Prima Guide

[bayareastank]

Anyone know if Prima is coming out with a Strat Guide for Civ4? Usually they release the guide the same time as the game but so far i haven't been able to find it. It doesn't exist on their site either (at least last time i looked).

 

[MattJek]

There's already a guide out. I dont know if its by Prima or not. Im gonna check it out this weekend to see if its worth getting.

 

[Critt3r]

BradyGames handled the Strat Guide for Civ IV.

 

[bayareastank]

Ah Brady put it out, ok thanks. I was operating under teh assumption it was Prima, no wonder i can't find it.

 

[crazybeard]

JMHO, but Strat Guides for Civ IV are a waste of money. You will not find one concept that you won't get for free via:

1. Civilopedia
2. Manual
3. This site
4. Other Civ IV sites, such as Sulla's walkthrough

 

[vmxa]

At 21 busck it is not worth it, but I have it anyway. At least the info that should be i the manual may be in the guide and if it is you can find it.

Pedia, hum look under settler the only thing I looked up and it does not even tell yo what tiles and conditions are need to found a town. One short sentence that say can build towns.

Understan I am not casting asspersion on the writers, but they format of guides is sad for a few years now. They offer banal tips, no real concrete stragties or very terse ones.

This one does have some possible good stuff MP by Fried-Pstilon, but I do not play MP. I ould have like to see them make a AAR style report for a game using some strat. Detail logs for the first 100 or so turns like we did in the AU games.

Better flesh one out even more with pics and if it is too big add a CD to hold it. Lots of manual and mags come with CD's now. Anyway I just buy them to have a complete game for later years. I sure do miss the job done by Alan on the Moo1 guide. Now that was a guide.

 

[agoodfella]

I have the guide as well.

Frankly, EVERYTHING in the guide should be in the manual.

When you read the manual you can tell it was just kinda slapped together - almost as if they were writing the last pages the night before going to print.

The guide is good in that it has some useful strategy tips and all of the units / Civs / Religions / Civics / Wonders, etc are fleshed out much better than the manual. I just like having that source at my finger tips (esp. since Civilopedia was also so poorly done).

My only gripe is that it doesn't (nor does the manual) have a list / section on the buildings.

I only paid 16 buck for it at EB. Was it worth it? Well, I look at it about once every 5-10 turns on each game so far and its my current bathroom reading material.

Not the best, but anything is better than the crap manual.

 

[Franks]

Civilopedia poorly done? Damn, I must be superman

 

[abbamouse]

Civilopedia poorly done? Damn, I must be superman

I'm not sure what you were saying here but this civiliopedia is an abomination compared to the last one. There is virtually no information on important game mechanics and the unit abilities are poorly explained. The use of icons instead of text makes it difficult for the novice player (the kind that actually needs to use the civilopedia) to find the information he/she needs. I always enjoyed the civilopedia, but this one is almost worthless.

 

[vmxa]

How is this for the only Pedia entry I looked at:

Settler can build cities or some such. Not even any list of the time it cannot found a town? Nothing at all. NO explaination of why the city button is lite or not lit and when it can stil be ussed.

I am guessing the rest is not much better. So you get any information about upgrades for units and what is required?

 

[KAuss]

I'm assuming you're talking about being 2 squares away from another city when they don't let you build, or on dessert tiles?

If you move your mouse over the button, it'll show you in the info box why you can't build it...

Also, looking up terrain type will tell you you can't build on dessert tiles...

Civilopedia sucks this time around... They don't even list the requirements for buildings like cathedrals and such!!! Had to find that out here!!!

 

[MSTK]

The Civ 3 Civilopedia was a godsend. This one...erm...not so much.

 

[vmxa]

I'm assuming you're talking about being 2 squares away from another city when they don't let you build, or on dessert tiles?

If you move your mouse over the button, it'll show you in the info box why you can't build it...

Also, looking up terrain type will tell you you can't build on dessert tiles...

