Original or MGE?

[Sub]

Well, I’ve lost my civilization 2 cd so I'm going to go buy a new one. I'm just curious though, should I get the original or mge? I use to have mge and the other civs would sneak attack me at whatever chance they got. Does this still happen in the original? Are there any other differences then the ai aggressiveness?

Thanks in advance

 

[Peaster]

I have played MGE for years, but got the original a few months ago. With the original, AI friendships are more stable, which may help you in OCC games, for example. Probably they sneak attack less often, but I am not sure about that.

If I had to keep only one CD, I'd keep MGE. It allows you to play scenarios, PBEM and MP. Also, the original has a few slightly annoying features that were fixed in MGE [a) the civilopaedia seems slow, b) if you quit a game, it closes the whole program]. And, if you have any old saved game files you care about, you cannot open them with the original.

 

[Old n Slow]

At $5 a pop, why not get a couple of each? Not to mention, they make great gifts.

 

[Titi]

With MGE, you'll be able to play against human players, not with the original. And that's true that MGE fixes a few bugs found in the original version. However, I find MGE more aggressive than the original CIV II (and barbarians seem to appear more often, but that's maybe that I don't like them when I don't have any defenders in my newly built city!)

 

[Catfish]

The aggressive AI was introduced with MGE (so it's also present in Test of Time). You'd be safe using the original Civ2 game and also the Fantastic Worlds expansion (no multi-player, but it allows you to play a considerable number of scenarios). FW cannot be used to play scenarios designed for MGE, though. I wouldn't bother with MGE unless you intend to play multi-player games.

 

[ElephantU]

There are some patches out there that allow you to upgrade the original 2.42 to MGE, but not vice versa (as I understand). You might consider getting the original (which has more "sensible" AI diplomacy, IMHO) and upgrading only if you need MGE.

 

[Sub]

I've decided to buy MGE. Thanks for the help, I appreciate it.