Rate the new patch (1.21f)!

[W.i.n.t.e.r]

Don't let the header fool you- it is a cute n nice lil patch that solves most problems to date- the least buggy one, and the patch containing most realistic gameplay so far (well- comming from Firaxis that is- some fans have had quite some cool ideas in this respect- totally eclipsing Civ3's makers- but I guess that this was intended too)

To call it by its name: The feature disabling editor changes to come into effect in the savegame is the cr****iest "solution" to non-stabile engine I have ever seen. And what about those modders that r trying to implement new stuff- i.e with a modern age hover tank- are these supposed to nicely play on for 3 weeks just to find out that there is a lil (now unfortunatly UNAMENDABLE !) mistake- I trust there are gonna B some dedicated folk getting around that - hopefully they'll share their knowledge with the less fortunate... i.e. me

ps- one of the BIG likes is the lethality feature for bombardments

 

[academia]

Which patch is this one? The forth, fifth, sixth one?

One more time:
Civ3KK Civ3KK Civ3KK...

 

[smallstepforman]

Finally, a solid patch for the player. They've increased the effect of courthouses and police stations, thus corruption isn't anywhere near as destructive as it was prior to 1.21. Now we can actually span an empire which stretches the world.

On a side note, I've noticed that the terrain generator is much much better. Before I'd have to restart 9 times out of 10 due to ****ty terrain, but this time its more like 1/10 restarts. The terrain generator (new games) is incredibly better.

I started as Iroqious, ended up on isolated continent (think Australia) and was way behind in tech when I met everyone. A few hundred years later and I've caught up, and with strategic alliances I'm calling the shots (Emperor level). This patch makes the gameplay more fun.

 

[No.Dice]

I'm torn between 7 and 8. Its good, but its not that good. Speaking from experiences on emperor difficulty, the tech pace is the same, except it devalues less since the weakest civs won't acquire the most recent techs. Consequentially they're harder to buy, and a research route requires you to concentrate solely on infrastructure for the first age and a half. If you want to maintain a solid military, the best option is still early warmongering, and taking techs from rivals.

The new save compression slows the game down, and the AI often still will not research essential techs like chivalry and military tradition. As long as the AI has money, they'll still swap tech with all of the other AI's too, and will still not approach the human to trade.

I don't like the decreased size of the huge map, especially since my game is still slower than the full sized map with all civs present under 1.21.

On the up side, the AI won't poprush itself to death under communism. From what i gathered from the chat, the AI will be a bit more militarily efficient than before too.

The negatives are still out-weighing the benefits, though it is a step in the right direction. How many steps is it going to take to get there?

 

[Powderman]

I wouldn't know if the patch is any good, or not. The game won't let me play for more than a few minutes before crashing. I had the occasional crash with 1.17, but nothing like this. It crashes me right out of the game. One of the last times, it crashed so bad that I had to re-install. Anyone else had this problem????

 

[Selous]

i have just started a new game with it ... and so far im quite pleased ... it would seem that the beta testing is finished and we have our finished game (still somewhat dissapointed by what it could have been) but at least it is now polished to the point of release ... only took 6 months :s

anyway .. rant over ... the start game is now what it always should have been ... at least from my extencive testing of 1 start .. we will see how the game progresses

 

[Eyn]

1.21f is a very good patch
-ressources disappearance
-corruption slider

but

-3rd patch, 3rd patch with problem (ok, quickly resolved)
1.16f with WinXP
1.17f with bad Civ3edit
1.21f with non-us OS

-and if the civ3editor add some cool stuf, i see in the Tiles properties a "starting location" which seems to be THE way to place the correct starting civs locations and i see it's disabled...

 

[simon.hurst]

6. Save and load times are now much longer due to the compression feature. Tech trading still appears massive with the other computer players seemingly ganging up and leaving me out in the cold. AI still seems to know all about which city to go for even pre espionage. J command is useful but need some options shift ctrl etc to make things go faster.

 

[dikwhit]

Overall patch rocks but there is still 1 major problem. Monarch huge (25% smaller but still huge ) 12 civs. The tech rate is still way too fast. I have a tech lead as usual.The AI is at least researching different techs now, but i hit the modern age way too freaking early. Mech infantry in 1450, modern armor in 1500??????
Half the flippin game is left and the tech tree is all but history. The rate is just as fast as 117, just a different way of getting there.
Instead of the AI trading techs to each other for a song and dance , they are trading for different techs due to the multiple stratagies for the AI.Dont get me wrong modern armor vs. infantry is a hoot, but it gets old , fast.

 

[dojoboy]

Hello. Its just little ole mac-user-me with the no-patch-1.21f-blues.

However, I'm loving the feedback.

Hey, are PC users the beta-testers for us mac-daddies?

 

[Dr. Strangelove]

Five, at best, though I would have liked the option of voting lower. I've been plagued by the "phantom civ" bug, the civ that refuses to die after complete elimination of all cities and units. I installed the patch, now the game crashes when I go back and eliminate this civ. Great work Infogames! You really know how to fix things.

Also, I'm still waiting for a means to zoom in and out of the editor, but I guess we all knew that we weren't worthy anyway.

 

[louiethelesbo]

I am not impressesd...Firaxis conitinues to turn out same s*** different day. Based on the feedback in this room, you are starting to enjoy s***. Reminds me of the old story about putting a frog in a nice pot of luke warm water. If you turn up the heat the frog will be tranquliized by the heated water ...never move..and eventially die from the hot water. Firaxis's crappy software is just like that pot of water and you are the frog.

