So I just bought my first Civ game..(it's freezing)

[TKAM]

Apologies if this is in the wrong section, had no idea where to post this

Three or four years ago, a friend of mine mentioned a game called 'Civilization' when I told him how good I was at playing Age of Empires, an unfortunate time when I was in love with RTS games. While at Virgin Megastore yesterday, I noticed Civilization V. I knew very little about the game, but it was quite publicized around the time of it's release so I decided to give it a go.

At first I had no idea what to do, but eventually got the hang of it. Started with England and then Greece, just messing around, testing how the game works, and I quite liked it. Then I started as India with the aim to play the game properly. After entering the Classical period (or Classic, can't remember what it's called), I had an amazing economy and one of the best armies in the game. I was at war, with Napoleon, against the Persians and it was all going well. Then my game froze.

So I checked online to see whether it was a simple fault of my laptop's or a problem the game was having. After reading quite a few reviews of the game (mainly on the Facebook page) I was shocked to find out the low opinion many people have of the game. I mean, it's fair enough that some people might find the AI very easy, I'm not really in a position to question it, and it is quite weird that religion doesn't really play a part in the game, but I just wanted to know what is really wrong with it?

I find it quite addicting (even more so than Football Manager 2011) although it is a huge pain picking what civilization to be.

As mentioned above, sorry if this is in the wrong section of the forum, thought this was the only place to post this.

 

[SHaW1986]

dude, this has been going on since release day, its gotten alittle better but its still happening left and right. my advice is to save the game often so that if it freezes you dont have to start all over again.

 

[Lillefix]

Apart from some rather serious issues with the AI, Diplomacy and stability the main problem for some people is that it's different. And some people say it's therefore not Civilization anymore(and they also say it's simplified, but on that issue I completely disagree).

 

[atticus finch]

I'd recommend trying an earlier Civ game. Try Civ 3 or 4, or even Civ 1 or 2, if you don't care that much about graphics. Civilization 5 is somewhat... controversial, as you might can tell from these forums. Whether you love or hate Civ 5, I think it can be agreed that it needs some fixing, so it might not be the best place for a new player to start.

 

[Sonereal]

Most people have a low opinion because of how different it is from CivIV.

Take that as you will. A portion of them are just crying because it isn't CivIV+ but the rest do have a point about diplomacy, AI cheating happiness, etc.

Its a fun game regardless but it'll get better as time goes on.

 

[SHaW1986]

Its a fun game regardless but it'll get better as time goes on.

Hopefully it will get better... now that jon is done there, who knows. it would be foolish for them to just give up on it from many standpoints, but who knows.

 

[Sonereal]

Hopefully it will get better... now that jon is done there, who knows. it would be foolish for them to just give up on it from many standpoints, but who knows.

Especially given that if they give up, Civilization is done as a franchise....

So yeah.

 

[PAnz3r]

the game its half finished mate...dont lose the opportunity to have hours of pure fun trashing civilization series now because this chapter it's a piece of doomed code....try Civ IV or Civ 3 and when this come up finished or, at least, more enjoiable you can come back ^^

there is a really nice offer for Civ IV and its expansion on steam....

 

[bryanw1995]

what are the specs of your laptop? ram/cpu/video card/etc etc. what graphical settings are you trying to use? do you only plan to play on a laptop or do you have a desktop as well?

depending upon those questions, you might be better-served playing civ4 until you get a better rig. I've played civ4 numerous times on hd4200 amd graphics and it was still very enjoyable, but when I tried civ5 on that same laptop it was horrible. on a good rig civ5 is probably more "noob friendly" than civ4, but they're both great games and civ4 has a LOT of great mods out there for when you get bored with vanilla. and that steam deal for $6.24 is just ridiculous.

 

[alpaca]

Welcome to the forums and to the franchise!

I've had some freezes meself. Anyhow, you got it at the right time. The latest patch has definitely made the game more fun to play, even though it still has some way to go. Like many other games it was released in a pretty unpolished and unoptimised state, and people had too high expecations - I'd still say it's fun, though.

When you grow bored with it, try mods (the game has a Mod Browser built int) or give Civilization 4 a try (if you also get the BtS add-on): it's even better and has many excellent matured mods that completely alter the gameplay.

 

[aatami]

Don't read the facebook page. It's mostly **** there. Honestly.

 

[Sonereal]

When you grow bored with it, try mods (the game has a Mod Browser built int) or give Civilization 4 a try (if you also get the BtS add-on): it's even better and has many excellent matured mods that completely alter the gameplay.

The mods themselves are probably better than many professionally done games. Rise of Mankind: A New Dawn and Fall from Heaven.

 

[vincentz]

I read something on 2K's official forum about Civ V overheating GPU and cards being fried.
I dont know if this issue has been fixed in a patch/hotfix/hotpatch/update.

http://forums.2kgames.com/showthread.php?88710-Generic-GPU-CPU-Over-heating

 

[bryanw1995]

lol @ the overheating gpus.

that is certainly possible on a gpu, but if ciV is causing it then the gpu is close to failure to begin with. ciV is very graphically intense SOMETIMES, but it doesn't put nearly as much stress over a long period of time as a modern fps does.

 

[Ataxerxes]

Since Civ 5 is out, prices on Civ 4 are pretty good. I'd give Civ 4 complete (with Beyond the Sword which is what 90% of the posters play) a try. Since it's an older game, it runs easier but is an excellent game. A lot of posters prefer Civ 4 BTS which is a finsihed game, as opposed to Civ 5, which is somewhat of a work in process at this point.

Each of the Civ games has it's own subforum here, which should give you an idea of the popularity of each.

 

[vincentz]

lol @ the overheating gpus.

that is certainly possible on a gpu, but if ciV is causing it then the gpu is close to failure to begin with. ciV is very graphically intense SOMETIMES, but it doesn't put nearly as much stress over a long period of time as a modern fps does.

Did you read the thread?


@ OP
maybe its this http://forums.2kgames.com/showthread.php?100781-2K-The-silence-is-deafening!&p=1309855#post1309855

 

[Dralix]

Here's an odd piece of advice ... if you're enjoying the game, then just keep playing and don't worry about whether other people like it or not ...

 

[The_J]

I assume the thread is mainly aboutthe freezing...right? -> moved to tech support.

lol @ the overheating gpus.

that is certainly possible on a gpu, but if ciV is causing it then the gpu is close to failure to begin with. ciV is very graphically intense SOMETIMES, but it doesn't put nearly as much stress over a long period of time as a modern fps does.

I hope you remember that the graphics card in Gregs computer got fried in one of the life test games.