New to On-Line Gaming.....

[jdamage]

Howdy, just a quick question about playing Civ4 online. I have never played any game on-line before and was hoping someone could tell me how it works. Do I have to pay extra for it? Can I find a good game for beginners? I would appreciate any feedback.

 

[Finite Monkey]

There are sites that might be good for a beginner. I don't play much online so I'll leave the specifics to others.

One thing I can say though is that you do not have to pay extra so enjoy!

 

[DangerousMonkey]

Honestly, I wouldn't advise you to play online too much as a beginer. You'd be better off just working your way up in single-player difficulty levels for a while. That way you'll be able to take your time, read the civilopida as you go, and crank up the difficulty gradually and not get discouraged. If you absolutely have to play online you should probably stick to games that are tagged as "noob," otherwise you'll get killed pretty fast.

Still, the problem with noob games is you still won't have very much time to look stuff up in the civilopidia when you have questions, as online timers are probably only going to give you 20-60 seconds for most turns, which just isn't enough when you're learning. If you want my advice, wait until you can beat the game on Prince or higher, then you're ready for online.

 

[jdamage]

There's a time limit, eh? Thats good for I don't want to spend 6 days in a row waiting to get out of the middle ages.

 

[Stageon]

Multiplayer games actually go pretty fast, at least compared to earlier Civ versions. Still not like an RTS of course.

If you want to ultimately focus on multiplayer, I would actually suggest alternating between online and single player games. That way you get to learn some depth (game mechanics) in SP and then go try them out in MP.

The problem with learning purely in SP is that those skills don't always transfer well to MP where humans have way different strategies than AIs. Better to play both, IMO.

 

[cleverhandle]

I don't have a whole lot of multi experience, but I've played enough to see that multi is basically a completely different game than single. I prefer single, myself, but it's all a matter of taste. Certainly I'd agree with the suggestion that you play some single first just to learn the basic mechanics. After that, try a few games online and see if that seems fun to you. But if it doesn't, don't write off the game before exploring single some more first.

As for exactly how it works, you can either play with the whole Internet through GameSpy or you can play with people you know via DirectIP/LAN (though you could do this via GameSpy, too). Just select how you want to play from the Multiplayer menu. None of the options costs you. DirectIP may take a tiny bit of tech work to set up due to routers, so if nobody's heard of a port before, that may not be the best choice.

 

[jdamage]

So, I can just download this Gamespy from their website? I have been playing single player at lower levels and slowly working my way up but they AI seem very predicable and thought for a change playing against some humans would be fun. Thanx for the info. I'll give it a whirl this weekend.

 

[cleverhandle]

So, I can just download this Gamespy from their website?

You don't have to download anything. GameSpy is an online service that owns a bunch of gaming-related stuff online. Just choose "Internet Game" from the Multiplayer menu, create an account from there, and you should be set.