Civilopedia sucks this time around... They don't even list the requirements for buildings like cathedrals and such!!! Had to find that out here!!!

I know where I can build, but it would have been useful for others to mention it in the Pedia. In fact the Guide does give the facts. It is fairly good at providing things that should have been in the manual.

 

[Fabius]

What happened to the good old days? When I buy the extra strategy guide I want it to tell me how long Genghis Khan will hold a grudge if I tell him, "No." I want it to tell me the exact advantages by choosing City Buster as a promotion versus something else. I want it to tell me how best to exploit this resource or that civilization.

I miss the guides like Rome on 640k a Day (of course) or even the Master of Orion guide that basically turned the game from a guessing game into something I could win (by telling me about the difference between Tritanium Armor and a Pulse Cannon).

I have the Brady Games guide, and I flipped through and was quite upset at not seeing chart after chart of figures and numbers, datamined from the depths of the game, to show me that it's better to tick off Washington because he forgets quickly than to tick off Catherine because she holds a grudge (just making up an example, please don't tick off Washington based on my advice).

 

[Sullla]

When you read the manual you can tell it was just kinda slapped together - almost as if they were writing the last pages the night before going to print.

Not the best, but anything is better than the crap manual.

Really? I suppose that when I typed this (back in August) it was just useless information:

Investment Percentages
"In the top left corner of the city screen are the investment percentages, one for research, one for gold, (and later on) one for culture. These are the same investment percentages that appear on the main game screen, and they can also be adjusted on the city screen if desired. The city screen shows exactly how many research points, gold, and culture are being generated in this particular city using the current investment percentages. The percentages dictate how much of the city’s total commerce is going into each category.

By moving the mouse cursor over each investment percentage, you can get an even more detailed breakdown of how the city’s commerce is being spent. For example, let’s say a city has 30 total commerce, running 80% science and 20% wealth, with a library (+25% research) and one scientist specialist (+3 research points). Moving the mouse cursor over the investment percentages will display that the city is producing 6 gold each turn (20% of 30 = 6) and producing 24 base research points (80% of 30 = 24), with a total of 34 research points after the scientist and library are factored in ((24 + 3) * 1.25 = 33.75)."
(p.156-57 of the Civ4 Manual)

Nothing useful there, we just slapped it together at the last minute, right? I suppose that the 224 pages in the Civ4 Manual, including more than 20 pages of reference charts, are just garbage designed to steal as much money as possible.

It's much easier to criticize something than to create it yourself.

PS I wrote up a 14-page, 151-screenshot guide on Civ4 to further cover the game in more detail. It's called the Civ4 Walkthrough, and you can read it by following the link in my signature. But since we clearly put no time or effort into creating the manual for the game, I guess there's no point in reading that either.

 

[LabMonster]

I really loved this strategy guide, it's way more better then the manual in every sense. There were a few typing errors here and there but this is forgivable. Yeah, it does drag on alot about common sense, but you have to fill in the blanks as a strategy has to be adaptable to the surroundings and strategy isn't as solid as 'build this build that' like you get in RTS.

Things i wanted to know though that i was a little dissapointed with was how to launch a successful naval/amphibious assaults and it failed to mention about Killzones (well touching on it briefly but this is an advanced concept if you have no mans land between borders.

Overall i love it though, has everything for the builder/warmongerer/isolationist/diplomat/culturemonger with alot of talk about tactics (which could be worked out from this site, but there is an indepth look in here) like Sledgehammer, dagger, choking, castling etc

Still you need to think beyond the blanks as a game as complex as Civ IV can't be covered bit by bit in its entirety.

 

[LabMonster]

Oh Sullla i love the walkthrough, the manual is good for being informative and the strategy guide is a good guide to playing style, not saying either is better but the manual is rather light but if there was more pages my eyes would just fall out lol.

 

[PSXfile]

I bought the guide and I enjoy it. It's nice to read about all the deails of the traits, leaders, and techs.