Returning to Civ IV

[Ataxerxes]

Returning?

I never left!



Just busy as hell -_-

Not as good as Kossin, but the same answer. I would like to say thank you to all the people who persuaded me not to waste my money. Thanks Mad, I'm glad you're back. I didn't post in your RPC games, but enjoyed them immensely.

 

[obsolete]

Considering neither of us had played the game before, and did not even understand the new roading system at first, that's pretty outrageous.

No. What is outrageous was watching Greg, who is affiliated with Firaxis and was quite involved with the title, get his ass totally kicked beyond belief by the stupid AI, while being watched by thousands live.

Oh yah, he wasn't even playing deity LMAO!

I still don't know if maybe it was a ruse to TRICK potential customers into thinking the AI was actually tuff for a change.

 

[Kid R]

Hey Mad, welcome back!

It's been a great summer with all the anticipation pre-release, webcasts, seeing how the game actually turned out, criticizing it a bit (constructively!) etc, etc, etc. I've come back to 4 too now for the time being as I think we've got a year or so before 5 gets ... er ... interesting.

Luckily for me I was still some way off being any good at 4 anyway ... I'm getting back into it now the excitement of 5 is over for a while.

 

[TheWilltoAct]

No. What is outrageous was watching Greg, who is affiliated with Firaxis and was quite involved with the title, get his ass totally kicked beyond belief by the stupid AI, while being watched by thousands live.

Oh yah, he wasn't even playing deity LMAO!

I still don't know if maybe it was a ruse to TRICK potential customers into thinking the AI was actually tuff for a change.

Oh dear, I think I watched the beginning of that. The whole setup seemed so wholly unprofessional that I couldn't stomach watching past the first ten minutes. (oh and my family told me to turn off that horrid sounding douche... in not quite those words)

 

[jaycuhbbb]

I think Civ5 has potential. It is at least an interesting civ experience. The thing that kills me though, there is no immersion, the AI is actually WORSE and more irrational than in IV, which is laughable because diplomacy has been so overly simplified to pre CivIII levels anyway! It's like Firaxis gave up on making a competent AI, stripped the diplomacy aspect of the game because of that, and then still failed. lol.

 

[drlake]

I tried the demo, and it didn't grab me. Based on the reviews of the game experience in CiV, I'm going to wait for them to do some work on it before I give it another look. WB, Mad!

 

[Norvin_Green]

I've wasted far too much of my adult life playing Civ 3 & 4. The whole "just one more turn" thing was like a drug. I keep trying 5 and that feeling is gone. It isn't because the game is new or I don't know the tech tree or 1upt. For me it's a step backwards from BTS.

 

[kossin]

I fear it was a business move rather than a game move...

They announced it out of nowhere with no or little rumors floating around... and then the ETA was very short!

They'd also been working on several projects at the same time (Civ Rev, Facebook)... and since they undertook a different path from the previous installments, it should have taken more alpha/beta testing.

As someone said, journalists trying out a game instead of the civ addicts isn't going to give you a good representation of how the game stands.

I'd have preferred they fix some more bugs&balance issues in BTS and postpone it 1~2 years. But then again I haven't played it yet...

Money governs. Guess the game is a good representation of its launching

 

[Pwu.380]

No. What is outrageous was watching Greg, who is affiliated with Firaxis and was quite involved with the title, get his ass totally kicked beyond belief by the stupid AI, while being watched by thousands live.

Oh yah, he wasn't even playing deity LMAO!

I still don't know if maybe it was a ruse to TRICK potential customers into thinking the AI was actually tuff for a change.

Link?

But yeah, all the enemy armies they show in the demos with infantry fortified on hills behind rivers and artillery massed behind them? That doesn't actually happen. It's more like, I see you have collected a large amount of forces on our borders, carry on while I march my dudes aimlessly in circles...doo do do do doo.

 

[Kid R]

On the subject of 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 (not 5 ), what are people interested in reading in S&T these days?

Are there any new techniques left to be discovered? Does every person know every trick? Have all the sexy ideas been exploited and posted before? (A lot of great old games have disappeared off the search system incidentally).

I'd be interested in anything at immortal difficulty or above. Might even try posting some games myself (but would feel obliged to post heaps of losses because that's what most games are!)

 

[Dhoomstriker]

Might even try posting some games myself (but would feel obliged to post heaps of losses because that's what most games are!)

Do so. Post some games that end in losses (or that look like they will end in losses). Not only are such games great learning opportunities, but if you accept help from people on the forums, you can probably turn a lot of potentially losing situations around and eek out some wins.


In speaking with 3 real-life friends who are "average" gamers (not the kind that are serious enough about a game for you to find them on forums related to said game), every one of them has been sorely disappointed with Civ 5. And these are the kinds of players that will buy a hot new game, play it nearly every day for 2 to 3 months, then drop a game. Two of them have already moved on (well ahead of schedule), while the other said he'd play it if he "found the time," but that guy always plays games and now he's finding excuses not to play? Unreal.