 

[cracker]

Dr. Strange,

Pay a bit more attention to the problems posted by others because they fix your problem and my increase both your success and satisfaction rate.

The "phantom civ bug" as you call it, is the problem with respawning or "restarting" as Firaxis calls it. This problem is totally fixed in V.21 by the option that appears on the setup page to "allow restarting of players". The Firaxis lingo is confusing and convoluted because some people will read that line and think it has something to do with you as the player. In reality it does not apply to you and only effects letting the AI players respawn as you describe.

Firaxis still need to revise this wording in the next patch and set this option to default to off so the respawning does not occur until you choose to allow it, but other than that porblem the patch works great.

The crashing problem is related to the patch not being backward compatible with older save files. Since this patch embeds the rules files and .bic controls into the save file, all the older save files are a few bricks shy of full functionality. This may be why they "crash".

I would add that just as a professionalism sort of thing, the new patch should be backwards compatible with old save files instead of crashing like a bad high school programming project. To be backwards compatible would only require a short code cycle to determine if the save files had the embedded .bic info. If not the program should use the current system default .bic and avoid all the crashes and complaints.

 

[planetfall]

Very mixed feelings about patch 1.21.

Major disappointments:
1- air craft still can't go 12 tiles
2- Shift-A does not reawaken to clean up pollution after worked snoozed in city.
3- Histograph still only shows the score numbers and not the numbers behind the graph for POWER and CULTURE.
4- still no way to toggle on city border view. This would save so much time in city placement.
5- still no turn counter in bottom right window
6- Manhattan is still great wonder instead of small wonder
7- still no option to toggle grid frame. Actually even better would be the ability to put up to 26 alpha characters on map. These could be used to mark special spots to pay attention to each turn.
8- still no tool to find the difference in settings in bic file. Would be nice to compare the differences between the default bic for patch #.##f and some of my saved bic files.

Major likes:
1- AI tech trading is now controllable
2- slightly less me vs the world, but still that way
3- ability to adjust corruption in editor
4- city governor handles moods much better for conquered cities. Food is default with only the capital city, so don't have to go and turn other workers to entertainers.
5- no crashes
6- autocompress on save
7- invisible available as option
8- installs cleanly
9- ability to abandon cities is useful. Now can accept conquered city and if don't like the improvements or number of resisters, can abandon the next turn.

Minor bugs:
1. zoom out, before some city names, char '=',
but disappears on zoom in
2. zoom out, power bar lines are too long
3. slight timing refresh issue, sometimes in lower right window the previous year is listed instead of current year. Then about 60 seconds later, it is refreshed with the right year.

No major bugs found yet.

Dumb, Dumb scale, 5-10. I gather TF wants to put a positive spin on the results. Easier to do with redescribing the values associated with each number than starting at 5.

All said, this fixes a good chuck of the agony of 1.17. Definitely install as this is a step in the right direction.

 

[Sultan Bhargash]

Eight = everyone must install it, and so everyone must. The return of lethal bombardment prompted me to go to the store and re-buy Civ3 (I gave it away after playing about 40 games and having "seen it all"). The patch isn't a ten until they give you the option of checking off "Make this game play exactly like Civ 2 but with the new graphics" on the options page.

 

[Mercenary]

Originally posted by Sultan Bhargash
The patch isn't a ten until they give you the option of checking off "Make this game play exactly like Civ 2 but with the new graphics" on the options page. [/B]

Ummmm.....I admit Civ II was a great game, that is probably why they decided to make Civ III. It sounds like you need a "Civ III" graphics mod for Civ II. I like the fact that they changed some things from Civ II to Civ III that is what makes it new and fun. I grow tired of the same old thing. So bombardment works different - adapt, or now you can change it with 1.21. Corruption is a realistic (after 1.21) however annoying addition. If you don't like change, hey that's cool. I do, and I like the fact that Civ III isn't Civ II!

I agree with you that Civ II with Civ III graphics would be very cool and perhaps a mod will make that possible but I don't think you can ever expect Civ III to be Civ II. It's a new game.

Just my thoughts.

 

[saintides]

I gave it an everybody should install it. Played a game and a half now, no problems here. The only reason I didn't give it a 10 was because no mp yet. When that comes out.. then I'll give it a 10.

Read through the "bugs in the patch" thread. Over 10 pages of mostly stuff that isn't bugs. Should of spent the time reading through that thread playing civ3!

 

[dialt0ne]

There weren't so many modifications to the J command. Before, it bulk-moved all the units on the square (even in the army). Now it only moves the active ones. If there was a shift-J to move active AND fortified, it would have been a perfect 10.

 

[friedmad]

under 1.21, the persians cannot by default hurry immortals as soon as they have pop 2 and have one shield toward production.

also, any scientific civ cannot hurry the library if as soon as they have 2 pop and one shield toward production.

BUT THE BIGGEST PAIN IVE NOTICED IS:

i play on monarch level, which used to make for a very good game. but now, i think the AI cheats at building wonders. Every time i have 1 or 2 turns left to build a wonder, another civ completes it. this pisses me off to no end cause that didnt happen in pre-1.21.

 

[Warlord Sam]

Found a crash! I right clicked on my capitol, then clicked on "contact governor" and it crashed :/