scientific civs, which puts them among the best. Polynesia is a really weird civ, read their abilities before buying. Wonders of the Ancient World make for some heated debate on their worthiness. And Craddle of civilizations is just a really bad buy.

 

[carbontaxes]

TY for the elaboration! bought some.

 

[jtb1127]

I advise not buying the DLC. They simply aren't worth the money. Stick with Vanilla until the expansion (pray for it) comes out.

 

[carbontaxes]

Well... I guess being not Vanilla means not have bought the Spain...and Babylon.... and Inca or whatever else ... right? What clued me in most was the sticky on this page.... the playthroughs that are supposed to be examples to all the rest of us. And those who who don't have thses civs are listed as Vanilla. I guess whoever's Vanilla is another person's vanilla. whatever.

Just glad to get a much better reply than "sav" with 'just download DLC for the civs." I'm set in this regard now thx.

 

[kwikill]

I advise not buying the DLC. They simply aren't worth the money. Stick with Vanilla until the expansion (pray for it) comes out.

That's like, your opinion, man.

New World and Korea packs are definitely worth it, IMO

Babylon, Vikings, Polynesians are decent.

I like Wonders, but do agree it's kinda lame for the price as a standalone (I bought as part of a bundle with Korea).

Don't listen to the naysayers. Most just hate the concept of DLC in general, which I can understand, but it also affects their ability to make an impartial assessment. Unless there was a particular DLC that you really wanted, though, I would say to just keep an eye out for when they go on sale. Steam occasionally puts out really good deals on bundles.

 

[Haig]

I'd say definately get some DLC, my faves are Spain/inca pack, Denmark, Korea+Wonders of the ancient world pack..

Babylon is poweful but as an enemy usually my nemesis..
I dont play Polynesia usually but its cool to have more different civs appearing during games. And playing with Polynesia is a totally different experience than many other civs.

I bought them all, if someone can afford a PC and electricity no problem having the DLCs too..

 

[Brichals]

That's like, your opinion, man.

New World and Korea packs are definitely worth it, IMO

Babylon, Vikings, Polynesians are decent.

I like Wonders, but do agree it's kinda lame for the price as a standalone (I bought as part of a bundle with Korea).

Don't listen to the naysayers. Most just hate the concept of DLC in general, which I can understand, but it also affects their ability to make an impartial assessment. Unless there was a particular DLC that you really wanted, though, I would say to just keep an eye out for when they go on sale. Steam occasionally puts out really good deals on bundles.

Agreed. Steam is very good with Civ5, I understand why people might not like it but get familiar with it and look for sales/bundles for your DLC. Only problem with Steam is that it has so many sales on top games most of us have unplayed games on our Steam accounts and not enough time. Last one for me was Company of Heroes and expansion for €1.50, would be rude not to buy that.

 

[Cheeseisgood]

Generally the term "vanilla" is applied to something that is as the developers made it, without any mods/user created content - At least that's what I've come to know Vanilla as.

As many other people have said, Steam patches everything for you, and it will have done that when you downloaded the game. It will continue to patch it when new patches are released, providing you have an internet connection. Bear in mind that the "patches" I am talking about are game changes and fixes, not new content. (Although some patches have added small bits of new content such as adding the resource of Stone into the game) These are the changes that Firaxis is making to the game, fixing bugs, etc.

The DLCs, as you've discovered if you've said you've bought some, are additions to the game that you pay for. They comprise mostly of extra Civs, scenarios and maps, though the latest one also adds in a few World Wonders which are good. There are a lot of opinions floating around as to whether or not these are worth the money. In my experience, I'd say they've added a lot more depth to my game and I'm glad I have them, though on the other hand, I bought the EU Game of the Year edition a while ago which came with a lot of the DLC included - I don't think I'd have gone onto Steam and purchased each individual one if I'd just bought the basic game. Now however, I am buying them as they come out and have all bar one of the map DLCs, which I intend to buy soon.

If you want any of them, go ahead and buy them. I wouldn't wait for a sale, seeing as they're fairly cheap as it is and extras/DLC doesn't tend to go on sale often on Steam from what I can see. The ones I'd recommend are Spain/Inca pack, both of those are fun and interesting Civs, the Korea/Wonders of the Ancient World pack (Korea is an interesting concept and the new wonders are great) and Mongolia, as it's free!