 

[Dave Hartwick]

Not that I've ever been a noticable presence in the Civ community, but I'm back too. A thread on another message about the anticipation people felt for V got me toying with the idea of buying a new computer. While I was dicking around with specs, V got released and I checked out the discussions here, which aren't pretty. I'll note that the gamers on that other message board have minor complaints about the new game, nothing like the ranting and raving going on in the CivFanatics Civ V general discussions board. Generally they seem to be having a nice time. Still, I'm glad to have the excuse not to spend all that money.

Reading about V got me interested in IV again. Frankly, I've got it pretty bad, up late and reading strategy threads while I'm at work. I was a bit shocked to realize that there's a boatload of leaders and map scripts-- great ones-- I never bothered playing. Never won a culture victory or a time victory, either, not that I'm keen to do so.

 

[WelshGandalf]

Tried the demo, felt it had nothing of the nuances or depth that Civ 4 BTS has. To be honest I think this is more down to what a wonderful, varied & (relatively) balanced game Civ4 BTS is. Maybe 6 months down the line, it will be interesting again, but for now Civ4 is where it's at. Plus it runs a LOT faster than the Civ5 demo did on my PC.

 

[PraetorianSteve]

I would like to see some more Earth18 guides. That is my favourite scenario, and I have been replaying it with the various Civs. Certainly I have given up on V already.

 

[May Day 10]

The nice thing for me is... I played a decent amount of Civ IV, but never really hung out here or got outside advice/guidance and was stuck on Noble.

During the anticipation for Civ V, I frequented CFC more and more. I started learning how awesome Civ IV really is and how many possibilities there are. I actually had no idea what Religion and Civics were used for. I played more and more Civ IV and only recently started playing BtS.

Civ V came out, I never got into it, but its OK, because I only have a experienced a fraction of IV. There are still a lot of hours and adventures for me. I just started playing the BUG mod. Unreal the things people can do. I remember downloading and playing a sweet mod for III long ago for a Canadian Civ that I got a kick out of.


This board is so impressive. The synergy between posters is unlike any other forum I have been a member of. 98% of the time, you have people from all over the world with a very common interest discussing a very specific subject matter. Ideas, strategies, mods, etc... its really a great forum, and its a shame to see people divided over this release. Eventually the Civ IV-ers will end up here, and the V-ers will remain there for the most part.

Overall, I think that anyone who plays and enjoys this series has a certain intelligence and patience that exceeds your average gamer.

 

[Torgny]

I fear it was a business move rather than a game move...

This is also my view. This game is not based upon Civ4, more likely the old game "Civilization - test of time." Maybe we can call Civ5 the light version of Civ4.

 

[lymond]

the light version of Civ4.

light as a tse-tse fly


Pre-ordered CiV and had much anticipation leading up to the release. At first I was a bit excited about the newness of the game and the bells and whistle. However, the game really has not "grabbed" me or sucked me in. In fact, I have not even finished a game. I still hold out hope for it, but will likely only play the GOTMs for while just to keep up with that. For now, it's BTS all the time for me.

Mad - Posted up an interesting Cathy game you might find fun. I'd like to see one of your effervescent and typo'd reports on that one.

 

[Fleme]

I played a couple of games of V - never got around to finishing one of them because I saw no compelling reason and therefore actually never went away. BtS is inarguably the best TBS game there is and in order to be even half as desirable to play as this, V needs to take huge steps. It's most likely that the game will become playable only when they've patched it several times and released an expansion or two.

Edit:

@Kid R: It's true, losses are in fact those that draw interest and start discussions. They're a way to show you fall with your boots on instead of resort to save/load and replays (as I'm sure some people do in order to look good on the forum, not pointing any fingers). Immortal games get

@PraetorianSteve: Do a search on King of the World by Neal. Strategies on Earth18 don't get any better than that and they feature very extensive discussions of various matters relating to these games.

 

[Mogur]

I havent bought Civ5 yet based on the reviews Ive seen. At the very least it needs extensive patching/expansions before Ill give it a shot.

What scares me is the changes that are most popular (hexes, 1upt) are also the changes that are causing the largest problems. Adding two elements that help the human rather than the AI are not a good idea considering how bad the AI was already in Civ4. Good luck trying to fix this mess Firaxis.

 

[tinstaafl]

I also couldn't finish a game of civ5. I started 4 or 5 or so, and played them into the middle ages, but without overanalyzing as to why exactly, in the end, it was plain and simply boring more than anything else.

On the subject of 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 (not 5 ), what are people interested in reading in S&T these days?

Are there any new techniques left to be discovered? Does every person know every trick? Have all the sexy ideas been exploited and posted before? (A lot of great old games have disappeared off the search system incidentally).

I'd be interested in anything at immortal difficulty or above. Might even try posting some games myself (but would feel obliged to post heaps of losses because that's what most games are!)

How about unusual maps, particularly highlands maps? I feel like these are a different beast from fractal. I played a couple and am having trouble on emperor.